Mise-en-scène Elements Quiz

Mise-en-scène Elements

• Mise-en-scène encompasses costume, hair, makeup, staging, and performance, all conveying meaning.
• Setting (set design, color, props) is crucial. Consider realism vs. stylized/fantastical and its interplay with performers (e.g., characters interacting with the setting in "Daughters of the Dust").
• Costume, hair, and makeup reveal character personality and create first impressions (e.g., the quince dress in a film).
• Lighting (hard vs. soft) affects mood: hard lighting creates tension, soft lighting evokes romance.
• Directionality of light (top, front, under, back, side) influences how actors' expressions are portrayed.
• Source lighting reveals the origin of light.
• Three-point lighting (back light, key light, fill light) separates characters from backgrounds, intensifies key elements, and minimizes shadows.
• High-key lighting has low contrast, eliminating shadows. Low-key lighting emphasizes shadows and contrasts.
• Color and lighting evoke specific emotions (e.g., red symbolizes danger or passion, yellow signifies joy).

Camera Techniques

• Camera distance (extreme long shot, long shot, medium long shot, cowboy, medium shot, medium close-up, close-up, extreme close-up, choker) impacts emphasis (environment vs. character). Camera distance affects perception of importance for characters/objects.
  • Extreme long shots emphasize setting, long shots show character interactions/relationships; medium close-up emphasizes the character and their expressions. Close-ups emphasize emotion and significance.
• Composition (balanced vs. unbalanced, rule of thirds) and headroom impact viewer focus. Frames within frames add depth (e.g., windows, binoculars). Hitchcock's Rule states that object size relates to its importance.
• Camera angles (low vs. high) create power imbalances.
• Framing and aspect ratio, masking, and split-screen/multiple frames are techniques that showcase varied perspectives.
• Movement (tilt, pan, dolly) complements the narrative flow.
• Long takes/sequence shots increase immersion.

Editing Techniques

• High vs. low contrast impact visual emphasis, with high contrast maximizing focused areas.
• Exposure (over vs. under) controls light, with underexposure contributing to disorientation or reflective moments. Freeze frames create impact, especially for character introductions.
• Telephoto lenses create a sense of distance.
• Depth of field controls visible focus in a scene.
• Fade in/out and wipes create transitions, with fades denoting closure and wipes suggesting transitions. Graphic matches create seamless transitions between scenes or time periods.
• Pacing and tempo of cuts influence the narrative flow and are fundamental to understanding time as presented via editing.
• Cross-cutting and elliptical editing techniques facilitate narrative storytelling by creating connections between scenes.
• Punctuation (empty frames, cutaways) enhances narrative rhythm.

Sound Design

• Sound characteristics (pitch, loudness, quality, fidelity) and asynchronous sound enhance storytelling.
• External vs. internal sound adds depth to scenes.
• Environmental sounds provide context.
• Sound score emphasizes emotion, setting, and characterization.
• Silence builds tension or conveys isolation. Foley sounds enhance realism.

Genre and Structure

• Genre (as blueprint, marketing, contract) provides a framework for storytelling, establishing recognizable elements.
• Genre cycles include cycles (establishment, refinement, parody/self-reflexivity)
• Iconography and themes (musicals, horror) reflect social conflicts and themes and offer opportunities to challenge/subvert traditional roles.
• Rites of order vs. rites of integration in films, including the conflict and resolution within stories.
• Empiricist's dilemma pertains to classifying genre.
• Polysemy denotes the multiple meanings in a text.
• Transmedia storytelling involves distributing elements across various media platforms (e.g., comics, cartoons, toys, films).

Performance Styles

• Performance styles encompass realized (grounded, believable), individualized (tied to the star persona), and stylized (heightened) approaches.

Other Considerations

• Determinate vs Indeterminate space (backstage vs. front stage in musicals)
• Semantic vs Syntactic Approaches (focusing on the literal structure vs the underlying meaning of the genre)
• Overlap of musicals and horror (body genres, duality, spectacle, excess)
• Mise-en-scène and genre connections through iconography, themes, plots, and characters.