We have been studying Mise-en-Scene in Ch. 5. Out of all the aspects we have reviewed, which is the most important to you? Why? Explain.
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mise en scèneNoun/ˌmēz ˌäN ˈsen/
1. The arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play.
2. The setting or surroundings of an event or action.
I believe the most important aspect of mise-en-scene, is the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play. Productions are brought to life by the directors, which have a mental image of how they want the movie and specific scenes to look. If the movie is not up to those standards they will change it so it is.
When the director has placed a certain item in the viewer’s site, they have done it because that item serves some kind of importance. Even though the person who is watching the film might not notice it, that is how the director wanted it to be. The reason the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play are so important is because someone could get a whole different idea from a movie because of the placement and use of props. For example if we were watching a movie about crime, and instead of pulling out a gun in an alley robbing someone, the actor pulls out a stuffed animal and were in a little girls bedroom, people would think the movie is about something completely different.
The most important aspect of mise scene is design. Design creates the scene and theme of the movie. The design of the movie should always correspond with the theme of the movie. For example location is an important aspect of setting and design, if the director which to make movie set in the western times, it should not take place in an urban setting, it would take away the concept of the movie. It is also important that every scene corresponds with situation that has occurred. The setting "creates a mood" for the viewers to feel as if they are part of the movie.
Design isn't just based on the setting, but rather wardrobe and hairstyling are also both important. I feel in order to understand the concept of any movie, it must be visually attracting to the eye. Therefore in my opinion the most important aspect of mise scene is design, which is what creates the movie and allows the viewers to feel as if they are a part of the movie and to understand the what the director is trying to portray.
Composition in movies creates well designed scenes throughout a movie which makes it the movie better. If a movie has an excellent ideas for scenes throughout the movie, but terribly sets them up then the movie will not turn out as well as they could be. A movie with scenes that are set up decently could trump the movie with the terrible set up scenes even if the movie with the decently set up scenes doesn't have a plot that is as good as the movie with terrible scenes.
The composition of movies is made in order to make the easy to follow and enjoyable. In Tyler Perry's "Why did I get Married" there was a scene when a couple who had the ashes of their dead friend bumped into a lady who was very disgusted when she found out that the dust was the ashes of the couples dead friend. The lady ran off to a near by shore, splashed water on herself and screamed. Some people could say that this is funny, although other people continued to talk about a ceremony that they invited the couple to while this was going on like you weren't supposed to focus on this. Directors need to focus on the most important thing in the scene and make sure that there are not any major distractions that could confuse or distract the audience from important information. In "Batman Forever" Bruce Wane was talking to Dr. Meridian who was a love interest who Bruce was about to reveal the fact that he is Batman. This scene focused on Bruce and the doctor, and only shifted it's focus to Two Face and The Riddler who had found out batman's secret identity and were at the door of Wane Manner. This cut lead to Bruce getting shot in the head and Dr. Meridian getting kidnapped. The focus of this scene was meaningful to move the plot along.
A great composition helps the movie flow well. The viewers can easily follow a simple and meaningfully set up scene. If a well shot up scene has initially confusing dialogue then the viewer can listen and eventually understand what's going on by the end of the scene if it's set up well because they aren't distracted by the visuals.
Out of all the aspects we have rviewed of mise en scene, I find the composition of the movie to be most important.
In terms of composition, the movie has to have certain things that fit well together in order to allow the movie to make sense to the viewer. If you have the main character from the firm dressed up as a clown, and his character is a lawyer, the the movies composition is already messed up. Instead of having a movie that feels like it could actually happen with a character that is supposed to be relatable tuned into one that the viewer cannot relate to as well due to this distraction.Thus, you have an otherwise versisimilar story turned into a story which has a touch of anti-realism.
This is because one aspect of the composition of the movie is already botched up because the costume of the character does not match the character of the person, the sets in the movie, nor the overall plot. Because of this the flow of the movie is disrupted and turned on its head because of one distracting feature in the film.
If a film does not have good composition, the wholde story can and will fall apart. Everything has to come together as a whole to match the story that the director is trying to convey in order for one to fully understand the movie which is why composition is important, without such a thing as composition one would not have a set standard of how different elements in a movie should come together to make a well put together movie. This is why composition is the most important aspect of mise en scene to me.
Costume, makeup, and hairstyle design are the most important aspects of mise-en-scène as they have the ability to imply distinct characteristics about the characters (world view, state of mind, self-image, etc.), setting, or theme, and tell the film’s story without obvious dialogue or actions. These three features can separate characters in film and are crucial in making the film more verisimilar, only if they are appropriate for the time period in which the movie is set. Furthermore, they can support an actor’s versatility and obliterate a stereotype associated with an actor.
A prime example of a film that utilized makeup to enhance the viewer’s perception of the characters was “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. At the time the movie was filmed, lead actor Brad Pitt (Benjamin Button) is in his early 40s, but through brilliant make up design, is depicted as a boy born with a quite elderly and ill-stricken appearance. Button displays creases and wrinkles, slightly golden teeth, a near bald head, and yellow-tinted skin color that deceive the audience into believing that this is Pitt’s true appearance in real life.
