Case Study CURSE OF MR BEAN - MR BEAN

 

Mr Bean – The Curse of Mr Bean

Mr Bean consists of a series of short films which are present and explore many features of comedy. This being the main feature, it seems to have drawn a mass amount of viewers of different backgrounds with different opinions about the series. In almost all of the episodes, the fact that the film focusses solely on shows Rowan Atkinson himself playing Mr Bean as the main character to go through journeys or to solve common problems in different scenarios in which the comedy aspect is taken to a whole new level for example in this episode, he has a competition about eating a sandwich in the park and therefore goes to make his own sandwich by killing a live fish.

In this short film/episode, a variety of camera angles were used in order to capture the childlike features of the main character.   These include shots such as mid shots and close ups which were used to represent the characters personality and his message. Countless establishing shots are used to introduce the scene and the character himself.

 

The fact that a close up shot is used on the tool used to pick up rubbish, and that he is using it because he can’t reach the machine shows the stupidity that actually surrounds this idea however his stupidity is what makes this show successful. props were also used in this extract for example his green Mini. Being quite a small car, its often represented as one of those clown cars that giant clowns come out of.

Long shots are also used to get other points of view. The effect of a long shot being used here gives emphasis that he is trapped within the car park and gives another point of view to the audience of how he escapes. This can also be shown in high angled shots within this episode in order to show another point of view to the audience and to give the audience a sense of what’s really going on within the scene. The fact that he’s naked and alone within this shot shows to the audience that he is trying to escape.

One of the most common shots used in this short film is the mid shot. In my opinion I feel that this was done on purpose in order to give emphasis to the comedy aspect as it focuses on Mr Beans dress sense as this is a major factor that is embedded in the character. This shot is usually used to show body language as in this series, Mr Bean uses body and sign language to communicate as he uses non- diegetic sound which again gives a huge emphasis on the comedy effect on the audience.

The over the shoulder shot in this scene shows that he is again trying to escape. Mr Bean is extremely scared and doesn’t want to get caught naked. The fact that he’s running around naked and covering himself immaturely represents his child like attitude due to the way he’s treating it like a game of hide and seek. The location of the short film extract was in a swimming pool then going to the park for a normal day out to enjoy the scenery. There’s emphasis on the fact that Mr Bean is trying to live a normal life however the irony of this was the fact that he found himself acting like a child and making a competition out of who can have the best sandwich nonetheless his sandwich being made out of raw materials. This scene gave the extract more humour and emphasised the comedy theme the short film was trying to achieve. The costume of the main character is formal but it’s in a sort of funny formal way because of the old styled suite that he wear and the fact that parts of his suite are in different colours followed by his trousers being pulled all the way up past his belly button line which sometimes exposes his ankles. The effect of this is that it shows to the audience that he doesn’t really take himself seriously and implies that he just doesn’t care about the way he looks. 

The sound used in this film extract is mainly non diegetic but in some parts there was diegetic sound. The non-diegetic sound as he get caught being naked shows that he is helpless in the situation that he is in. The diegetic sound that was used in the short film are scenes such as the swimming pool instructor telling everyone to get out of the pool. This adds to the comedy as he has lost his pants he has to figure out a way to get out as he has to get out.