2. MICRO ELEMENTS OF FILM : Part 4
What is Mise-En-Scene?
Mise-en-scene is a French term which literally means everything that is ‘put into the scene’. Imagine a
freeze-frame – all the elements that have been placed in front of the camera in that freeze-frame are
elements of mise-en-scene.
Mise-en-scene includes :
SETTINGS
DÉCOR
PROPS
LIGHTING
COSTUME
MAKE-UP
COLOUR
BODY LANGUAGE AND MOVEMENT
The use of mise-en-scene elements encourages the viewer to ‘read’ a scene in a particular way. Your
chosen film sequence will use these micro elements in order to generate specific meanings. Mise-en-scene
can offer the viewer information and meanings connected to character, genre, atmosphere, mood,
place, space and time. Elements of mise-en-scene may be repeated within a film; they may also change.
You should identify carefully the elements that are constant and those that change and consider why the
changes occur.
READING A SCENE
The mise en scene is vital in conveying information through ‘visual signifiers’ (things we see on screen). It is
through the visual elements of the scene that we extract such meaning. Even when the film is mute
(without sound) the setting, costume, props and body movement or gestures of the actors will tell us a lot.
In silent cinema it was vital, with much emphasis on one particular aspect: body language. As a result, the
performances in early cinema may seem over dramatic when compared to today’s filmmaking.
MISE EN SCENE : ANALYSIS
To analyse mise en scene, it helps to break it down into its component parts and to consider not only the
surface information but also the deeper ‘symbolism’ of the imagery in the film.
Setting
The setting of a scene is crucial to our understanding of time and place. We can
locate ourselves in a certain place, town, country, planet or even galaxy! The
setting will convey basic information like time and date (present day or historic)
and perhaps whether the characters are urban or rural (city ‘slickers’ or country
‘innocents’). It may convey isolation (horror) or claustrophobia (thriller) or it
may indicate wealth, poverty or class as well as many other things. The
information about the physical setting, which in a novel would be very detailed,
with perhaps several pages being devoted to its description, has to, in film, be
conveyed very quickly in visual language by skilled set designers and prop buyers
who work alongside the director.

3. Settings within a film can evoke many kinds of responses. They can mirror the emotions of a character,
establish place and time, and offer information about themes within a film. The bright picket fences, well-
kept lawns and neat houses of the setting for Sam Mendes’s American Beauty are too perfect and provide
a picture-book surface for the dissatisfaction of the characters.
Decor
The room in which a scene occurs can add meaning to the
event shown. The décor of a room (wallpaper, furniture and
layout) can mirror a character’s psychological state. Norman
Bates’s study in Hitchcock’s Psycho is full of old furniture
and stuffed birds, the décor has no vitality, the room is
almost mummified. In James Cameron’s Titanic, the
different decks present the class differences between the
passengers: the upper decks are opulent and expensively
furnished while the rooms of the lower-deck passengers are
simple and without luxury.
Props
The objects included in a scene are essential in the generation of meaning, giving
information about genre, historical period or character. One of the ways in which we
can identify the genre of a film is through the props used: in The Matrix (Wachowski
brothers, 1999) space ships, futuristic weaponry and advanced computer systems all
indicate that the genre is science fiction. Think about the props in the scene you have
chosen and analyse what you can deduce from them.
In a living room scene, the props could be anything from pictures on walls to flowers
or curtains. These things can be cleverly used to convey elements of story or
character. For instance, subtle props like dying flowers or fading curtains may fit with the theme of change
within a story or a state of mind of the character.
It is important to understand that with mise en scene, nothing in the scene is accidental. Everything in the
scene is deliberate and relevant. Therefore in an analysis of settings and props, careful attention to detail is
necessary. Furthermore, always think how the details of the mise en scene add ‘depth’ to the film by
symbolising that which is often not outwardly expressed; the themes.
Body Language and Movement
Body language, movement, posture and poise of the actors can give us a significant amount of information.
We can read from this much about the character without any dialogue. The way the character walks,
stands and performs facial expressions are all relevant. Even the physical stature of a character will be
significant.
Q. How is body language being used to give us information about
the characters ?

4. Costume (including hair and make-up)
The way a character is dressed is one of the most important signifiers for the audience. As in real life, there
are associations made with different kinds of dress and these are
utilised both stereotypically and atypically in filmmaking. Not only can
costume indicate time period but certain ‘uniforms’ are also indicators
of character. The geek, the office worker, the tramp, the gangster, the
police officer, even the alien will all have identifiable ‘costume’. The
level to which these costumes are customised to fit the individual role
is varied and hence each film has to be considered on its own merit.
There may be a key element of costume, which is synonymous with the character, such as a certain hat or
a jacket, or there may be certain colours that are associated with that character or characters (in westerns
it was typical for the good cowboy to wear white and the villain to wear black).
Hair and make-up are also significant in defining a character. Apart from taking a great deal of time casting
a part, film-makers will often then ask that actor to change their hair according to the role. This can range
from Demi Moore actually shaving her head in GI Jane (Scott, 1997) or dying hair a different colour, to
wearing wigs to achieve the desired effect. Sometimes the hairstyle of the character will change
throughout the course of a film to indicate the development of a character, and along with setting and
costume can indicate the era or the passing of time.
Make up is used in most filmmaking but is more significant in certain types of
films than others. For example, horror films, fantasy and
science fiction utilise it a lot to create imaginary characters.
The use of prosthetics to utterly change the look of an actor
into an alien, zombie or superhero is commonplace. The Lord
of the Rings trilogy (Jackson, 2001) has many examples of this and along with a
diverse range of costumes succeeds in creating a whole new
world for us. The mise en scene in a film like this (fantasy) is
therefore not only creative but also vital in the film’s success, as we have no cultural
references to relate to unless you have ever been to Middle Earth or met hobbits!
The costumes are important in the creation of historical time, characters’ state of
mind and status, and in the generation of place. The different clothes worn in each
of the stories within Stephen Daldry’s The Hours, for example, clearly define the
time periods as the 1920s, the 1940s and the 1990s. Changes in costume for a
particular character during a film can indicate anything from a change in fortunes
to a shift in political affiliations. Julia Robert’s costume shift in Pretty Woman, for
example, carries particular meanings and signals her character’s transition from
street-hustling prostitute to tycoon’s girlfriend. Within this kind of Cinderella
story, the shedding of one set of clothes for another signals a change in social
status and, perhaps, of attitude.
Comedy often also makes good use of make-up along with visual special effects (a
subsidiary of cinematography and editing), and this can succeed in making characters likeable or funny. An
example of creative make up in comedy may be Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor (Shadyac, 1996), or
Jim Carrey in The Mask (Russell, 1994), where much of the comedy is visual and relies on a skilled make-up
department in conjunction with special effects. Make-up is an essential tool for all actors but it can also be
used to generate particular meanings. Tom Hank’s make-up in Philadelphia shows us the physical ravages
of AIDS and adds to our sympathy for his plight. The make-up and prosthetics worn by Willem Defoe as the

5. Green Goblin in Sam Raimi’s Spiderman are grotesque and frightening: we are left in no doubt that he is
the villain within this narrative.
Only when all the elements of mise en scene are considered and combined with the other cinematic codes
can we gain a full and in-depth analysis of the meanings created by the filmmaker.