Mise en scene consists of four components which are setting, costume, lighting and staging. through these 4 different mechanisms a single scene can convey an entirety of things. However how we interpret or decode elements of mise en scene also depends on cultural context, a perfect example of this would be looking at two Hollywood blockbusters, Star Wars and The Matrix.
Star wars follows the very generic western conventions, white being protagonist, black the villain.
Where as The Matrix flips that, adopting a more culturally diverse model using Asian archetypes i.e Ghosts wearing white, and the protagonist wearing black.
Mise en scene is vital in story telling as it is useful visual shorthand, show, not tell. It can help define characters, their emotional state and status. Through staging, lighting and framing it can define relationships between characters. Action is character, what happens is as important as what is said.
The mis en scene is key in terms of how we get a feel for the plot and who we choose to empathise/feel for, obviously dependent of the context, the mise en scene takes charge of how we the audience are going to interpret things.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Camerawork in film is another key element which conveys messages for which we the audience are meant to interpret and decode.
Establishing shot (Master shot, ES) - Establishes the location, where we are in the film/tv show.
Long shot (LS) - contains part location and characters.
Medium shot (MS) - contains half of body upwards.
Close up (CU) - contains usually a full shot of persons feature or an object.
these shots can vary, incorporating each other by merging into one, i.e having a Medium Close up shot (MCU) or a Medium Long shot (MLS).
All of these shots can convey something dependent on the context, however some shots can mean more than others, for example:
Low Angle - Mainly used to make the character/characters seem powerful, authoritative and in control.
High Angle - Usually used for purposes such as making a character/characters feel vulnerable/weak.
Tilt Angle - A sense of disorientation, lack of normality creating some psychological tension.
Angled shots are a common feature of expressionism, pioneered by the classic German Expressionist films of the 1920s-30s.
Expressionism presents the world from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionist artists sought to express the meaning of emotional experience rather than physical reality
"Never, never use a shot without it having a clear dramatic purpose"
Alfred Hitchcock
Movement in film is used to heighten the action of the emotion of a scene. it is used to convey objective or subject viewpoints. It can be used to refocus the audiences attention on a particular scene and as well as that the obvious one is to change the setting/location.
A particular scene had been shown to me that I had watched prior to it, which instantly made me think back to when I watched it originally, when I did not watch films and immediately have my analytical head switched on.
Children of Men. Director - Alfonso Cuaron
With this scene being one whole continuous shot, the movement and the speed of it adds great dramatic effect making us the audience feel apart of the car. Not at one point are we allowed to escape the extreme panic and terror within it as the flaming car has imploded in front of them. We circle within the car, going passenger to passenger, in some what feeling what they as the characters are potentially feeling.
This type of visual style is quite expressive and stylistic, even decorative.
Overall How the camera serves filmmaker & audience is through the aesthetics, framing the mise en scene, the psychology behind it, being given an insight into the character and finally how we are made to interpret the vision, is it objective or subjective, is it from the POV of the character or is it the artistic vision.
This type of visual style is quite expressive and stylistic, even decorative.
Overall How the camera serves filmmaker & audience is through the aesthetics, framing the mise en scene, the psychology behind it, being given an insight into the character and finally how we are made to interpret the vision, is it objective or subjective, is it from the POV of the character or is it the artistic vision.
EDITING
There are four key elements of editing, these consist of:
Spatial – the relationship between different spaces and the editors manipulation of them, e.g. cross cutting
Temporal – manipulation of time within the film in relation to order, duration and frequency, e.g. montages, dissolves, wipes, fades
Rhythmic – manipulation of duration of the shots: accents, beats and the tempo, e.g. action and suspense scenes, jump cuts
Graphic – the relationship between pictorial qualities of shots or scenes, e.g. graphic match cut
Editing is crucial as it creates meaning between the shots, as the mise en scene and cinematography create the implicit meaning within the shots which comes before it.
Here is a scene which follows some of the aspects of the four elements of editing -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABg0c_E7OOI
(Rocky II Training Montage scene)
Here is a scene using a graphic match cut -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI3s5fA7Zhk
(2001 A Space Odyssey. Dir - Stanley Kubrick)
The match cut was used so effectively in 2001 A Space Odyssey, not needing to show the whole evolution of man kind, as having used a simple technique to just infer the passage of time and evolution by using the graphic match cut to a space ship.
