...

1. Star Wars: The Force
Awakens – Micro Sci-Fi
Analysis.

2. Mise-en-scene
Location
• It starts off with Rey being isolated in the vault, it's dark with little light to see
anything more than brick walls. Compared to what the ships and technology
looks like in this film, everything in the tunnel, including the tunnel its self,
seems as if it has been built ages ago and has been able to stay intact. This can
show the audience that not everyone has the same level of technology or they
refer not use such advance technology as it would take away their culture.
• The battle ground in this sequence is what a city in Takodana now looks like
when Kylo Ren and the Stormtroopers appeared. The buildings are completely
destroyed by the battle, making everything looks dark and grey, making it
difficult see anything beyond the foreground because of the amount of smoke
that has appeared . Showing the audience that anything can change within a
second and look completely opposite to what it once looked like.
• The forest that Rey runs through during the fight and at first despite all of the
trees, it give Rey the option to run away in any direction however as the
sequence goes on boulders limit Rey's option of having multiple directions as it
narrows her path and lets Kylo ren catch up with her. Forests are difficult if the
character has never been in there before and creates a disadvantage for Rey and
during parts of the sequence she become hesitant to which direction she should
go next, not know if it was a good choice or not.

3. Mise-en-scene
Lighting
• The scene starts off with Rey in a tunnel with dim lights on the walls which create a
dark and unfriendly atmosphere, showing the audience how isolated she because her
family left her many years ago, following a single path as hope that her family will
return one day.
• When the Death star shoots its laser, there is a red glow that appears on Kylo Ren's
mask as it passes his ship but also on the planets that were targeted and will soon be
destroyed. The colour red often fits in with the villains scheme of colours because it
can symbolise war and danger, so it also enhance the point that Kylo Ren is the villain
because of the red lightsaber he has shows evil within Kylo Ren and the death many
have faced.
• Blue lighting from Luke lightsaber can show the faith and stability the weapon can
bring, it has been used countless times before to fight evil and it can be used again
with Finn fighting the Stormtroopers. Also since the colour blue can also symbolise
calmness, it shows the audience that the blue light calms Finn down in the sequence,
as he go up against the Stormtrooper without being completely scared.

4. Mise-en-scene
Costume
• Rey, the main character in the film, wears white clothing. She follows the iconic dress
code as the hero to wear white or light clothing in the film and will show the audience
that she will fight off and possible defeat Kylo Ren. Her costume isn't made of a strong
material and seems to look very light compared to the Stormtroopers' costumes, this
could be because she lived in a desert so wearing light weight and bright clothing can
make travelling a lot easier when moving through the desert, which also gives her the
advantage of not being held down by the weight of her clothes.
• Kylo Ren wears iconic clothing of a villain, which is wearing the colour black. His long
robes and mask keeps himself covered and it's so difficult to any kind of lighting as if it
was a black hole, the absence of light. It makes him seem a lot more threatening to be
wearing something close to vantablack, showing the audience that no light can enter
and survive his darkness.
• The army of Stormtroopers all wear their white uniform and while is goes against the
rule of the hero wearing basic white armour with white helmets, making them all look
exactly the same. It makes them anonymous to audience and decreases the chances of
audience (who are a fan of the evil side) getting emotionally attached to any of them,
since they die off easily.

5. Mise-en-scene
Props
• Luke Skywalker's lightsaber is one of the main and most important prop in this
sequence and is Finn's weapon during the sequence. The light saber has been kept
safe since Luke disappearance but it could mean that lightsaber is ready for the new
chosen one to use it in battle because it calls for Rey since Luke isn't in distance but
Rey is. Also since Maz does not say how Luke's lightsaber got into her possession, the
audience could think that it means that Luke was one who gave it her.
• The chest that Maz has to keep the light saber safe is just a normal wooden box that
can be easily opened, hidden in plain sight among other old objects. This can make
the audience think that Maz must have thought that if the lightsaber was hidden in
something that would be more difficult to opened, something worth a lot must be
contained in it so if the lightsaber was hidden in a box that could easily be opened, no
one would be of the wiser.
• Kylo Ren's light saber is different to Luke Skywalker's, Ren's has additional blades on
both sides at the base of the emitter section, making it look more like a traditional
sword but also make it more dangerous because of where the additional blades are
placed. It would make it difficult for Kylo Ren's opponent to simply just get in reach
and knock the weapon out of his hand or aim their blaster at his hand, because it
gives the user more protection.

