SSC Film Studies

In this scene Mozart is standing very tall and is in the centre of the shot, he stands above an alter like desk, also the lighting surrounds him, above and each side of him there are candles, this indicates he is a god-like preacher of his music. As Saleiri admits defeat the camera starts to zoom in on his face and the darkness surrounding him, it is as though he is being trapped, it makes him seem insecure and weak, in comparison to Mozart’s bright and wide shot, making him seem the dominant of the two. The misenscne tells us that time is being told through Saleiri’ memories, the camera shots that he described show Mozart as the heavenly figure and himself as the weak dark person, this tells me he saw looked up to Mozart and deeply envied him. The shot of the play is shown over the shoulder of Mozart, this shot indicates Mozart’s important role as he is always shot inside the scene of the play, this tells me he is in charge. Saleiri talks about how something has changed in the scene, the royal man then yawns, the camera suddenly starts to retreat from the close up shot of Saleiri, this indicates the relief of tension upon him, it also tells me that he is no longer weak and has now regained his control. Saleiri’ posture also becomes more at ease and he begins to smile, the lighting changes as we see a different angle of Saleiri, It suddenly changes from a low key a mid key, yet it still keeps a slight darkness around, indicating his dark evil side.