Through this two minute clip of Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future there are many filmic elements used to keep them watching. The Mise-en-Scene elements of setting, staging, sound, colour and the use of the space mixed with cinematography, editing all add to the Audience expectations and build the suspense of the scene.
During this 2 minute sequence there are many Mise-en-Scene elements for example setting, which is implied as a car park outside a convenience store of some nature, later on in the clip the audience are shown “J C Penny” (Back in Time Scene - Back to the Future Movie (1985) – HD, 2011) and are thus to confirm this suspicion they are also able to tell that it is a car park by the white lines that are very recognizable on many other car parks. The Costume is also very clear in this scene; the persons in the van are dressed in terrorist costume identifying them in the mind of the viewer as potential people of evil and entice them to side with the other character that is depicted in the scene. The use of this type of character and costume is playing on the stereotyping tendencies of the audience. The costume of the other character depicted here is a boiler suit of some sort, maybe suggesting that he is working with a hazardous material, but due the length of the clip, it is never shown to the audience directly.
When ‘Marty’ First encounters the terrorists he is fearful for his life, which is shown by the image of him standing in the light with his eyes shut, almost willing for luck to be on his side, the music in the background is also building up hinting that something important is about to happen. He also looks back the motionless figure in on the ground and moves to assist them; however when both he and the audience hear the engine of the fan roar into life, he closes the door and makes to move drive off. What this does is builds up the suspense and gets the audience asking themselves questions, what has happened to the motionless figure or can ‘Marty’ escape.
Another aspect of sound that in the clip is the sound of bullets, the audience continually hear the sounds of a gun being fired, reminding them of the situation. During this time ‘Marty’ is also willing the car on, pushing it to try to reach the goal of 88 miles per hour. He finally manages to achieve this after the terrorist pulls out what appears to be a Rocket. ‘Marty’ urging of the car, entices the audience to also will the car on as he is the protagonist of the film.
With the scene taking place during the night, the vehicles being driven both have their headlights on, at the beginning of the clip, the lights from the terrorists van are used to illuminate the character ‘Marty’ to add to the suspense of the scene. While Marty is driving, his face is light up by the reflection of a light shining into the wing mirror. What this shows us is the sweat, from the stress of the position he is in, this is shown even more after the terrorists are shown as aiming an RPG at his car. While there is the use of Street lamps and headlights, natural light is not enough to illuminate as much of the scene area as needed, so the use of spotlights may have been used to illuminate this area for the director with the help of the available lighting.
The staging and movement in this scene includes a lot of driving. Although it begins with the character of Marty running then jumping into the car, the primary movement in this scene is based around driving, this is shown to us by the use of many different camera angles and edits, these camera angles and edits add to the suspense of the scene. For example, the cuts in the editing when Marty is starting the car shows the keys being turned, the gear being selected, then the accelerator pedal being applied, and with the addition of the tyres screeching into life at the end of this sequence the audience is able to tell that the car has been started and is ready to aid in the escape. The cuts in this scene are straight cuts, which are all done to achieve continuity editing. It cuts from one aspect of the scene into another aspect in the same scene.
The Editing in this scene is done to create the illusion of ‘real time’ where the filming may have taken place over many hours. This condensing of film is achieved by using the many different cuts that are in the clip. The effect of this is to build the suspense, the cuts between the Terrorists and ‘Marty’ adds to their conflict and builds the audience expectations. As the pace of the edits get faster the audience is drawn in by the increasing music up until ‘Marty’ finally hits 88 Miles per hour and travels back in time when the music reaches its climax and the sounds of its time travel takes over.
