Teaching mise en scène

Nick Lacey offers a definition of mise en scène followed by a description of how he taught this topic to AS Film Studies students in Leeds.

It matters little whether you’re teaching Film or Media Studies: introducing students to reading moving audio-visual images is usually introduced early in the course, pre- or post-16. Although the following is based upon teaching FS1 module of WJEC’s AS Film Studies, I’d be surprised if the ideas weren’t applicable elsewhere. The first section here (extracted from my forthcoming book, to be published by Palgrave Macmillan) offers a definition of mise en scène, which is followed by a description of how I taught this ‘theory’ to AS Film Studies students in Leeds.

The ‘theory’ of mise en scène
Mise en scène is the starting point for analysis of ‘film as film’ (the title of a ‘classic’ introduction to film analysis, Perkins 1993) as distinct from film in its social context. First used by critics in Les Cahiers du Cinéma, an influential French film journal, in the 1950s, mise en scène focuses on what can be seen in the picture. Clearly what can be seen (unless we are dealing with computer generated imagery) must exist before it can be filmed; this is the pro-filmic event. Usually this event will consist of actors performing in a setting; the point of view from which audiences see this is wholly determined by the position of the camera. The film’s director usually decides where the camera is positioned.

For some critics this pro-filmic event defines mise en scène. For example, in the first edition of another classic text, Film Art (1979), David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson state that mise en scène consists of setting, lighting, costume and figure expression and movement (that is behaviour and movement in the scene); they consider camera placement (framing) in a separate chapter. Bruce Kawin’s definition (1992), however, also includes:

choice of filmstock (black-and-white or color, fine-grain or grainy) . . . aspect ratio (the proportion of the screen) . . . framing (how much of the set or cast will be shown at a time) . . . camera placement and movement, and . . . sound environment. (Kawin, 1992, p. 98)

Kawin is unusual in including sound; however, there seems little point in divorcing sound produced in the narrative world from what’s producing it. This is a question of definition and it matters little, when analysing film, whether you consider camera positioning and/or sound as part of mise en scène or not as long as you do consider all the elements. I prefer Kawin’s inclusion of camera placement because the position can transform the way audiences see the pro-filmic event and will include sound in the following as most films we deal with are not silent.

Whilst camera movement also changes the way we see the pro-filmic space, it draws attention to itself and so attention is split between what is ‘in the picture’ and how the camera is transforming what we see. Filmstock, too, can alter the look of the scene; however, it is exterior to it. Therefore we shall consider movement and filmstock separately from mise en scène.

So for our purposes mise en scène consists of:

• Production Design: sets, props and costumes
• Colour (present in both production design and lighting)
• Lighting
• Actors’ performance (including casting and make up) and movement (blocking)
• Framing including position; depth of field; aspect ratio; height and angle (but not movement)
• Diegetic sound (that is, sound that emanates from the scene and is not extraneous to it, such as the music that is not being played within the scene or a voice-over)

The ‘practice’ of teaching mise en scène
After the preliminaries – i.e. trying to find out who the people were in front of me – I showed the opening of The Sixth Sense (US, 1999). This turned out to be a good choice because (amazingly as there is ‘always’ one who hasn’t seen it) all the students had already watched the film. The opening scene – from the credits to the close up of the congratulatory cards – is short and straightforward, yet sets up a sense of menace. The students had to consider the following questions as the basis for discussion:

• What does the sequence mean to you?
• How does it create that meaning?

Opening sequences are obviously good to use as no assumptions are made about an audience’s understanding. However, the fact that students were familiar with The Sixth Sense was useful as the first shot is a close-up of a reddish light bulb, and some were aware that red is significant throughout the film.

I used a second opening sequence with each of my two groups (Don’t Look Now, UK-Italy 1999, and Solaris, US 2002), which they discussed in groups before presenting their ideas to the class. I consciously choose mainstream films to reassure those who’ve only chosen the subject ‘cos they can watch movies’ and to emphasise that ‘even’ Hollywood films are full of meaning. Students then choose their own opening to analyse for written work. In my experience students new to moving image analysis usually lapse into description in their first attempts.

The hope was that our discussion of these sequences would allow us to extract the elements of mise en scène described above. In teaching Media Studies I would then branch off into other media, such as advertising, and show how the skills gained from film analysis are transferable and also suggest that many of the differences – such as the lack of depth in television mise en scène – is often determined by the medium.

Having the ‘luxury’ of teaching Film Studies allows a detailed exploration of the elements and offers an opportunity to widen students’ experience of film. It matters little what films are chosen to illustrate the constituents of the scene; however, it is obviously useful if they emphasise a particular element. I tend to choose films I’ve seen recently and have on video.

