Mis-en-scene
Mis-en-scene is a French word meaning 'what is in the scene'
Mis-en-scene is put into five categories of what the audience see so they can recognise the genre from viewing these certain factors, they are...
-Settings and props
-Costume, makeup and hair
-Positioning of person or object in the frame
-Lighting and colours
-Facial expressions and body language.
Lighting
There are two main types of lighting used a lot in films, they are low-key and high-key lighting.
Low-key lighting is used to create a dark or dull setting where as high-key lighting is used to create a bright and cheerful setting.
Genres such as horror and sci-fi use low-key lighting because it creates an atmosphere of fear and mystery.
Other genres like rom-com and comedies use high-key lighting to form a happy atmosphere as these films are usually joyful and light-hearted.
Skyfall mis-en-scene
The picture above shows a scene from James Bond film Skyfall. This image uses high-key lighting to show the bright busy city of London. The image shows the well known city of London as the setting which shows the nationality of the British film. Other icons in the image include the British flag which also shows the pride in the country the other large buildings also represent this.
The costume of the figure (James Bond) is wearing dark clothing which shows he is an important role in the film, he is positioned quite close to the camera which also shows his importance. He stands quite casually but looks across the busy city to suggest he is proud and is gazing across the traditional grey buildings.