If film form be the construction of an architecture, then mise-en-scene covers all elements of its appearance—setting, costume and make-up, and lighting; and it is “most vivid memories of movies.” (74) Basically, mise-en-scene gives the movie a unique style of look and arrangement though space and time.
The one film we watched this week is “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”, directed by Wes Anderson whose visual style is proved really distinctive in his latest film “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” If we look at the mise-en-scene technique, the first thing we notice about the two movies is their colors. Anderson is really good at applying several primary colors to his films to make it stylistic. In the “Zissou” movie, yellow, blue and red are mainly used, while in the other one, pink, yellow and brown are mostly applied. The movie appears to be a little comic when the color is repeated, created a look of fantasy.
Another thing that stands out is the actors’ costumes and acting. Both stories takes place among a “group”—one is the ship crew, one is the hotel staff. Their costumes are specially designed in the same distinctive style which enriches the film again, giving it a unity but rather unrealistic. The acting, meanwhile, is exaggerated. Take a look at the scene when Zissou and his crew tried to rescue one member from an island, their behaviours are pompous, which will not be in real life. Such elements all contribute to making the film special in its own way.
In one scene, when Zissou and his crew are finally able to see the “Jaguar Shark” underwater, the framing and the lighting is interesting. All crews are limited one frame with Zissou in the middle, who is emphasised in this way. It is a rather balanced composition with Zissou’s crew sitting around him; and the shot for the front small window, where we see the shark, is also evenly balanced. The lighting for the former shot is mainly frontal lighting, making the shot ‘full’, which contrasts with the ‘empty’ shot of the latter.
Timing is also important with mise-en-scene. For example, when Zissou is introducing his ship, it first appears like a toy ship with real people in it. Then, there’s a long shot tracking every room in the ship, so the crew actors needs to do the exact right thing when the camera moves towards them.
Overall, mise-en-scene is how we stage the scenes in movies; such visual impression has a most direct impact on audiences which decides the aesthetics of a movie.
