Avengers Assemble

By: Evelyn Clinton

Mise En Scne
Mise en Scne is an expression used to describe the arrangement of scenery and
stage properties in a play or movie. The four main components of Mise en Scne are
characters, locations, editing and sound.
My chosen movie is Avengers Assemble, directed by Joss Whedon and released
in 2012. It is about Loki, Thors evil brother, gaining access to an energy cube, the
Tesseract, and he wants to control the Earth. Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.,
puts together an elite team to defeat Loki and his
army of an alien race.
In Avengers Assemble, the characters over
indulge in their costumes and personalities to
enforce our beliefs of who they are and what they
are doing. Black Widow dresses in all black and
has very calculated expressions because she is an
assassin. Stark wears an iron suit to be Iron Man
and has smug expressions because he likes
showing off that he is a genius. The background
characters make you believe they are being attacked because of their screaming and
their frantic running to get away from danger. Loki also convinces us that he wants to
rule and be all powerful by wearing a dramatic headdress, as he is a self-proclaimed
king, by holding an impressive weapon, and giving dramatic speeches. Sadness is also
expressed by all members of the team due to Agent Collisions death. Bruce Banner
always has angry expressions when turning into Hulk as well. An old man stands up
against Loki, making us feel touched. The character Tony Stark makes us believe in
heros and what they are trying to do when he saves the city from a missile.

The second component of Mise en Scne are the locations. There are multiple
different locations used in the movie. In scene three, Black Widow is ordered to retrieve
Bruce Banner, known as the Hulk, in a remote foreign village. We regard it as foreign
due to the music played, the people, and the stage set up of the village. Another location
is Lokis underground lab. There are props of quarantined areas, there is poor lighting
and the ground is wet from the streets above. Even though many locations in the movie
were highlighted, a major location in Avengers Assemble is New York City. New York
City is where the final battle is located. We believe that a battle takes place here because
of the fires, rubble and destroyed cars.
Editing is the third component. This focuses onto the angles at which the camera
shoots the scenes, how fast it is going and the way it moves, such as a panorama. In the
scene, We have a Hulk, the camera shoots Loki and Iron Man when one begins to add
to the conversation. When Stark is in his suit, there is always a close up of his face as
well. To make a person more important the angle shoots upwards and behind the
character being spoken to. This creates an omega feeling to the character being spoken
to and puts us, the viewers in that character's shoes as well. This occurs when Director
Fury is giving orders to his assistant. The recording from the camera also speeds up in
many of the battle scenes. When the whole team gathers at the final battle and the
camera begins to circle them, it makes us believe they are preparing to fight to save the

Earth.
The final component of Mise en Scne is sound. Music can make you feel tension
or even calm and relaxed. It also adds effects to weapons and explosions, which

occurred in the movie during the final scenes. Orchestral music was played in scene
eight when there was a formal gathering at a party. It made us feel relaxed, however
when the speed of the playing instruments increased we could feel tension and know an
attack would start occurring. There was then a dramatic entrance made by Iron Man
when there was the use diegetic music, A.C. D.C. In many of the battles, sound effects
were used to portray smashing, explosions and the firing of weapons. In scene 19 when
the Avengers win the theme song is played to make us feel the victory as they did in the
movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbivKqvh-6g
believes in.

~The old man stands up to what he

~Iron Mans dramatic entrance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF2BjlRwc8E ~Collision dies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAjyjbb-Kfw

~Bruce Banner gets angry.

~The Avengers assembled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8sLAJ1R9RU ~Loki tries to give a dramatic

speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29m7IcsE7WM ~Iron Man sends missile to space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72MeeEMDXps ~Avengers theme song.

Three Act Narrative

The three act narrative is commonly used in Hollywood movies. It is a model
used in screenwriting that divides a fictional narrative into three parts, often called the
Set-Up, the Confrontation and the Resolution.
Act I is the Set-up. This is where the films world and its characters are
established. Act I in Avengers Assemble are scenes 1-7. There are five settings were the
main characters are introduced. The setting of the first base of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduced
Director Nick Fury, his assistant/ bodyguard, Agent Phil Collision, Hawkeye, Loki and
the Tesseract. In a warehouse, Black Widow performed an interrogation and we saw her
assassination skills. Hulk entered the movie in the setting of a foreign village. Captain
America was introduced in a gym and, Iron Man at Stark Tower. During this act we are
made aware of Lokis plans to take over the Earth using the Tesseract with the help of an
alien race. War was declared when Loki takes the Tesseract from S.H.I.E.L.D. The
turning point during this act was when we were made aware that if Loki didnt deliver
the Tesseract to the alien race he would be killed. We also learned that the second base
of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a large barge that can fly.

Act II is the Complication or the Confrontation. This is when the elite team that
Director Fury has gathered must overcome obstacles. Act II in Avengers Assemble are
scenes 8-13. The two main settings in Act II are the extremely large aircraft, where
S.H.I.E.L.D. is based and the underground lab where, Loki is based. The Avengers
obstacles included learning how to work together as a team and to retrieve the
Tesseract. Thor entered the movie in scene 9 when Loki was captured. Lokis goal was to
build the machine to control the tesseract and open the portal to the other world. The
turning points in Act II were when Agent Collision dies in Scene 12. This gave the team a
push to stop Loki. Hawkeye is also freed from Loki and Tony Stark realizes that Loki has
set up his machine at Stark Tower.
Act III is the Resolution. This is when there is a build up to the climax and the
complications from Act I and II are resolved. Act III in Avengers Assemble are the

scenes 14-20. The main setting in this act was Stark Tower and New York City. In the
scene 16, the team assembled to take down Loki and his army of an Alien Race. During
Act III the final battle occurs that resolves the complication between Lokis want for
control and the Avengers need to save the Earth. When Loki was defeated he was sent
back to Asgard with Thor and the rest of the team went in their separate directions,
prepared to avenge the Earth if necessary.