Mise-en-scène is a French term that translates to, “placement in a scene.” It is used in film making to describe how all of the elements of a scene are organized and placed by the director to be seen later onscreen. These elements include actors and where they stand or move, lighting, sets, costumes, placement of objects and people, colors, and more. Just like writers use language, structures, and organization to create worlds we want to visit and characters we love to spend time with, Jason Hellerman calls mise-en-scène “the poetry of visual storytelling.”

If you want to spend more time with mise-en-scène, there is an excellent resource called Mise-en-scène: Discover the 15 Key Principles Used by Top Filmmakers that starts with an infographic and goes on to explain the points of ______ and how it works to create meaning for a viewer.

The chart below is modified from the page mentioned above:

1. Setting and Set: The fictional or real location where a film takes place, and how objects and characters are placed in those locations, are created intentionally to build meaning, relationships, context, mood, and more.
2. Organization of Elements: The arrangement of elements within the frame or on the stage, including the placement of characters, objects, and the use of angles and framing techniques.  When used with intention, all of these elements can work together to support and enhance the narrative, to convey emotions and information, and to create a visual language that deepens the viewer’s engagement with the story and its characters.
3. Actor’s Movements and Blocking: The way actors move within the scene and interact with each other and their environment can accentuate relationships between characters and can also portray harmony, tension, or some other visual mood or atmosphere.
4. Props and Costumes: The props, or objects within the scene, with which characters interact can be used as they are intended-a songbird in a park setting, or as metaphors-a songbird as a metaphor for delicacy and weakness. Costumes, or the clothing worn by characters, can function in four different ways by 1. supporting realism in a time period or location 2. pointing out parts of a character’s personality 3. helping develop characters or plot 4. signify genre (like how pointy elf ears might signify a fantasy film).

If a video is more your speed, have a look at this YouTube video called “Looking at Mise-en-scene”