Mise-en-Scene

Mise-en-scene is what makes up all of what the audience visually sees within a frame. It includes everything that is shown on the screen which includes background as well as the foreground. 

'Downton Abbey'

Mise-en-scene is split into groups that cover something different. One area it covers is Costumes. This is includes what the actors within a scene are wearing as well as their hair and make-up. Costume is a great way to show the audience the type of character they are such as their role or status and is also a good way of showing the time of time period. For example, if the actor was wearing an apron and had their hair tied back like in the picture on the right, we would think they had a low status as they look like a waitress or waiter for someone with a higher status who may be dressed in a suit. 

'The Conjuring'

Lighting is another area in which mise-en-scene covers. Lighting is important as it can give an effect to the audience watching as for example, a dark setting will give a more threatening effect whereas a light setting will make the audience feel less eerie. The example on the left shows lighting which is dark within a scene which gives a threatening atmosphere.

Another area of mise-en-scene is the Actors. it is important how the actors themselves are positioned within a scene along with what facial expressions fit the situation they are in. By doing this it helps to create how the audience look at that actor as a character. Body language is important as it helps to identify relationships between characters within a scene. 

Props are a major part of any scene as they give a certain effect and meaning. For example, if a character was holding a gun it would give a different effect than if someone was holding some flowers.
Lastly Setting is anohter part that mise-en-scene covers. it is important as it provides the adudience with an iudea where it is set. The setting sets the scene for any film as its the first thing people are likely to notice.

Camera Movement

The Importance Of Storyboarding And Scripting

Before any filming takes place some preparations and planning needs to be in place in order for it to be successful. One part of the planning and preparation is storyboarding and scripting the idea you have for a filming. Having a Script is helpful as this can provide us and the actors with stage directions and ensure people directing and filming don't miss out any important or small scenes and shots. Without planning this before hand it can be easy for us to lose track of what is needed to be filmed and what has already been completed, resulting in our group to loose time and go off schedule due to lack of preparations. 

Storyboards work well in preparations and planning as it is a good way of helping the people who are involved to have a more visualised view of their idea, which can also help them to focus on areas where they may think it might not work as well as they had thought. Without the use of a storyboard it may be hard for the people involved to establish when certain shots needed have be achieved and by having this visual is a good way of noticing this and discussing changes as a group.

  

This is a good example of a Storyboard. It includes sketches of each scene they plan to do along with camera shots and angles. A way to improve this could to also think about how long each scene will be to ensure they stick to the time its meant to be.

With this information about storyboards and scripting i will now apply this to my own planning in order to be successful with staying on schedule and not missing out important scenes and ideas.

Camera shots and movement

In class we looked at a short clip from the film "Casino Royale". In this clip we focused on the camera shots and the camera movements being used, and how this causes effect for the audience.

The link to the clip is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZxNbAwY_rk .



After watching the clip we discussed the camera shots we noticed being used and what affect it might have on the audience. We noticed at the start of the video (23 seconds) the use of a reversed camera shot, showing the actors viewpoint and perspective which helps to engage the audience and put them in the actors viewpoint. Also the use of the birds eye view angle shot being used could be there to put emphasis on the size of the explosion shown at 1 min 16 in the video.

Camera shots

For part of the work I did over the summer I took time to take pictures of different camera shots, which I then presented in a power-point

Camera Shots Distance

Editing

Editing is a crucial part of film language. 

In class we looked at two examples of where films have used editing in order to create one flowing scene without gaps. The examples we looked at were 'Memento' and 'Pulp fiction'. These are good examples of where editing helps a range of shots come together to make lots of flowing scenes to make one film.

We went onto looking at types of editing and some transitions:

• Cut - this can be used when changing scene, to compress time, vary the point of view and to build up an image or idea which is also known as montage. there is always a reason for a cut, this could be done to show emotion etc.
• Matched cut - this is between two different objects in which objects in the two shots graphically match, often helping to establish a strong continuity of action and linking the two shots metaphorically.
• Jump cut - this only works in editing if there is a massive change in scene otherwise it doesn't work as well as it wont look drastically different the the audience.

Example of a split screen

Transitions:

• buffer
• Fade/dissolve
• Wipe
• Inset (shot within shot)
• Split screen
• Stock shot (different moments)