How does the director use Mise En Scene and sound to establish meaning and provoke the audience’s response in the opening scenes of Finding Nemo?

How does the director use Mise En Scene and sound to establish meaning and provoke the audience’s response in the opening scenes of Finding Nemo? – Grace Pye

Mise en scene is a French phrase that means ‘placing on stage’; this guides the director with everything from props, costumes, makeup and set design that is used to manipulate an audience response. In film studies mise en scene is used to build up and create the scene so that the audience gain a better understanding for a certain character by the costume they are wearing and makeup that they have on, even the props they are using and environment that they are in.

Sound is a key feature to films as it provokes certain emotions by setting the scene, introducing a character, emphasising on key moments by using a technique called ‘sound sting’. There are two types of sound which are diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic is the most common form of sound, it is basically the sound that exists inside of the film. Non-diegetic sound is the sound of a clip which can only be heard outside of the film world to enhance the audiences’ experiences of the film, for example the non-diegetic voice narrator of Bridget Jones in the Bridget Jones Diary.

The scene begins with a tranquil non diegetic soundtrack playing which immediately creates a calm setting for what looks like a relaxed scene. A spacious ocean, which enhances the tranquil feel of the soundtrack, can be seen through high key lighting, as the diegetic verbal communication between Marlin and Coral develops. Marlin is feeling quite proud because he is proud of the home that he has found for his wife and future family, this is evident through his tone of voice as he uses diegetic dialogue to say ‘‘So Coral when you said you wanted an ocean view you didn’t think you would get the whole ocean.’’ This is a key feature throughout this scene and especially the film to bring in the common sounds of their natural environment which does include the sound that is created by the water when the sea creatures swim.

Coral uses diegetic dialogue to say “the neighbourhood is awesome” which is a trigger for the non-diegetic soundtrack as it changes to a more upbeat accompaniment for the new busy environment that is being shown. The change in the soundtrack has faster rhythms and a high major melodic tone which creates a happy mood for the audience as they watch the busy neighbourhood rushing around doing their daily chores. There are many soundscapes that can be heard that you would likely hear in any other human neighbourhood, such as children laughing and mumbling of different conversations taking place which almost humanises the sea creatures living in this environment.

Both Coral and Marlin swim down to the area where they are keeping their eggs. There is low key lighting on the surrounding area of the eggs, but the actual eggs themselves are well lit and glowing which exaggerates their importance in the film. The non-diegetic soundtrack changes the mood as well as it becomes calmer, slower and more gentle, showing us that this is a key moment for both of them as they are both with each other looking at their multiple eggs.

 Marlin exits the anemone exclaiming ‘cuties here’ to Coral which is part of an inside joke they both share, his tone of voice is very playful and jokey which is a complete contrast to the new mood of the reef. The soundtrack cuts out which shows a dramatic change in mood as we are shown a darker deserted neighbourhood giving the impression that there is some form of danger. There is a zoom out from Marlin which shows Coral in front of him staring straight forwards a Barracuda. When the Barracuda is shown to the audience an eerie non-diegetic soundtrack picks up giving an added feel of danger to the action that is beginning to unfold. A growl like noise can be heard from the Barracuda as he eyes up Coral and Marlin’s eggs. The growl implies that he is an evil character as connotations with growls are predator like animals. This evil fish is also shown through darker colours and a low key lighting compared to Marlin and Coral. Marlin says ‘‘Coral get inside the house’’ in a much more serious and desperate tone compared to the previous speech they have shared with each other, while saying this he barely moves which shows that his body language has changed from moving around playfully to actually being quite playful with Coral to acting a lot more afraid.

There is a suspension used in the soundtrack as Coral makes her move towards her eggs. This builds up a tense atmosphere at the beginning of what looks like it could be a dramatic one, with lots of action. As the barracuda battles with Marlin there are many pleonastic sounds exaggerating the fishes’ evil qualities such as his sharp teeth that we can hear clamp down like swords as a close up of his pointy teeth are shown on the screen, and also his sharp tail fin which we can hear batting Marlin about with before he blacks out. The last thing that we can hear before the screen blacks out and the sounds die down completely, is a last growl from the Barracuda which fades out into silence once again highlighting the element of danger that both the fish are in as well as their eggs. This also leaves the audience with a built up level of suspense because they do not know what has actually happened to Coral and her eggs.

The blackout fades revealing dark blue colours as it is now night in the ocean, and low key lighting which sets up the mood for being quite dark. The non-diegetic soundtrack that also picks up is still quite tense with high notes being played on violins. Marlin shouts out in desperation for his wife with facial expressions which clearly display desperation and panic. The eggs which could once be seen poking out of the rock cave in their glowing glory have now disappeared causing a minor tonality for the soundtrack as the realisation of what has happened hits Marlin whose body language becomes a lot slower and heavier with sadness. He repeats his wife’s name each time with a more upset tone eventually reducing to barely being able to speak because he is so choked up in emotion. This gives the audience a clear understanding of the thoughts going through Marlin’s mind as he goes from being kind of hopeful that Coral will still be alive, to the realisation that she probably hasn’t actually survived the attack.

A more hopeful non-diegetic soundtrack picks up as soon as Marlin spots the last egg remaining which reflects the emotion of hope that he is experiencing. The egg is red which stands out from the dark blues which are surrounding it in the scenery and darkness of the ocean. This highlights how important the egg is at this moment in time as it can clearly be seen and has impacted the mood of Marlin. Marlin uses diegetic dialogue to say “there there there, it’s okay daddy’s got you” which is said in a calm reassuring tone, contrasting his previous panic and devastation showing that he has now stepped up to care for his child.  

In conclusion Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, the directors of Finding Nemo, have used sound and mise on scene to set the tonality of the emotions up for the audience. The non-diegetic soundtracks set the tone of the scenes, emphasising the emotions that the audience are meant to be feeling, while the use of mise en scene focus on the more obvious things such as body language to help the audience understand how the characters are feeling.