1. Focus on: Mise-en-Scene

2. Mise-en-Scene
From the French, literally translates to ‘put on the stage’ or ‘placed within the scene’… however, deals with a number of issues overlapping with cinematography that can categorized.

3. Working definition of Mise-en-Scene . . .
The arrangement and relationships of visual weights and movements within the frame and outside of the frame. Incorporates both the staging of action and the way it is recorded and presented; i.e., both production and product.

4. Elements of Mise-en-Scene
Dominant
Subsidiary contrasts
Cinematography
Open and closed form
Frame composition and design
Character placement and proxemics

5. What’s dominant? What captures our attention initially?
What do you notice second and third?
How does the eye travel around the frame, often from point to point?

6. Mise . . . What’s dominant and secondary?
Characters’ eyes can direct our attention
Characters place in the front and center gain more attention than on sides or back
Heighth, lighting, and colors demand attention
Dominance can be read literally and figuratively

7. Mise includes elements of cinematography…
You might consider how elements of cinematography properly involve how the film is recorded and mise involves what is recorded. That is, cinematography is the production and mise is the product.

8. Elements of Mise . . . Dominant  Subsidiary contrasts 
Cinematography
Open and closed form
Frame composition and design
Character placement and proxemics

9. Quick review: Cinematography includes…
Lighting
Color (formally)/Contrast
Film stocks & gauges
Opticals (lenses, filters)
Effects
Shots*

10. (reviewing…) and we define shots according to:
Size/Distance
Angle
Content
Movement
Point of view
Conventions

11. Elements of Mise . . . Dominant  Subsidiary contrasts 
Cinematography 
Open and closed form
Frame composition and design
Character placement and proxemics

12. Open form . . . Tends toward realistic film expressions
Apparent haphazard frame composition
Temporarily cuts off action and space; action continues off-screen
(Alien)

13. Open form manipulates the film form, which suggests vastness, loneliness and isolation, desolation here in Alien

14. Closed form . . . Tends toward formalistic film expressions
Distortion of form over subject as content
Self-conscious style of presentation
Balanced, figurative design

15. Closed form manipulates the film form, often to cerate an organized space in which the action takes place--the frame as a sort of stage. Note the blocking devices. (Lord of the Rings)

16. Elements of Mise . . . Dominant  Subsidiary contrasts 
Cinematography 
Open and closed form 
Frame composition and design
Character placement and proxemics

17. Mise involves frame composition and design . . .
How tightly or loosely organized are objects and characters within the frame?
How balanced is the frame?
What depths does the frame provide?
What is the underlying design of the frame? Classic “S-shaped” or triangular? Linear?

18. Mise involves the placement of characters . . .
How much space between characters and specific objects?
Public, social, personal, and intimate distance
Characters’ relationships to camera create perspective and other meanings

19. What does Austin’s placement suggest about his feelings for the other characters?

20. Mise. Compare the placement of these characters
Mise Compare the placement of these characters. What do we know about them and their relationships?

21. Mise . . . Character placement
When characters touch, there is some form of intimacy
Intimacy, though, does not have to be ‘loving”
Intimacy can be protective or mutually trusting or even violent

22. Mise. . . placement creates dominance . . .
Front is more dominant than back
Center more than sides
Bigger more than smaller
Moving more than static
Human more than non-human
Standing more than sitting
Follow eye-line matches

23. Elements of Mise . . . Dominant  Subsidiary contrasts 
Cinematography 
Open and closed form 
Frame composition and design 
Character placement and proxemics 