Planning - Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene

Mise en scene is a French term that means ‘placing on scene’. Decor, costume and space all add to the arrangement on screen, therefore all contributing to the mise en scene.

Decor refers to the decoration and scenery of a stage. It includes objects, sets and props, fundamentally any object used within a film. The director’s job is to choose objects that are symbolic to the character and the film; this will furthermore influence the significance to the scene and provoke the audiences’ thoughts.This decor shows an office, from first look it gives the impression that the office could be owned by a powerful person who is high up in the business. Items such as the wooden desk and black leather chair give this idea.

Costume may be one of the easiest ways to detect a actors role within a movie without the character speaking, the costume an actor is wearing will allow the audience to create an assumption of the actors behaviour, profession and status. The actors are always dressed accordingly to their character. Itprovides lots of information about the character. Such as a man wearing worn out shoes, ragged t-shirt and old trousers would automatically be seen as a person low in the hierarchy, maybe a tramp. However, if a character walked in wearing a suit and tie the accidence would automatically associate him with power. Sexual objectification can also be shown through costume.

Automatically looking at this woman in scrubs the audience will come to the assumption that she works in the medical profession. Costume is there to dress the actors accordingly to their characters part in the film.

Space can create mise en scene due to the way in which a character is positioned from the camera and the distance from the camera. This portrays the characters status. If the actor is shot through a lowcamera angle this signifies their power. Such as in this photo the two characters standing up have more p ems to be more dominant than the character in the back ground or the one kissing his hand. ower over the character on the floor. However if the actors were positioned so that one actor was closer to the camera it would portray the illusion that the character closer to the camera has more authority or significance in the scene. Shown in The Godfather, the character with the red rose seems to be more dominant than the other characters.

Props are items or objects that are used in addition or in combination with a character’s (or subject)costume to contribute to their representation.They could also be other objects or items in the  scene in connection with the setting. Example: baseball bat, cigarette, gun, chair, pen, wine glass, clipboard etc.

Sets are a crucial part pf the mise-en-scene. It gives the viewer an idea of the time, location and where the story is going to take place. It ultimately sets the mood for the rest of the film. It basically is where a scene is set or located in a film.