Mis-en-scène

Through our lessons with Miss Brown we are understanding different conventions film-makers use in television and cinema. As a result, my group and I will have a much better understanding of the different factors which go into making our opening.

Mis-en-scene is everything that goes into a scene or frame, we can break this down into six elements to help us analyse them in more detail. These elements are:

- Settings and props.
- Costumes, hair and makeup.
- Facial expressions and body language.
- Lighting.
- Colour.
- Positioning of characters/objects within the frame.

Settings help create/build expectations for the audience; these can also establish a situation.

Costumes can establish a characters lifestyle/career.

Facial expressions can express a lot about that characters thoughts and feelings.

Lighting can draw the audiences attention to a particular character/object and give tone to the character, object or setting.

Different colours have many connotations that may be reflected in the situation or character.

Positioning of characters/objects often represents their authority in the shot, this can change throughout the scene as characters gain/lose power.

So far in this course I have found that understanding mis-en-scene is one of the most valuable and interesting lessons. Now, when watching a film, I can decipher how the film-maker has positioned items or people in the frame in order to express tone or represent a relationship between characters. Ultimately, this will help us when planning our shots and deciding what to include in each shot as using mis-en-scene is an easy and creative way of expressing something to the audience.