A Clockwork Orange
OTS
Mise-en-scene: Location
• The first setting is what looks like some sort of nightclub or bar
with people sat around drinking milk. This gives us the impression
of people stuck between being very youthful in personality and
very sophisticated and relaxed. It gives us a sense of calmness and
also tells us that it’s set in the 60s or early 70s where everyone was
really relaxed and nothing bad happened.
Mise-en-scene: Location
• The second setting on the other hand , is a complete contrast, the
dark street tunnels are really empty and give us this feeling of a
broken dystopia where everything has fallen apart and street gangs
and thugs rule the cities.
Mise-en-scene: Performance: Costume
• Each of the main thugs in this are each wearing a similar outfit.
They each are wearing this strange sort of spandex jump suit all in
white, with a crouch pad. This suggests an abstract gang but also
suggests there cleanliness and sophistication by the bowler hats
they’re wearing.
• Alex in particular stand out because his hair is very neatly combed
under his hat and he’s got some very large black fake eyelashes on
his right eye. This exadurates the beauty of Alex contrasting
between his strange outfit and sinister personality to an elegant
beautiful side.
Mise-en-scene: Performance: Costume
• In the street tunnel we have a lone homeless man lying on the
ground. We can tell he’s homeless because he’s lying in the street
but also because he’s covered in dirt. His hair is roughed up and
faded grey under an old bowler hat showing he’s an old man. And
we can tell he’s homeless also by his fingerless gloves dirty mac,
and trousers. This shows us what he wears to keep warm and
always wears because he has nothing else.
Mise-en-scene: Performance: Props
• In the milk bar everyone has a glass of milk. This is used to show
the youth of characters and also creates a contrast by the colour.
The background of the bar is black and the whiteness of the milk
along with the outfits creates to sides of the spectrum that is a
metaphor for the two sides of piece and violence.
• Cains are also used as a prop by Alex and his friends as use to beat
the man with and hold him down. This suggests how these people
take something with practical use and use it in whatever way they
can.
Mise-en-scene: Performance: Acting
• The most interesting character in the sequence (and the whole
film) is Alex. This is because of the way Malcolm McDowell
portrays him. He’s made out as a young physcopathic enjoying
torturing people with that smug sinister grin he has but also a very
relaxed elegant man. He has the constant look on his face where
he looks keeps his head tilted down and looks up to people with
one sided smile. This is really disturbing and makes Alex seem as a
far more effective character. He also speaks in this very calm
pieceful manor and talks in this rolling voice saying things really
elegantly. This again makes him seem more sinister by making him
sound more intelligent.
Mise-en-scene: Performance: Acting
• Alex’s friends on the other hand act more as exited children. This is
actually a little disturbing too because this childlike nature is a
complete contrast to the over the top violence the take part in.
They also tend to jump around laughing a lot when they’re beating
the old man showing they’re enjoying what they do, only tool
much.
Mise-en-scene: Performance: Acting
• The old man on the other hand manages to show his pure sorrow
and disappointment in life by lying very still. The way he just rolls
his head along the ground shows that he’s drunk and tired of life,
however we can also tell he’s drunk by the way he speaks. He’s
speaking with a slightly crackly whiskey voice. This also tells us that
he’s given up in life and is ready to die and leave the hell he lives
in.
Cinematography:
Shots
• The first shot in a close up of Alex’s face. This straight away
introduces our protagonist and also amidiatly tells us that he’s a
sinister smug character just by looking at him. He’s also looking
straight into the lense too which is like he’s looking into the eyes of
the audience staring them down with his smugness.
• Another shot is a long shot of the tunnel with the homeless man
lying on the ground singing away with Alex and his friends
approaching from behind the shot. Across the ground though we
see their shadows stretching right across the shot making them
seem more sinister.
Cinematography:
Shots
• AS the man is beaten a wide shot is used showing all the characters
surrounding the drunk and beating him. This gets all the characters
in shot and shows the change from them all being spaced out and
comfortable to being tightly closed in and violent.
Cinematography:
Movements
• Tracking – in the milk bar the camera tracks out through the bar
starting with a close up from Alex slowly moving out revealing the
rest of the bar revealing the location. This allows us to take things
in one by one and gives a sense of mystery towards where he is
and why.
• Zooming out – this starts with a mid shot of the drunk and slowly
zooms out revealing the rest of the tunnel for the four friends to
walk into. This again helps us take things in but also builds
suspense to what’s going on as he lies there singing.
Cinematography:
Angles
• Other than eye level the only angle used is a down shot of the
drunk when Alex pins him to the ground. This shows Alex’s power
and dominance over people and how he forces them down so he
has more power.
Sound: Diegetic
• In the second part of this (in the tunnels) we can hear the man
singing a familiar tune out of tune, out of pitching and with a slur
showing he’s drunk. This echoes through these tunnels giving a
hollow empty feel.
• We can also hear the friends messing about laughing and howling
away. This amplifies their sinister appeal by making them sound far
more exited and energetic towards beating a man.
Sound: None-Diegetic
• The theme tune is playing in the background as a simple
physcodelic keyboard tune. This is typical to the time period and
also gives us the feel that this is an abstract dystopia of some sort.
• We also get the voice over from Alex introducing us to himself and
his friends. He also goes on talking about “ultra-violence and later
how he dislikes the homeless” this tells us that he enjoys what he
does and takes pride in it and that what he does he sees as right
and just.
Summery
• From what we can see as mise-en-scene is a lot of contrast
between complete opposites, in particular towards Alex.
• A lot of the contrast is mostly to do with his personality between
his split in what’s right and wrong, between beauty and elegance
against sinister violence and between being youth and old age.
From this in Alex we can see he’s in the centre in the title sequence
and through the film will move over to one side of each of these
over time.