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Mise-en-scène

With Justin we looked at the importance of mise-en-scène in communicating information and meaning to an audience. Here are the 5 elements of mise-en-scène:

 Settings and props

  • Setting plays an important part in film-making as it sets the scene - it tells the audience the location of where the scene is set and the props help bring the scene to life, for example in a romantic movie a prop may be a bottle of champagne and the setting may be a beach during the sunset with sets the romantic mood.
  • Sets are either built from the scratch or they find a real setting.
  • Props can be used to convey a general sense of the period that the film is set in. For example props such as alien blaster guns could tell the audience the movie genre is sci-fi and that the movie is set in the future.



Costume, hair and makeup
  • Costume, hair and makeup quickly indicates the characters personality, their job and status to the audience. For example if the movie was a period drama then the characters would wear costumes and have hair and makeup that was popular during that time period.
  • Some costumes can be very significant to reinforce the characters role in the movie, for example if a character is playing the role of a policeman then he would wear a police costume.
  • Costumes, hair and make tell the audience of what time period the movie is set in and even what part of the world it set in.



Facial expression and body language
  • The facial expression of a character instantly tells the audience of what that character is feeling, for example if they are happy they will most probably have a smile and other parts of their face will also show this joy such as their eyes.
  • The facial expression can also be used to confuse the audience. For example if someone has a big smile on their face but this is accompanied by scary music this will disorientate how the audience feel and will change their feeling and mood of the scene.
  • Body language can also help indicate to the audience how the character is feeling, for example if the character is slouched with their head down this could indicate they are feeling sad and depressed.


Lighting and colour
  • Lighting and colour is very useful in achieving a variety of effects. For example it can be used to highlight the importance of characters or objects within the frame. This could be done with a spotlight shining on the character for example to emphasise their importance.
  • It can also make the characters look mysterious and even sinister by ensuring parts of their faces and bodies are shaded.
  • It can be used to show the characters mental state (hidden emotions). For example a bright light on a character could show they feeling happy and full of joy. However if someone has a very dim light on them and look like they are in the dark this could signify they are sad or even sinister - the use of a red gel on the light could show this character is evil. Strobe lights could be used to portray a sense of confusion. 



Position of characters and objects in the frame
  • Positioning within a frame can be used to draw the audiences attention to a character or object. For example if a character is positioned in the centre of the frame, this could show that they important and the focus should be on them.
  • Positioning can also be used to indicate to the audience the relationship between characters.

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