Mise-en-scène of The Hurt Locker

What The Hurt Locker does well is atmosphere and authenticity. Action and war films obviously aren't filmed in the midst of war, they're filmed on a set with lighting and cameras and boom microphones and crews and coffee machines, but the real challenge is to make the film feel as if it were filmed in the midst of war. Certain techniques and set designs do this effectively, but since The Hurt Locker ticks all the boxes when it comes to Mise-en-scène, it's a prime example to study.

Set Design

Creating a war-torn village isn't too tall a challenge, as it's best to film on location. The Hurt Locker was shot in Jordan, within miles of the Iraqi border, so that Kathryn Bigelow (the director) could reach a level of authenticity. The desolate structures and monotonous yellow/brown tone of the village created a feeling of crushing dereliction and loneliness, suitable for the films tone. Sand is everywhere in this particular village, but sand has a somewhat deeper meaning than simply granular material composed of finely divided Silicon Dioxide; sand creates a smokescreen, a fuzzy and permeable shield that disables you from clearly seeing the enemy on the other side. Mark Boal (the man responsible for The Hurt Locker's Oscar-winning script) said, "This movie is kind of like a horror film where you're unable to see the killer".

Cinematography 
The camera-work in The Hurt Locker is distinctly interesting, as it's almost entirely hand-held. Bigelow sought to immerse audiences "into something that was raw, immediate and visceral". The hand-held cameras (The Hurt Locker was filmed on four Super 16mm Cameras) were shaky, unclear and often nausea-inducing, much like war itself. The purpose of the four 16 mm cameras to capture multiple perspectives was justified by Bigelow, stating, "This movie is kind of like a horror film where you're unable to see the killer," says Innis. "You know a bomb could go off at any minute, but you never know just when it's going to happen, so the ideas of Hitchcock - about making your audience anxious - were influential for us when we did the editing."

Editing 
There were 200 hours of raw footage that Chris Innis and Bob Murawski had to work with for The Hurt Locker, which took eight months to complete editing. In necessary scenes, it's sharply edited with short and fast takes, to create a tension, jeopardy and suspense when needed. Even when it's only focusing on two things at once, the cuts between them are frequent, but the viewer never loses focus.

Costumes

The army men wear army clothes, so it's instantly identifiable if we've ever seen a modern war film before or played a modern war game before. The locals wear clothes specific to their environment and wealth, mainly rags and hand-me-downs for the children, but there's a particularly striking scene later on where a man with a suit has a bomb strapped to his chest, claiming it was put there by terrorists and not himself. Would the squad have given him the benefit of the doubt if he were wearing rags or even a veil? There's resonance to to clothes certain cultures wear  and how other cultures perceive them.

Sound and Dialogue
You can't go 10 minutes in The Hurt Locker without encountering army vehicle noises, like helicopter propellers and the engine of a speeding Hummer. To make an authentic environment all the more authentic, you hear the screams and shouts of the locals when they are escorted to protection due to the threat of a nearby explosive. You hear the colloquial language used by the soldiers and bomb defusal experts, so that we know that these particular men are soldiers and bomb defusal experts, and not Average Joe's pulled out of your nearest furniture shop.

People say they want more 'realism' in their movies and games. They want everything to be more 'realistic', to feel like 'real life' as it were. No film or game, no matter how scientifically or technologically accurate they are, has to use a bit of Artistic License here and there, because that's what entertainment it; suspending disbelief. What they really mean is 'authenticity'. The authenticity of a war-torn Iraqi village; the authenticity of piloting a helicopter in Battlefield; the authenticity of a man defusing an explosive. In order to suspend disbelief, the belief has to be put in place first, in the form of authenticity.

'Dolce and Gabbana' screenshots.

The video (above) is more about what she says and less about what is presented on screen. There are no extravagant and expensive set-pieces, it's all about the likeability and relateability of the main woman of this advert. Thusly, this one was particularly hard to pick out still images to analyse, but I tried by best.

In front of her face is, well, I don't know what it is. Maybe someone who does lighting or sound, or someone particularly interested in the technicality of film can tell me, but it's there to improve her appearance on screen in some way or another. What's notable is her complete lack of interest in such things. They can through whatever volume of make-up they want on her and it would still make little difference to who she really is. She can still talk and be charming and humanly, but she doesn't need any of this technical nonsense to do so. She's still the same person, even without looking like a polished mannequin.

In this still image, the lighting is set up so she looks like a superior being; one that sticks her head above the crowd with confidence. She's framed as a beautiful woman, obviously, but this is after she's given a witty monologue and been incredibly down-to-earth, considering how big a celebrity she is. This screenshot is Scarlet Johansen in celebrity form: beautiful, posing and well-lit. In real-life, you can't be posing and well-lit all the time, and we've seen her be a normal person without such things. It jarringly transitions from relatable, likeable and normal Scarlett Johansen, to beautiful, elegant and model Scarlett Johansen within seconds. She can pull off the high-wire act of being both simultaneously. But how?

Of course, with Dolce and Gabbana's anti-bacteria-smelling fluid in a fancy glass, you can become as fantastic and perfect as Scarlett Johansen within seconds. Right before this, she says 'I'm not looking for a million things, just that one perfect thing: love', and just as she says 'love', she puts the perfume on the table. Is this also implying that the aforementioned anti-bacteria-smelling fluid in a fancy glass will bring you love as well? Is the anti-bacteria-smelling fluid in a fancy glass the 'one perfect thing' or will it bring you that 'one perfect thing' somehow? The truth is, Scarlett Johansen was a good actress years before this perfume came out, so has this perfume increased her ability to do anything in whatever regard? I'm going to say no on this one, but you have the right to spend your money on whatever you like, be it coloured wax in a fancy tube, petrolatum and lanolin in a fancy container, or of course, anti-bacteria-smelling fluid in a fancy glass.