Production Design: sets, props and costumes. The Thirteenth Floor (US, 1999) – its ‘1930s’ setting, in the opening sequence, draws attention to the design.

Colour: (present in both production design and lighting)

Lighting: The Virgin Suicides (US, 1999) – contrasting the bright yellowy hues of suburbia with the grey-blue of the bathroom, scene of a suicide attempt (I was impressed that students pegged it as a film set in the ‘70s).

Absence of light can be as significant as what is shown by light. Film noir, for example, uses shadows almost as objects within the mise en scène. The opening sequence from M (Germany, 1931) representing Elsie’s murder, uses Franz Becker’s shadow to suggest menace.

Actors’ performance (including casting and make up) and movement (blocking): Code Unknown (France, 2000) – Juliette Binoche’s audition. This extraordinary film consists of scenes shot in one take (except one) so Binoche’s disintegration in front of the camera, as she realises she’s been kidnapped, is a wonderful (and harrowing) performance. This fell flat with students but I thought it was great.

Minority Report (US, 2002) – as an example of blocking I used the first meeting between the Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell characters. Farrell is set in opposition to the other four; however, he is able to move easily ‘through’ the others and ‘motivates’ the camera to follow him. His verbal jousting with Cruise is particularly interesting (though my students were more concerned with Cruise’s actual height), their position in the mise en scène shifts as they vie for superiority. However, Farrell’s victory is accompanied by him crouching beneath Cruise: patronising or an indication of his ambivalent role in the narrative?

Diegetic sound (i.e. sound that emanates from the scene and is not extraneous to it): I played the scene from Psycho (US, 1960), when the cop wakes up Marion Crane in her car, using audio only. The students agreed that the cop sounded a nice, concerned guy. When we saw the sequence as filmed, it was clear that the cop’s ‘mirror shades’ makes him a threatening character, especially when contrasted with Janet Leigh’s ‘wide-eyed’ performance.

Framing including: position; depth of field; aspect ratio; height and angle (but not movement): For depth of field Citizen Kane (US, 1941) is an obvious choice. The seven minute sequence that follows the ‘March of Time’ pastiche newsreel is ideal as it includes two exceptionally long takes (the crane shot that introduces Susan Alexander starting on the idealised poster image of her and finishing on the alcoholic wreck she has become and young Kane playing in the snow whilst mum signs him away). The latter scene is particularly powerful as the boy remains in the centre of the frame (playing outside seen through the window) whilst he is being signed away; however, he is very small, indicating the degree of influence he has on proceedings.

The scene straight after the newsreel, where the journalist is given the job of finding out what ‘rosebud’ means, is particularly striking in the use of light and shadow. The journalists lack individuality as bright light shines directly at the camera casting them as silhouettes. They are ciphers that will lead the narrative to its conclusion. Welles’ characteristic use of a low angled shot, which shows ceilings in shot, are also evident in the scene from Kane’s childhood.

For aspect ratio, Blade Runner (US 1984, Director’s Cut 1991) – is used simply because I have a ‘pan and scan’ version. Comparing the framing of Batty’s death scene with the widescreen shows how much is lost and how the spurious close up necessitated by ‘pan and scan’ changes the meaning of the scene. It’s gratifying that it’s actually getting difficult to find ‘pan and scan’ versions of films on television; though not all widescreen versions of terrestrial television are anywhere the correct ratio. Most of Sky Television’s movie channels are now in the original ratio, though I noticed that TCM occasionally lapse into ‘full screen’ versions.

I won’t know how successful my introduction to mise en scène was until I see the practice coursework essays, but when we revised the subject, a few weeks later, I was pleased with students’ oral responses.

Bibliography
David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson (2003, 7th edition) Film Art: An Introduction (McGraw-Hill)
Bruce F. Kawin(1992) How Movies Work (University of California Press)
Victor Perkins (1993) Film As Film: Understanding and Judging Movies (Da Capo Press)

Resources
The BFI’s Introduction to Film Language CD-ROM is superb. Using a brilliant 10-minute animation The Sandman (1991) by Paul Berry as its focus students can navigate their way through all they need to know about all aspects of film language. I don’t go through the jargon with student but expect them to pick it up through their reading and using this resource.

The books cited in the bibliography are very useful teacher texts.

Robert E. Yahnke’s website (http://www.tc.umn.edu/~yahnk001/filmteach/teach.htm) is certainly worth checking out as, if you use the films suggested, he saves you a lot of legwork.

© Nick Lacey