1) From your reading in Film Art (Chapter 4), identify and briefly describe the four aspects of mise-en-scene in the following clips:
The Baby's Meal (Lumiere Brothers, 1895)
The Cook in Trouble (George Melies, 1904)
2) Exercise: 180-degree rule (screen direction)
The 180-degree rule states that when filming, the camera must remain on one side of the 180-degree line (axis of action) in order to maintain consistent left-right relations from shot to shot.
In this brief clip from Frank Capra's Meet John Doe (1941), locate the axis of action and provide a brief explanation as to how you've determined its position.
22 comments:
1) All four aspects of mise-en-scene can be scene in the Lumiere’s The Baby’s Meal and Melies’ The Cook in Trouble including setting, costume and make-up, lighting, and movement/staging. In the Lumiere’s film the setting of the frame is a realistic depiction of a backyard. The building has dimensions and the plants appear to be real as well. The setting does not appear to be constructed, but natural as opposed to the setting in Melies’ film where much of the setting appears flat and artificial. It has clearly been constructed. The costume design in Lumiere’s appears to have had little thought put into, whereas in Melies’ a great deal of effort has been placed into costumes and make-up. Each character is clearly defined by their wardrobe. The lighting of Lumiere’s appears to be purely natural sun light coming down and serving the purpose of top lighting. In Melies’ appears to be lit using front lighting since the shadows are not apparent. The last element of mise-en-scene is stage movement. The three figures in Lumiere’s are stationary and therefore have little movement, however they are position in a very presentable way in which the baby is centered and the parents appear to be moving in towards him. Melies’ staging and movement very much help to balance out the image. Three men sit down around a tub laughing and contrarily on the opposite side of the picture a lone men stands up stretching across the oven.
2) Bordwell and Thompson define the axis of action as “the center line, or the 180 line.” In the scene from Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe the axis of action can be defined as the imaginary line extending from the wall behind the editor and the wall behind the girl and facing the doorway into the office. At no point does the camera shoot from an angle or position beyond that point or on the other side of that invisible line. In every exchange between characters the shots take place over the editor’s shoulder, the girl’s shoulder, or in the space between. This would be adhering to the 180 system and therefore requires that the axis of action be located at that point.
Robert Francis Curtis
Section 802
Lucy Derickson
Section 802
1.There are clear differences between the clips from The Baby's Meal (Lumière Brothers, 1895) The Cook in Trouble (George Melies, 1904) when regarding the idea of mise-en-scene. First is setting. In Melies he chooses to have a completely artificial setting similar to a theater, where the Lumière Brothers choose to use a natural and more believable setting out side. Secondly, the costume and make up is also given different attention between the two clips. In Melies clip the actors appear to be in well thought out costumes and theatrical make up, however the Lumière Brothers seem to have their subjects in common day clothes and look very natural. Next would be the difference in lighting between the two. The Lumière Brothers seem to be using the sun as lighting which is coming from directly above the subjects. This would be considered top lighting. The Melies clip is clearly using frontal lighting because it appears well lit to the viewer directly in front of the scene, and there is no notice of shadows, typical of front lighting. Lastly is the concept of staging, or the movement. In the Lumière Brothers clip, the figures are very casual, and seem stationary, and the man is gesturing to the child with his hands. In the Melies clip, there appears to be more movement happening. The man further back on stage is gesturing to the people in front stage who are all postured in ways that imply that they are all quite active at that moment.
2. The axis of action would be the area behind the editor to the area on the opposite side of the room where the woman sits. More specifically everything on the other side of the editors desk. I have come to this conclusion because there are consistent relative positions of the figures, consistent eye lines, and screen direction. Also at no point does the camera branch over this imaginary line, and therefore shots are taken with both figures in view at one time, or one figure shot over the others shoulder.
Danny D’Acquisto
Lab Section 802
Image 1 (The Baby’s Meal):
Setting- This scene looks as though it’s taking place in a backyard, or at least some portion of the family’s yard, because of the character’s proximity to the house behind them. They’re also sitting at a table.
