Mise-en scene in depth

Mise-en-scene

 

As I have previously mentioned 'mise-en-scene' means everything within the frame and consists of settings, props, costume, hair, makeup, lighitng, colour, facial expressions, body language and position of objects and subjects. Below are a few examples of how these aspects included in the mise-en-scene of movies help to create effect, tension and enigma codes. 

 

Settings and props:

 

Settings and props are very important wihtin the mise-en-scene, every thing within the shot is there for a reason be it to add to realism or forshadow future events. Props such as chairs, desks excetra are important in creating a realistic setting but also props such as guns, weaponery, high0tek computers and so on are important when filming Thrillers. Setting are also important as they can help to add to the atmosphere. For example an old antique home fits well in a supernatural movie as the house has a history of different owners whom have passed away. Within Hitchcocks famous movie 'Psycho' we can see just how important and successful settings and props can be. Below is a scene whereby Norman invites the young lady into his parlour for some food. His stuffed birads are obviously noticable but notice how they are all birds of prey, predators. Also noctie how some are positioned, the one hanging from the ceiling imitating full flight adds an eerie tone to the room and could forshdow events of attack on either Norman or the lady. Also notice the pictures of naked ladieson the wall, these 2 things put together could forbode that Norman is a 'sexual-predator'. Furthermore the motel itself is very creepy. Its in the middle of no where which creates a feeling of isolataion and fear. Settings and props are clearly very important for one making the narrative realistic and two adding tension and fear.

 

 

 

Performance:

 

The above clip leads me nicely onto facial expression, body language and all round performance. All of the perfromance of the actors is obviously part of the mise-en-scene because again is visible within the frame. The facial expressions and actions carried out by the actor help to portray character and what they are capable of. In the Psycho scene above we can see multiple awakrad facial expressions Norman uses. This shows us that hes a tad nervous. Also his body posture is very bent over and in wards, almost like he is hiding something and not willing to the let the young lady know who he truly is. He stutters multiple times, fidgets and occasionally nervously laughs. All of his performance indicate uncertainty and almost make the audience feel a bit on edge. Who is this man really? His room indicates sexual predator his performance shy? The contrast of the setting and the performance unease the audience and create enigma codes. Performance is important in any movie as it allows the audience to know what the character are feeling and also the characteristics of the characters. We can learn whether they are strong, brave, confident or shy, intreverted, weak and from this we can conclude what may happen to this character.

Costume, hair and makeup:

 

Costume, hair and makeup is very important within the mise-en-scene. First the costume helps to create realism and also characteristics. Realism for example, if a women was quite high up in a profession and worked in an office she would be dressed in a suit, or smart wear rather than dreams to elliecit relaism. If we are presented with a scruffy dressed man we can conclude that he may be very lazy, not very strong or confident. If we are presented with a man in a suit and tie we can conclude that he may be of power, wealth and strenght as weall as intelligence. For example James Bond is always suited and booted, from this we can see he is confident, powerful and intelligent. In terms of Thriller superheros are a possibility and so they would be dressed in a recognsiable costume, also villans may have a recognisable costume or some form of mask. This is all part of costume and helps to illistrated characters personality and ability. Make up is important in Thrillers. It can be used to highlight injury, for exmaple bruising, create fear, for example The Joker, or illistrate a 'sultry' women. For example a heavily made up women could be interpreted as some form of problem, this character is going to do something wrong or get in the way of something important. Makeup is very important as well as costume. Hair can too be important, scruffy looking hair indicates weakness, lack of money therefore power, where as well groomed hair indicates power and money. Also hair can again be important when recognising a character, or a villan. For example again the Joker has green ratty looking hair which would be easily noticed to everyone. It is a kay part of the costume.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Positioning:

 

Positinoning of characters and props is very important when it comes to filmimg. Posiotining can inclued being placed in the background, foreground, middle ground or even using split focus. Positioning can illistrate importance, atmosphere and relationships. Characters may be placed in background with the main character in the foreground emphasisng whom the most important character is. Positoining of props is also very important, if something within a scene is very significant in what is next to come it is likely that there may be a brief focus on this object/subject. In terms of relationships positioning can be key.

 For example within Westerns it is common to see two cowboys spaced very far apart about to fight. This distance helps to illistrate the fact that they are not companions and also helps to convey that they stand on different terms, hence standing on different sides. Look at the distance between the characters at the very beginning of the clip below. The positoning shows that they are not frineds and that they clearly have some form of disagreement, standing on different grounds and different beliefs.

 

 

 

This scene below comes from the recent film 'The Strangers' which i feel illistrates just how effective poisiotning can be. Notcie how a person appears in the background whilst the women continues to go bout making a drink in the foreground. This positioning show sus as the audience something that the character in the film does not know. This kind of positioning helps to create tension and send a chill down your spine. I feel this positning is very effective and has been used countless times.

 

 

 

 Light and colour:

 

As I have posted previously lighting and colour is again important and obviously part of the mise-en-scene. Low key lighitng helps to create an eerie feel and is typical within Thrillers and Horros (For example in the clip above low key lighitng is used) All different forms of lighting create different emotive responses to movies and is very important. Colour saturation in some movies works very well. For example in the movie I have mentioned before 'We need to talk about Kevin' we can notice a theme of red. The whole opening is saturated in the colour red. The colour red has the association of a variety of emotions and feelings. Such as danger, stop, blood, anger but also things like love, hot, admire. Therefore the colour used has to fit well to the camera angles and narrative of the film for them to work. In the clip 'We need to talk about Kevin' we can easily see that the red indicates danger, blodd and hate rather than love. Therefore the colour has worked well with the rest of the mise-en-scene. Colour is very important within the mise-en-scene as it helps to illistrate emotion and atmosphere.