Communications Chapter 3 Homework In what ways is it significant?

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CHAPTER 3

MISE-EN-SCÈNE: EXPLORING A MATERIAL WORLD

KEY OBJECTIVES

• Define “mise-en-scène” and identify how theatrical and other traditions affect the history of cinematic mise-en-

scène.

• Describe how sets and props relate to a film’s story.

• Explain how actors and performance styles contribute to mise-en-scène.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Chapter 3 is the first of four chapters that identify the formal and technical powers associated with the different

elements of film form: mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and sound. It begins with a short historical,

industrial, and cultural overview of mise-en-scène from its roots in pre-cinema theater to the present day. It then

examines setting, props, actors, costumes and make-up, and lighting in detail. Finally, it suggests some of the

cultural values and traditions that have influenced and evolved around these formal mechanisms and that help

determine our interpretations of scenes, shots, cuts, and sounds at the movies.

TEACHING THE OPENING VIGNETTE

Ridley Scott’s film The Martian (2015) offers a rich teaching opportunity. Many students likely have seen the

team back home). You may wish to show some examples from the film in which Mark is staging his work for a

camera—directing behind the scenes, if you will, and in some cases performing within them.

TEACHING THE CHAPTER

Cinematography and editing are not always intuitive topics for students to grasp. Mise-en-scène, however,

generally makes sense to students because it deals with what they can see and identify in the frame. Mise-en-scène is

(2016) or even the “making of” extra on the DVD of a Pixar animated feature like Frozen (2013) can introduce new

ideas about scenic realism and performance style, where the filmmakers’ primary challenge is creating a persuasive

simulacrum of something—whether it is ancient warriors, water, or even rat fur—“real.”

From a Formal Perspective

Stars: Movie stars are the easiest entry point into a discussion about what viewers notice in a scene and what

literally blends into the scenery. One way of introducing to the class some basic concepts of star theory is to ask

students whether stars “are just like us” or not. Bring a few supermarket tabloids to class to spur discussion and help

students distinguish between stars and celebrities. Ask the students to list what they know about Tom Cruise versus

Johnny Depp or Angelina Jolie versus Cate Blanchett. Why do they know personal information about these actors?

Does it color how they experience these stars’ performances? Is there a difference between “Tom Cruise,” the public

persona we think we know, and Tom Cruise the actual person?

To illustrate the difference between stars, character actors, and character types, look at the sequence from the

2001 remake of Ocean’s Eleven in the hanger as the team of thieves convene. George Clooney and Brad Pitt are big

stars. Bernie Mac was a comedian turned character actor. Elliot Gould and Carl Reiner might appeal more to an

older viewer who remembers the 1960 original, which starred Rat Pack members Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis

From a Contextualized Perspective

Defining Our Place in a Film’s Material World: Sets, props, actors, and lighting work together like the

ingredients of a meal. They may offer a viewer comfort food or an exotic new set of flavors. Some mise-en-scènes

may not be to a viewer’s taste or could benefit from more or less of an ingredient. Ask students to think of mise-en-

scènes that resonated (or didn’t resonate) with them. Why or why not? Encourage students to think critically about

what elements of the mise-en-scène do or do not work.

Interpretative Contexts for Mise-en-scène: Discuss what prompts students to see a movie on a big screen vs. at

home on a laptop, or on an iPad. Some examples you might introduce are The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Harry

Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), and The Avengers (2012).

Teaching Technical Vocabulary and Key Concepts

An approach to evaluating comprehension could be to conduct cinematic “dictees” during class: students watch

a film clip, then describe it, either alone or in groups, using as many terms from the chapter as they can. Ask them to

present their “translations” to the rest of the class.

Many students find most of the concepts introduced in Chapter 2 easy to master. Instructors may want to spend

extra time on the different types of lighting and perhaps show clips from each of the films mentioned in that section.

