Since the beginning of film, technology has played an important role in the evolution of the medium. Film, much more so than literature, relies on the ever-changing nature of technological development to stay relevant. In 1980 when Seymour Chatman wrote “What Novels Can Do That Films Can’t (And Vice Versa),” there were no such thing as DVD players and the VCR was a newly introduced, and thus non-perfected, product. Today when viewing a film, one has the luxury of returning to previous scenes immediately and effortlessly in order to further soak in and contemplate filmic choices. In his essay, Chatman focuses too heavily on narrative drive and, in saying that film cannot describe, does not give full merit to the idea of returning to and repeating a film for purpose of textual analysis.
In direct contrast to Chatman’s views are those of Laura Mulvey. In her book “Death 24x a Second,” she champions the delay of film as
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Mulvey’s idea of delay leaves room for pause that is part of the narrative as well. Chatman argues that the definition of description as simply having its purpose as the picturing of a scene or setting “eliminates inter alia the description of an abstract state of affairs, or of a character’s mental posture, or, indeed, of anything visual or visualizable” (446). But perhaps Chatman has never seen “The Passion of Joan of Arc.” Almost the entire film centers on the pleading expressions of Joan of Arc as she is threatened and persecuted. Through the close-ups on her face, the viewer leaps into her mindset. Yet Chatman states that: “close-ups in no way invite aesthetic contemplation” (450). It is hard to agree with that, though, because it would be difficult to watch a film such as “The Passion of Joan of Arc” without ruminating over the bewildered inner workings of Joan. The close-up does not take the viewer out of the narrative; it serves a purpose and meshes with the driving plot of the
The film immediately sets the tone from the very beginning by presenting various interdisciplinary ‘experts’ who equally have part in narrating the film throughout. As the argument develops, however, the narrators seem to hav...
Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, was an exemplary and ground-breaking work. In narrative structure and film style, Welles challenged classical Hollywood conventions and opened a path for experimentation in the later 1940s. Gregg Toland’s deep-focus cinematography and Welles’ use of low-key lighting are often discussed aspects of the movie. True, these were areas of innovation, but when watching the movie in class I was particularly struck by the use of camera movement, or “mobile framing” as described in Film Art. In this historical analysis, I will take a detailed look at how Welles and Toland use camera movement to develop and challenge the Hollywood style. By referring to other movies viewed in Professor Keating’s class, including The Cheat, Wings, Applause, Double Indemnity, The Last Laugh and Bicycle Thief, this paper traces one aspect of innovation and diffusion in the movie many call the greatest film ever, Citizen Kane.
Mise en scene is a French term, which refers to the visual and design elements of a film. Literally, it is what we actually see on the screen – locations, sets, background details, costumes, even the use of colour and lighting. Mise en scene is used to describe every scene, including framing, composition, costuming, setting, objects, lighting, sound and camera angles. Everything is done purposely and intentionally.
In cinema, lighting, blocking and panning drastically influence what an audience will notice and take away from a scene. Orson Welles’s 1941 Citizen Kane has numerous examples of effectively using these aspects within mise-en-scène, cinematography and editing to portray the importance of specific events and items in the film. The scene where Kane writes and then publishes his “Declaration of Principles” (37:42-39:42) in the New York Daily Inquirer after buying them focuses on important elements of the film, aiding the audience by combining lighting, blocking and panning to define significant roles and objects that further the movie as a whole.
In another budgetary adaptation, the film crew, lacking the funds for cranes and dollies to do moving and panning shots, quickly switched between multiple shots for dynamic dialog, giving a certain frenzied feel to the dialog interactions (Hervey 38). The style this lends to th...
Film and literature are two media forms that are so closely related, that we often forget there is a distinction between them. We often just view the movie as an extension of the book because most movies are based on novels or short stories. Because we are accustomed to this sequence of production, first the novel, then the motion picture, we often find ourselves making value judgments about a movie, based upon our feelings on the novel. It is this overlapping of the creative processes that prevents us from seeing movies as distinct and separate art forms from the novels they are based on.
