1. Mise-en-scene
What does mise-en-scene mean?
Translated from French, Mise- en- scene means, ‘placed in the scene’. In
media, it is used to describe everything within a single shot.
What are the 6 key areas of mise-en-scene?
The 6 primary focuses are: colour, costume, props, set/location, Blocking &
performance and lighting.
Colour:
How is colour used in the 3 below pictures?
In the examples given above, the villains are both portrayed in an evil way
with the use of predominantly dark or dull colours, this is not just in their
clothes but their skin and hair also. This is done in order to show the
audience immediately that these characters are the antagonists at first
glimpse. The picture of belle however shows from her bright and pure
coloured clothing and skin that she is in fact the protagonist of the film.
These facts are a given without even watching the movies due to the nature
of the simplified children’s films.
Costume:
What can we interpret from these costumes?
Having not seen the show
on the left, I can already
infer that the characters
featured are portrayed as
lower class with possible
money problems, they
could be depicted as
stereotypical ‘chavs’,
however Sherlock and Watson on the right, are
automatically portrayed as prestige and well-groomed
men. If Sherlock appeared wearing the costume given to the cast on the left,
he wouldn’t be able to pull off his role as an incredible detective. The
costume massively affects the role in which the character is playing.
2. Mise-en-scene
Props:
You have to provide props for a tense police interview between two officers and
one suspected murderer. Decide what props you would incorporate and how the
actors should be directed to use them.
Props needed: Police batons, Tasers, one way mirror, voice recording device,
documents, chairs, a table and a surveillance camera.
How would actors be directed to use them: The police officers would have the
batons and Tasers on them along with their costume, the one way mirror
would be in shot and referred to without being touched physically, they
would need a voice recording device in order to record the conversation and
have proof of everything that is said within the interview, paper documents
would be referred to and showed to the criminal throughout the scene.
Chairs would be used to sit on, Table would be necessary in order to rest all
of the other props on, and a surveillance camera would be mentioned and in
shot to make the scene as realistic as possible.
Location:
Can be a purpose built set or a real location
Blocking/Performance:
Blocking refers to the positioning and movement of actors within the frame,
both in relation to each other and in relation to the camera (which
represents us, the audience)
Performance covers all aspects of the actual acting – gesture, expression,
accent etc
Lighting:
How is lighting being used to create mood in the
following examples?
The image
on the left
shows
characters
stuck in
what looks
like a bad situation, due to the dark setting,
they appear to be threatened and unsafe.
The image on the right, looks
confrontational, however, due to the lighting, both characters appear safe
and at ease within a safe and well lit room.
