Mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound all used together to create meaning. In this clip from episode 1 of the first series of Merlin, Jones and Hawes work together to create a clip which comments on class and status, showing both royal characters and poorer ones.
We begin the clip with the establishing shot of a young man (Merlin) walking down the corridor. We can tell he is a poorer character due to the mies-en-scene of his clothes- they are plain and slightly shabby and ragged around the edges. The soundtrack is extremely ominous, the non-diegetic sound suggesting that something is wrong. We are then given an action match shot as Merlin walks in the room, adding to the continuity. As we look at a wide shot of the room as the camera is panned, we can tell it's not his- it is lavish and feminine with pretty fabrics and a huge ornate mirror. We watch as he walks to the table and slams down the small jar of yellow mixture on the table. This once again adds to the idea that he has a low status- he is not elegant in any way but more heavy handed, and appears to be fetching and serving for the elite. The camera is zoomed in as Merlin picks up the straw doll. Due to it's shape and the ominous music playing, we could believe this this is some sort of voodoo doll. We also watch as he picks up the leather book with ornate gold on the cover and watch as he picks up the leather book with gold on the cover, and fabric sticking out. Once again, this appears somewhat magical.
The audience then watches a woman walking down the corridor. Compared to Merlin walking down the corridor, the woman is much more poised and appears to glide. She is wearing a large, purple, period dress. As purple is an iconic signifier of royalty, we can assume that this woman is of high class. The women goes towards the room and we watch through the quick editing how Merlin has to hide what he has been doing as simultaneously the woman comes towards the door. We have a close up of her face as she talks to Merlin, in a crisp English accent. Merlin is a lot more coarse with his speech, using gap fillers such as umms and ahhs. This once again shows the difference between high class and low class citizens.
We have a mid long shot of the ornate mirror as Merlin turns around to retrieve the jar. We see the woman transformed, through CGI, into an old woman. Through VFX this is edited onto the mirror. The seems sped up as if to demonstrate her haste to get Merlin away. She is obviously keeping secrets from Merlin and everyone else. Despite her being supposedly royal their lying appears to make Merlin a better person, despite being a peasant, as we see later, through his argument with Gaius that he believes in some form of justice. They are also both on par due to their magical abilities.
From the beginning, the fight between Arthur and Merlin already seems unfair. Arthur is a trained soldier, which we can see from his armour; Merlin is merely a poor man. We also see how Merlin almost gets in trouble for it later, when the guards lift him up, as if to arrest him. This also links in to the fact that Merlin and Arthur's diegetic dialogue ended up with Merlin, a peasant, calling Arthur, the future king, a prat. Merlin appears to be above Arthur with his wit and words despite being a peasant. However, since Arthur's command allows Merlin to be freed from the guards, this demonstrates the power of royalty and having status- he controls Merlin's life and death.
During the fight scene, the fun folky music demonstrates that the fight is meant to be in the realm of slapstick comedy. We know that no one will really get hurt. We watch in slow motion at a close up as fruit explodes as the flails hit them. Compared to this, when Merlin does magic, the actions are sped up, such as the close up of the box moving. The fight now appears fair, despite the difference in class.
The old man (Gaius) appears to take on the role of parent within the scene, chastising Merlin as the shot reverse shot shows the audience their argument. This highlights hierarchy in the lower classes. Gains has a higher status between the two due to the difference in age.
Class and status is represented in many different ways in the clip. Despite Merlin's poorer roots, he appears to be a better person than the lying royal. Despite Arthur's confidence in his training due to his riches. Arthur and Merlin still have an equal fight. Even in the poorer areas we see Gaius' status above Merlin's as he chastises him.
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