Mise-en-scene in Hawaii Five-0

I decided to use the TV series Hawaii Five-0, specifically season four episode 12, for my mise-en-scene comments because it has a lot of different changes in scenery and in mood.

     At the beginning of every Hawaii Five-0 episode, there's a specific introduction scene which will tell the story for the episode ahead. This opening scene set the tone and storyline behind this episode. In this scene, the setting is a noisy, wild, and hectic club, known as The Hideaway Bar. This key scene of setting "sets" up the case for the investigation, being as the bar is where the murder took place. At the beginning of the scene, blocking is used to show how the owner, who is casually watching TV at his bar, has power and authority over his employee, who is behind the bar cleaning dishes. This introduces the character but also uses diegetic sound to make sure that the viewers catch on to the donation the owner has made to the Honolulu Police Department of $100,000 which shows his true character and will be an important detail to remember throughout this episode.

      At the bar, the viewer will easily notice that the lighting is very low-key, which makes the scene seem a bit mysterious. The lighting is very dark, with shadows and different colored lights and smoke emerging every minute. Along with the lighting, the loud music tends to add to the somewhat uneasy feel of this bar. Soon enough, a bar fight breaks out, which results in the owner kicking two gang members out. After locking up for the night, the owner walks outside to get a surprise attack from thr two gang members he previously kicked out. This scene is very dark and only shows the light when the three characters are hitting each other, trying to focus only on the action and intensity of the scene. The scene ends off with a hard punch to the owners face, which then opens to the title scene and introduction.
     Since the main characters are all cops in the present day, costume is also a very important aspect of mise-en-scene. When Danny or Steve, the two main characters, are not on call, Steve wears casual button-up shirts and cargo pants and Danny dresses a little fancier and wears business casual clothing. When the two are on active duty, they wear bulletproof vests, carry guns, tasers, handcuffs, and always have their walk-e talk-e's on them. The wardrobe of these two characters really makes the show out what it is supposed to be. Without the clothing worn by these two characters, the show could have a completely different meaning.

     Lastly, frontality is also used in Hawaii Five-0 as an example of mise-en-scene. When interviewing each suspect, they are faced directly at the camera which gives the viewer a more intimate and in-depth feel of what is actually going on in the show because they start to get involved. When questioning or "interrogating" each suspect, the suspect if handcuffed down to a metal chair and Danny and Steve casually stand in the cold, dark room and make their suspect talk. After persuading the suspect to tell them all they need to know, frontality is used when the suspect is talking to change the view of the scene and get the viewer involved.