Mise En Scene
Background: I chose to watch an episode of Criminal Minds (season 5 episode 17) because I love that show and I thought the mise en scene is typically quite obvious.
The episode opened with a scene of a man walking towards a house in low-key lighting. The shots switched back between the man and between a woman tucking a little girl into bed. The woman left the room, turned off the lights, and the camera stayed on the little girl while you could hear the man opening the window and coming into the house. This was an example of offscreen space because you knew something was going on outside off the shot, but the action was not shown. The noise of the window opening enlightens the audience of what was going on. Then, the man appeared close up to the camera so that you could see his wardrobe. He was dressed in dark colors, a coat, and wore a hat. This made the man look more suspicious, like he was creeping through the night to kidnap the little girl. At this point, the little girl looks up and screams "daddy," so the audience is relieved. The dad starts telling his daughter a bedtime story, and the shot switches to a woman trying to start her car while you can still hear the bedtime story. Her car doesn't start so she gets frustrated and lays her head on the steering wheel. The episode then began to start using deep space to its advantage. The audience could see a man approaching outside of the woman's car while the shot was still placed closely to the woman. Low-key lighting was also used with rainy weather to make the scene gloomy. The man offered to fix the woman's car if she popped the hood. The man was staged behind the hood so that the audience nor the woman could see him while he was working on her car. This along with dramatic music let the audience know that something bad was about to happen. When the audience could finally see the man's face, it was clear that he was the same man who was telling his daughter a bedtime story. A shot was taken of the murdered woman, and the scene immediately switched to a tv where offscreen space was used again. The audience could hear the main characters of Criminal Minds discussing the case of the murdered woman while pictures of her were being shown on the tv.
The episode opened with a scene of a man walking towards a house in low-key lighting. The shots switched back between the man and between a woman tucking a little girl into bed. The woman left the room, turned off the lights, and the camera stayed on the little girl while you could hear the man opening the window and coming into the house. This was an example of offscreen space because you knew something was going on outside off the shot, but the action was not shown. The noise of the window opening enlightens the audience of what was going on. Then, the man appeared close up to the camera so that you could see his wardrobe. He was dressed in dark colors, a coat, and wore a hat. This made the man look more suspicious, like he was creeping through the night to kidnap the little girl. At this point, the little girl looks up and screams "daddy," so the audience is relieved. The dad starts telling his daughter a bedtime story, and the shot switches to a woman trying to start her car while you can still hear the bedtime story. Her car doesn't start so she gets frustrated and lays her head on the steering wheel. The episode then began to start using deep space to its advantage. The audience could see a man approaching outside of the woman's car while the shot was still placed closely to the woman. Low-key lighting was also used with rainy weather to make the scene gloomy. The man offered to fix the woman's car if she popped the hood. The man was staged behind the hood so that the audience nor the woman could see him while he was working on her car. This along with dramatic music let the audience know that something bad was about to happen. When the audience could finally see the man's face, it was clear that he was the same man who was telling his daughter a bedtime story. A shot was taken of the murdered woman, and the scene immediately switched to a tv where offscreen space was used again. The audience could hear the main characters of Criminal Minds discussing the case of the murdered woman while pictures of her were being shown on the tv.
Comments
Post a Comment