Costume and Makeup- They seem to be in normal everyday attire for their time (1895). The one costume that gives this scene away is the baby’s bib, which gives the viewer the impression that they are ready to eat.
Lighting- The lighting seems to give us the idea that it is either morning or afternoon. Everything in the background is fairly visible and there’s even a small glare or reflection in the table on the bottom left of the screen.
Staging- The people are focused on what’s in front of them. They’re sitting at a table with all the elements of a meal in front of them so that would lead me to believe they’re eating together, or at least feeding the baby.
Image 2:
Setting- This scene takes place in a kitchen. It looks as though it is a pretty large kitchen and must be for some kind of restaurant. There’s a large stove and oven. The kitchen seems to be “downstairs” because of the staircase in the back left.
Costume and Makeup- 2 of the men are wearing a “Chef’s” attire. They both have white robes and big white hats. The other 2 are wearing everyday 1904 attire. The woman is wearing a bonnet.
Lighting- The lighting gives the viewers the impression that it is either afternoon or dusk. Everything seems to be visible and the amount of light shining through the fake, painted window sort of gives away that they aren’t shooting for a “night time” look anyways.
Staging- The one chef is in the back. The other 3 people are surrounding one big tub. This gives me the impression that the one in the back is the “head chef” and the others are all working together at the same common task.
The Axis of Action:
In this clip the axis of action would be a straight line that always crosses through the “boss’” chest. No shots were ever taken from his right side. Notice for both his conversation with his employee, and his conversation with the lady at the end, you never see any shots that were taken between the boss and the door to the office. That’s because he always his right shoulder pointing towards the door and the axis is a line perpendicular to his shoulders.
In clip #1, The Baby’s Meal, The Lumiere Brothers demonstrate their use of natural settings that appear to be unscripted and shot in a documentary form. The actors appear to wear little to no make-up. They are very common looking, like the family next door. The actors’ clothing doesn’t necessarily tell you what decade it was filmed because of the non-theatrical costumes. The Lumiere brothers used natural lighting. In fact, it appears to have been filmed outside rather than on a sound stage. Although we can’t see the movement, the staging seems minimal and the actors appear to be unaware of the viewer
Compared to #1, clip #2, The Cook in Trouble, is definitely set on a stage with a painted back drop and the props are not very realistic. The actors appear to be caricatures because of their make-up and costumes. They are clearly acting and there is no question that this is entertainment as opposed to a documentary. The lighting in this clip emphasizes the actors rather than the background and appears to be lighted from the foreground. The actors’ actions seem to be overly dramatic and forced in a theatrical manner.
The axis of action for the Capra film lies in the 180 degrees between the bookshelves on the left wall and the desk and windows behind the desk. All of the characters move within that area with most of the action taking place in the area between the news racks and the desk. All of the characters’ visual lines also fall within that axis of action. The door and the desk play particularly important roles in the scene by unifying the action. Characters enter and leave the scene through the door and then most of the dialog takes place at the forefront of the desk.
1. In the first clip (The Baby's Meal) there is clearly a real setting. In other words all of the characters are real people, they are outside and the house and bushes behind them as well as the bottles, bowls and glasses on the table are real life 3D objects. The director of this shot wanted to make it known that they are outside, and nothing in the shot really divides or captures your attention away from the people. The costumes and make up in the first shot are pretty basic aside from the woman who is wearing a puffy, striped and somewhat bizzare dress. Also the baby has some food on his face to create more of a juvenile image. The lighting in the clip appears to be high-key because nothing is really hidden or difficult to see and this creates a light, and happy mood in the scene. But I noticed that the characters do have some attached shadows on their faces, most noticeably around the mouth and cheek areas of the man and woman. The fourth aspect of mise-en-scene would be staging. In the first clip there is a very euphoric and energetic vibe because of the facial expressions and body language of the man and woman who are eating with the baby. In the second clip, (The Cook In Trouble) there is a studio setting and it is clear because the props in the background are not three dimensional. But you would not be able to create such a fantasy type of story without a studio setting, so in this type of film it was necessary. Melies used an extravagant assortment of costumes and makeup for this film. In the clip it is very obvious that this is a fictional story because all of the characters are dressed in unrealistic attire, especially the grown man in a baby bonnet and the man next to him wearing splotches of white makeup. In the second clip there appears to be very basic frontal lighting because we can see the entire set equally. I do notice some very small cast shadows, which creates a more intimate setting. I also noticed white paint in the shape of flames as well as reflections coming off of the two large pots in the background indicating to the audience that they are very hot. The staging in this clip is vibrant and full of life. All of the characters, especially the one playing a baby have an intriguing look on their face. I was immediately drawn to this clip because of how much that is going on. Three of the characters appear to be chopping up food or concocting some type of dish, while the fourth is stirring something in one of the cooking pots.
