Winters Bone

The first 10 seconds of this film starts with an extreme long-shot of the mise-en-scene revealing the cold, damp trees and mountainside with high key lighting and the diegetic sound of light rain, this is pathetic fallacy as the weather has set the mood of the film. Shortly following a non-diegetic sound of an old women singing almost in a sinister, creepy style over the top. This makes the audience feel on edge as they don't know what to expect.

Then it changes to a long shot of two children, a boy and a girl, having fun, jumping on a trampoline displaying the wooden house in the background. The happy emotions of the two children is in contrast to the dull scenery and woodland area in which they live.

The hand held camera gives a sense of realism as the kids are having to make their own fun to entertain themselves. They own a lot of dogs too which could suggest they are lonely and need comfort. There is a tilted pan from right to left which highlights the little boys feet as he is about to jump onto his skateboard. As well as this the lyrics of the song in the background has repeated. This all could forebode that life there is the same every day, nothing new and exciting happens, it's always dull and slightly boring.

The scene changes to having low key lighting and it is a mid-shot of the young girl washing her hands. The fact it is a mid-shot may suggest the room isn't very big, this implies the house may too be small as they can't afford a better life. The camera then cuts to the two younger children lying on the sofa trying to sleep, this makes me feel sorry for her as it implies that is what she uses for a bed. The girl is wrapped in the blanket suggesting that she is cold and they may not have any type of heating, the blanket is bright red which could symbolise danger or something bad is going to happen.

There is another mid shot of the eldest daughter cooking dinner for everyone, this implies that they have to do everything themselves. She then handed the little girl a tub of food for the dog after smelling it first to see whether it hadn't gone off. This highlights that they may have to saver food in order for it to last longer as they can't afford to waste it. This illustrates that they have a harder life than most people and implies they may be working class or below.

The film then cuts and changes to a pan from right to left and stops at the two shot of the oldest daughter brushing her mothers hair implying that she doesn't just do all the house work, she also has to look after her mum. It is as if the oldest daughter is more the motherly figure instead of her actual mum. I think this because for whole induction of the film we see the eldest looking after her two younger siblings and doing all the housework, including cooking. Although it is only until after the induction we (the audience) see the real mother, ironically having things done for her. This emphasises the point about the children having to do things themselves and having to mature at a young age in order to prepare them for later life.