Do note that the overlap between character actors and the particular character types with which they are associated

can make the distinction difficult to grasp. Discuss the actors who played minor roles in the film just screened and

talk about what attributes lead to them being cast in those parts. One helpful case study is J. Hoberman’s article

“Peter Lorre—The Voice” in Film Comment 41, no. 6 (2005).

TEACHING THE VIEWING CUES

Scenic Realism and Atmosphere, p. 103

Watch the clip from Life of Pi (2012) on LaunchPad for The Film Experience without sound. What is communicated

through the elements of the mise-en-scène alone?

This is an excellent opportunity for students to work collaboratively in small groups during class. It can also

provide the basis for a more extensive shot analysis assignment that incorporates the other topics covered in Part 2

of the text.

One way in may be to ask the class if anyone has ever seen a movie shot in a place he or she knows firsthand.

Props, p. 107

Identify the single most important prop in the last film you watched for class. In what ways is it significant? Does

the prop function as an instrumental prop, a metaphorical prop, or both? Explain.

Ask students to write a quick journal entry answering the question in the Viewing Cue using a film they have

recently seen.

Costumes and Make-up, p. 108

Describe the ways that costuming and make-up add scenic realism, highlight character, or mark the narrative

development in the film viewed for class.

Showing a clip from Edward Scissorhands (1990) could prompt discussion about theatrical sets, make-up and

costume, and stylized acting, as well as Johnny Depp’s status as a star. Or show the class Chris Tucker’s entrance in

The Fifth Element (1997) and ask them to describe his character. What is he wearing? How is he different from

Bruce Willis’s character? What do we expect from each of these actors from one film to the next?

Lighting, p. 111

Consider the role of lighting in this sequence from Richard Linklater’s Boyhood (2014). Does it use low-key lighting

or high-key lighting? Does the lighting dramatically add to the sequence’s emotional impact? Or if you consider the

lighting is unremarkable, how would you argue that it is still significant?

Scenes from Casablanca (1942) that show Humphrey Bogart’s Rick talking with Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa are

excellent examples of how three-point lighting conventions of the time were determined by gender. Pause on a

close-up of Rick and then one of Ilsa, and discuss how much softer she looks or what makes her eyes seem to

glisten. When they are both in the frame, talk about who is in the light and what its implied source is.

Interpretive Contexts for Mise-en-Scène, p. 123

Describe why the mise-en-scène of the film you most recently watched fits best within a naturalistic or a theatrical

tradition. Explain how this perspective helps you experience the film. Illustrate your position using two or three

scenes as examples.

The Bourne movies rely on naturalistic mise-en-scène, but Jason Bourne’s relationship to the objects in his

TEACHING THE FORM IN ACTION

Mise-en-Scène in Hugo (2011), p. 119

Martin Scorsese’s film Hugo offers students a unique opportunity to consider mise-en-scène in a film that is, in

large part, about one of the greatest metteur-en-scènes in cinema history, Georges Méliès—a filmmaker who

certainly exhibited a “mysterious vision of youthful imagination.” Students should be encouraged to consider how

Scorsese, working in collaboration with his Set Designer Dante Ferretti and Set Decorator Francesa Lo Schiavo

(who won the 2012 Oscar for Best Art Direction) recreates the luminous world of 1930s Paris. While this section

emphasizes the film’s use of props and lighting, you may want to show the flashback from the film in which we

watch Méliès (Ben Kingsley) building his own studio and at work filming scenes from Le cake walk infernal (The

Infernal Cake Walk, 1903) and Le royaume des fees (Fairyland, 1903) so that students can appreciate how

filmmakers work to bring together all the aspects of mies-en-scene in order to create the art of cinema.

TEACHING THE FILMS IN FOCUS

Making Sense of Mise-en-scène in Do the Right Thing (1989), pp. 112–113

Ask the students to create a map of the important locations in the neighborhood depicted within the film and the

key props associated with each one (such as the folding chairs for the Greek chorus of old men on the corner).

