Mise-en-what now?

  Hey blog!

Today I will be discussing one mise-en-scene element. You may be asking yourself, what is mise-en-scene? Mise-en-scene is a French term for "stage setting." From lighting, costuming, and even the setting in a scene. Everything that is seen in front of the camera is mise-en-scene. Pretty cool, right? Anyway, one element of mise-en-scene that I would like to review is lighting.

You may be asking yourself, why is lighting so important? Lighting offers an alternative way to extend meaning or a mood to the audience. However, most of the time lighting is just used to guide the audience to a highlighted point. It absolutely blows my mind that lighting holds the ability to shift an audience's perspective. The lighting can create suspense, and fright. I wish to utilize this aspect of lighting in my film opening, as my genre is horror. Here is a cool video that illustrates how using different lights in a variety of scenes impacts the audience: 

Next, I would like to talk about different lighting techniques. I'll start with three point lighting.

Three point lighting utilizes three lights being used simultaneously to achieve a realistic lighting scheme. For instance, using back lighting can highlight the object and separate it from the background, for the better or worse. Back lighting can be used to show a sunset lighting up a young girl's surrounding, it can also be used to hide someone's identity after doing something bad. So, you see that lighting can be used in a variety of ways. 

The last point of this discussion will be High Key and Low Key Lighting.

In the image, there is an obvious difference. One suggests a light, happy mood while the other has a dark, suspenseful tone. High key lighting is a fill light that suggests an ethereal theme in the scene. This lighting technique is most commonly seen in hopeful parts of movies. Now let's talk about Low Key lighting. This technique uses little fill light which creates shadows and a strong contrast between a subject and its background. This craft is most commonly shown in horror and suspenseful films. I would like to demonstrate this procedure in my film opening.

I feel that we have learned a lot in this blog post. Who knew that lighting was so important in film? 

Until next time, blog!

                                                                         Resources:

Mise-en-scene Definition: mise-en-scène. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mise-en-sc%C3%A8ne

Video of Lighting in Film: BBP Reel Insights. (2024, March 5). UNDERSTANDING HOW LIGHTING AFFECTS MOOD IN FILM [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSBZjcZYGIw

3 Point Lighting Image:  Marks-Hook, M. (2022, August 11). How to master the Three-Point lighting setup and lighting techniques. Greene Center | University of Rochester. https://careereducation.rochester.edu/blog/2022/08/15/how-to-master-the-three-point-lighting-setup-and-lighting-techniques/

High Key and Low Key Lighting Image: VanWormer, M., & VanWormer, M. (2024, October 13). What is High Key Lighting? [Complete Guide]. Video Collective. https://www.freelancevideocollective.com/what-is-high-key-lighting/