Mise en scène

Mise en scène is everything that appears before the camera, Namely: the setting the costume and make-up the use of figure, expression and movement by actors the lighting The style scale Formalism, expressionism ↔ Realism Form over content - how things are shown is most important, and beyond a usual representation of reality. Expressionist films are highly stylised, and are characterised by oblique camera angles, distorted shapes, bizarre settings, high contrast lighting and the surreal and subjective. ↔ Content over form - looks like real life - the intent is to make us forget it is a representation. This is the dominant style of most films, and is sometimes referred to as "the style of no style." Setting Setting gives a sense of place and time. Whatever the film is, you should always analyse the set because it provides important clues about the nature of the film, such as: where the action takes place when the action takes place the mood the characters the genre of the film. Costume and make-up Costume and make-up can be considered as part of the set, because they indicate: the period the state of society social class cultural backgrounds character traits. Changes in cosutume indicate changes in charecter, e.g.: rich to poor taking off clothes as lowering defenses. Clothing might also be a trademark. Figure, expression and movement Body language appearance facial expressions (very significant in close-ups) sound elements. The way a character stands and moves is important. If they are the foreground they might be considered more important. If they move against a stationary background attention is drawn to them. Even distribution of characters makes for a balanced shot, whereas uneven distribution is unsettling to the eye. Positioning of characters within the frame may even indicate emotional distance.