Mise-en-scene is an expression used to

describe the design aspects of

a theatre or film production
 JEEVA K J
MA CINEMA AND TELEVISION
 When applied to the cinema, mise-en-scène refers to
everything that appears before the camera and its
arrangement settings ,props, costumes, make up and
lighting.

 The various elements of design help express a film’s

vision by generating a sense of time and space, as well as
setting a mood, and sometimes suggesting a character’s
state of mind.“Mise-en-scène” also includes the
composition, which consists of the positioning and
movement of actors, as well as objects, in the shot. These
are all the areas overseen by the director.
 Setting (the objects visible in a scene) is an
important element of mise-en-scene.

Set design can be used to amplify character emotion

or the dominant mood, which has physical, social,
psychological, emotional, economic and cultural
significance in film.
 Greed (1924) by Erich von Stroheim
 All the President's Men(1976) by Alen.J.Pakula
 Intolerance (1916) by D. W. Griffith
 Marie Antoinette (2006)by Sofia Coppola
Greed
Greed
Greed
All the president man
All the president man
All the president man
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
 In manipulating a shot’s setting, the filmmaker may
creates props, short for property.

When an object in the setting has a function within

the ongoing action, we can call it a prop.
Eg: Psycho, Titanic
 The most easily noticeable aspect of mise-en-scene is
costume and make up

 Costume is an important part of signifying the era in which

the film is set and advertising that era’s fashions.
In biographical films, costume is an important aspect of
making an actor resemble a historical character.

Eg: Frida, by Julie Taymor (2002)

