1. 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

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

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

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

5. 1930s: The Frankfurt School
UK: F. R. Leavis

6. Elevating film from other forms of popular culture

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

8. 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)

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

10. Style = artistic signature

11. Who championed the approach?
Cahiers du cinema (France)

12. Andrew Sarris (USA)

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

14. Definitions of mise-en-scene
4 elements :

15. 1. Setting

16. 2. Costume and make-up

17. 3. Lighting

18. 4. Figure Expression and movement

19. ‘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

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

21. 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?