Film Unit - Lesson 8

Lights! Camera! Action!

Learning Objective:
- to explore the use of mise-en-scene in films.

Starter - Work out the names of these blockbuster movies from their anagrams.
  1. Oh One Male
  2. Roam Inn
  3. Pa Reminds
  4. In Attic - Titanic 
  5. A Rabbi Priest of the Cane
  6. Farmer Snorts
  7. The Discernible
  8. Think Legion
  9. Fett Injured Hero
  10. End of Mining
What can you tell about the character who's room this is by their room and its contents?
  • Most likely a male bedroom as it is messy which may suggest at busy person or careless person. The guitars on the wall suggest a musical talent as well as the music posters on the wall.
Mise-en-scene - A French term meaning what is put into a scene or frame. Visual information in front of the camera. Communicates essential information to the audience. Each aspect of mise-en-scene has hidden meanings within a film and send signals to the audience about how we are supposed to feel or about a character.

Mise-en-scene is made up of five areas:
  1. Setting and Props
  2. Costume, Hair and Make Up 
  3. Facial Expressions and Body Language
  4. Lighting and Colour
  5. Positioning of characters/objects within the frame
Setting and Props
  • Setting and Locations play an important part in film-making and are not just 'backgrounds'.
  • Sets are either built from scratch or a great deal of time is spent to find a setting which already exists.
  • Settings can manipulate an audience by building certain expectations and then taking a different turn.
Costume, Hair and Make Up
  • Costume Hair and make Up act as an instant indicator to us of a character's personality, status and job.
  • It tells us immediately whether the film is set in the present and what society/or culture it will centre around.
  • Certain costumes can signify certain individuals (i.e. black cloak of a vampire, spider's Spider man suit).
Facial Expressions and Body Language
  • Facial Expressions provide a clear indicator of how someone is feeling.
  • If someone is smiling broadly, we assume they are happy but we may get a different feeling if this is accompanied by scary music.
  • Body Language may also indicate how a character feels towards another character or may reflect the state of their relationship.
Lighting and Colour

Lighting and Colour can be used to achieve a variety of effects:
  • To highlight important characters or objects within the frame.
  • To make characters look mysterious by shading sections of the face and body.
  • To reflect a characters mental state/hidden emotions (i.e. bright = happy, dark = disturbed, strobe effect = confused.
There are two main types of lighting -

Low key lighting:
  • Produces sharp contrasts of light and dark areas.
  • Deep, distinct shadows/silhouettes are formed.
High key lighting:
  • Lighting is natural and realistic to our eyes.
  • Produces brightly lit sets or a sunny day.
Positioning of people/objects
  • Positioning within a frame can draw our attention to an important character/object
  • A film-maker can use positioning to indicate relationships between people.

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