Film Studies Coursework - Scene Analysis - Draft 2

Film Studies Coursework - Scene Analysis [Draft 2]
The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013) - Directed by Martin Scorsese

I will be analysing a scene from the 2013 film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’, directed by Martin Scorsese. In this scene, Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), the main protagonist, arrives for his first day on Wall Street, at 5 minutes and 40 seconds into the film and finishes the scene at 7 minutes and 56 seconds. I will be analysing the scenes micro-features, I will look at the mise-en-scene and performance.

The year is 1987 and Jordan Belfort, a fresh new face in the business shows up for his first day on Wall Street as a ‘connector’. He calls wealthy business owners and connects them to his boss for further trading. In the scene we are introduced to the kind of business that occurs on Wall Street.

Here, people trade stocks for companies, people who buy a share of the company then in turn get a part of the revenue that the company makes. Stock brokers connect others with companies in order to allow them to buy a 'share' of that companies stock, however every time they make a sale they get a share, which is how they earn money. This contextual information helps us understand this scene in more depth. Being a stock broker has always been a very high standing job as it involves dealing with large sums of other people’s money. Scorsese, the director, illustrates the strain and the stress that stock brokers feel through the immense performance of all the actors, acting as brokers, screaming and shouting at customers willing to buy stocks because they want their share. The stock business is known for being quite chaotic; the intensity is summed up by Jordan’s reaction. His reaction is quite minimal, showing him smiling, excited to be on Wall Street. The contrast between him and the surrounding chaos is broken as his boss kicks the back of his chair and screams at him to pick up the phone.

This immediately tells the audience what kind of character Jordan is, he is just excited to be there and the sudden kick from his boss symbolises reality finally striking him. This is important as we are still near the beginning of the film, only 5 minutes in and therefore a lot of character development is still needed in order to understand why he is like this. The dialogue alongside his subtle smile helps the audience paint a mental picture of what kind of character Jordan is. He says, “I was hooked in seconds”. The rush of money and the chaotic atmosphere brings joy to Jordan’s face, those who have seen the film will no that he eventually becomes obsessed with money and incredibly power hungry. This is a form of foreshadowing, hinting to the audience about an event that will take place later in the film. This slight nuance, even though it may not seem like much, accentuates Jordan’s character and makes his true colours shine.

As this scene takes place fairly early on in the film, it helps set the mood and introduce the kind of characters that we are going to meet. The scene also introduces Mark Hanna, played by actor Matthew McConaughey, who introduces Jordan into the world of stock broking. Even though this character is only part of this scene and the next, the actor won over audiences for his ‘subtle’ performance in the film. The contrast between Hanna and Belfort’s boss is quite stunning, it shows that experience comes with wisdom and serenity. The wide variety of performance amongst all the film's characters, especially in this scene helps to illustrate the great power that directors have when trying to show an audience their image. We are shown the hundreds of stock brokers, screaming their heads off trying to make a sale, arguing with each other about stock prices, an example in the film is when one broker yells out to another, “Hey fuck-face, look at where the stocks are today(!)”.

The serenity of Hanna’s approach to his clients shows that he is above the other brokers and knows what he is talking about. A line in the scene from Belfort’s boss also further exemplifies Hanna’s importance. He says, “Just so you know, last year I made over 300,000 dollars, the other guy you’re gonna be working for, he made over a million.” The amount of profanities used by the other brokers compared to Hanna creates an atmosphere of greed, all these brokers care about is money however they demonstrate their greed, rather than hiding it. Every word out of their mouths is money, the constrast between them in Hanna comes from the years of experience that he has had. He keeps a level head, he still curses and talks about money, but with a certain essence of respect. In a later scene, Hanna explains to Jordan that the entire business is about money however the trick is to ‘stay calm’. The effort put in to create such a vivid personality for Hanna, a character who doesn’t appear in the film for very long, shows dedication on the film crew’s part. The way that his character is written makes him seem very conceited however much more experienced than the rest of the brokers.

Performance sells this scene for me, it shows the reality of Wall Street and how hectic it can get. If a film is done right, nothing in it should be done by mistake and everything should have a purpose, and for a director with such a high reputation as Scorsese, nothing was left untouched. Work was put in so every single actor in this scene knew what had to be done. Since every actor’s action had to seem realistic, a chaotic mess had to be emulated. The amount of swearing that occurs in the scene shows the violent nature of the people here on Wall Street, it brings the atmosphere alive and prepares the audience for 3 hours of intense swearing. Scorsese as a director has never been afraid about what to put in his films, some directors pull back on their vision because they are afraid of their audience’s reaction. The trust in his audience and the respect for himself to include what he wants in the film holds him true to being an auteur. This scene sets the bar for later scenes in the film, which become much more graphic and violent. The gradual increase in intensity makes the audience prepared, rather than shocking them with one huge explicit scene, similar to the ones that appear later in the film.

The mise-en-scene is a large part of this scene and helps solidify the fact that this film was set in 1987 even though the films production took place in the 21st century. Scorsese made a very large effort to emulate a 1980’s wall street office. Everything, from the computers to the telephones to the clothes that everyone was wearing shows that this is meant to be the 1980’s. A large piece of contextual information given to us here in this scene which really convinces audiences (those who know what it is) that we’re are really in the 80’s. A device used in the last few moments of the scene is a type of suction system which was used in offices to transport money around the office, placing money inside of a tube to be sent off to a safer area was easier back then since nowadays, especially on Wall Street, everything is done digitally.

Characters can be seen wearing specific attire to their given era. People are in ties and bowties (which have died off in recent years) and are wearing their trousers up much higher than we would usually do, comparing fashion styles from the 80’s America to now, we can see an outstanding difference and a good way to help the set the ‘scene’ for the rest of the film. Another piece of contextual evidence of the time is that ashtrays can be seen all over the desks of employees, during the 80’s it was legal to smoke in work places and offices unlike it is today. This small detail helps show the significance of mise-en-scene in a film, it solidifies with the audience that a transformation of time-periods has occurred. The purpose of film is to create meaning and show an audience things that they may not have been able to experience themselves. Creating as realistic of an atmosphere as possible helps film makers do their job to the best of their abilities. Of course certain things may slip through the cracks when making a film about the past, however for the general viewer it seems as though the film is really taking us back to the time of the setting.

I think that this scene has a very significant position in this film, it is placed as the first scene to introduce the protagonist into the main world of the film. The film takes place from the year 1987 yet the opening scene has no indication of setting, although it must be past the point of my scene as the film loops back around to that point later, rewarding the audience for remembering that it appeared earlier. Performance-wise, the actors in the scene perform as though they were actual stock-brokers, showing the audience what it must have been like during those time and what it still may be like till this day. The chaotic atmosphere presented in the scene almost comes out of nowhere, the slight murmur at the beginning of the scene suddenly becomes a thunderous clash of people talking. This scene must involve at least 50 different actors, doing their subtle part to show the capability of the realism of film and how life can be portrayed. Scorsese created his own masterpiece by hand picking and analysing each frame to his content and imagination.