Beginners Guide to Mise en Scene

Lily Saunders

What is Mise en Scene ?

• This comes from the Frenchterm, what is inside the sceneor frame.• It is the visual information in frontof the camera, telling the audienceinformation about the scene.It is made up of five different things...

Props and Setting

Costumes

Positioning

Lighting and Colour

Facial Expression

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Props and Settings

• The setting of a scene plays an important partin film making.• A set could be built from scratch or time is spentsearching for an already existing setting.• Settings can build up certain expectationsbefore taking a surprising turnhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J38H3xnvgiQProps give the setting authenticity, these areparticularly important in settings of adifferent era.• The weather also falls under this category, it can influencethe mood and atmosphere of a scene for the audience.

Costumes

• Costumes, hair and make up are important to show us the personality, status and job of the character.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYR9aKtCuek• Tells us the era, society and culturethat the show or film is based around.• Certain costumes are significantof certain types of people.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q17DwQ4efS4

Facial Expression and Body Language

• This can tell us how someone is feeling.• It can play together with the music in the

background to project someone in a way that might not be obvious to the eye – for example if someone is smiling but there is dark and sinister music, they turn from being someone happy, to perhaps being someone scary.

• This can also indicate the feelings that one character has to another, or reflect the state of their relationship.

Lighting and Colour

• Colour can add meaning to a scene as it gives it a particular feel, look or mood.

• It can create a dramatic effect.• Lighting can highlight objects or characters that

might be important within the frame.• The lighting can be manipulated to make characters

look mysterious by shading sections of the face or the body.

• The lighting can show us a character’s mental state and hidden emotions.

• There are two main types of lighting…

Low Key Lighting

• This is created by only using key and back lights. It creates sharp contrasts between the dark and light areas. It produces distinct shadows or silhouettes.

• This is appropriate for filming scenes that are of a horror or ghost genre…

Low Key Lighting Examples

Low Key Lighting in Batman

High Key Lighting

• High key lighting uses more filler lights and the lighting is natural and realistic to our eyes as it produces sets that are brightly lit or a sunny day.

High Key Lighting Examples

High Key Lighting in Iron Man

Guess What Lighting is Being Used… ?