There are two types of editing theory -
Classical Hollywood continuity – primarily used in mainstream cinema and television drama and classical formal documentary.
Soviet Montage – influences still felt in avant garde documentary filmmaking, and independent and experimental cinema
The classic hollywood continuity uses the generic shots and edits, where as the Soviet montage is a formal theory and technique where editing serves an ideological purpose, there is no escaping through continuity. It challenges the viewer to think through the imagery.
Key filmmakers and theorists - Sergei Eisenstein, Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov
Soviet filmmakers served a communist ideology: that film could serve a political education purpose for the betterment of society.
Eisenstein argues that montage, especially intellectual montage, is an alternative to continuity editing
There are four key elements of editing, these consist of:
Spatial – the relationship between different spaces and the editors manipulation of them, e.g. cross cutting
Temporal – manipulation of time within the film in relation to order, duration and frequency, e.g. montages, dissolves, wipes, fades
Rhythmic – manipulation of duration of the shots: accents, beats and the tempo, e.g. action and suspense scenes, jump cuts
Graphic – the relationship between pictorial qualities of shots or scenes, e.g. graphic match cut
Editing is crucial as it creates meaning between the shots, as the mise en scene and cinematography create the implicit meaning within the shots which comes before it.
Here is a scene which follows some of the aspects of the four elements of editing -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABg0c_E7OOI
(Rocky II Training Montage scene)
Here is a scene using a graphic match cut -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI3s5fA7Zhk
(2001 A Space Odyssey. Dir - Stanley Kubrick)
The match cut was used so effectively in 2001 A Space Odyssey, not needing to show the whole evolution of man kind, as having used a simple technique to just infer the passage of time and evolution by using the graphic match cut to a space ship.
There are two types of editing theory -
Classical Hollywood continuity – primarily used in mainstream cinema and television drama and classical formal documentary.
Soviet Montage – influences still felt in avant garde documentary filmmaking, and independent and experimental cinema
The classic hollywood continuity uses the generic shots and edits, where as the Soviet montage is a formal theory and technique where editing serves an ideological purpose, there is no escaping through continuity. It challenges the viewer to think through the imagery.
Key filmmakers and theorists - Sergei Eisenstein, Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov
Soviet filmmakers served a communist ideology: that film could serve a political education purpose for the betterment of society.
Eisenstein argues that montage, especially intellectual montage, is an alternative to continuity editing
"Montage is conflict" (dialectical) where new ideas emerge from the collisions within the montage sequence
Thesis/shot a + Antithesis/shot b = Synthesis
Five principles of Soviet montage
Metric – editing which follows a specific tempo (based purely on frame count), cutting to the next shot regardless of action in the frame
Rhythmic – similar to metric but allowing for visual continuity from edit to edit
Tonal – uses the emotional meaning of the shot, e.g., sleeping babies to denote peace, calm
Overtonal/Associative – a fusion of metric, rhythmic and tonal montage intended to have a more intense effect on the audience
Intellectual – editing together shots which, when combined, convey an intellectual or metaphorical meaning
As well as this, their are other editing approaches used i.e Expositional vs. Dynamic. These two types of styles differ as one, expositional/evidentiary is a edit which is reinforced by dialogue/narration also usually maintaining some sort of visual continuity.
Where as dynamic editing is a modern narrative style, subjected to jump cuts and other edits that ignore the classical visual continuity.
SOUND
Sound has 3 functions, Aural narrative meaning dialogue/voice-over, Sonic ambience which is the atmosphere/mood and finally the emotional or intellectual resonance or dissonance which is instilled through music.
The key elements of sound consist of:
Speech
Ambient or natural sound
Sound effects
Musical Score or soundtrack
Sound effects can be used to heighten drama,to effect the audiences perception or their emotional state e.g in horror films commonly using an audible heartbeat.
Simulating reality through having ambient background noise can reinforce/unify mise en scene and editing, e.g. birds singing, people talking, the wind.
