This week’s reading for Cinema Studies focused on Mise-en-scene, which is translated from French to English as “to put in the scene” and basically mean’s everything within the shot. I learnt about mise-en-scene last year when I studied Screen and Media, so I believe I have a thorough knowledge of the concept already. I like to think of mise-en-scene as something like this ‘what individual aspects had to come together to create this scene/shot?’ When you break it down like that it become’s much easier to understand. The aspect’s to consider are the lighting, costumes, set design, special effects, composition, makeup/hairstyles, use of space, filmstock (monochromatic or colour, grainy or not), acting and the aspect ratio (to name just a few). These factors come together to establish a scene and to determine whether it’s an effective one.

The Lady From Shanghai exemplifies mise-en-scene in a way that particularly sticks with me, not because it was a particularly good film – it had fundamental flaws, but because it was clearly an Orson Welle’s film, who I would argue was a masterful manipulator of the concept of mise-en-scene, constructing truly multifaceted scenes like not many other filmmakers could do.

The mise-en-scene of the film’s finale is amazing, with the final show down between the protagonist and his duplicitous love interest/femme fatale set in a room full of mirror’s that paired with the limited space and close up framing evoke’s a claustrophobic feeling from the audience, furthermore, the use of monochromatic film creates a stark contrast between the harsh lighting and conceptually the good and bad characters of the film. It exemplifies the importance of complex composition and mise-en-scene to create a climactic ending and to do the story of the film justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RdPVtcDeEI