Gandhi, by Richard Attenborough(1982)
Frida
Mohandas Karamchand Ben Kingsley as Gandhi
Gandhi in movie Gandhi
Costume can have specific function in the total film
and the range of possibilities is huge
Eg: The Crime of Monsieur Lange by Jean Renoir
(1936)
Hamlet (1948) by Laurence Olivier
My Fair Lady by George Cukor (1962)
12 Years a Slave by Steven Rodney McQueen (2013)
 Today makeup usually tries to pass unnoticed, but it
also accentuates expressive qualities of the actor’s
face. Since the camera may record cruel details that
would pass unnoticed in ordinary life, any
unsuitable blemishes, wrinkles, and sagging skin
with have to be hidden. The makeup artist can
sculpt the face, making it seem narrower or broader
by applying blush and shadow. Viewers expect that
female performers will wear lipstick and other
cosmetics, but the male actors are often wearing
makeup, too.
Hamlet(1948)
Hamlet
(1948)
Hamlet
(1948)
Hamlet
(1948)
7 Faces of Dr.Lao
(1964)
Mask (1985)
Mask (1985)
Mask (1985)
Stylized costumes in
Freak Orlando
The crime of Monsieur Lange
(1936)
The crime of Monsieur Lange (1936
The Planet of the Apes(1964)
The Planet of the Apes(1964)
The fly(1986)
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
Dallas buyer’s Club (2013)
Dallas buyer’s club(2013)
Dallas buyer,s club(2013)
12 years a slave (2013)
12 years a slave
12 years a slave
12 years a slave
 Much of the impact of an image comes
from its manipulation of lighting. In cinema,
lighting is more than just illumination that permits
us to see the action. Lighter and darker areas
within the frame help create overall composition
of each shot and thus guide our attention to
certain objects and actions. A brightly illuminated
patch may draw our eye to a key gesture, while a
shadow may conceal a detail or build up suspense
about what may be present.
There are two basic types of shadows,
1.Attached shadows or shading
2.Cast shadows.
Attached shadows or shading
An attached shadow occurs when light fails to
illuminate part of an object because of an object’s
shape or surface features.
Cast shadows.
The shadow cast by a form onto a nearby surface.
Asphalt Jungle
a. Frontal lighting
b. Side lighting
c. Backlighting
d. Under lighting
e. Top lighting
 “Frontal lighting” can be recognized by its tendency
to eliminate shadows. The result of frontal lighting is
a fairly flat-looking image.
Side lighting
 sidelight (cross light) using to show the character’s
features.
 Side lighting
Frontal lighting
 It comes from behind the subject filmed. It
can be positioned at many angles: high
above the figure, at various angles off to the
side, pointing straight at the camera, or
from below.
 As its name implies, “underlighting”
suggests that the light comes from below
the subject.
 It used to create dramatic horror effects and
distort features
The sixth sense
The sixth sense
Aparajito
Rashomon
Rashomon
 Classical Hollywood filmmaking developed
the custom of using at least three light sources per
shot: key light, fill light, and backlight
The backlight comes from behind and
above the figure, the key light comes diagonally from
the front, and a fill light comes from a position near
the camera.
THREE POINT LIGHTING
 A key light can provide the ‘key’ to the scene’s
appearance-define main shadow to be seen on the
face. Natural light from the sun often acts as the key
light. It is usually hard, providing clear shadows. A
soft key gives a more glamorous, softer appearance
Key light only
 A fill light can reduce the harshness and contrast
provided by the key. This is a soft light ,possibly
softened even further by a diffusion filter.
If lighting a single figure, it will usually be positioned
below the eye line.
A hard back light can provide a high-light effect to the
hair and shoulders. It helps to create an illusory
third dimension, it also serves to separate the
subject from background
If it is diagonally opposite the key, it can give a balance
to the shape of the face
 The director may also control the behavior of
various figures in the mise-en-scene. Here the
word “figures” covers a wide range of possibilities,
since the figure may represent a person but could
also be an animal ,robot, an object or even a pure
shape (abstract film Parabola). Mise-en-scene
allows such figures to express feelings and
thoughts; it can also dynamize them to create
various kinetic patterns.
Lassie
the donkey Balthazar,
the donkey Balthazar the donkey Balthazar
An actor’s performance consists of visual elements
(appearance, gestures, facial expressions) and sound
(voice, effects).
in the silent era, actor’s performance may sometimes
exist only on the sound track of the film
L’Arroseur arrose (not on The Auteurs)
Contempt
Germany Year Zero
Greed
All the Presiden’s Men
Intolerance
Ivan the Terrible Part 2
Wings of Desire
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Les Vampires
Tampopo
Money
The Fifth Element
Groundhog Day
Election
Finye
The Birth of a Nation
Freak Orlando
8 1/2
His Girl Friday
The Night of the Shooting Stars
Fellini’s Casanova
THX 1138
Women in Love
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Ivan the Terrible Part 1
Heat
The Godfather Part III
Speed
The Fly
 The Cheat Pickpocket
Asphalt Jungle Aparajito
La Chinoise Touch of Evil
Godard’s Passion Wings
The Sixth Sense Shanghai Express
The Miracle Worker The Bodyguard
Bezhin Meadow (not on The Auteurs) Jezebel
Catch Me If You Can Back to the Future
Kanal Mauvais sang
El Sur Nights of Cabiria
Rashomon The Green Room
The Hudsucker Proxy
Parabola (not on The Auteurs)
Seven Samurai
White Heat
Robocop
Dimension of Dialogue
Jerry Maguire
City Lights
Tigre Reale (not on The Auteurs)
Fail-Safe
Strike
Hannah and Her Sisters
Winchester 73
Trouble in Paradise
Au Hasard Balthasar
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Breathless
The Spider’s Strategem
Aliens
The Mascot
Cinematography is the act of capturing photographic
images in space through the use of a number of
controllable elements. These include the quality of
the film stock, the manipulation of the camera
lens, framing, scale and movement.
Cinematography is a function of the relationship
between the camera lens and a light source, the focal
length of the lens, the camera’s position and its
capacity for motion.
Racking Focus
Filmmakers can change the focus of the lens to a
subject in the background from the foreground or
vice vera. This can be used to shift the audience’s
attention or to point out a significant relationship
between the two subjects.
The zoom shot occurs when a filmmaker changes the
focal length of the lens in the middle of a shot. We
appear to get closer or further away from the
subject when this technique is used.