Mise en Scene

“Good Fellas” is a great film that supplies endless examples of Mise en Scene. For example lets take the “Dinner in Prison” scene. The scene opens up with a close-up of  Polly’s fingers slicing the garlic. No need to wonder the purpose of the shot, the audience already knows by the way Polly is taking his time slicing the garlic with precision this garlic is important and essential. The audience is now fully aware that these men are currently incarcerated from the narrator’s narration. In another shot the guys receive a delivery and when the package is placed on the ground the camera does a close up on the package to reveal exactly what was in the package and the relevance to the scene. Inside the package were fresh Lobsters on ice. If it wasn’t clear to the audience before it was certainly clear now that these guys didn’t live your typical jailhouse lifestyle. These guys were living the lavish life. I think another vital shot to this scene is the panning shot. The camera pans the whole room capturing everything in the room from the furniture, to the sink- to the bottle of dishwashing liquid, to the kitchen table. The camera obviously wants to audience to understand the type of lifestyle they are living. The dishwashing liquid stood out to me because these guys were the only inmates with access to a kitchen. They could eat what ever they wanted whenever they wanted because they called the shots. The shots are well organized. The order in which the shots are put together one by one tells a story to how the guys are living. First we are presented with the shot of Polly slicing garlic, then the delivery of the package with lobster; an expensive meal and lastly the panning or their current residence to show us exactly how lucky they are to be prisoners in jail. The sound in the scenes is equally important as the shots as well. Through out the scenes the guys are making small talk about not putting too many onions in the sauce. The meal is relevant because right now that’s what most important to them. They are stressing about being in prison, not being with family with their wives or just be free. They are living so swell that its okay that they are in prison, they can make this work for as long as they need to. From class I learned that nothing is in a shot for no reason, every item in a scene serves a purpose. For anyone who has never seen the movie “Good Fellas” this scene is a perfect introduction to the lives these guys lived. It was obvious they were in control and they were important members of society.