Sin City Film Analysis
For my film analysis I decided to use Sin City, directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino. Sin City is really unique in the way that the editing is done and in regards to mise-en-scene. There aren’t many movies out there that use the same style of filmmaking that these directors decided to use.
The first unique thing that is noticeable about the film is the directors’ choice of editing. There is a lot of editing work in this movie, from the color to the sounds that are incorporated. The main thing about this editing style that sticks out is the color. The movie is for the most part black and white. In this black and white world there is a lot of contrast. The shadows are mysteriously dark, most of the time covering people’s faces, and the whites are blindingly white. But there are instances throughout the movie when more colorful colors are incorporated. The color blue is seen once in the movie as the color of Jackie Boy’s car. Yellow also only shows up once in the form of Roark Jr.’s skin, towards the end of the movie. There are only a few points in the movie when everything has full color. The times when things were full color were around the gang of female strippers and in the bar that’s in their part of town. The most prominent color in the movie, by far, is the color red. Red is used to color everything from a dress, to a bed, and even police lights. Although red is used for a number of things, it is mainly used to color blood. The odd thing is that not everyone’s blood is red. Really only the important people in the movie have red blood. The movie follows three different main characters: Hartigan, Marv, and Dwight. All three of these characters bleed red when they bleed, while the guys they take out, or even when their allies bleed, the blood is stark white. A few of the main enemies also bleed red, but only part of the time. An example of this can be found in Jackie Boy. When the stripper killer named Miho is attacking Jackie Boy he only bleeds white blood, until she decapitates him and then the blood splatter is red. Color is really only used in this movie to emphasize certain things. From what I could tell color was only used in times when something needed to be paid close attention to, but at the same time it added a little bit of flare to the movie.
The second most noticeable aspect of the editing is the sound that is put to the actions. Almost every sound is over the top. The tires of the cars squeal unnecessarily loud, the gun shots sound like the most bad-ass shots ever fired, and bladed weapons sound like whistles cutting through the air when they are swung or thrown. The over the top sound effects just add to the feel of the movie, which is itself a little over the top.
The mise-en-scene of the film is also very interesting. Firstly, the costumes and personas of the actors in this movie go into great depth. The three main male actors, Hartigan, Marv, and Dwight all have sort of the same persona. They all have scars on them and all of their voices are raspy and harsh. This adds to the effect that they are supposed to be tough manly men who can conquer anything and defeat any villain. They also all have a confidence about themselves that is prominent when watching the movie. The three never show any fear, even in the face of death.
The style of the movie is one of Film Noir. The whole movie has a kind of old school mystery feel to it. It’s also in all black in white. Not to mention almost every person in the movie smokes a cigarette, mostly the main characters, which adds to the style that the directors were trying to achieve. In all of the old Film Noir movies everyone smokes and the smoking was definitely a big part of this movie. The weird thing is that the directors also incorporated a kind of old karate film feel to it also. The way that people fight really reminded me of an old cheesy karate movie. At one point of the movie there is a girl named Miho who jumps off a building and glides down with a katana, landing perfectly and unharmed. Every fistfight in this movie was also shot in this style. When a punch would land the recipient would go flying across the room and into the wall, much like the classic over the top karate films.
There was a lot of work involved in the creation and production of Sin City. The editing style is so unique that is almost unlike any other movie that I have ever seen. There are so many aspects of the mise-en-scene that are also unique. Basically the whole movie is unique and there was too much I saw to even fit into the analysis.
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