Mise - en - scene

Mise - en - scene

Mise - en - scene is a french term which means 'what is put into the scene or frame'

There are five elements of mise - en - scene which are:

1. Settings and props
2. Costumes, hair and make-up
3. Facial expressions and body language
4. Lighting and colour
5. Positioning of characters and objects in the frame.

In mise - en - scene the setting is where a media text takes place. Props are the objects which we see in the setting. Costumes, hair and make-up is what the character is wearing and looks like.
An example of how costumes and props are used in mise - en - scene would be the conventions of a western and what you would usually expect:

Another example of this would be what you would expect a villian to look like; which would be scary and unkept .

Make-up and genre is also a key part of mise-en-scene as it helps to the effect which the character would have on the audience and the sort of genre which they would then fit in to.

Facial expressions and body language- everyone communicates through facial expressions and body language which is particularly important in media when using close ups and extreme close ups. An example of the use of facial expressions would be:

This would be an example of an angry person, 

you can tell this thorough the facial expressions made.

Whereas...

This would be an example of a happy person which you,

can tell once again through the facial expressions.

Positioning of characters and objects within a frame - this is to do with the positioning of characters and objects. The characters and objects can be either in the foreground, middle-ground  or background. This can then emphasise the relative importance of the object or character.

If the characters or objects are positioned evenly within the frame which will then give a balanced feeling to the shot.

Although if the characters are positioned at the outside edges of the frame then this indicates a distance between the characters.

Overall, mise - en - scene is a very important of part of media and filming and it's always best to keep the conventions of mise - en - scene in your head when filming.