La La Land- spectatorship and characters

Discuss how important cinematography is in establishing strong responses from spectators to a key character in 'La La Land'.

Mia's Character

Cinematography is important in establishing strong responses from spectators to a key character as it helps to set up personal opinions and ideas towards a particular person. This is key to understanding the film as it enables spectators to relate to particular characters and find alignment with them. This can be found through the main character of Mia and how the cinematography is used to make her seem relatable and likeable to the audience. 

There are many different themes in which Mia's character can be analysed from, such as personal and emotional scenes to comedic and lively scenes. For instance, the scene with Mia singing to herself in the mirror of a house party helps to connect the audience to the character of Mia through the cinematography.

This scene highlights a personal and emotional tone to Mia's character from the start of the film where we are first introduced to her in detail. The low-key lighting and red ambience of the shot creates connotations of isolation and personal space. This gives the audience a special and intimate outlook onto Mia's life which presents her as being vulnerable and very human, making her a realistic character in which spectators can respond to in an understanding way. The mise-en-scene of the shot uses setting and costume to create a dark and red environment which connotes passion, showing that Mia has a passion for the job that she's trying to do and that there's a longing felt by Mia in the scene which is seen through the dark and slower paced tone. This idea is also heightened as the camera itself uses a medium shot which slowly zooms in on Mia and ends as a close up shot on the character, creating the intimate environment. This shows to spectators that Mia has a dream that she wishes she could get, this therefore creates a more relatable aspect to her character as she reflects every person that also has a dream and longing for a career and life they love.

The next scene which creates strong responses from spectators is the pool party scene in which Mia sees Sebastian again. This scenes creates a comedic perspective to the character which makes her more likeable to spectators as everyone engages more to a funny person.

 
The scene starts with a tracking shot of Mia walking around the party interacting with people. This shot shows the audience that Mia is a social person and welcoming, emphasised further by Mia's costume and the uses of the colour yellow which connotes a bright and happy energy to the character and presents her as being energetic and charming. The high-key lighting also presents her in an innocent way which further emphasises the connotations created by the yellow dress.  However, after the prior meeting where Sebastian blows Mia off and acts rude to her in the restaurant, it's in this scene where she gets him back for his behaviour. These characteristics from the character create a relatable and engaging perspective for the spectators as she's presented as confident and comedic.

 
The shot then changes to a close up shot of Mia dancing to the music of the band at the party. The mise-en-scene of Mia's character and her body language in this bit of the scene feels very engaging and lively and reflects a sense of comedic relief within the film. This creates a strong response from the audience as the high energy diegetic sound and high key lighting create an atmosphere that's welcoming and non-menacing, showing how although Mia is mocking Seb, she means no real malice behind it as the environment creates a comforting mood. This connotes to the audience that Mia isn't a horrible person but doesn't like to be pushed about, so therefore she'll take any advantage to teach a lesson. This makes her a character females can align with as many women don't like to be treated badly, and therefore want to stand up for themselves but in a way that isn't malicious and awful. My personal reading of this shot is preferred as I engaged in the enthusiastic and outgoing behaviour of Mia in the film which made her seem like a character with relatable and more humane characteristics, rather than seeming just like a 'character' in a Hollywood film. This therefore created a strong response from me as a spectator as this scene in particular is my favourite. This is also heightened by the colours used in the film as the setting seems bright and lively which creates a captivating ambience to the movie. This creates a strong response from me to the character of Mia as she is the main power behind this scene as she's the one that instigates much of the energy seen.

Overall, cinematography is important in creating strong responses from spectators as it creates the core feelings and meanings in certain scenes which reflects important characteristics from the characters. Mia has one of the strongest responses due to the cinematography as you are constantly, as an audience member, involved in her life and her feelings in a personal and intimate level, through her mise-en-scene and constant close up shots reflecting her mood and emotions. This is key in understanding her character and therefore the movie, suggesting how important it is in establishing responses to characters, as it determines your outlook on the film through its entirety.