Aesthetic uses of sound -
Impressionistic - This entails a harmonious sound that evokes a mood, atmosphere or tone.
Expressionistic - discordant sound that evokes abstract or dark psychological states.
Asynchronous - sound and visuals are mismatched for dramatic effect
Diegetic and non-diegetic:
Diegetic sound is sound that is within the shot/sequence that the characters and audience hear and may react to (e.g character speech, music performance). Where as non-deigetic sound is sound that only we the audience bare witness to (e.g. musical score, voice over).
Sound has 3 functions, Aural narrative meaning dialogue/voice-over, Sonic ambience which is the atmosphere/mood and finally the emotional or intellectual resonance or dissonance which is instilled through music.
The key elements of sound consist of:
Speech
Ambient or natural sound
Sound effects
Musical Score or soundtrack
Sound effects can be used to heighten drama,to effect the audiences perception or their emotional state e.g in horror films commonly using an audible heartbeat.
Simulating reality through having ambient background noise can reinforce/unify mise en scene and editing, e.g. birds singing, people talking, the wind.
Aesthetic uses of sound -
Impressionistic - This entails a harmonious sound that evokes a mood, atmosphere or tone.
Expressionistic - discordant sound that evokes abstract or dark psychological states.
Asynchronous - sound and visuals are mismatched for dramatic effect
Diegetic and non-diegetic:
Diegetic sound is sound that is within the shot/sequence that the characters and audience hear and may react to (e.g character speech, music performance). Where as non-deigetic sound is sound that only we the audience bare witness to (e.g. musical score, voice over).
“Films are 50 percent visual and 50 percent sound. Sometimes sound even overplays the visual”
David Lynch
Music as a narrative device -
Music underscores visual narrative, emotion or drama. It can create emotional or intellectual resonance or dissonance.
The usage of leitmotifs: A short recurring musical phrase associated with a particular person, place or area (e.g jaws theme, Darth Vaders march in star wars)
Own personal example of a leitmotif - Lord of The Rings - Orc/Isengard theme
Music is vital and for it to have the dramatic effect it wants to evoke, the music has to be right for the visuals and feel like a perfect fit.
An example of the music not feeling exactly fitting would be a film called 'Legend' by Ridley Scott (1985) two soundtracks were used for one scene as the US Distributor wanted it to appeal to a younger audience.
US soundtrack: Tangerine Dream (electronic)
European soundtrack: Jerry Goldsmith (orchestral)
In my personal opinion the originally planned (Jerry Goldsmith) soundtrack fitted the scene much better and appropriately. It made complete sense and felt right, contrasting heavily with the other soundtrack which really gave off an unbalanced fit to the whole scene, you could tell that it was rushed and not great depth of thought was put in to it.
Modernism vs. Postmodernism
Modernism – an aesthetic and cultural reaction to classicism, relying on innovations in form, material and techniques to create new modes of rational and progressive expression and representation • Broadly ideologically utopian (e.g., Soviet montage)
Postmodernism – reaction to failure of modernism’s objective rationalism. Playfully deconstructs form, fusing disparate elements of high and low culture (usually through homage or pastiche) and meta-reference (intertextuality and self-referentiality) • Broadly ideologically disruptive (e.g., The Simpsons, Pulp Fiction)
The use of narration can play a part on how we perceive certain films and what we associate with it.
- First person subjective (monologue or contributors voice: e.g., Jarman’s Blue)
- Conventions of male vs female voices (dominant vs empathetic); RP vs regional (authoritative vs authentic)
Letters From Siberia - 1957 - Dir. Chris Marker
This example of Chris marker's work showed how easily it is with the use of narration to change the appearance of the context without actually having to change the visuals. Here were the 3 ways in which he changed the perception of the visuals with by just changing the narration -
Workers utopia - Pro-Soviet ideology
Workers dystopia - Anti-Soviet ideology
Ethnographic milieu - Objective exposition
All four elements (Mise en scene, Editing, Cinematography and Sound) have equal weight and balance in film and tv, they're the key components to what makes a film/tv show so successful and if one is not respected as much as the rest then there will be evidence to suggest that. I will continue blogging scenes and depict them using all of the 4 elements I have just listed.
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