Chapter 3: Mise en scene

What is the difference between hard lighting and soft lighting?

1. Hard lighting: A high-contrast lighting style that creates hard edges, distinctive shadows, and a harsh effect, especially when filming people 2. Soft lighting: A diffused, low-contrast lighting that reduces or eliminates hard edges and shadows and can be more flattering when filming people

What is mise-en-scene?

1. French theatrical term for "Placement in the scene; staging; onstage" -Elements include anything in front of the camera, such as setting, actors and their costumes, makeup; props; lighting -Focus of various teams: -1. Production designer for look -2. Cinematographer for light -3. Casting Director for actors

What are 2 trends associated with theatrical mise-en-scene?

1. Expressive mise-en-scene: Thetatrical mise-en-scene in which the settings, sets, props, and other dimensions of the mise-en-scene assert themselves independently of the characters and describe an emotional or spiritual life permeating the material world 2. Constructive mise-en-scene: The world can be shaped and even altered through the work or desire of the characters

What is the difference between high-key and low-key lighting?

1. High-key lighting: Lighting with a low ratio of key to fill -Used for melodramas and realist films 2. Low-key lighting: Lighting with a high ratio of key to fill -Dramatic; used in horror films and film noir

What are 2 specific traditions that have emerged from naturalistic mise-en-scene?

1. Historical mise-en-scene: A historical mise-en-scene recreates a recognizable historical scene, highlighting those elements that call attention to a specific location and time in history 2. Everyday mise-en-scene: An everyday mise-en-scene constructs commonplace backgrounds for the characters and actions

What are types of actors?

1. Leading actors: The two or three actors, often stars, who represent the central characters in a narrative - play the central characters 2. Character actors: Recognizable actors who are associated with particular character types, often humorous or sinister, and often are cast in minor parts 3. Supporting actors: Actors who play secondary characters in a film, serving as foilfs or companions to the central characters 4. Extras: Actors without speaking parts who appear in the background and in crowd scenes 5. Character types: conventional characters typically portrayed by actors cast because of their physical features, their acting style, or the history of roles they played

What are the differences between natural, set, and directional lighting?

1. Natural lighting usually assumes an incidental role in a scene; it derives from a natural source in a scene or setting, such as the illuminator from the sun, the moon, or a fire 2. Set lighting distributes an evenly diffused illumination throughout a scene as a kind of lighting base 3. Directional lighting is lighting coming from a single direction -It may create the impression of a natural light source but actually directs light in ways that define and shape the object or person being illuminated

What are 2 interpretive contexts for mise-en-scene?

1. Naturalistic mise-en-scene: Mise-en-scene that appears realistic and recognizable to viewers; elements follow assumed laws of nature and society and have a consistently logical relation to each other, and the mise-en-scene and characters mutually define each other 2. Theatrical mise-en-scene: Mise-en-scene that denaturalizes the locations and other elements of the mise-en-scene so that its features appear; creates fantastical environments that display and even exult in their artificial and constructed nature -Naturalistic and theatrical mise-en-scene sometimes alternate within the same film

What are some elements of mise-en-scene?

1. Settings & Sets 2. Scenic Realism & Atmosphere 3. Props, Costumes, Make-up, & Lights 4. Actors and Stars 5. Space and Design

What are some other strategies used in lighting?

1. Three point lighting (key light to illuminate object; back light to pick out object from background; fill light to minimize shadows) 2. High-key lighting vs. low-key lighting 3. Fill lighting (uses secondary fill lights to balance key lighting by removing shadows or emphasizing other spaces) 3. Highlighting (use of the different lighting sources to emphasize certain characters or objects) 4. Backlighting (a highlighting technique that illuminates the person or object from behind, tending to silhouette the subject) 5. Frontal lighting, sidelighting, underlighting, and top lighting are used to illuminate the subject from different directions in order to draw out features or create specific atmospheres around the subject

What are four ways costumes and make-up function?

1. When costumes and make-up support scenic realism, they reproduce, as accurately, as possible, the clothing and facial features of people living in a specific time and place 2. When make-up and costumes function as character highlights, they draw out or point to important parts of a character's personality 3. When costumes and make-up act as narrative markers, their change or lack of change becomes a crucial way to understand and follow a character and the development of the story 4. Make-up, prosthetics, and costuming can be used as a part of the overall production design to signify genre, as they do in the fantasy world of the Lord of the Rings

What is chiaroscuro lighting?