6. Mise-en-scene
Character movement
• Rey is very uneased, when she finds Luke's lightsaber and experiences a lot of
disturbing visions of the past from the previous owner and then flees into the
woods within seconds of finding out that the lightsabers calls for her. For her to
be in constant panic can show the audience that since Rey has seen into the
future, she want to revent it from happening by trying to escape it all.
• Kylo Ren's movement is very slow and calm but is in control as he is able to stop
Rey's movement. This is because he knows what he is after and possible since he
is wearing long robes, it gives him the disadvantage to move quickly. The
audience will see that Ren has quick reflects, as he is able to deflect Rey's
bullets while also thinking of his next move, to paralyze Rey.
• Finn isn't hesitant when fighting off the other Stormtroopers in the sequence
despite bring one of them before. This shows that he is seasoned fighter, who
was trained since birth to serve the First Order and is able to remain calm
enough to be to fight against old comrades and preform a decent battle.
However when he sees Rey has been captured by Kylo Ren, he becomes reckless
by running direct towards them without even thinking that an enemy could stop
him with he is running out in the open. This shows that, Finn's amount of focus
can depend on what it going on around him.

7. Sound
• The most noticeable diegetic sounds in the scene is from the fight scene because there are multiple airship flying
across the battle grounds alongside the weapons such as the lightsabers and blasters the characters are using. It
adds intensity to the battle because on the battle ground, there isn't any silences, this keeps the audience excited
because them hearing a specific sound effect will tell the audience what weapons are being used without the
weapon even being shown in the frame. Sci-fi films will use a lot more unique and different sound effects
compared to other genre of films because they want the level of sound effects to match the quality of the CGI
that is used.
• The non-diegetic sounds are from the soundtrack that plays during the sequence but only becomes noticeable
when the battle starts, heavily increasing the orchestral music when the resistance arrives but sounds really
heroic because they are the back up that help the battle become more even. However, the orchestral music
becomes silent when it cuts back to Rey, because she is waiting for Kylo Ren to appears and silence makes the
audience also trying and listen out for any signs of Kylo Ren appearing. When Kylo Ren does finally appears in
front of Rey, the loud orchestral music increases again but at a lower pitch compared to the high pitch music
that played when the resistance arrived, which is because he is the villain and needs low pitched music to make
him seem for threatening to the audience.

8. Cinematography
• Close- ups are used to show the characters' expressions but also for the weapons in
the sequence, such as Luke Skywalker's lightsaber. His lightsaber is an important
prop in the film so close-ups would be seen by the audience so that there are able to
identify that it's the real one.
• There is an arc shot when Finn, Chewbacca and Han solo are rescued by
incoming aircrafts, the Resistance, when they are surrounded by the Stormtroopers.
The shot takes place from a distance so that it is easy for the audience to see the
environment surrounding them and the lack of Stormtroopers surrounding the three
characters but also show Finn's happy expression that the resistance has arrived.
• Dutch angles are presented in the sequence when Kylo Ren enter the battle scene,
creating a unease knowing that the main villain has arrive. Another Dutch angle
appears when Finn goes head to head with a Stormtrooper who isn't using their gun.
It creates a slight unease because Finn no longer has the advantage at close ranged
battles now that the two fighters are equal. The camera tilts are there to show the
audience that there has been a shift in battle.
• Towards the end of the sequence, there is a tracking shot with Finn, who is running
across the battle field, trying to save Rey who is captured and is being taken away
by Kylo Ren. It shows the distance Finn has to travel, trying to catch up to Rey and
Kylo Ren and not making it in time but also how much Finn cares about Rey to run a
long distance just to get to her.

9. Editing
• This film heavily uses CGI for the Death Star, space ships and for some of the
characters that appear in the sequence. CGI is used for countless models for
scenes because it would not be possible if they were to be practical effects. Also
using CGI in battle allows the audience to see such dynamic shots that give them
a better experience when watching.
• The sequence starts off being slow paced when Rey is in the tunnel because
nothing dramatic has happen yet. During the fight scenes it changes to being fast
paced because of the amount of characters, on land and sky, all fighting in one
battle zone. It gives the audience excitement because view cuts to multiple shots
with different angles throughout the fight. The pace because slow again when Kylo
Ren has paralyzed Rey. It causes tension because the audience know that Ren
could easy murder Rey while she doesn't have the ability to fight back.