How is Mise-En-Scene Used to Develop Different Features Within a Film?

Mise-En-Scene, by its French definition, means ‘put into a scene’ and encompasses almost all of the physical elements of a film’s scene, including; setting, actors (and their actions/facial expressions), props, costumes, makeup and lighting. Mise-En-Scene is used to ‘set the scene’, to make it look as contextually accurate as possible. It is also used to develop certain aspects of filmography, five of which I will be focusing on here.

Mise-En-Scene is used to its highest possible capacity whilst developing the narrative of a particular movie. For example, we can see a story’s location through the setting and the way this is depicted in a scene. We see the actors, the way they ‘act’, dress and speak- which can tell us a lot about their personalities and roles inside the narrative. The same applies for props, by seeing an era-specific item, for example a sword, we can place a time-frame on the movies story.

Character relationships are another important part of all movies that is developed by specific Mise-En-Scene elements. Through the usage of different facial expressions; smiles, scowls, laughs, etc.; we can tell how one character feels towards another. If a female character is showing signs of attraction through her actions or facial expressions, we can deduce she may be in love with another character. This also applies to the way costume is used, again taking the feeling of attraction as an example, if a female character is wearing seductive attire like a beautiful dress, we can associate this with feelings and relationships towards the other characters.

Without Mise-En-Scene, an audience would not be able to engage with a film as it would be extremely bland, confusing and contextually inaccurate. For example, a scene in a sci-fi movie would be extremely unengaging if there was nothing that depicted it in that genre; no space costumes, no space-ship setting and no laser-gun props. If Mise-En-Scene is used perfectly it can maximise audience engagement. Adding little props to top off a scene makes all the difference to retaining a happy and interested audience.

Mise-En-Scene can also be used to develop a stereotypical representation of a character or scene. The main focus would be the physical aspects like; props, makeup and costumes. Costume can connote a stereotypical type of character - the nerd would wear glasses and a Pop culture TV shirt whilst a businessman would wear a pristine suit and an expensive watch. Make-up can be used in different ways to fit stereotypes, for example a vampire would have very pale skin and large, pointy fangs, something that can be shown through the use of makeup. Props can also be used to help the representation of a certain character or theme; a painter would have a paint brush or a knight a sword. Whilst the usage of Mise-En-Scene to develop stereotypes seems simple, it is very important.

Finally, Mise-En-Scene can be used to develop iconography in a film. Iconography is basically the things that we see on a screen that would allow us to decide the genre of a film. This is practically the whole point of Mise-En-Scene; the props, costumes, actors, setting and all the other features, if applied correctly would allow us to immediately define the films genre.

To put all of this into practice I will quickly be looking at a scene from Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, that of which being the first time Harry enters Platform 9¾. The Mise-En-Scene in the scene allows us to easily identify who the main character is; as Harry is the focus of most of the shots. We can also see what his personality is like, he is clever/nerdy because of the glasses and clothes, along with being kind of withdrawn due to his quiet voice and worried facial expressions. We immediately see a very important character relationship between Harry and Ron, shown by their friendly demeanour towards one another. Harry becomes more outgoing and his holds his body more confidently. The scene allows the audience to easily engage as the setting, a train station, is obvious. What the characters are trying to do is also obvious, along with who they are. For example, it is obvious that the Weasley’s are related as they had the same hair and very similar clothes (costume). From what is happening in the scene we can tell this movie is fantastical/magical because some of the ‘props’ (like the owl Hedwig) are stereotypical to a wizard character. Also, we clearly see people passing through a wall, something that is impossible in real life. These ideas could also play into the stereotypical representations of the characters.