Mise-En-Scene

18th October 2010         Miss Fisher

Objective: to be able to show an understanding of how mise-en-scene is used to create meaning.

Outcome:
All: will be able to explain one element of mise-en-scene.
Most: will be able to identify 5 elements of mise-en-scene with examples.
Some: will be able to identify 5 elements of mise-en-scene and will also be able to use media language effectively to explain examples.

Mise-en-scene is a french term meaning 'what is put into the scene or frame' or everything in a scene that you see.

The elements of mise-en-scene:

1. Setting and Props. This is the background of where the scenes takes place. This is important because it helps the audience to decide on what the genre is. When thinking about my thriller film i need to be aware of where my setting is going to be. In the example on the left, the setting looks scary because to the misty atmosphere. Props is the objects used in the scenes. These are usually used to help follow the narrative. With my thriller film i would need to think about what props i would need to use and how it would benefit my audience with the narrative

2. Facial expressions and body language. This shows how a character is feeling at the time. Face expression can make the audience feel a certain way. For example in the example the lady looks scared. This may make the audience feel sorry for her as something bad might be happening. Body language may show how a character is feeling or thinking. foe example in the example the lady's hands are infront of her face. This shows that she is scared or worried. So the audience recognises how a character is feeling by their body language and their face expression. So in my thriller film i need to make sure that my characters are no only acting correct but also have the correct face expression. This will add more emotion to the audience because the audience will understand more on what's going on.

3. Costume, hair and Make-up. Costume can indicate a characters personality, social status. It also tells us when the film was set and in what culture. For example in the first picture from the film Alice In Wonderland, the costume gives out a happy person with a bright personality. The costume with the bow may show respect or authority. This will also show that the film was set in the earlier times. In the second picture, the costume gives out a deadly look; like the person in the costume looks like a zombie. This type of costume will be used mainly in thriller films or horror films. This is because the costume looks scary and might scare children. The make up makes the character looks deadly. In the third picture there is no costume but the make up looks like this person has just been bitten by a vampire. This make up shows blood so this is a generic convention of a thriller film. So this will be useful in my thriller because i can make the characters look a certain way to make my audience feel a certain way.

4. Lighting and colour. Lighting can help give a scene have a certain look to it. It can look more realistic with high key lighting or look more dramatic with low key lighting. Lighting can also be used to highlight a certain object, character or change a characters appearance. The first image above is an example of low key lighting. As you can see the scene looks more dramatic and gives a vibe that something bad might happen; this creates suspense. In the second picture, there is high key lighting. This makes the scene from Bruce Almighty look more natural and real. so in my thriller film i need to be aware of the type of lighting my scene will have; weather it will be low key or high key. This will make the audience either be in suspense or normal.

5. Positioning of characters and objects within a frame. This will show how important a certain character or object is in a scene. If a character is positioned in the foreground, the audience will assume that they have some importance in the scene. The positioning of objects can direct our attention to a particular area. If characters or objects are positioned evenly on each side of the scene we get a balanced feel to the shot. This makes the audience feel settled and at ease. This will help me in my thriller film because i helps me to understand what position of the characters will make the audience feel. For example if all the characters were at one side of the room in a scene, the shot is imbalanced and the audience gets an unsettled mind. If i was the director of my film, i will be able to indicate relationships between different characters. For example two characters arguing placing them at either side of the scene shows their hate towards eachother.

In the early days of cinema, make up was used to highlight facial features. Make up was very heavy as black and white film stock could not register detail very well. Here is an example.

Chiaroscuro means contrast between light and dark.



In the lesson we had to do a quick sketch of a scene and add all the five elements of mise-en-scene. Then we swapped with the person next to us and we had to guess the genre and the narrative of the sketch. This helped me to understand that mise-en-scene is very important because it will help the audience in determing to genre of the film. With props, will can make an assumption of the narrative of the scene.

Connotation means to imply. We did an exercise where we had to determine a emotion from a colour.
In the lesson we then had to analyse photos from kill bill and reservoir dogs when the lady is standing with the sword in her hand and when the two men are at gun point with one man down. Here is the pictures:

She's in yellow and everyone else is in black. This may show that she is danger to everyone. This may also shows that everyone around her is dark and sinister while she is bright and positive. Although the way she is positioned shows that she is ready to start trouble. The left leg forward  with the sword in her hand shows she isn't afraid. The make up is pale and her hair looks like its washed out, this may show that she doesn't care about her appearance.

The props such as the wooden chairs and the ladder shows that the location of the image is at a warehouse or an abandoned building. The suit is messed up, done up loosely and has blood which may show this is a action genre and they may be murder in the film. The positions of the characters may show the importance of them. The serious facial expressions with the guns facing each other shows that this is life or death.






We watched the opening of Natural born killers

The purpose of opening scenes is to leave the audience wanting more and to give a narrative.
Mise-en-scene is important whilst making a thriller film because the props and the setting used helps the audience determine the genre. For example using a knife and a dark forest as a prop, it would most likely be used for a thriller film.