The Breakfast Club Mis En Scene Review

                         The scene I chose from The Breakfast Club is towards the end of the movie. In this particular scene, Claire, Bender, Allison, Andrew, and Brian are seen running down the hallway after they leave Bender’s locker where he grabs his marijuana. As Mr. Vernon is walking down the hall, they see him and start running. Soon after this, the rest of the group can be seen running back to the library as Bender covers for them and eventually gets caught by Mr. Vernon.

            In this scene are eyes are first attracted to Claire, Bender, Allison, Andrew, and Brian as they are running, but to me your eyes are really attracted to all of the blurred characters. The Breakfast Club is filmed with both high key and low key lighting, in this scene there is a scene there is a combination of high key and low key lighting. This is considered high key because it’s bright with the colors and low key with the shadows and darker colors, especially their costumes. The camera angle of this scene would be long shot because not only do we see the characters but the background as well. We see them in action as they are running, trying not to get caught by Mr. Vernon. We as the audience, also see the detail of the doors in the background. The camera seems like it’s a couple of feet away from the actors for this particular long shot angle. We the audience, as well as the camera crew are looking at the scene neutrally at eye level.

            There are a lot of neutral colors in this scene such as the red doors, white walls, and wooded doors and walls, as well as the characters basic colored clothes in their costumes. The color that stands out the most to me, and is the dominant color is red from the red lockers. The color red stands for energy, war, strength, passion, and danger. This could foreshadow two things: danger and love. One being that Bender goes and distracts Mr. Vernon so that the rest of the group doesn’t get in trouble, which signals danger. The second being love, which is showing that there is love forming between the characters. The lens filter in this film really adds to this particular scene because it gives off that “vintage” vibe. The only thing that really sort of distorts this photo is the fact that four out of the five characters are blurred because it’s an action shot.

            The main eye stop is the characters in action, then Allison since she’s the only one that isn’t blurred, then the red doors and the wooden doors and walls. To me, my eyes forst go to the characters in action, then Allison, next the red doors, the wooden doors and walls, and finally everything else in the background. There’s not too much and there’s not too little information packed into this scene. We as the audience, especially if we have seen the movie before, we know that the characters are trying to run from Mr. Vernon without getting caught, which tells a story. The texture of the scene is pretty moderate there isn’t too much going on and the set isn’t too busy. It looks like a normal high school hallway.

            The space is good, there isn’t too many pieces of furniture in the hallway, so it isn’t crowded, there’s just enough. The underlying design here is the subtle background with the characters. In this particular scene there isn’t any windows or anything of that sort. To me, the doors, walls, and the other furniture in this scene is set up in a way so that everything compliments and balances each other without it being too overpowering. The framing in this movie is very loose. The characters have plenty of room to move around freely and run without being cramped up.

            The background and foreground compliment the frame because as the characters are in action with the shot the background is neutral and still. (This is almost like a panning shot) There isn’t anything in the background or foreground that distract you from the characters or the rest of the movie. The part of the framed space that the characters occupy is the center. All five of the characters are focused completely in the center of the frame because they are running in action. The characters are seen looking away from the camera because they are focusing on running down the hallway in this particular scene. There is also a few inches of space between each of the characters so that they don’t bump into each other.      

The Breakfast Club Cinematography Review

The Breakfast Club written and produced by John Hughes and is cinematographer by Thomas “Tom” Del Ruth. Thomas Del Ruth is an American cinematographer. A cinematographer is the chief over camera crews working on a film, television production or other live action piece and is responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to an image. Tom has much recognition for not only cinematography but as camera operator, assistant camera, and producer too.  Some of Tom’s notable works are the television show “ER” (1994) which he worked on three episodes and is the director of photography, “Quicksilver” (1986) as a cinematographer, The Breakfast Club (1985) as director of photography, and most recently “Flipped” (2010) as a cinematographer as well.

            The editing style of The Breakfast Club is classic along with realism. I say that it is realism because they are five teenagers in detention trying to get through the pressures of being a teenager and family issues. The Breakfast Club is mainly filmed at eye level, long shot, and close up. Long shot is during the scenes that show all the characters as well as the rest of the scene. Eye level is how we would see it as if we were really talking to the characters, and how we see it as we are watching it. Close up is when the camera gets close to one specific character. An example of this is the scene where Claire, Bender, Allison, Andrew, and Brian are sitting on the library floor as they are revealing information about themselves the camera moves from each character to another. When Claire is talking the camera is on her, then it switches to Brian and so forth. By doing this we not only see which character is talking but we also gain a sense of their feelings and emotions too.

            The lighting in The Breakfast Club is very traditional, very high key lighting. Meaning that there is a lot of bright lights and not very many shadows, or if any at all. The lighting works very well with the film because even though The Breakfast Club is a drama as well as a comedy the lighting worked even as the camera went on a specific character as they are speaking. The outdoor scenes in the beginning and end of the film were filmed with traditional lighting, unlike the indoor scenes that used artificial lighting, such as lamps and lights. The Breakfast Club is filmed in color and there is no need for a 3D or special effects crew because there isn’t any 3D or special effects in the film.

            The camera and lenses for The Breakfast Club is supplied by Panaflex Camera and Lenses (as Panavision). The film negative width is 35mm. The lens manufacture is Panavision Lens Maker and the film print maker is Eastman Color Print 5384/7384. The cinematographic process is spherical. The Breakfast Club is filmed at slow stock, meaning that the camera captures the colors without washing them out.