... the mise-en-scene are the from the beginning of the film. Throughout the film I was aware of the locations. The San Francisco setting was presented to the viewer in the beginning and that made the audience more aware of the film's environment. The monastery and other locations of Corlata's past gave me a better understanding of Madeleine’s problem. The make-up and costume play an important part in the recreation scenes, while the props assisted the audience and John Ferguson in piecing the puzzle together and figuring out Gain’s plan. The lighting enhanced many scenes in the film. The parts that impressed me were the following: the recreation of Madeleine scene, John's dream sequence, the monastery scenes, Judy's guilt trip and the scenes involving John's fear of heights.
Classic narrative cinema is what Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson (The classic Hollywood Cinema, Columbia University press 1985) 1, calls “an excessively obvious cinema”1 in which cinematic style serves to explain and not to obscure the narrative. In this way it is made up of motivated events that lead the spectator to its inevitable conclusion. It causes the spectator to have an emotional investment in this conclusion coming to pass which in turn makes the predictable the most desirable outcome. The films are structured to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude, which is to give a perception of reality. On closer inspection it they are often far from realistic in a social sense but possibly portray a realism desired by the patriarchal and family value orientated society of the time. I feel that it is often the black and white representation of good and evil that creates such an atmosphere of predic...
Mise-en-scène is a vital function in film which allows us to glean a deeper significance than mere action and dialogue can convey. We react to the signs, symbols, and icons within a film because they are imbedded deeply into our collective subconscious. Our history of visual storytelling predates language and it is a tradition that is innately human and universally recognized, even if the viewer is unaware of the elements of mise-en-scène and the way in which they are constructing the emotional and psychological context of a film’s story.
Kracauer, Siegfried. “Basic Concepts,” from Theory of Film. In Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, Seventh Edition, edited by Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, 147–58. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
The mise en scenes in this film are unique because it gave viewers the ability to have a sense of how the characters are feeling. For example, low lighting was used throughout the film to express a sense of the unknown and/or fear. Another great example of how mise en scene was used is how human shadows for night shooting were used to increase the feeling of mystery and a threating atmosphere (Awjingyi). And one of the most important examples of mise en scene used in this film is in the last scene where mirrors were used (aka the “funhouse”) to
Mise-en-scéne is something that we see in movies all the time. It’s translated from French and means the staging the different aspects of a movie such as setting, lighting, subjects, or almost anything else. Any common movie, such as Inside Out, shows Mise-en-snéne in it. Three big parts of Mise-en-scéne that are shown in the movie Inside Out are cinematography, sound, and editing. Inside Out uses all of these by describing a plot in which there are feelings in our brains which connect to different memories that we can remember at any time. There were five main emotions that controlled the person on the outside whose name was Riley. The five emotions were named, Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. They helped Riley as she moved away from
Mise en scene generally means everything within the shot, everything that the camera is showing. Mise-en-scene is all about the film staging, all that is visible in front of the camera and all its design included; trim, music, clothing, environment, camera movements, makeup etc. Every director in the world uses their own different kind of techniques when making movies, and it is very common that a director becomes famous and well-known just because of that; their own style of making movies. As directors worldwide are working in different ways, and using their own, special style, they also use ”mise-en-scene” in different ways.
Neill, Alex. “Empathy and (Film) Fiction.” Philosophy of film and motion pictures : an anthology. Ed. Noel Carrol and Jinhee Choi. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. 247-259. Print.
Mise en scene is a French term that is defined as the overall point of view of a movie or the "placing on stage". In other words, it refers to the combined experience of what the viewers hear, see and think of when they watch a movie. The mise en scene of a movie catches the attention of the viewers’ moods as much as lighting, props sounds, and smells do. It alerts their emotional response system to a real-life setting, which is conveyed in the movie.