Road close analysis

The Road

Mise en scene 

The use of mise en scene in the road is massive. There is a huge juxtaposition of lighting and color between the bright pre-apocalyptic with many close ups of vibrant flowers against the dark and grey environment that surrounds them. The trees are no longer brown and the sky is a murky grey as if the end of the world has drained all life and color.

 In a shot of the protagonists walking the boy is swinging a teddy bear showing he still has a innocence in a world where there isn’t any. His father also reads him a story book showing recurring theme of childhood and maybe the father still wants his son to have one even in a destroyed Earth.

There is the repetition of animals as the first shot of the protagonist is him nuzzling a horse which then contrasts with the dead stags head on the wall in an abandoned diner, the boy is was born after the world ended and has never seen a living animal which implies he misses out on experiences considered normal in our world.Along with the trees falling down and the fact that all the animals died shows that life can no longer persist and makes the audience question how long the protagonists have left?

When traveling the protagonists use a shopping trolley to carry their belonging, often something connotated with homelessness. This implies that there are no longer homes just the long road and a constant movement from one dismal place to the other. 

 Both the son and his father are wearing old dark clothes, which is the apparel most practical for a dangerous world. The protagonist has a overgrown beard showing how there is a lack of razors and a clean shaven face is no longer seen as important.
In another scene there  is many "valuables" in a shop of money and jewelry and both the man and boy trample over it, this implies there is a role reversal of what is considered valuable, things seen as a normality to us is a luxury to them for example fresh  food.

There is also a biblical reference "Behold the valley of slaughter" is a quote from the bible, this phrase represents a loss of faith as it feels that God has abandoned the world and left it to crumble.The entire genre is established through the mise en scene and will fulfill the purpose of entertainment for the audience (Uses and Gratifications Theory.)

Editing 

Editing is big part of The road, in the opening sequence there is a graphic match of flowers in the garden and flowers on the females blouse. Flowers are often connotated with beauty and innocence maybe suggesting that the female herself has those traits.There is another graphic match when the door closes at the beginning of the film and the room goes dark, it then moves to another location smoothly.

 There are many jump cuts when the protagonists are walking along the road these are used to show the huge amount of travel that has taken place and maybe to make it feel like an endless process like it must feel for the characters.


Sound
In The Road the sound is used to provoke emotion from the audience the first diegetic sound is birds tweeting contently, this shows the significance of nature as later in the opening in the protagonists narration states all the animals are dead.This is also accompanied by non-diegetic piano that is quite light and relaxed which represents the mood and atmosphere of the film at that point. The same music continues as the scene changes however as the protagonist gets out of bed to investigate the outside world the music becomes more serious which is used to build tension because of the narrative enigma of the mystery to what is happening. There is also a muffled rumble to indicate there is something going off outside his window, 

A sound bridge is used from when the protagonist is filling up the bath, which is the same sound as the waterfall in a significantly different location. In the same scene a woman is screaming "where are you" as the protagonist awakes from sleeping, this voice could of been in his dreams and might  gives a clue as to what happened to the woman.

Another sound used is the sad and ominous piano and Villon which is accompanied by the protagonists voice over. It is a very haunting piece of music which matches perfectly with the depressing environment that is forever surrounding the characters. The music conveys profound emotions of loss, solitude and at times to the foolishness of hope in the scattered piano notes. The narrators voice is very miserable but that is understandable as everything is crumbling and dying around him however there is a sense of hope when he talks about his son "If his is not the word of God, then God never spoke." This is a reference to God that states the protagonist has only belief and that is in his son as how could the entity of "God" exist in such a shrived world? Rather that the boy is symbol of hope to the protagonist and the only thing that he considers important.

Camera 

 As the film starts there are series of  close ups of nature and flowers. They are very colorful and full of life which is used to make the change from this to the grey world even bigger. These are the first shots in the film and establish the environment, here the audience feel a false sense of peace as the world in a state of equilibrium at that point.

The next shots is a medium shot that tracks along the protagonists darkly lit bedroom. There is a weird sense of orangeness to the environment which hints at a fire or explosion. The next shot is a close up of the woman's face which is used to captivate her worry and confusion in the situation which creates a narrative enigma as to what is happening.

Here the location changes but a sense of time passing is established through a close up of the protagonists aged face and graying beard.This supports Barthes Hermeneutic code (Voice of truth) and Altmans Intellectual puzzles because of the massive time jump and the unknown whereabouts of the woman who was thought to be an important character which creates an enigma to the narrative.  Another close up is used as he rests his hand on his sons heart, most-likely to check if its still beating.This shows how important the boy is to the man as he instinctively checks his well being as soon as wakes up.

Many establishing shots are used to show the decay and disruption that has happened to the world.Quite a few establishing shots are used to show how long the roads are and how far the charterers have to travel.

There is a close up of skeletons in a bin which the protagonist doesn't even blink an eye which implies that such brutality is considered a norm to him. The camera also zooms in a stags head and then flicks to a close up of the boy looking intently at it. This is significant as it shows how alien animals must seem to someone who has never experienced one. One of the last shots of the opening scene is a close up of the man stating the boy is his only hope, this supports Altmans emotional emotional pleasures theory as this will provoke a response from the audience as the protagonist has such a strong bond and belief in his son.