Mise En Scene Essay

Submitted By Moses-Vincent
Words: 4050
Pages: 17

Charles Matthews
Com 209
Art of the film Midterm
Professor Pucci
1. Mise – en – scene are one of the most frequently used terms in film analysis , which means literally translates as putting on stage , or staging. The term comes from the theatre, where it designates everything that appears on stage such as the set design, lighting and character movement. In film studies, mise-en-scene often has a vague meaning, it is either used in a very broad way to mean the filmed events together with the way those events are filmed or it is used in a narrower sense (closer to its original theatrical meaning), to designate the filmed events. In the book Understand Film Studies this term will be used in its narrower sense to mean what appears in front of the camera. In other words if it is on the screen and if it’s a physical object recorded by the camera, then it is part of the mise-en-scene.
2. Low Key lighting and high key lighting are terms that explain the lighting presented in the film. Low key lighting is a style of lighting for photography, film and television. Low key lighting in films are when part of the set is lit with lighting. This was also used in order to partly conceal the cheapness of the set and its small size. Low key lighting often uses only one key light optionally controlled with a fill light or a simple reflector. Low key light makes the contours of an object more noticeable by throwing areas into shade while a fill light or reflector may illuminate the shadow areas to control contrast. Low Key lighting has a higher lighting ratio than high key lighting. Like light key lighting high key lighting is also a style of lighting used in film, television and photography. High key lighting aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the scene. This was first originally done for technological reasons , since early television and film did not deal well with high contrast ratios , but now it is suggested that high key lighting can bring and upbeat mood. High key lighting is usually quite homogenous and free from dark shadows. The advantage to high key lighting is that it doesn’t require adjustment for each scene which allows the production to complete the shooting in hours instead of days. The major step back is that high key lighting fails to add meaning or drama by lighting certain parts more prominently than others. It is also an overall lighting design that uses the fill light and backlight to create low contrast between brighter and darker areas. It can be used for both daylight and night scenes. Lower lighting can show a number of darker moods, from horror films to their being sadness being show in a film. Brighter lighting usually stands for happiness and soft lighting stands for romance. Different light colors, created by filters, can also change the mood in a film. Lighter colored filters express a more sanguine mood as for darker colored filters hint at gloom.
3. An art director is someone who is responsible for the visual style and images in magazines, newspapers, product packaging, movies and television productions. They create the overall design and direct others who develop artwork or layouts. About 12 percent of art directors work for advertising and public relations firms. They also design or select the sets and décor of a film. Initially their jobs were simply to create a background in which action of the film was to unfold. Art directors built entire worlds inside movie studios. More recently some art directors have become production designers whose job is to coordinate the look of an entire film. Art directors make the film environment unique by developing a visual concept around which sets, props, lighting and costumes are designed to work together. They make the environment of the film unique by creating the overall design of a project and direct others who develop artwork and layouts.
4. Classical cutting scene breaks a storyline into that sequence of shots that most inspire emotions. Classical