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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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If any of you are film buffs you may be familiar with the term mis-en-scene (also mise-en-scene). I was introduced to the term by a friend of the family who gave it a certain definition (below, in white), and I've been using it that way for some time. I looked it up tonight and found a decidedly drier definition. So I was wondering if you would share what the term means to you, if anything. I'll white out my take on it to avoid leading the witness. I was informed that the phrase refers to techniques that put the viewer "into the scene." For example, the camera may linger on sunlit curtains blowing gently in the breeze not only to convey a serene mood, but also to give an organic feel to the movie so that the viewer feels more like they are in the room with the characters, rather than a passive viewer at a safe distance. One example that comes to mind is in "Master and Commander" in the opening scenes when the camera lingers on the rigging of the ship and we just see the ship itself sailing along, creaking and swaying, with the sounds of the water and the wind in the background.
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
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I was about to answer that it's one of the terms whose meaning I can never remember. Then I clicked on your link, and discovered why. For my money, the definition given in the fourth paragraph of that article is the most useful.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Alex, did you follow the Straight Dope link at Wiki? certainly a less pedantic take.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Yeah I followed it.
My main point was that I had been led to believe that the term described an artistic or stylistic choice. What the definitions say is more akin to set dressing, a more pedestrian take on it.
I guess what I really want to know is, if the technique I described isn't properly called mis-en-scene, then what is it called (if it has a name at all)?
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
In its most significant sense, mise-en-scene refers to everything under the control of the director, that is, the aggregate effect created by art direction, placement and movement of camera and actors, lighting, and other visual elements in a given scene. In other words, mise-en-scene is what the director does. By extension, but somewhat more vaguely, mise-en-scene can refer to the dominant visual features of a film or film genre, e.g., the typically cramped, somber mise-en-scene of the film noir.
-- Straight Dope
Directors may take credit for all this, and a minority might deserve to, but . . .
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Without looking at any other posts, I'll say to me it means "made right there." I think I know passively what its particular film meaning is but I couldn't articulate it right now. It may well have taken on other specific meanings in other contexts.
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: May 2002
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I understand mise-en-scene to mean the sum total of the cinematic results of the film's original raison d’ętre, whatever it might be.
But I think that in the real world the term garners more usage by serving as one of those fuzzy, vaguely and voguely, artsy words that serves to enhance the status of the paid critic.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I've also seen the term used in recipes, to mean "set-up" (e.g. specific pans or utensils you will need, how hot to preheat the oven, etc).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, for obvious reasons,  , I shall wait for everybody to check in before putting in my two cents.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Quote:
Well, for obvious reasons, , I shall wait for everybody to check in before putting in my two cents.
What makes you think yuo would have any special knowledge, BelM? After all, the language in question is French, not kwebeckese.  
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