MISE-EN-SCENE

Remember, mise-en-scene is a French term meaning, ‘what is in the scene’ or, literally, 'putting on stage'. It refers to everything you see within the frame in film and television.

The mise-en-scene sets the mood of the scene and offers clues to character and theme. Audiences have certain expectations of mise-en-scene depending on genre - which means we need to plan it carefully to show our extract is Science Fiction.

We use the mnemonic CLAMPS to remember mise-en-scene:

• Costume
• Lighting
• Actor placement and movement
• Make-up
• Props
• Setting

This video goes into A Level or Film School depth but is well worth 10 minutes to understand the power of mise-en-scene:

 

Blog task: Mise-en-scene planning

Create a blogpost planning everything that will appear in front of the camera in your two-minute Science Fiction TV drama extract. Remember CLAMPS: Costume, Lighting, Actors (cast, placement and movement), Make-up, Props, Setting. 

The following suggestions should help you:

Costume

What will your characters wear? What is the costume supposed to communicate to the audience? (E.g. a school uniform quickly and easily tells the audience that the character is high-school age etc.)

Sciene lab scene: 

My protagonist will be wearing a lab costume with permission from the science department. The costume will include a long white laboratory coat and see through lab glasses. The protagonists costume will hopefully communicate the idea that she is a student and has an sense of wanting her future to be based around science since she's passionate about the subject in the show. The teacher will be wearing conventional professional teaching clothing to portray that she's a teacher.

Lighting

How will you light your scene? Is it day or night? Interior or exterior? If outside, can you use streetlights, shadows, reflected sunlight or other creative techniques to achieve the lighting style you want? If inside, experiment with blinds up and down, room lights on and off etc.

Scene 1 - Northala Fields

I will record around sunset hours which Is usually at 5-6/7 to get a sci-fi vibe and the misty colour will compliment the genre well allowing people to know that it is sci-fi. The sunlight will be half toward the characters and half away since I don't want it to show too much sunlight in case it'll make the scene look as if it was in early hours, however I will have it half away to make it look as if its quite late - in the hours of after school.

Scene 2 - Lab Room

As I record in the Lab there will be several blinds around the room. I will have them slightly up to connote its day time but not too much since I want the scenes in the lab to have mysterious vibes so a little less light will work well for that. No classroom lights will be relevant since the daylight will be present.

Actors

The first thing you need to plan is your cast - who will be in your production and which character will they play? Try and cast people who are reasonably similar to the character they are playing (both in age and personality). Next, plan their placement and movement in key scenes from your script. Do you want them to appear trapped in a claustrophobic close-up? Or isolated as a tiny person in a wide shot?

Nura - Protagonist , aged 16 , Aspires to be lab technician + takes pride in her work + comforting/helpful girl
Ms Suzanne - Teacher , aged 32 , intentions aren't clear + doesn't get along with kids very well
Harneet, Renda, Olena - protagonists friends, all aged 16 aswell , very close in terms of friendship

Make-up

Plan any make-up you require - for example, coloured contact lenses can immediately create a Science Fiction feel.

Since my last scene includes the protagonist unfortunately getting the disease herself, I must use makeup to make it come to life. I will use face paint with solid colours such as grey, green to get a scene fiction vibe. Possibly will include contact lenses aswell.

Props

What props will you require? Remember, you can't use anything that might resemble a weapon in a public or school location (this is VERY important) so instead be creative with phones, messages and anything else that communicates the Science Fiction genre. Technology or science lab chemicals will effectively communicate the genre without getting you arrested.
Scene 1 - Northala Fields 

The first scene is based around the girls watching the news and finding out there is a disease spreading and a cure circulating to help prevent it. To show the girls reaction on the news I will use a phone/ipad that will have a news report on it as a prop. It will relate to the science fiction genre wince the news report is about a disease circulating and that setting will be around sunset gloomy hours.

Scene 2 - Science Lab
As the protagonist is making the cure there will be a montage of her creating it in the lab. She'll have equipment such as testubes, solutions and racks communicating the vibe of science fiction the the audience.

Setting

This should already be largely planned using your script. However, now is the time to specify exact locations - if a science lab, which one? How will you arrange it with the teacher? When will you film there? Try and take pictures of locations or use Google Maps and Google Earth if you're using locations outside of school.

My first location will be situated at Northala Fields in Northolt.  I will be filming in the hours of 5-6/7 to get the sunset misty vibe since it will compliment the genre well and mysteriousness. I will have a group of my friends playing as the actors at the hills. My second location is a science lab. I will use a room at Greenford high school after school has finished with the permission from a science teacher and I will bring my own resources aswell as using some of the schools. Whenever a science teacher is staying after school I will film since ill be supervised by them in case anything will happen.