Mise-en-scene – Terminology, Definitions and Explanation

Actors

• Appearance – Costume, hair and make-up – Shows social status and wealth.
• Blocking – Where a character is positioned in the location.
• Performance – Dialogue (Delivery/script) – accent/speed etc. Also expression, gestures and posture alongside dialogue convey emotion/power/feeling etc.

Colour pallet

• Colours used in the set (objects, walls, etc)
• Colours in a scene can also so temperature – If colours are quite cold e.g blue, it can give a sad, isolated feeling and if they are warm colours e.g red it can show happiness or anger.

Lighting

• How the artificial colour on set appears.
• Ambiance – The mood the lighting creates.

Setting

• Location shoot – Shows authenticity of the location.
• Studio shoot – Everything is controlled but costs more.
• Props – Use in the location.
• Set decoration – How the location is decorated for the scene.