Mise-En-Scène The first topic in reading media texts we will be covering is Mise-En-Scène Applied mostly to film but also applicable to television and advertising, less so to radio Focus on the components of media images from the point of view of their production

mise-en-scène – ‘the fact of putting into the scene’ Definition: mise-en-scène – ‘the fact of putting into the scene’

In film = THE DIRECTOR The work of the director is to deal with all the components of mise-en-scène

Why did it come about? Mass culture critics and the dismissal of popular culture

1930s: The Frankfurt School UK: F. R. Leavis

Elevating film from other forms of popular culture

mise-en scéne becomes vital If Film = Art mise-en scéne becomes vital Artist = director

John Caughie (1981: 12) ‘Auteur’ critics ‘The business of the critic was to discover the director within the given framework, to find the traces of submerged personality, to find ways in which the auteur had transformed the material so that the explicit subject matter was no longer what the film was really about.’ John Caughie (1981: 12)

STYLE became the key mise-en-scene = film style

Style = artistic signature

Who championed the approach? Cahiers du cinema (France)

Andrew Sarris (USA)

V. F Perkins = thematic coherence Film as Film Movie (Britain) V. F Perkins = thematic coherence Film as Film

Definitions of mise-en-scene 4 elements :

1. Setting

2. Costume and make-up

3. Lighting

4. Figure Expression and movement

‘In controlling the mise-en scene the director stages the event for the camera.’ Bordwell and Thompson (1986: 119) Vital to ‘read’ the elements together acting as a system of meaning

What does it not include? Editing strategies? Shot Length? Sound & voice? CGI?

What Other Media is Mise-en-Scene Relevant to Television? Radio? New Media Who else has a significant role in guiding production in these other media (and arguably in cinema as well)? How is Mise-en-scene related to content design and how is it different?