MISE EN SCENE
Mise en scene is the placement of props and people that are visible in frame, which can be affected by four main aspects; the setting, costume, make-up and lighting. The setting is the space in the frame and creates the overall design of a setting to which the audience can understand the action in frame. Mise en scene helps set the emotions of the audience through the scenery and what is around the actors, even where the actors are standing can affect the audience.'Setting creates both a sense of place and a mood and it may also reflect a character’s emotional state of mind. It can be entirely fabricated within a studio – either as an authentic re-construction of reality or as a whimsical fiction – but it may also be found and filmed on-location.' College Film & Media Studies. (2018)
Costume and make-up is the clothing and attire of the characters or lack thereof depending on how the director wants to present the characters to the audience. Many films are known to follow the expectation of a handsome and exceptional character such as James Bond but some auteurs have broken this mold. Tim Burton is known to create characters that don’t fit in with society, making their costume and make-up be different from those around them to make them feel different, a perfect example being ‘Edward Scissor Hands.’ The costume can say to the audience what this person may have been through or could give hints to what may happen to them in the future, the make-up making them recognizable to the audience. This seems to stand out better in villains as their make-up is memorable to the audience, being creepier or more interesting to them.
Lighting is the illumination of the objects and characters in frame, being able to highlight or shadow characters to amplify their emotions or inner characteristics such as in ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ where the lighting is used to make the Joker seem mysterious and unpredictable to the audience. Lighting can also set the mood for a movie, whether to bring tension or dramatic tendencies, an example of this being from ‘Blade Runner’ as the light shines through the wooden planks on the door, creating tension for the audience as the character tries to escape.
Mise En Scene is important as it can set the overall mood and sense to the audience, being able to provoke emotions in the audience that cannot be provoked through storytelling or character techniques. The setting is unique to the audience and can create different senses to form in the audience, being able to tell your story or ideas to the audience without having to make characters verbally speak it out loud to the audience. Mise en scene can be extremely powerful in evoking the audience's emotions if planned and used correctly.
References
College Film & Media Studies. (2018). MISE-EN-SCENE. [online] Available at: https://collegefilmandmediastudies.com/mise-en-scene-2/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2018].
Moura, G. (2018). Mise-en-scène. [online] Elementsofcinema.com. Available at: http://www.elementsofcinema.com/directing/mise-en-scene-in-films/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2018].
Oxfordreference.com. (2018). Mise-en-scene - Oxford Reference. [online] Available at: http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199587261.001.0001/acref-9780199587261-e-0447 [Accessed 23 Jan. 2018].