2. In Capra's "Meet John Doe" there is a clear but imaginative axis of action that is never crossed. The center line in this scene is the very back wall of the office that we see in the first few seconds. It runs from the door on the left all the way to the to the far right, where there are glass doors and a small balcony. This is the axis of action because based on the 180-degree rule, you must remain on one side of this "center line". And as we see throughout the clip, Melies does give us different angles from time to time, but he never actually crosses this axis of action, for instance we never see a shot from a complete 180 degree turn (as if we were looking through the glass into the office from out on the balcony).
Connor Murray
Section 802
1) Mise-en-scene is always at work in film scenes including The Baby’s Meal by the Lumiere Brothers and The Cook in Trouble by George Melies. There are 4 aspects of mise-en-scene, setting, costumes and makeup, lighting, and staging. In The Baby’s Meal the Lumiere Brothers chose an already existing location to shoot. On the other hand Melies has created a setting for his scene, which gives him much more control over the shot. Another aspect of mise-en-scene is costume. The Lumiere Brothers use authentic dress to show a mother, father, and their baby as realistic to the time period. Melies on the other hand uses stylized costumes and their graphic quality to create a nursery rhyme like scene. In The Baby’s Meal soft lighting is used, this can be seen because of the diffusion and gentle contrasts between light and shade. In The Cook in Trouble there are no shadows this tells you that frontal lighting is used. The staging by Melies seems to give his shot a much more active scene by separating one of the characters he seems to have less importance because he is pushed towards the back of the set. The Lumiere Brothers stick with their goal of realism by setting the scene with the family naturally around a table.
2) The axis of action is defined by Bordwell and Thompson as, “the center line, or the 180 degree line.” In the clip from Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe the axis of action is drawn horizontally along the front edge of the side of the desk. The line extends all the way to both edges of the room. This line can be distinguished because the camera never crosses this line ensuring consistency in the actor’s positions in the shot.
Alyssa Holly
Section 802
In the Lumieres’ The Baby’s Meal, the setting is the first part of mise-en-scene that one notices. The actors are outside, in the backyard of a house. Everything looks realistic. In the foreground, there is a picnic table filled with plates, bottles, and silverware. In the Melies clip from The Cook in Trouble, the setting is also as immediately noticeable, but vastly different from The Baby’s Meal. In the background we see a clearly painted restaurant backdrop that is cartoony and exaggerated. The foreground holds a fake-looking stove with false fire, giving the whole clip a very outlandish, silly look. The costume and makeup also vary dramatically between the two: In the Lumiere clip, the costumes look like the normal, everyday clothes of the time. They are appropriate for each character: the baby in white, the father in a business vest, and the mother in a nice dress, suggesting that the family is upper-middle class. The makeup is naturalistic, and hardly noticeable. In The Cook in Trouble, predictably, the style is much more flamboyant. Each character is dressed theater-style, with costumes that are cliché for their characters. The makeup here is hard to see due to poor image quality, but I’m sure it is heavily applied. The lighting in each differs slightly, with a softer glow in the Lumieres’ and a harsher light in Melies’. The characters in The Cook in Trouble pop out from the background more than the mother, father and baby in The Baby’s Meal. The movement and staging in The Baby’s Meal is much more staging than movement: for the entire scene the family is sitting down, trying to get the baby to eat. The actors are framed in the middle of the frame, in a medium shot. In Cook, the actors move around a lot, utilizing all the areas of the set. They jump in and around things, through cabinets, up stairs, in and out of windows: it is a convoluted, yet very carefully composed, farce. The actors are seen from head to foot in a tableau shot that never changes angle.
