Lesson 03:
Mise-en-Scene
Professor Aaron Baker

Previous Lecture
• Narrative Structure
• Classical Hollywood Narrative Style
• How Jurassic Park (1993) and Citizen
Kane (1941) exemplify Hollywood narrative style and how the Japanese film Rashomon ( 1950 ) illustrates Art
Cinema Narration.
2

This Lecture
• Mise-en-Scene
• Narrative Function in Smoke Signals
(1998)
3

Part I: Mise-en-Scene
4

Definition
Mise-en Scene is what appears in the film frame.
5

Realism
• Often Evaluative Standard for Film
Worlds
• Notions of Realism Vary
• More Useful to Evaluate Function
6

E.g
. Edward Scissorhands
(1990)
• Contrast stylized and banal miseen-scene
• Functions to suggest conflict in story of conformism and creativity
7

Early Cinema
• 1895 Lumiere
Brothers
• First Commercial
Films
• Mise-en-Scene of
Real Places
• Actualities
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George Melies
• Former Magician
• Voyage to the Moon
( 1902)
• One of the First Studios
• Created/ Not Actual
World
9

Locations vs. Sets
• Two Main Traditions of
Film Mise-en-Scene
• Pause lecture to watch a clip of these two early cinema versions of mise-en-scene on
Learning Tasks page.
10

Four Aspects:
• Setting
• Costumes and
Makeup
• Lighting
• Staging
(Performance)
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Setting
• Container,
Background for
Action or
• Dynamic; Plays
Active Role in
Narrative
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Prop
• Abbreviation for
Property
• Part of the setting that plays active role in action.
• May reoccur as a motif.
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Costumes and Makeup
• Like Setting,
Function in
Story
• Realistic,
Unobtrusive or
Stylized
• Allusion in
Breathless
14

Nicholson in Batman (1989)
• Highly Stylized,
Exaggerated
Costume/Makeup
• Characterize
Joker as theatrical, aberrant.

Naturalist Makeup
• DeNiro’s Nose, Eyes in Raging Bull (1980)
• Function unobtrusively to create resemblance to real person and support performance.

Lighting
• Allows us to see action
• Directs our attention
• Impacts how characters appear
17

Shadows
• Attached
Shadows:
Created by
Person’s/Object’s
Shape, Surface
• Cast Shadows:
Person/Object
Blocks Light
18

Light Quality
• Intensity
• Soft: diffused, less contrast
• Hard: defined, sharp contrast
• Redford in The
Natural (1984)
19

Direction
• Path of Light
• Front: No Attached
Shadow, Fully Lit
• Back: Silhouettes
• Side: Sculpts
• Under: Horror
• Top: Glamour
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Source
• Actual/Available
Light
• Documentary
• Added
• Fiction Films
21

Three Point Lighting
• Key: Main Source
• Fill: Eliminates
Shadow
• Back: Rim of Light
=Depth
22

Three Point Lighting
(continued)
• For Each Major
Character
• Time Consuming,
Expensive
• Creates Clear
Compositions
23

• Low Contrast
• Soft
• Detail
• Clarity
• Hollywood
Optimism
High Key
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• Contrast
• Hard
• Shadow
• Mystery
• Danger
Low Key
25

Chiaroscuro
• Italian “lightdark”
• Painting
• Rembrandt
26

Color
• Mostly White, Yellow
• Colored Light
• Symbolic Function
• Pause lecture for clip from Traffic ( 2000) showing the symbolic use of color.
27

Traffic ( 2000)
• Blue, Yellow Light
• Symbolizes Traits of Mexico/U.S.
• Coldness, Entitlement/Arridity, Violence
• Common Color Stylization
• Cultures Linked by Globalization (Drugs)
28

Part II: Mise-En-Scene and
Narrative Function in Smoke
Signals
29

Smoke Signals ( 1998)
• Sherman Alexie
• Director: Chris Eyre,
NYU Film School
• Coeur D’Alene
Indians
• First Major Feature
Written, Directed,
Starring American
Indians
30

Setting
• Coeur De Alene Reservation
• Isolated/Quiet/Lack of Activity
• Economic Disadvantage
• Pause lecture for clip from Smoke
Signals showing the setting in the film’s early scenes.
31

Arizona Desert
• Visualizes Victor
Joseph’s
Alienation and
Isolation
• Father Dead
• No Money
32

• Victor
-Western wear
-Long Hair
• Masculine
• “Warrior”
Costume
33

Costume (continued)
• Thomas
-Glasses, Suit,
Braids
-Feminized
(Like Grandma)
-Performative
-Shaman
34

Performance
• Victor (Adam
Beach):
-Realist
-Restrained
• Thomas (Evan
Adams)
-Eccentric
-Expressive
35

Lighting in Smoke Signals
Scene After Night of
Drinking:
• Low Key
• Chiaroscuro
• Sharp Contrast Dark and Light
• Please pause lecture for clip from Smoke
Signals 36

Lighting in Smoke Signals
(continued)
• Light on Mother’s
Face
• Choice Illuminated
• Drinking or
Responsibility
37

More Low Key Scenes
• Flashback of 4 th July Party
• Accident
38

Discussion Questions
• How does lighting function in these scenes?
• Also scenes about choice in difficult conditions?
Post a response on the eBoard to these questions and the comment of a colleague.
39

Summary
• Mise-en-Scene
• Four Aspects
• Narrative Function
• Smoke Signals
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End of Lecture 3
Next Lecture: Editing
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