1. Sherlock (TV Series)
A contemporary update of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
Sherlock Holmes detective stories.
Mise-en-Scene Breakdown
James Landless
Sathyam Sharma

2. Setting
•Based in the modern era of
London
•It shows this by
–Famous Landmarks/areas
(Tower Bridge) when outside.
–When inside there is no real
setting to be able to discern that
they are in London (maybe
accents or fashion?)
– Familiar Baker street house has
a big impact as well

3. Lighting/Colour
• Lighting = typical grey/blue
English weather when
outside
• When inside
– Dark hues = mystery (what’s
hiding in the shadows?)
– sterile, modern blue when in
the lab.

4. Figure Movement
• Watson is always observing Sherlock (Sherlock
supposedly likes working alone?) but when
company comes in Watson moves to
Sherlock’s side/ so to back him up. Sherlock
seems to like this.
• Like in the book, ONE CLEAR PAIR.
Watson

5. Expression
• Sherlock maintains a blank,
serious expression. It gives
a feel to it that he is always
thinking.
• Watson usually has an
annoyed expression
connoting the annoyance
from never understanding
Sherlock

6. Props
• The modern props (guns)
allow the show to appear
modern.
• Modern technology, such as
phones, the internet, and
GPS, used to solve crimes.
• Very scientific (the lab looks
so). This connotes and
slightly denotes the fact of
inteigence.

7. Other
• Make-up = Make
people look
deathly pale.
connotes they are
ill.
• Make-Up =
BLOOD!
• Special Effects
(SFX) = No massive
use of SFX seen
(gun shoot-outs?)

8. Meaning
• To give the same sense of mystery presented
by the books that can only be made by NOT
speaking it out loud.
• To set the scene for the BEST mystery.
Ho
? w?
hy
W