This scene utilizes screen space to keep the audience guessing as to how close the vehicles are from each other at any one point, as well as keeping the audience guessing as to how much room each of the vehicles has to work with for example, when ‘Marty’ first drives off, the Van is unseen apart from the few seconds where we see it finally come to life and begin to move off. However, this is followed by a cut into the car with ‘Marty’. While the audience can guess that the van is heading towards him, we are not directly shown this until ‘Marty’ begins to drive himself. At which point there is another cut and the camera uses a crane shot and pans out so we can see the van approaching with the ‘Terrorists’
There is only a few spoken words in this sequence, at the beginning of the clip the ‘Terrorists’ are clearly identified as foreign by the language used when the gun jams. This helps the audience identify the threat to ‘Marty’ and also amplifies the frustration at the gun jamming therefore allowing ‘Marty’ to escape as they have reverted to using the natural language. During this period the music the audience can hear, Non-diegetic music holds to one single note played continuously which is used in enticing the audience to hold their breath and hope for the best situation for the protagonist.
Being only a two minute clip, there is slight hints at a motif for the movie. For example, The Car, which plays a pivotal point through the clip, as it is the entity in which ‘Marty’ travels back in time, which is shown by the date board which flashes the date of ‘November 5, 1955”, by showing this the director is giving the audience the clues needed for them to conclude that after the bright lights and arriving in the field, that he has indeed travelled back in time. Once back in time the audience can hear the sounds of a car bumping over grass and no longer the smooth tar Mac, which is another indication that he has travelled back in time, this change is also clearly visible through the windscreen also when shown to us in the long shot later in the clip. The car also hits a scarecrow causing ‘Marty’ to yell and turn the car which then causes him to drive into a barn like building. Through this scene the colour blue, which is another hint at a motif through continued use, is used partly to signify the sadness ‘Marty’ is feeling toward the person who the audience sees laying facedown. Also, it is used when the car hits the target speed and travel back in time it illuminates the whole car. While being a hint at a motif, its continued use before this, in the shading of the shots and the lighting that illuminates the face of ‘Marty’ on occasion, could be an attempt at foreshadowing this moment. The sound of his yelling is muffled as a hazmat suit covers his head after a nasty bump, proving to the audience that what they are hearing and seeing is taking place at the same time, after which the sounds of the car are also muffled when he drives through the doors of the barn.
As the car crashes or comes to a stop in the building, which the audience is able to see as a far shot but never close up, there is a crash and the sounds of wood snapping and breaking, then from what aooears to be a hole in the roof there is dust or smoke emanating. The use of this far shot and the sound leads the audience to imagine that the car has been crashed and wonder if after all the trouble of getting away, that it might have all been in vain. The use of the far shot here keeps the audience guessing as to what actually happened in the barn.
The first camera shot of the scene is a pan shot while ‘Marty’ runs across the van, this makes the audience follow his vision. From this shot is cuts into a mid close up of ‘Marty’ then in a shot reverse shot action it switches between him and the ‘terrorist’, what the use of this shot does is shows the emotion that both parties are feeling about the situation they find themselves in before cutting back to the ‘terrorist’ clearly agitated that the gun has jammed. From this it cuts to a shot of ‘Marty’ diving into his car, showing the urgency to which he is trying to get away. It then cuts into another shot reverse shot, between ‘Marty’, the unknown figure laying face down and the ‘terrorist’ with the time between these individual shots speeding up to add to the suspense and increase the heart rates of the audience. During the car chase sequence there is different shot types used, with the first a tracking shot taken in front of the vehicles, switching to the perspective of each person involved to show what they are doing, getting the audience involved. All of these shots follow the 180 degree rule allowing the audience to keep up with the unseen movements, for example, that the van is always on one side of the car during the chase.
The use of the different filmic elements in this scene of Back to the Future, work together to add to the audiences experience of watching the film, this is achieved by using, mise-en-scene, cinematography and editing together to created a scene high in energy and high on emotion. In doing this the Director has created a scene where the audience find themselves willing the protagonist on to his escape and when he finally achieves it they can see their expectations fulfilled and can move onto the next scene of the film and once again build up these expectations from that scene and from the movie as a whole.
Works Cited
Back in Time Scene - Back to the Future Movie (1985) – HD. YouTube. May 26, 2011 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPeHFDxKUP4&feature=relmfu>
