MISE-EN-SCENE
I. DEFINITION: what appears in the scene itself, placement of actors, objects, scenery
within a frame, creating the visual weight and movement. Staging of an event in front of a
camera.
Important distinction: realism vs. stylization.
FOUR BASIC ASPECTS OF THE MISE-EN-SCENE
Setting
Costume and make-up
Figure Expression and Movement
Lighting
II. SETTING.
A. Human beings less important than in theatre. Can dynamically contribute to the
narrative action.
B. Controlling setting: location (existing) vs. studio (constructed).
C. Props – part of setting operated actively, prop may become a motif (curtain in
Psycho).
D. Colour often used to create parallels (see. Almodovar).
III. COSTUME AND MAKEUP
A. Stylization or reconstruction.
B. Important source of information
C. Crucial in suggesting genre
D. Makeup important in enhancing appearance of actors, effective in helping them to be
more convincing (aging – Citizen Kane, resemblance to historical figure – The Hours,
enhancing emotional response – horror films).
IV. FIGURE EXPRESSION AND MOVEMENT
A. Not only people as characters (animals, robots, aliens etc. Terminator, Star Wars,
Robocop, Lessie, Free Willy)
B. Actors performance: visual elements (appearance, gestures, facial expression) and
sound elements (voice, effects)
C. Acting and actuality: individual performance vs. ‘typage’.
D. Conception of realistic acting problematic, changes with time, ‘unrealistic’ – not
always bad (e.g. Jim Carrey The Mask). More important: appropriateness to
characters, time period, setting, film genre.
E. Awareness of the performance (Pulp Fiction Vincent Vega [John Travolta] in a
dancing scene with Mia Wallace [Umma Thurman].
V. LIGHTING
A. Gives shape to objects by shadow / light distinction.
B. Draws our attention.
C. Articulates textures (e.g. rough – diffused reflection vs. smooth – gleam or sparkle).
D. Shadows create special senses of film space: depth and volume.
E. Highlights – lightest spots in a picture, shadows – darkest regions of the image.
F. Two basic kinds of shadows that build sense of space, shape and texture:
1. Attached shadow or shading.
2. Cast shadow.
G. Lighting can be discussed in terms of its quality, direction, source, and colour:
1. Quality: intensity of illumination:
i. Hard lighting creates clearly defined shadows.
ii. Soft lighting – crates gradual transition from highlights to shadows.
2. Direction: (from source to object)
i. frontal lighting – eliminates shadows
ii. sidelighting (or crosslight) – ‘sculpting’ the characters of objects, they
stand out. Sidelighting produces sharp shadows cast by nose and
cheekbones
iii. backlighting - silhouette
iv. underlighting (sense of horror, candlelight),
v. top lighting
3. Source:
i. natural, artificial, or combination
ii. lighting design is usually consistent
with the sources in the setting
iii. Classical, three-point system of
illumination: key light; 2. fill light
(to get rid of shadows); 3. back light
- widely used in Hollywood films.
4. Colour:
i. usually as white as possible but
sometimes filters are used to simulate a natural light source –
candlelight, sunset etc.
ii. wash-over effect – domination of one hue (e.g green).
H. Edge lighting or rim lighting puts the figures in focus.
I. High-key lighting - renders a brightly lit situation without sharp contrasts.
J. Low-key lighting - creates stronger contrasts and sharper, darker shadows(such as in
'films noirs' or many art films). Chiaroscuro effect – image with extreme dark and
bright regions.
VI. OTHER FEATURES OF MISE-EN-SCENE.
A. Décor – may indicate characters’ emotions or dominant mood of the film (contrast –
Ziemia obiecana, mood – Space Odyssey 2001 – furniture, spacecraft design etc.)
B. Space: – deep (vastness, grandeur) vs. shallow space (claustrophobia, insecurity,
anxiety etc.)
C. Frontality vs. oblique staging (more common in Hollywood – illusion of ‘peeking’
into separate world, cf. continuity editing)