Tuesday 1 October 2013

A Beginner's Guide to Mise-En-Scene.

A Beginner's Guide to Mise-En-Scene.
Mise-En-Scene is a French term which translated in to English means: "what is put into a scene or frame"; it is the visual information caught in front of the camera which communicates to the audience. There are five basic elements of Mise-En-Scene.
1.Settings and Props
Settings are either designed or a suitable location which already exists is chosen over time. Settings can reflect or enhance the character's mood and manipulate the audience by building up their expectations and gradually or suddenly take a different turn for the best or worst.
2.Costume, Hair, and Make-Up
These three show where and when the setting of the TV show/Film is and the culture or society it focuses on. It also partially or fully conveys the characters' personality, their job, purpose, status, etc.
3.Positioning of Characters/Objects within a frame
A director can use positioning to indicate relationships between the characters and draw our attention to them, their setting and the props/objects.
4.Lighting and Colour
In Mise-En-Scene, lighting and colour has many uses such as making them look mysterious by shading the face or the body, to highlight important characters or objects within a frame, or to reflect the physical/mental state/hidden emotions( such as red=passion, blue=illusion, black=darkness, etc.)
5. Facial Expressions and Body Languages
Facial expressions can reflect how a character may be feeling. Their body language can also indicate how a character feels toward other characters and his/her relationship and the character himself/herself.


1 comment:

  1. A good effort here; you have clearly understood the different elements of mise-en-scene, and you have given us some examples of still shots where we can see this in play. It would have been even better if you could have specifically linked your mise-en-scene comments to some analysis of the still images you chose though.

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