Famous Scenes

Simba talks to a vision of his father Mufasa in the clouds in The Lion King.

Jemma Shaw

Plot SummaryScar plots to kill Mufasa and Simba so he is able to take over the throne. Therefore he uses the hyenas to cause a stampede through the canyon where Mufasa and Simba are, and personally ensures Mufasa falls to his death.

Simba survives so Scar implies that the stampede was Simba's fault and that the pride will blame him. Leaving Simba to then flee the Pride Lands meaning never to return home.

However Simba is found, collapsed with exhaustion, by Timon the Meerkat, and Pumbaa the Warthog, and the trio become best friends. Due to this, Simba stays with them well into adulthood until his childhood friend, Nala, hunting beyond the Pride Lands that herds had deserted under Scar's mismanagement stumbles upon Simba's new home. Astonished to find him alive, she begs him to return to the Pride Lands, where Scar has reigned as King for years, and ruined everything. All of the animals will starve if Simba does not return.

Analysing Shots

This shot implies that Simba knows he has done wrong due to the negative look upon his face.

The way the lighting is used as well makes the audience understand that something isn’t right as Simba is laid in the darkness.

Furthermore the fact that Simba is looking down, away from the camera also indicates that he has done something wrong and he is now wishing he could go back.

This shot denotes that when Mufasa’s shadow appears, Simba races towards him with happiness as it is the first time he has seen his dad since he died.

However, the way the clouds are surrounding Mufasa implies that he isn’t happy with Simba as he has run away from Pride Lands causing this accident to occur.

The use of the red/orange sky suggests that Mufasa is feeling angry with Simba because “he has forgotten who he is.”

This clip implies that Simba looks up to his dad and the Mufasa is a role model to his son. This is shown through Simba looking up to his dads shadow.

The lighting used in this shot shows that Mufasa is an angelic character due to the lighting being in ‘halo’ shape, this denotes that he is giving advice to his son.

This shot shows that Simba is looking up to the sky, realising and thinking about what his dad said about becoming king and going back to the circle of life.

Here it shows that Rafiki, who is the royal advisor, is ‘knocking some sense’ into Simba as he is having second thoughts on what his dad has said and reminiscing on his past.

This shows that Simba has now taken the advice that Rafiki and his dad gave him and is running back to Pride Lands to be the king.

Overall…

• By analysing this famous scene from Lion King it has given me ideas on how to use lighting to help show the audience how characters are feeling or to explain the narrative.

• Similarly, it shows that I have researched iconic creations of film.