Mise En Scene

Session Aims

By the end of the lesson I will be able to:

• Understand the concept of 'mise en scene'
• Apply the concept to a film extract

Definition: Miss En Scene

• A French term meaning what is put into a scene or frame
• Visual information in front of the camera
• Communicates essential information to the audience

Mise En Scene is made up of 5 elements:

• Settings & Props (e.g. Thor's hammer Mjolnir)
• Costume, Hair & Make Up
• Facial expressions and Body Language (close ups) or (showing emotions e.g. anger)
• Lighting & Colour
• Positioning of characters/objects within the frame

Each aspect of Mise-En-Scene has hidden meanings within a film and sends signals to the audience about how we are supposed to feel at a certain point!

1) Settings & Props

Settings for a horror film:

• Houses, Apartments, Cabins
• Hospitals, Asylum
• Hotels

Props for a horror film:

• Meat Cleaver
• Axe
• Knife

Settings for a Sci Fi film:

• Space Ship
• Future cities
• Somewhere in a Galaxy

Props for a Sci Fi film:

• Laser guns
• Lightsabers

Settings for a Romantic Comedy

• High School
• Cafe
• Hotel

Props for a Romantic Comedy

• Cars
• Picnics

2) Costumes, Hair & Make Up

• Costume, Hair & Make Up act as an instant indicator to us of a character's personality, status and job.
• It tells us immediately whether the film is set in the present and what society/or culture it will centre around.
• Certain costumes can signify certain individuals (i.e black cloak of a vampire, Spidey's Spiderman suit)

3) Facial expressions & Body Language

• Facial expressions provide a clear indicator of how someone' feeling.
• If someone is smiling broadly, we assume they are happy but we may get a different feeling if this is accompanied by scary music.
• Body language may also indicate how a character feels towards another character or may reflect the state of their relationship.

In the photograph (from Spiderman 1) what I see is that it is set in a alleyway and that it could be a Romantic Comedy film, but it is mostly a Science Fiction/Action film.

Image 2 is from The Shining and is a horror film, from what I see it is in a cave next to a garden maze with dark lighting showing the character's facial expressions fully.

Props for films:
The below pictures are props for horror films




The below images are Science Fiction movie props