Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene - The visual elements of a film.

Elements:

• Settings/Props
• Costume, Hair & Make-up
• Expressions and Body Language
• Lighting and Colour
• Positioning of Characters and Objects in the frame

Props:

Short for Property

Artefacts that can be used in a number of ways

Convey a sense of the time-period, and confirm the genre

Iconography - Props associated with a certain thing

The tardis is possibly the only times many fans of Doctor Who since 2005 know what a Police Box is since they aren't in use any more. Most people nowadays associate them more with Doctor Who than with history. It shows how The Doctor sees himself as policing the universe and space-time continuum. Whenever a character familiar with The Doctor sees it's silhouette, they instantly recognise it, regardless of which model it is.

Setting:

Sets or on-location

Build up expectations then subvert them

Costume, Hair & Make-up:

Instant indicator as to a character's personality, status and job

Telling of the time-period and society it's set in

Certain costumes can signify a certain kind of individual

Darth Vader's costume is mostly black, showing him as a dark force, with no light, aside from the electronics on his suit. 

Facial expressions & Body Language:

Clear indicator of what someone is feeling

Expression + Music can create a mixed message

Body language can indicate different character's relationships with each other

Darth Vader is a character who we never see their face except for the ending of Episode 6. This adds to the mystery of the character, not knowing what exactly he's thinking or is about to do. All we see is his body language, which is never flinching. This cements him as a strong and foreboding authority figure in the empire.

Positioning:

Draw our attention to important aspects of the frame

Can indicate character's relationships with each other

Lighting and Colour:

Used to achieve a variety of effects

Highlights important aspects of the frame

Shadows can increase the mystery of a character

Can reflect a character's mental state / hidden emotions

In The Matrix the colour indicates whether a scene takes place in the real world or the titular Matrix. Blue is for the real world where the green is for the matrix. this ties it to computers from around that era of the movie, which used green text on a black screen.

This opening scene from Star Wars Episode 4 begins above a planet, looking over at another plant and what could be a moon. Both the other planet and moon have a clear dark side. The scene begins calm, before the rebel ship and a star destroyer move across the screen. This mirrors how the dark side is behind the light at all times, this being our first scene ever in a star wars movie. This is important to note as at the time, the prequel trilogy wouldn't be around for another 30 years. This means that all the choices made here, aren't based upon established canon, they are for a brand new movie and story. We see the much smaller ship fire at the much larger, sharper, almost spear-like ship, showing that they are far from friendly. The small ship becomes almost insignificant in the frame by the time we see the star destroyer, highlighting the sheer size of the ship, and the empire in general. This highlights how much more powerful than the "good guys" they are. The star destroyer, by the end of the shot, takes up the whole of the upper frame.

Our first interior shot comes with C-3PO, R2-DS, and another droid, each of which standing out against the white backdrop of the ship. This establishes these as good characters, being shrouded in white light. Of note is C-3PO's right leg, as below the thigh it is silver, whereas the rest of him is gold, both being precious metals. This helps establish that he is one of the driving forces of the film, helping R2-D2 to lead Luke to "Old Ben Kenobi" later in the movie. Though there are audible and visible quakes, R2-D2 doesn't seem phased, whereas the other 2 droids are moving violently, as though they are scared.

Following this, we see men, visibly armed, all in a uniform, as though they are a military of some sort, rushing somewhere. They don't appear to be afraid, suggesting they have seen combat perhaps more than once before.

We then cut back to the droids, with C-3PO appearing to worry, flailing his arms as much as his robotic limbs would allow. R2-D2 still, seems unphased. This is based on his prior experience with Kenobi, as we learn later in the film.

The soldiers take aim at a door, as we hear clinking, and see the ship being absorbed by the other ship, the light being absorbed by the darkness, hinting at the oncoming onslaught in the next few minutes. We get a shot of a soldier following the sounds with his eyes towards the doorway, with his gaze changing as it reaches the door. This shows that he is now possibly afraid of what'll come through that door, knowing the size of what has just taken his ship.

We get 2 shots of the door accompanied by sounds, and in-between we get a shot of the soldiers, and then another shot, tighter on a specific soldier, who looks very young, contrasting with the older soldier we saw a few moments ago. This highlights their desperation and need for more soldiers.

Purple sparks then start to fly through the door, accompanied by the sound of a saw. These bounce off of the walls, giving the room a purple tinge, disrupting the light of the ship we saw before. We get shots of the soldiers bracing, as the door gets blown open with a large explosion, causing one soldier to hide behind a corner for the duration of the blast. through the smoke, we see white figures with black accents, firing off the first shots as they breach and clear, a tactic used by many military forces. We then get shots of the soldiers returning fire. As the shots continue to be fired, the hallway retains it's purple tinge. This could be up to the film this was shot on, but it could show the disruption to the ship. These shots are now also darker than before, showing the dark side is slowly infiltrating.

Following this, we get a shot of the storm troopers turning a corner, and killing more rebels than they kill storm troopers.