Mise En Scène

Production Design

Production Design is the overall "look" and visual "feel" of the film. Production Designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the director and producer, they must select the settings and style to visually tell the story.

Example:

A film that is often cited for its great production design is the groundbreaking 1920 silent horror The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. At times nauseating, the sets and costume design truly help to place the audience in Cesare's shoes: the jagged architecture and sharp colours signifying his internal state of mind.

Location

Location is where the film is taking place and where it is set.

Set Design

All the scenery, furniture and props the audience sees at a production of a play make up the set design. The set designer's job is to design these physical surroundings in which the action will take place in a way that will reflect the character's emotional state (see Cabinet's set design above) or the tone of the film.

Example:

One of my favourite examples of set design is quite a simple one - that is the set design of The Graduate. The stark contrast of Ben and Mrs. Robinson's lives are conveyed through comparing the set design of each character's housing. The set design in The Graduate also conveys the personality and emotional states of both characters. Everything that surrounds Ben seems to be pointless and over the top. For his birthday, he is given a diving suit - again, pointless. Mrs. Robinson, on the other hand, is surrounded by decadent, lavish items: arty alcohol bottles, well designed staircases and exotic plants. Take a look at the two examples of set design below: one from Ben's house and the other from Mrs. Robinson's.

Costume and Makeup

Costume and makeup are perhaps the most basic aspect of Mise En Scene. They are what the characters are wearing. These must fit the setting and tone of the rest of the film - for example you cannot have a person in a 1950's-style soiree wearing fake tan and a pair of skinny jeans.

Example;

In Annie Hall, Diane Keaton wears the titular character's trademark khaki trousers, white shirt, black waistcoat and comically oversized tie. This influenced women's style for a short period with women trying to achieve the "Annie Hall look". Her style of costume perfectly reflects her quirky and slightly offbeat personality, someone perfect for a man like Woody Allen.

Props

Props are objects used by actors onscreen, outside from furniture. Practically, a prop is anything movable on set.

Lighting

-Available 

Available lighting is when you film without adding artificial lighting, instead using only what is already available where you are shooting (for example: the sun and moon).

Example:

-Artificial

Artificial lighting is when you shoot your film adding lights, usually plain but sometimes coloured to achieve a certain effect. This gives a filmmaker and DoP more control over how the shot looks and the tone that is created.

Example: 

-Keylight

The Keylight is the first and arguably most important stage of lighting the DoP will set up when lighting a shot. The Keylight is used to highlight the form and overall dimension of the subject.

-Fill 

A fill light is a supplementary light chiefly used to lighten shadows.

Example:

-Backlighting

When the lights for a shot derive from the rear of the set, which throws the objects in the foreground into semidarkness or silhouette.

Example:

-Set

Set lighting is simply lighting that is done on-set rather than using natural, available lighting. 

Colour Design

Colour Design is the designing of a colour palette to be used in your film to create tension, excitement, a dreamlike quality and so much more. Colour Design is one of the most important creative aspects of filmmaking. 

Example:

In Drive, there is a complementary colour scheme throughout most of the film. Here, the complementary colour scheme is used to highlight how Shannon has become a victim of his situation, and the colour scheme of light teals and harsh oranges creates an almost dreamlike quality to the scene while still managing to accentuate the tragedy of the situation and heightening Driver's collected, almost cool, anger.