A dramatic, high-contrast lighting that emphasizes shadows and the contrast between dark and light

What is the studio system?

A system in which a company controlling film production and distribution had sufficient capital to invest in production facilities and systems

What is blocking? What are 2 types of blocking?

A. Blocking: The arrangement and movement of actors in relation to each other within the physical space of a mise-en-scene B. -1. Social blocking describes the arrangement of characters to accentuate relations among them -2. Graphic blocking arranges characters or groups according to visual patterns to portray spatial harmony, tension, or some other visual atmosphere

What is a performance? What are the two main elements?

A. Performance: describes the actor's use of language, physical expression, and gesture to bring a character to life and use of language, physical expression, and gesture to bring a character to life and to communicate important dimensions of that character to the audience B. -1. Voice: Includes the natural sound of an actor's voice along with the various intonations or accents he or she may create for a particular role -2. Bodily movement: Includes physical gestures and facial expressions and, especially important to the movies, eye movements, and eye contact

What is a "prop"? What are the 4 types of props?

A. Prop: Short for property; an object that functions as a part of the set or as a tool used by the actors -Props acquire special significance when they are used to express characters' thoughts and feelings, their powers and abilities in the world, or the primary themes of the film B. Types of props: -1. Instrumental: Displayed and used for according to common function -Ex. Using a knife for cooking -2. Metaphorical: Objects reinvented or employed for unexpected purposes -Ex. Using knife to represent male sexuality; Gene Kelly's umbrella -3. Cultural: Carry meanings associated with their place in a particular society -Ex. Fast and Furious (Cars are props and represents power; carries cultural concepts) -Ex. Spaghetti in Brooklyn is a humorous prop because it is a dramatic and humorous momemnt between the two cultures of Ireland and Italy -4. Contextualized: Acquire meaning through changing position in narrative -Ex. Lord of the Rings (Audiences learn about the multiple uses of the ring over time) -Ex. Ronin (1998): A mysterious briefcase unites a group of mercenaries in a plot about trust and betrayal, but its secret becomes ultimately insignificant -Shows that some contextualized props move a plot forward but contribute little to the primary drama of love, danger, and desire

What is "setting?" Where can it take place?

A. Setting: Place where the story action (filmed action) is occurring B. Can take place at: -1. Can be constructed *set made specifically for the film; sometimes on studio stage or studio back lots -2. Can be a *location with elements not made specifically for film -3. Can be *practical location -Ex. "The Hobbit"

What is the difference between a setting and set?

A. Setting: a fictional or real place where the action and events of the film occur B. Set: A constructed setting, often on a studio soundstage, but both the setting and the set can combine natural and constructed elements

What are cosmetics or make-up?

Elements applied to the actor's face or body highlight or even disguise or distort certain aspects of the face or body

What is realism?

An an artwork's quality of conveying a truthful picture of a society, person, or some other dimension of everyday life; used to describe the extent to which a movie creates a truthful picture -Can also refer to psychological or emotional accuracy (in characters), recognizable or logical actions and developments (in a story), or convincing views and perspectives of those characters or events (in the composition of the image)

What are soundstages?

Large soundproofed buildings designed to house the construction and movement of sets and to capture sound and dialogue during filming

What does mise-en-scene lighting specifically refer to?

Light sources located within the scene itself; this lighting may be used to shade and accentuate the figures, objects, and spaces of the mise-en-scene

What are the most fundamental features of mise-en-scene?

Settings and sets

What are costumes?

The clothing and related accessories worn by a character that define the character and contribute to the visual impression and design of the film overall

What is scenic realism?

The physical, cultural, and historical accuracy of the backgrounds, objects, and other figures in a film; a combination of selection and artifice -Frequently depends on the audience's historical and cultural point of view

One of the most subtle and important dimensions of mise-en-scene is ____________ - which not only allows an audience to observe a film's action and understand the setting in which the action takes place but also draws attention to the props, costumes, and actors in the mise-en-scene

lighting