Mise-en-scene

The importance of Mise-en-scene

Key Miss-en-scene components

1. Lighting
2. Location/setting
3. Costume
4. Make up and hair
5. Iconography (Covered under genre section)
6. Proxemics
7. Action codes
8. (NVC)Non Verbal Communication
9. Colour
10. Posture/gesture (body language)

Lighting
This can help to generate a certain atmosphere; this can be done using the brightness of lighting in the scene. If the scene has dark/dim lighting it could convey a sense of fear/ tension, furthermore the use of shadows in the form of lines and bars would further reinforce the tension being created. In contrast to this, if the lighting is bright or if there is a nature light is lowers the tension which could help the audience relax; this is not very common to see in thrillers. Films such as psycho use silhouettes to create fear (i.e shower scene).

Here you can see there is low key lighting. The brief amount of light that is shining through is coming through in lines which represent tension.

Costume/make-up
Costume and makeup will define the time period of the film and potentially provides hints to its genre. For example, Sci-fi movies usually involved futuristic outfits and fantasy genres will have very bold and eccentric clothing.
The make-up is very important in making the film realistic and building verisimilitude. Make up is especially important in action/thrillers to show cuts and bruises a character may have; these have to remain in the same place to maintain continuity in the scene.

In this image, the costume and makeup clearly displays a rough time time-period.

Here you can see an effective use of makeup. It looks very realistic which consequently builds verisimilitude.

Locations
Locations can hint to the audience where the scene is set and other factors such as a soundscape may also help the audience detect the environment the characters are in. Certain locations could draw out specific emotions from the audience; for example, a graveyard might cause the audience to be sad or to be scared - this depends on the tone of film and how lighting and non diegetic music is used. Using locations the audience is familiar with may also generate interest as they can relate to places they know; building verisimilitude.

Films may often use an establishing shot to set the scene and from this image you can clearly identify the location from the use of landmarks in shot.

Props/iconography
Iconography is important because it is what the audience expects to see in the film (set pieces) often following conventions. These can also be key signifiers to a genre. For example a courtroom would likely be seen in a detective thriller.

Courtrooms often appear in TV dramas but cinematically speaking, thrillers and detective based films will see the inside of a courtroom or more likely a police station.