A chief example of a film that uses costume and hairstyle design to tell more about the personalities and self-image of the characters is “Grease”. Although produced in the late 1970s, it appropriately portrays the appearances of high school teens living in the 1950s. Through Danny Zuko’s (John Travolta) gelled hair, black leather jacket and black pants, for example, viewers can deduce that Zuko is one of the “cool kids” in the film, the one who displays the greatest confidence and popularity. Also, costuming Betty Rizzo, Jan, and Marty with the “Pink Lady” jackets is used to distinguish them from the rest of the characters, implying that they are the students that assume more power, authority, and control in the film.
Costuming, hairstyle, and design serve as unspoken pieces of treasure within a film that once the audience recognizes, can change their perception or build upon their views of not only the characters and setting, but the implicit meaning of the movie as well as the message/theme that the directors and screen writers aim to portray.
I believe that the most important aspect of mise-en-scene is the stage properties. This is because when filming a movie that is set in a different time period you need items from that time period to make the movie realistic. If someone was filming a movie set during the Civil War and one of the characters was wearing a digital watch, then the movie would not be as realistic as it could have been because there were no digital watches during the Civil War. Also, the way that a director sets up a scene, he does that for a reason. The director sets up a seen in a certain way because he has a mental image in his mind, an image where everything is placed in a specific spot and it belongs there for a reason. If an item is placed in a scene, it usually is of importance. Another reason that a room may be set up a certain way is because the director had an idea in his head for the scene to have an importance deeper than what the viewers actually see. For instance, in Edward Scissorhands, Edward's room has a hole in the ceiling which symbolizes the hole in his life. Usually when a director sets up a scene and places an item or changes something about the room, he usually has a meaning deeper than the surface.
The most important aspect of mise-en scene to me is composition. Composition in the movie is about their plan of design in the movie. And movies with well composition, can help director express things.
Like the movie "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone", in the scene of the Harry Potter live with Vernon, the composition of his enviroment shows the mind of Harry Potter. The darkness,the photos,the old wall, make audiences can understand why Harry hate the situation and how he is missing his parents. The whole scene of Harry live in Vernon'house didn't tell us why he don't like those people he live with, but the comparation of the morden of their house to Harry's pretty old room were telling that Harry can't fit their life.
A film that with good composition can help audience understand the thing that actors are doing. Or director can make it impressive, and remind audience then. If s film has bad composition, the audiences will feel really uncomfutable. Like a movie about ancient Egypt empire, and there is a morden art work in his room. That definitely make audiences feel bad.
Mise-en-Scene is literally how the movie is set up on screen. It is made up of of many different parts which work together to create the movie seen by the audience. I believe that composition is a very important part of mise-en-scene. Composition is how the scenes are set up to look, with all of their props and images and colors. In the movie "Alice in Wonderland", often times the world would be shown to have many colors, but there would always be some tone that made everything look bleached and dull. This is because in the movie all of the imagination and wonders of the mind are being suppressed by the mean queen. This helped properly set up the scenes to convey the emotion that the movie was trying to show. Had everything in the movie been sunshine and rainbows, a viewer would not think much about how truly depressed and distressed everyone in Wonderland was, because everything seems happy. This is why mise-en-scene is important, improper mise-en-scene can lead to a bad movie. If a violent death scene occurs in a flowery field with little rabbits running around and the sun shining and people frolicking about the scene feels really out of place and makes almost no sense. Improper mise-en-scene makes for an improper movie.
The most important aspect of mise-en-scene is the elements of design. When I watch a movie, I like to be physically engaged in the movie. I pay attention to the costumes, make up and hair styles. Also the the decor. I like trying to figure out why they chose that particular color and texture for certain things. Also I like the visual aspect of the setting and enviornment. Lighting is important to me because i think it is intersting how directors use it. They subconsiencely manipulate me into not liking a character.
An important aspect of mise en scene to me is space. When watchng a film without trying to decode the mise en scene of it, it is very easy to miss but at the same time the brain subconciously picks up certain premonitions and emotions. I think the messages a director can convey and the manipulation they can use through the simple concepts of proportion, depth, and focus are completley genius.
During all the Mise-En-Scene we've looked at, I think the most important part is the composition-how it is laid out and that it fits with the situation presented at hand.
One movie where the Mise-En-Scene is ridiculously overwhelming is Natural Born Killers. I personally didn' like that movie because there was so much happening at one time. The film would change color, it would zoom in at random points, and it would go into slow mo whenever it felt like it. All of this plus millions of other things continuously happening ruined the movie for me. It wasn't the greatest story to begin with anyway so I just didn't like it. Background is the most important part of Mise-En-Scene because it can be harmful to a movie if done wrong. Distractions, bad props, or just weird non related activities are all examples of bad Mise-En-Scene, but sometimes the director uses these distractions or props to attract our attention in either a good or bad way. Sometimes intentional use of an unimportant thing are called MacGuffins. Something that leads you to think that it is important but it isn't at all. Mise-en-scene has so many different elements it's hard to say exactly what I think is the most important part. But definitely for now if I were to go with one of them I would say that the composition is.
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