Mise-en-Scene

• Mise-En-Scene is a French term meaning what is put into a scene or frame
• It is made up of visual information in front of the camera
• It communicates essential information to the audience about setting (time & place) and characters
• It is made up of 5 elements. Costume, Lighting, Actors (gender / age), Make-up, Props and Setting. (Settings & Props - costume, hair & make up, facial expressions & body language, lighting & colour, positioning of characters / objects within the frame)

 

Settings & Props

 

Settings & 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.

 

Settings and props in:

 

A science fiction film:

 

• Sleek, modern designs
• Futuristic inventions
• Space / Aliens / Other planets and galaxies
• Hovercraft
• Lasers
• Holograms

 

A romantic comedy:

• Highschool / university / college
• Chocolates
• Roses
• Animals

 

A horror film:

• Fog
• Forest / Abandoned building / night-time
• Knife
• Mask
• Blood
• Body parts

Semiotics - Barthes

 

First off, the characters are clearly not human. The light blue dots lining up the features of the darker blue skinned creatures makes them look primal yet also in tune with their bodies. Similarly, the wide eyes with stark green contrasting from their blue complexion captures the attention, and presents them as 'spiritual', as the eyes are the gateway to the soul.

The two characters in the scene are also at equal height, similar facial expression yet easily differentiated. This shows a sense of unity and non-prejudice between the creatures, yet the emotions portray thoughts that the film will have a serious tone. This could be because everything in the scene is blue tinted and appears natural, (with the world and animals), while the scene is also centred on and is being invaded by unnatural grey military helicopters, which suggests a possible conflict for the land the creatures live on.

Finally, the two planets being split in half but still near each other suggests that the helicopters could be of a different planet to the creatures, possibly Earth and humanity.

Genre picture task

For the Horror genre, many connotations to horror were made. In the center of the image, the main character stands alone, head tilted, watching from afar and wielding a saw menacingly. The image itself highlights him as the focus of attention, by gradually changing to be lighter and more focused than the rest of the shot. A dark outline appears around the outline restricting view to the killer. People in the background are distant from him, suggesting he acts alone and disassociates himself from regular society. 

The genre for this image is Family. The sense of family is created from the closely gathered group, going about their own routine. The light around the edges evokes images of purity and happiness, as a family should be such. The conversation going on in the image is also affected by stance. On the right, he is standing, looking down onto the girl on the left, which suggests he is superior to her, like a father figure or such. Whereas in the front, the person is listening to music, distant from the group, suggesting rebellion, or teenage attitude, wanting to be away from the family and left alone.