The 5 elements of Mise-en-scene

-Setting and Props;
-Custom and hair;
-Facial expressions and body language;
-Lighting and colour;
-Positioning of characters.

Sound Glossary

Diegetic sound: is a sound that is part of the film, the sound’s origin is visible on the screen and present in the action happening in the film.

Non-diegetic sound: is a sound that is not recognised as part of the film, its origin is not visible on the screen and not present in the action occurring in the film.

Contrapuntal/asynchronous sound: the sound doesn’t match what’s happening in the film and it’s usually composed by two or more independent melodies.

Parallel/synchronous sound: the sound follows the happenings of the film and compliments them without being in contrast.

Ambient sound: it reproduces the sounds of a specific environment or location. Each location has different sounds and when we hear the right sounds, they’re called ambient sounds.

SFX (sounds effects): is a sound artificially created to emphasize the contents of the film or the specific action that is occurring.
i.e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asRi8LcdAus

Theme music: is a musical composition that is often used for the opening titles, the ending credits and the beginning of the film. It’s usually contains lyrics associated to the film’s content or meaning.

Voiceover: is an off-stage commentary that gives the character perspective or we can hear it in flashbacks. We don’t see the owner of the voice that could also appear later in the film, but not in that moment.
i.e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGKqV36sQ3Q

Sound bridges: is a sound that occurs in the ending of a sequence and that belongs to the following film sequence.

Pleonastic/foley sound: is part of diegetic sound but in an exaggerated way; the sounds are heightened creating more impact with the help of foley sound which consist in the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to the film, video etc.
i.e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYbkRq6Iw7I

Sound motif: is a short melody composed by a recurring musical fragment that is characteristic of a composition and so it is a recognizable sound
i.e. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuMHaXr4Vxg

Selective sound: is used to emphasize key sound elements within a sequence.

Mise-en-scene elements

Facial Features and Expression

In my piece facial expressions could show emotion and feelings. In the thriller opening it could show that the victim Ross the karate teacher expression when he is being confronted by the Santa Clause killer. 

Body Shape and Language 

Body language gives impact in as it could show someone being confident, scared, etc. In my piece I would like to make the victim lying back at the wall scared. With this it could give a great impact in editing. 

Props 

Props can tell a lot from a person being good or bad with the items in the Santa Clause opening scene when he has the axe it can show who is the murderer.

Costumes 

The costumes as you can tell a lot from a person as red could show danger or passion. In our opening piece we could see that Santa Clause is wearing a red costume which could indicate danger. 

I Wrote this because as i was learning I wanted to explain why the mise en scene makes an impact

Micro and Macro element

MICRO ELEMENTS:

• Mise-en-scene (what's in the frame);
• Cinematography (camera angles and movements);
• Sound;
• Editing.

MACRO ELEMENTS:

• Representation;
• Genre;
• Narrative;
• Audience.

Angles and Positioning

Extreme wide shot: figures appear small in the landscape. Often used at the beginning of a film or sequence as an "establishing shot" to show where the action is taking place; also used to make a figure appear small or isolated.


Long shot: figure can be seen from head to toe.


Mid shot: figure shown from waist to the head, you can recognise an individual and also see what they are doing with their hands.


Medium close-up: from chest to head.


Close-up: head and shoulders, can see facial expressions, so you can see thoughts and feelings.


Extreme close-up: from just above the eyebrows to just below the mouth, or even closer: used to emphasise facial expression or to make the subject appear threatening.


Two shot: any shot with two people in it.


Point of view shot: shot from character's point of view.


Eye-level: most common view, the real-world angle, shows subjects as we would expect to see them in real life; fairly neutral.


High angle: show the subject from above, i.e. the camera is angled down toward the subject. This has the effect of diminishing the subject, making them appear less powerful.


Low angle: shows subject from below, giving them the impression of being more powerful.


Bird's eye: scene is shown from directly above, somewhat unnatural point of view which can be used for dramatic effect of for showing a different spatial perspective.

Editing Techniques

Match on action: 

It is a technique used when an action is cut and the scene moves to another camera angle showing the same action from the point you left in the previous shot. The easiest example to use is when a character is opening a door, you can see the character opening the door from behind and then the camera moves to the inside of the room and shows the character opening the door from another point.

 Shot-reverse-shot:

It is a technique used when two shots are being alternated to show, for example, different characters speaking. This technique is usually used in conversation scenes. Usually the two characters, shown in the conversation, would exchange an object to make the shot smoother by filming a close up of the object used.

180 degree rule:

It is a very important editing technique to use in videos, films etc.  It refers to an imaginary line which cut through the middle of the scene, from side to side. While filming, the camera doesn't have to cross that line otherwise it would make the people watching the film feel confused and disoriented; to help it, before the use of this technique is suggested to establish the shot, basically to film the entire area (and all the characters in it) so it establish the positions of each object or character.