Mise%en%scène - WordPress.com … · 10/6/09 3 Ligh4ng&& • when&we&talk&aboutthe&sources&of&light,&we&oLen&talk&in& classical&Hollywood&terms&of&a"threePpoint"&ligh@ng&system&

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Mise-‐en-‐scène


Mise-‐en-‐scène, a French term, literally meaning "put on stage," is borrowed from theater to express the blocking of an ac@on and its presenta@on to an audience

•  the elements of mise-‐en-‐scène in cinema include: seBng, ligh@ng (also color schemes), costumes, props, and character/object movement (or ac@ng)

•  remember -‐ they all occur in rela4on to the camera


What this means is that when we talk about a shot we refer not only to the materials in/on the set, but also their rela@on to the camera

The camera actualizes these materials because it frames them; the camera selects what will be seen, what will be hidden, and how this will occur


OLen we can discuss the nature of mise-‐en-‐scène by considering its rela@onship to realism:

•  does it seem realis@c or ar@ficial?

The poles of realism and ar@fice are @ed to the origins of cinema


The process of crea@ng a realis@c illusion is just one of the tradi@onal (or classic) deployments of mise-‐en-‐scène

In film, the combina@on of theatrical elements and camera placement works to create an illusion of "true-‐to-‐life" locales

Se6ng

Se6ng seems like an obvious synonym for loca@on, though the actual loca@on where a scene is filmed is frequently different than the fic@onal seBng it represents

•  hence, seBng creates the locale where the ac@on occurs

•  some@mes, directors choose to film on loca@on, whereas other @mes they construct sets to simulate a seBng

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Props, Costume, and Make-‐up

Props, Costume, and Make-‐up — these func@on as visual aids to help to construct par@cular characters and seBngs

•  Props – think about elements that take on special meaning



•  Costume – oLen the clothing that a character wears give us vital informa@on about who that character is



•  Make-‐up – in addi@on, make-‐up works to change our interpreta@on of characters and their roles

Ligh4ng

Ligh4ng is one of the most important aspects of mise-‐en-‐scène because it so dras@cally affects the way we see a set

•  The interplay of light and shadow alters the texture of any locale; this is par@cularly true of black and white films.

Ligh4ng

Four major aspects of ligh@ng: quality, direc@on, source, color

•  quality signifies the brightness and general nature of light •  this includes sharp shadows cast by direct light (chiaroscuro)

or diffuse light which gives objects a soL, gauzy sheen

Ligh4ng

•  direc4on refers to the general loca@on of light on the subject •  ligh@ng oLen has an ostensible source in the scene

(a lamp, the sun), although addi@onal light sources are almost always required

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Ligh4ng

•  when we talk about the sources of light, we oLen talk in classical Hollywood terms of a "three-‐point" ligh@ng system

1.

2.

3.

Ligh4ng

•  key lights are generally the main source of illumina@on, situated diagonally from the front of the subject

High key ligh@ng Low key ligh@ng

Ligh4ng

•  the backlight is generally less bright than the key light, and is usually posi@oned behind the subject – “halo effect”

Ligh4ng

•  fill light or side light is used to provide an extra luminescence, oLen in order to round out shadows and lend a three-‐dimensional appearance to the subject

Ligh4ng

•  the remainder of the set is illuminated by background or set ligh@ng, which is oLen not quite as pronounced in order to draw one’s eyes to the subject of the shot

Color

Color can be affected by the use of gels and filters placed in front of the light source or in front of the lens

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Color Ac4ng

Mise-‐en-‐scène also includes all figure expression and movement, or ac4ng

•  ac@ng oLen caters to the illusion of realism, but like other aspects of mise-‐en-‐scène, it may be stylized or individualized to make it more appropriate

Ac4ng

•  individualized ac@ng refers to the playing of roles to create a psychological depth in a character

•  we feel that we “know” who she or he is

Ac4ng

•  stylized ac@ng refers to the way in which a role falls into a predetermined style (such as comedy) or the way that a character fits into a familiar type

Ac4ng

•  ac@ng also takes place in the presence of the rest of the mise-‐en-‐scène and generally needs to be evaluated in rela@on to its context

The func4ons of the mise-‐en-‐scène in rela4on to space

The totality of mise-‐en-‐scène creates a perspec@ve — our perspec@ve, as viewers — on a par@cular space, for a par@cular 4me

•  the arrangement of the mise-‐en-‐scène creates a composi@on of screen space

•  this allows the filmmaker to depict three dimensions in two dimensions

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•  movement guides how we watch images in the frame

•  color differences allow for the separa@on of layers in space

•  balance (or imbalance) of the elements creates expecta@ons

•  varia@ons in size also serve to guide our percep@on


My Darling Clemen2ne (John Ford, 1946)


All of these elements serve to construct a sense of space and to give us depth cues to read the space as three dimensional

•  these depth cues allow us to pick out dis@nct planes within the image: foreground, middle ground, and background

•  the dispersal of the mise-‐en-‐scène across the planes allows for filmmakers to construct shallow-‐space and deep-‐space composi@ons


The Long Voyage Home (John Ford, 1940)

The func4ons of the mise-‐en-‐scène in rela4on to 4me

While we generally talk about spa@al composi@on, it is important to remember that this composi@on always unfolds in @me

•  character movement, object movement, and camera movement can each create a sense of pacing, rhythm, and tempo within a par@cular shot’s dura@on

•  repe@@on also emphasizes the func@on of mise-‐en-‐scène


Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde (Rouben Mamoulian, 1932)

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Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971)


•  a long take, for example, can allow they eye to scan the frame for details

•  close-‐ups and foreground ac@on are oLen on the screen for less @me because the visual material is more obvious


Three Kings (David O. Russell, 1999)


Documents

Mise%en%scène - WordPress.com … · 10/6/09 3 Ligh4ng&& • when&we&talk&aboutthe&sources&of&light,&we&oLen&talk&in& classical&Hollywood&terms&of&a"threePpoint"&ligh@ng&system&