1. MISE EN SCENE A critical term: from the French “placed on stage”
Cinematic mise en scene encompasses both the staging of the action and the way that it is photographed

2. Staging of the Action
All of the visual elements of a theatrical production within a given playing area—the stage within three dimensions
The proscenium arch in a theater

3. The Frame In a film, shapes and patterns are projected on a screen
World of film not occupied by the audience
Image is more like a picture in an art gallery—flat surface and enclosed by a frame

4. The Frame Like drama, film is a temporal and spatial art
Visuals constantly in motion
Single frame is an artificially frozen moment

5. Aspect Ratio Filmmaker fits the composition to a single size frame
Standard
Widescreen
Widescreen films cropped for video release
TV (same as pre-1950 films)
Cinemascope Cinerama Matted Panavision Super Super Panavision Technirama Todd-AO Ultra Panavision VistaVision

6. Aspect ratios

7. Director’s Decisions about Framing
Masking: darkening portions of the image at the edges to alter aspect ratio
Iris: circular or oval mask that opens or closes on a subject

8. The Frame as Metaphor
Hitchcock: Psycho & Rear Window

9. Placement in the Frame Objects Symbolic importance Actors
Relationships, power (top/bottom of
screen)
Central portion: most important visual elements

10. The Dominant The area of the image that attracts our attention
Human eye detects seven-eight different elements in an image at once
The director guides our gaze with the dominant

11. What is the Dominant Here?

12. Elements of the Dominant
Black and white films use juxtaposition of light and darks
Lighting can emphasize an important element
Intrinsic interest: audience knows through elements of plot that object or person is important
Movement

13. Contrast as the Dominant
Peggy Webber as Lady macDuff in Welles 1948 film—notice the formalist use of the fence in background

14. Lighting as the Dominant

15. Intrinsic Dominant
Notice the knife—more dramatic than visually interesting

16. Design: Linked to Theme and Symbol
The S shape: smooth, balanced
The X shape: classical proportion, balanced
The triangle: Off balance, power struggles
Binary compositon: parallelism, the two shot

17. Proxemic Patterns The intimate: skin to 18 inches
The personal: inches
The social: 48-
The public: and more
Proxemic patterns are related to shots

18. Open and Closed Form
Open Form: informal, random, often masked or window, panning camera, objects and people often cut off at edge of frame
Closed Form: stylized, often artificial, , space seems self-contained, objects and people are inside the frame, sense of entrapment

19. Other Elements Set analysis Costumes Make up Position of actors
Sound effects
Music