Darkness In An Occurrence At Owl Creek

Darkness in the Owl Creek film In the short suspense film An Occurrence at Owl Creek, the director is able to communicate many of the in depth details written in the short story to set the tone for the movie. The entire short is dedicated to immersing you into the darkness that is felt and seen by Peyton Farquhar, the planter that is the lead character in the film. The majority of the darkness is projected to and transports the viewer into the film by the elaborate use of mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is a French saying for "put in the scene." Yet, in the context of film, it has a broader more encompassing meaning, Mise-en-scene refers to almost everything that goes into the composition of the shot, including: framing, movement of the camera and characters, lighting, set design, general visual
The sun is setting and Farquhar is marching forward on his quest for home. The overshadowing and long distance of the march is in itself a negative and dark image that we see, panning to his bare feet repeatedly, cuing the viewer into the fact this is a hard and dark road indeed. The long walk home seems to have found a bit of a positive hue, yet in the scene there are only dead trees and overcast skies projecting shadows all about Farquhar as he trudges listlessly through the dark foreboding forest. Upon the edge of the forest seems to be a glimpse of home, the perfectly planted row of living oak trees along the pathway to the plantation are indicative of home but there are no rays of sun shining through still the persistent shadows of the overcast day. Then Farquhar sees his beloved Anna and begins to walk toward her, she is distant but still visible and is continuing to walk towards him with a stiff smile but we the viewer are privy to tears, pouring sown her face as she nears Farquhar, her arms reach for him an he for hers and then the camera pans to her view, just Farquhar in agony as he trips and seems