Intro to Studying Film (Chapter 1)

Note: This summary is directly from our textbook, Film: an Introduction.

In this and other publications, mise en scène, (MEEZ ON SEN)which is originally a theatrical term, signifies the major aspects filmmaking shares with staging a play. It refers to the selection of setting, subjects, and composition of each shot. Normally in complex film productions, the director makes final decisions about mise en scène.

Settings

A setting is the place where filmed action occurs. It is either a set, which has been built for use in the film, or a location, which is any place other than one built for use in the movie.

A setting can be the main subject of a shot or scene. Depending on the needs of the scene, settings may be limbo (nondescript), realistic, or stylized.

Settings often reveal the time and place of a scene, create or intensify moods, and help reveal what people (in a documentary film) or characters (in a fictional film) are like. Throughout a film changes in the settings can also mirror changes in situations and moods.

Subjects

In films, fictional characters or real people are the usual subjects, and their actions and appearances help reveal their nature.

Performers may be stars, Method actors, character actors, or nonprofessional actors. Depending on the desired results, actors may be cast with type or against type.

Usually film actors must perform their scenes out of order and in brief segments, and often after long waits.

Effective performances may depend on the script, casting, direction, editing, and music. There is no one type of effective performance: what is judged effective depends in part on the viewers’ culture and the film’s style, its manner of presenting its subject.

Composition

Filmmakers, especially cinematographers and directors, decide the shape of the overall image. They also decide how to use the space within an image: when and how to use empty space and what will be conveyed by the arrangement of significant objects on the sides of the frame, in the foreground, or in the background. Filmmakers also decide if compositions are to be symmetrical or asymmetrical.

Composition can be used to influence viewers’ responses, for example by what they see positioned in relationship to the subject and how the subject is situated within the frame; to reveal information to viewers that the characters do not know; and to help reveal personalities or situations.

Many films are seen in an aspect ratio other than the one the filmmakers intended, and the compositions and the meanings and moods they help convey are thus altered, sometimes severely.

Uses of Mise en Scène to Comment on Something Outside the Frame

Mise en scène can be used to promote a political viewpoint or commercial product (the latter practice is called "product placement").

Mise en scène can also be used to parody human behavior or to pay homage to an earlier film or part of one.

Goals (Chapter One)
  1. Students will define the basic concept of mise en scène.

  2. Students will summarize the differences between settings, subjects, and composition.

  3. Students will distinguish the different types of settings available to a director.

  4. Students will identify how different settings influence the viewer's mood.

  5. Students will identify the different types of actors(method, character, nonprofessional).

  6. Students distinguish between symmetrical and asymmetrical uses of space.

  7. Students will judge how directors and cinematographers use space within and around their subjects.

  8. Students will evaluate how directors use composition to inform the audience about the character's personalities and situations.

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