Discussion Question 1: How do the props and characters move through these settings, and what are the

consequences? Focus, perhaps, on the wall of fame photographs at Sal’s or Radio Raheem’s boom box.

Discussion Question 2: How does lighting and costume help guide the viewer to the denouement? Contrast the

(1999), and Crooklyn (1994) to illustrate this technique.

Naturalistic Mise-en-Scène in Bicycle Thieves (1948), pp. 124–125

Talk about the contrast between the glamorous mise-en-scène implied by the poster for Gilda (1946) of Rita

Hayworth and the world Ricci inhabits. It may be helpful to provide a little historical background on Italian

neorealism.

Discussion Question 1: What effect does De Sica’s decision to shoot on location in postwar Rome (rather than at

the famous Cinecittà studios) have on the story and the viewer?

Discussion Question 2: What type of “performances” do we usually expect in settings like the church into which

Ricci chases the thief, the workers’ meeting place, and the theater at which the play is being rehearsed, and why?

Additional Suggestions: Other films that would lend themselves to a discussion of naturalistic mise-en-scène are

Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry (1997) or perhaps David Gordon Green’s George Washington (2000). Another

tactic might be to contrast De Sica’s naturalistic mise-en-scène with a highly artificial one by introducing Tim

Burton’s Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985), another movie about a man’s quest for his stolen bicycle.

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

Alternative Activity

Ask students to describe the mise-en-scène of the classroom. Compile lists of the various elements on the

board. Discuss the blocking of the “actors” and what it might convey to a viewer, the location of the light sources

(windows, overhead fluorescents), and the cultural meanings of the props, costumes, and setting. Or ask students to

discuss how they would cast, clothe, light, and furnish the “movie version” of the class. As a naturalistic film? Set in

the future? The past?

FILMS CITED

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

The African Queen (1951)

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

American Hustle (2014)

An American in Paris (1951)

The Automobile Thieves (1906)

Avatar (2009)

The Avengers (2012)

Babette’s Feast (1987)

Back to the Future (1985)

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Barton Fink (1991)

Brazil (1985)

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Broken Blossoms (1919)

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Brooklyn (2015)

Cabaret (1972)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Cabiria (1914)

Le cake walk infernal (The Infernal Cake Walk, 1903)

Casablanca (1942)

Central Station (1998)

Citizen Kane (1941)

Crooklyn (1994)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Fantasmagorie (1908)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Field of Dreams (1989)

Fifth Element (1997)

Frozen (2013)

Fury (1936)

Gangs of New York (2002)

Gaslight (1944)

George Washington (2000)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Glory (1989)

The Godfather (1972)

The Gold Rush (1925)

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Grand Hotel (1932)

The Great Train Robbery (1903)

Harry Potter series (2001–2011)

High Sierra (1941)

Jaws (1975)

Jezebel (1939)

The Jungle Book (2016)

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

The Killers (1946)

Kindergarten Cop (1990)

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

King Solomon’s Mines (1937)

Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

La dame aux camélias (1912)

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

The Last Emperor (1987)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)

Legally Blonde (2001)

Naked City (1948)

Napoléon (1927)

Napoleon (1955)

Notorious (1946)

Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

On the Stage; or, Melodrama from the Bowery (1907)

127 Hours (2010)

Out of Africa (1985)

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Pariah (2011)

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Pi (1998)

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Psycho (1960)

Pygmalion (1938)

Queen Elizabeth (1912)

The Red Shoes (1948)

The Red Violin (1998)

The Return of the King (2003)

The Revenant (2015)

Ronin (1998)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

Summer of Sam (1999)

Suspicion (1941)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Syriana (2005)

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Taste of Cherry (1997)

The Terminator (1984)

Top Hat (1935)

Total Recall (1990)

25th Hour (2002)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1903)

Up in the Air (2009)

Vertigo (1958)

Waxworks (1924)