2. Textual Analysis (4 elements)
Mise-en-scene is arguably the largest
Element to analyse
The others are –
Cinematography
Editing
Sound
3. What is mise-en-scene?
• Mise-en-scene, translated literally from French, means
‘placed in the scene’
• The term was first used in theatre and referred to the way
in which a director organised the stage
• In media or film studies, it is used to describe everything
that can be seen in a single shot
• Analysing mise-en-scene relies on some understanding of
semiotics
4. Semiotics?
• Semiotics is the study of signs
• The basic idea is that all communication is made with a
combination of signs (aka codes)
• Our understanding of any communication is related to our
ability to decode these signs
5. What to look for?
• As mise-en-scene means ‘everything within the shot’,
there is a lengthy list of what to look for but for our
purposes, we will primarily focus on:
• Colour
• Costume
• Props
• Set/Location
• Blocking & Performance
• Lighting
6. Use of colour
• Symbolic use of colour can appear in several places – the
set, the lighting, the costumes/make up etc.
• Connotations of colour are generally so well understood
that they are even used in children’s texts
• How have colour signifiers been used in the examples
below?
7. Film example: The Village
• In ‘The Village’, Director M. Night Shyamalan used red and yellow as
colour signifiers – red attracted the monsters, yellow kept them away.
• “The colours came from just the straight psychology of it...Red creates
agitation, if the room was red we would be agitated and anxious and
aggressive. And yellow calms us and placates us and makes us feel
safe and more open to things. Those are straight psychological
reactions to colours.” MNS
8. Use of costume
• Costume can be considered to include clothes, hair and make-up
• It creates an identity and personality for the characters
• It forms a cultural code – the audience understand how costume
etc provides clues/codes about people and situations
• The selection of costumes will be deliberate, in keeping with
their character on the one hand and the design concept for the
text as a whole
Click on image for a 5 min clip of Depp’s
transformation into the Mad Hatter
10. Use of props
• Props are any objects used within
the frame
• They may be used to dress the set
or be used by the actors
• They can have symbolic
significance – expressing mood,
character traits etc.
Click for ‘House’ compilation –
list all the props used by
House. How do these support
elements of the
characterisation?
11. • You should all have a pen on your desks. Use it to demonstrate
the following:
• Irritation
• Boredom
• Intelligence
Small group task (choose from the following options):
Option 1 - You have to provide props for a tense police interview
between two officers and one suspected murderer. Decide what
props you would incorporate and how the actors should be
directed to use them.
Option 2 – You have to provide props for a romantic meal
between two characters on their first date. Decide what props you
would incorporate and how the actors should be directed to use
them.
Feedback to the class in 10 minutes.
12. Use of set/location
• A set will have been built for filming and is
most likely part of a studio complex
• Location shooting involves leaving the
studio environment and filming in existing
locations that have been ‘scouted’ as
suitable
• Whatever setting has been used, it is
important to remember that it has been
dressed purposefully
• In June 2011, Brad Pitt spent 2 weeks
filming for World War Z in
Glasgow…which was dressed to look like
war torn Philadelphia!
It was cheaper to make Glasgow look
like Philadelphia than to film in
Philadelphia!
13. Examples of locations
• What genre of film would you shoot in the following locations
and why?
Part of an unfinished, and then
abandoned, futuristic holiday village
in Taiwan called San Zhi
A purpose built set that is part of the
Babelsberg Studio complex in Germany.
Used to film The Pianist.
A dressed location used to shoot
Alice in Wonderland.
14. Use of blocking & performance
• Blocking refers to the
positioning and
movement of actors
within the frame, both in
relation to each other and
in relation to the camera
(which represents us, the
audience)
• Performance covers all
aspects of the actual
acting – gesture,
expression, accent etc.
Look at the blocking in this still from Downton Abbey
– how would you interpret this scene? How do other
elements such as colour, costume and set add to your
understanding?
15. Use of lighting
• There are two main approaches to
lighting a scene; high-key lighting and
low-key lighting
• High-key lighting ensures even light
across the frame with little or no shadow
or dark areas – it has little dramatic effect
• Low-key lighting allows for high contrast
between light and dark within the frame,
with shadow often being used for
dramatic effect (eh: horror films)
• Another useful term is ambient lighting –
this means that a scene has been lit using
available light (or perhaps to look like
natural light)
High-key lighting in Mad Men
Low-key lighting in The Sopranos
16. Examples from TV Drama
• How is lighting being used to create mood in the
following examples?
Can you also identify whether these
are examples of high-key or low-key
lighting?
Still from US drama Ringer, shown on Sky Living
Still from US drama The Wire, shown on BBC 2
17. Putting it all together
• Mise-en-scene creates verisimilitude
• This is a useful term which refers to the authenticity of
the environment created on screen
• Use the handout provided to make notes about the use of
mise-en-scene in the clip
18. Group Task
• In your groups watch the clip and ONLY make notes
on the element of mise-en-scene that you have been
given (first 5 mins)
• Feed back what you have to the rest of the class
