Week 4: Introduction to mise-en-scene: unit 4

For this piece of work I am going to explain Mise-en-scene, how it works and how much someone can interpret from it.

 

Mise-en-scene is everything seen on-screen, the viewer translates this and creates ideas about the character or location. If the characters bedroom is really untidy, then you would think that the character is untidy as well. Another example is if the furniture is breaking then you would come to believe maybe the character can’t afford to fix them.

These are the examples of things that would come under mise-en-scene:

• Costumes, hair, props
• Locations, props
• Body language: direction
• Technology – Lighting, Sound (diegetic)
• Placing of actors

This is the analysis of mise-en-scene in The Pursuit of Happiness. This scene uses mise-en-scene well it shows that the two characters are in a bad situation as they are in a bath room and they have things that look like personal belongings with them. You can tell that’s were they are because of the floor tiling and a sink which is generally used in bathrooms. There is a lot in this seen which shows they are not homeless such as the adult is wearing a suit and also has one neatly hanging up. You can also tell there is a lot of love and compassion between the two character as the adult is holding the child and what looks like he’s trying to block out the surrounding by covering up his ears.

This is an analysis of mise-en-scene in Tropic Thunder. This also uses strong mise-en-scene to show what environment the characters are in, their both wearing uniforms and one is helping the other who is injured, however the relationship between these two characters are unknown therefore he could instead be trying to stab him. We can see that something is going on between them as they are gripping each others hand tightly. The background puts them in context and tells us that their in a war as there is also a helicopter with a man hanging from it holding a gun, but there is no way of telling the relationship between him and the pilot or him and the two characters in the foreground..

 

I learned what mise-en-scene is, how it is used, why it is used and what effect it has on the audience. I also learned how everything on screen works together to create the story and if you take one bit out it may change the whole scene.

 

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