Print and Wrap up

Mise-en-Scene

Mise-en-scene is the term we use to identify all of the elements in a shot or sequence that aren’t covered by the other categories.  

The term is French and roughly translates as ‘put-in-scene’. As with a lot of film and TV analysis, it is an idea that has come from theatre - everything on a stage is artificial and is carefully placed to add to the overall effect that the director wants to achieve. Exactly the same can be said about film and TV.

Despite the fact you might not believe it, we must analyse every clip assuming that the director and cinematographer thought about everything in every shot.

Elements of Mise-En-Scene

There are lots of elements we could talk about in a shot, but to make your analysis a little easier, we focus on the following:

Setting - where it is shot

Set - the ‘stage’ it takes place in

Lighting - use of light and shadow

Costume and make up - how the characters are physically created

Props - how objects add to the scene

Colour - use of colour on all of the above and filters applied to the film

Barthes (Rowland Barthes- 'The Rhetoric of the Image')

In 1977, Roland Barthes wrote ‘The Rhetoric of the Image’ and through a

considered analysis of advertising, argued that there are two levels to any

sign or visual representation.

https://tracesofthereal.com/2009/12/21/the-rhetoric-of-the-image-roland-

barthes-1977

1.What are the two main levels of meaning?

2.What are some of the difficulties involved in ‘reading’ an image?

3.What is meant by anchorage?