This document discusses the key elements of mise-en-scene in filmmaking. Mise-en-scene includes all the visual elements within a scene that help tell the story, such as the setting, props, costumes, lighting, camerawork and actor performances. It discusses how directors use these elements like setting, props, costumes and body language to convey meaning and influence how audiences understand and experience the narrative. Mise-en-scene creates a sense of authenticity and engages dynamically with the story.

1. Mise-en-Scene
Bong S. Eliab
Hum 3: Film Appreciation
Mass Communication Department

2. Mise-en-Scene
 “Our most sharply
etched memories of
the cinema.”
 “Overall design of
a setting can
significantly shape
how we understand
story action.”
- Bordwell and Thompson
Note the backdrop (setting) of “The Road
Home”; wooden fences, huts, small dusty
roads, the clothes they Di and Zhao wear.

3. Mise-en-scene
 “having been put
into the scene”
 Visual aspects that
appear within a
single shot

4. Mise-en-Scene
 perceived elements
that are recorded by
the camera: objects,
movements, lighting,
shadows, colors,
shots, movement of
the camera, sound,
editing
Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin in a scene
of “The Piano”; note the perceived
elements in the mise-en-scene

5. Mise-en-Scene
 Setting: not merely a
backdrop against
which the story is told
 Setting: engages
dynamically with the
narrative.Peter Jackson directing Watts in King
Kong; explaining the mise-en-scene

6. Director’s Style
 Director’s control over
mise-en-scene
 Capacity of the
director to control
what happen on the
set.

7. Elements of Mise-en-scene
 Setting
 Props
 Costume
 Performance and
Movement
 Lighting
 Camera and Camera
Movement
 Editing
 Sound

8. Setting
 1920s-1940s: studio
 Studio: elements
controlled and chosen
 Signifier of
authenticity in 1920s
 Wilderness
 Small town
 Large ranch

9. Setting
 Functions to place the
character within a film
 Functions to create a
space and meaning

10. Props
 Device for conveying
meaning
 Define the genre
 Weapons: action genre
 Garlic/ crosses: horror films
 Unique signifiers of
meaning
 Objects on C.U./ Dialogue
 Significance of object in the
narrative

11. Props
 Used to anchor
characters into
particular meaning
 Hannibal Lecter: face
guard (Silence of
Lambs)
 The Godfather: props
in relation to family’s
honor

12. Costume
 Variant of prop,
tightly connected to
character
 Minor characters: use
codes of everyday life
(uniforms)
 Cinematic Codes:
white for good guys/
black for villainy

13. Costume
 Subtle changes of
character’s costume:
changes in status, attitude
or passing of time
 Signifies mismatches:
 A costume calls for a series
of expectation
 Police: in robbery scene
 Cross-Dressing: a make in
female clothing

14. Performance and Movement
 Richest source of
mise-en-scene: actor’s
performance
 Performer: object of
the camera’s gaze

15. Performance and Movement
 Body Language:
strong coded elements
in the facial
expressions and body
positions held by the
performers

16. Body Language
 Part of everyday life
 Universal
 Cultural/ temporal
variations
 Thumbs up
 High Five

17. Performance
 Presentation of
characters by the
actors using body
language
 Dustin Hoffman in
Rain Man
 Tom Hanks in Forrest
Gump

18. Body Movements
 Body movements: can
be used to express a
change of emotion
and a passage of time

19. Star Factor
 Brings to the film a
meaning derived from
their presence
 Brings a level of
expectation and
implied meaning in
their previous film

20. Type-Casting
 Part of film language
 Type-casting of a
star: having meaning
can be stretched and
re-used, but only to a
limited extent

21. Other Elements
 Lighting
 Camera and Camera Movement
 Editing
 Sound