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Mise en scene is a french term meaning Put on stage and refers to everything and anything that is shown in a scene from a movie (or what is not shown!)

some elements of mise en scene are:

1. colour.

       the dominant colours shown in a particular scene of a film are there for a reason. theye can represent many moods and emotions that the director is trying to convey. for example red signifies passion, anger and violence while blue can represent calm or mystery depending on the shade.

 2. lighting

 lighting creates tone and sets mood.

3. music and sound

 4. props

 5.set design/setting

Setting gives a sense of place and time. Whatever the film is, you should always analyse the set because it provides important clues about the nature of the film, such as:

• where the action takes place
• when the action takes place
• the mood
• the characters
• the genre of the film.

6. costumes and makeup

Costume and make-up can be considered as part of the set, because they indicate:

• the period
• the state of society
• social class
• cultural backgrounds
• character traits.

Changes in cosutume indicate changes in charecter, e.g.:

• rich to poor
• taking off clothes as lowering defenses.

Clothing might also be a trademark.

7. acting

• Body language
• appearance
• facial expressions (very significant in close-ups)
• sound elements.

The way a character stands and moves is important.

• If they are the foreground they might be considered more important.
• If they move against a stationary background attention is drawn to them.
• Even distribution of characters makes for a balanced shot, whereas uneven distribution is unsettling to the eye.
• Positioning of characters within the frame may even indicate emotional distance.

 8. framing and angles

for a good explanation on mise en scene go to this website and watch the 4 min. film school video  http://www.indymogul.com/episode/FS_20080321

SOURCES

http://www.bustertests.co.uk/answer/mise-en-scene/

http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/htmfiles/mise-en-scene.htm

 http://tv.cream.org/specialassignments/films/ideal/ideal6.htm

Science Fiction                              

is a genre of writing that is based on scientific and technological developments and that makes us think about where these developments might lead our world in the future. Many science-fiction novels, short-stories and films turn the reader’s or viewer’s attention to issues such as pollution, overpopulation or the use of DNA technology having very disturbing long-term outcomes. Science fiction looks into the future; it takes on a modern invention or discovery and exaggerates it to explore the possible results. In science fiction, many of these discoveries turn out to have a dark side.

some science fiction texts include:

books.

cage of butterflies

do androids dream of electric sheep (known as Blade runner)

film.

back to the future parts 1, 2 and 3

GATTACA

starwars

startrek

alien quadrilogy

Donnie Darko

Predator

the-getaway-plan-where-the-city-meets-the-sea

working with a Genre

As part of term 4 English this year we will be working on writing in a genre. Genre is a way of categorising text into themes, for example: science fiction, fantasy, horror, action, romance etc…

To figure out what genre a text is we must first figure out a few things.

1. audience. Who is the text aimed at?

2. purpose. why did the writer/ director create this film?

3.setting. this includes time and place. where and when is the story set.

4.style.

5.character. what are the personalities of the characters in the story. 

6.storyline

 To find out what genre text you are reading or viewing ask yourself these questions.