Richard Rannabargar
Reading Guide #2: Mise En Scene
It is highly recommended that you look over these questions before you begin your
reading. Answer the following questions using the fourth chapter on Mise-en-scene from
Essential Cinema. Unless a question asks you to do otherwise, please answer in your own
words and do not cite from the text. Each of your responses below should be
approximately 75 words in length. You do not have to print this out.
a. How are different sets used to communicate something to the viewer about the
environment or reality in which the film takes place? What kind of examples does Lewis
use?
Sets are meant to give the audience the idea that they are in the actual location portrayed,
many times by a constructed set on stage. Sometimes filming is done in a real place
outside of the production studio. The filming may occur on a street of the town in which
the film is taking place giving an effect difficult to attain from inside a production studio.
Sets may even transition from one street outside and move inside of a completely different
building only giving the illusion of being in the original building approached.
b. How do costumes, makeup and hair “communicate character”? Answer in your own
words but you can use one of Lewis’s examples.
Costumes, makeup, and hair can make a character appear in many ways differing from
reality. Characters in sci-fi, horror, and historical films show obvious changes to actors
