Gangster’s Paradise is back, and happy that you are too. We left off by promising to discuss mise-en-scene, and Gangster’s Paradise keeps promises. Now lets get started..
Mise-en-scene is a French term used in cinema to describe everything that is placed in front of the camera. Setting, costume and makeup, lighting, performance, and staging are components of mise-en-scene. Essentially, when combined, all the components together encompass what mise-en-scene is. Furthermore, manipulating any of the declared components creates a different mise-en-scene than before. Therefore, it can be useful to think of these components as tools that the director can employ. Most memorable aspects of a film are a result of mise-en-scene, and this is not just random occurrence. Directors often make use of storyboards as a way to control and plan mise-en-scene because it holds so much power to affect the overall feeling and perception of a film. The power over the film that mise-en-scene has can be referred to as the narrative function of mise-en-scene (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010).
By taking what we know as the components or tools of mise-en-scene, stepping back and looking at them as a whole, we see that the mise-en-scene can be an effective narrator for a film. Lets look at this idea closer in an example. There is a scene in GoodFellas, where our main character Henry is at a bar with some of his associates. The director of the film, Martin Scorsese, employs the ability of mise-en-sense to function as a narrative in the following ways. Scorsese uses the staging tool of mise-en-sense to position the important characters, Tommy and Henry, in the middle of the frame in both shots he cuts back and forth to. But he goes further to place extras on either side of the camera to frame the characters to draw the attention of the audience letting them know that Tommy and Henry are the central characters without having to say it. Moreover, by placing bottles of alcohol on the table, having all the actors hold a glass, and having Henry smoking a cigarette creates a scene that tells us that these men are in a leisurely setting. These examples of how mise-en-sense can have narrative function are within single scenes, however mise-en-scene can also have a narrative function across the entire film.
We can demonstrate this narrative function of mise-en-scene across the entire film with an example from Once Upon a Time in America, directed by Sergio Leone. This film mainly follows a single character from adolescence to old age. As an adolescent, our character “Noodles” and his gang get a locker at a train station to store their cash. Through out the film, as year pass, the director returns to the locker at the train station several times. Every time we return to the locker, the surroundings change but the lockers never do.
As we close, remember that mise-en-scene has considerable power over a film. Also, remember that manipulating any of the components of mise-en-scene creates a different mise-en-scene that affect the ability of it to be recalled.
Look for the next post from Gangsters Paradise where we will discuss shots and editing.
Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (2010). The Shot: Mise-en-Scene. Film art: an introduction(9th ed., pp. 118-163). New York: McGraw Hill.
That was so helpful, thank you so much.
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