Cinematography in 'Saving Mr Banks'

A variety of shots were used to create ‘Saving Mr Banks’, these consisted of the following: close up, over the shoulder, low angles, long shot, mid shot, panning and many more. In particular, the primary shots that were used were mid shots, long shots and close ups along with panning to really capture the essence of the film’s main characters: Walt Disney and P.L Travers, especially considering the difficulties that Disney had to face in order to get the rights to produce the film: Mary Poppins. These specific shot types help to accentuate the emotions within and between characters and educate the audience on the reality of the situation. The colour palette that was used within the film also varied as the film is set in three key locations: Australia, England (London) and America (Los Angeles). The scenes within Australia have a very warm colour palette consisting of golden tones which suggests a state of calm however, the circumstances that were occurring for P.L Travers as a child were quite the opposite, this is supported by the extreme long shot of her and her family standing facing back against the tones creating a sense of emptiness. The colour palette then becomes quite mixed when the scenes shift to London, England: darker tones are used but there is still a warm feeling. The shot types consist of close ups and mid shots to capture the emotions of the characters: in this particular scene, P.L Travers is debating whether to go to Los Angeles to meet Walt Disney about her film. Finally, when she arrives in Los Angeles, the colour palette changes to bright and warm depicting the vibrant Hollywood feel and again, the types of shot consisting of long and medium shots, close ups and panning motion. Perhaps the director chose to do this intentionally to portray the characters emotions and also for the audience to relate and sympathize with them. Overall, in terms of the colour palette, there seems to be a gradual progression from disequilibrium to equilibrium. 

Mise En Scene: Saving Mr Banks- "Disney in the 60s"

Mise En Scene In 'Saving Mr Banks'

 The Mise-en-scene varies within the film ‘Saving Mr Banks’, the film takes place in three key locations: Australia, England and North America in the 1960s. The lighting of the film is quite warm particularly in Los Angeles where P.L Travers goes to potentially give the rights of her story to Disney. This is contrasted by the dull lighting whilst she is in London, England perhaps suggesting there is some equilibrium but some of it is being lost at the same time. What is interesting is when P.L Travers reminisces about her childhood in rural Australia: the lighting is very warm but contrasts with the dark clothing that is being worn by her and her family which sets off an eerie atmosphere. This will intrigue the audience as they will want to find out more about who P.L Travers really is. As the film predominantly takes place within Los Angeles, California, the audience is exposed to the 1960s environment and culture. Daniel Orlandi (costume designer for the film) stated in the video: Saving Mr Banks- “Disney in 60’s” that ‘we also wanted to show the difference between P.L Travers coming from England in her tweeds and wool and sunny California where people are more casual’ which is evident in Disney’s character and his staff when they greet P.L Travers who is a posh and reserved individual. The director, John Lee Hancock also stated in the same video previously mentioned that ‘Orlandi has the ability to evoke the period but not show the period off’.

Sound in 'Saving Mr Banks'

Sound plays a significant role when it comes to films as the sound is a way of communication between the audience and characters and helps to bring the film to life, along with engaging the audience with the environment of the film and intriguing them too. Bordwell and Thompson suggest that 'our visual attention is accompanied by aural attention'/ 'the engagement of hearing opens the posibility of what the Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein called "synchronization of senses"- making a single rhythm or expressive quality unify both image and sound.' Within the film ‘Saving Mr Banks’, based on the story of P.L Travers (author of Mary Poppins)  a combination of diegetic and non-diegetic sound is used to create verisimilitude for the film. We are first introduced to the sound at the beginning of the film with the iconic music of ‘Chim Chim Che-ree’ (piano instrumental) which makes it clear that the film is based around the origins of the story of Mary Poppins. Diegetic sound is present also in the character’s speech: in particular the different accents and the way the characters speak: the American accent, the English accent and Australian accent. This could represent P.L Travers journey through these key countries too as she reminisces about her childhood in Australia where the music in the background is soft which creates a sense of nostalgia, then whilst she is England the only sounds that are present are speech between characters and the noises made by other props however, right at the very end, string instruments can be heard which follow through to one of the main scores (video below) which changes the eerie atmosphere into something slighlty more cheery. Finally in America (Los Angeles), where jazz is played in the background (non-diegetic) to capture the environment of 1960s America, especially the Hollywood feel. The sound that is used within the film, whether it be diegetic or non-diegetic, allows the audience to embrace the journey of the character and is a partial voice for the film along with helping to carry the film through.

Reference for quote in bold:
 http://qmplus.qmul.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/162242/mod_resource/content/2/Bordwell%2C%20David%20and%20Thompson%2C%20Kristin%2C%20Sound%20in%20the%20cinema.doc