In the scene from Meet John Doe, the axis of action is a straight line from the balding man with the telephone to the door of the office. The camera never goes to the right side of this line, although the line itself does shift ever so slightly when the woman enters the office. Still, the axis is maintained and the audience is not confused.
Kurt Raether
Section 802
The Cook in Trouble really shows the setting aspect of mise-en-scene with the cooks set (pun intended) in the kitchen. There is a lot of information telling us this such as the stoves, the food and utensils. It also shows how the costumes contribute to mise-en-scene as well as the setting aspect of it. We realize they're in a kitchen partly because they're dressed as cooks. The Baby's Meal shows really well the lighting and staging of the mise-en-scene. Everything is lit so you can clearly see it and the placement of each parent on either side of the baby contributes to the lightheartedness of the picture.
The line is between the boss and his employee who leaves and then switches to the boss and the Barbara Stanwyck's character when she enters. I determined this because the camera never moves to the other side of the characters I mentioned. This keeps the consistent left to right relationship so everyone seems coordinated. The one questionable part to where the axis of action is, is when the employee leaves, but before Stanwyck comes in. There is another man in the room so the axis of action could have changed to him, but the camera stays on the side of the axis previously determined even though no one is there, so the continuity will flow more smoothly. It also helps show us where the axis of action is in the first place.
Travis Torok
Section 802
As far as realistic medium, in mise en scene, “the baby’s meal” represents a realistic aspect, maybe not necessarily for this decade but the costumes, setting, lighting and the behavior appears to be real.
I can argue that according to andre bazin’s theory of realism, “the cook in trouble” also has a realistic mise en scene because “what is imaginary on the screen has a spatial density of something real.” We can tell that the background in “the cook in trouble” is nothing but a painting, but at the same time we know what it supposed to represent. That’s why this shot can be taken as realistic.
In the clip “meet john doe” the axis of action can be imagined as a straight line dividing the room to two that we cannot pass. This line goes thru a small part of the table and ends at the bookshelves. It’s very easy to determine the axis of action if you can think yourself in the set, as the camera moving around.
Nazli Dincel
The first clip from the Lumiere Brothers’ The Baby’s Meal each feature of mise-en-scene is seen. The setting, which is the first thing one would notice from this clip, is outside of a real house with real trees in the background, and a table with cups and treys on it and family in foreground. They are all taking the action that they are eating or trying to get the baby to eat. The costumes of each character fit in with the context of the time and characters. The woman is wearing a striped dress or blouse, the man wearing a long sleeve cuffed shirt with a vest and tie, and the baby with a bib on. The nice clothes and nice stuff on the table, including the wine, suggests that they are an upper class family. The lighting of this clip seems to be a soft shine to give more personality to their faces but not taking away from the fact they are outside with real light. Opposed from Melies’ The Cook in Trouble, which is set with a fake backdrop with a little bit brighter sharper light. They are all wearing distinctive costumes as well. You know which ones are cooks and which ones are not. The behavior of the man in the back right clearly shows that he is stirring and cooking something in that big pot. And the 3 around the bucket seem to be cutting or peeling something, with shavings all around them.
In Meet John Doe they never break the 180 degree rule, they do go right to the point of almost breaking it when the lady walks in the camera swings right behind the bald man but quickly goes back to the medium shot. The axis reaches from behind the bald man to directly across from him to the office door.
Douglas Mellon
Section 802
Gina Waggoner
Section 802
According to the book Film Art by Bordwell and Thompson, the four aspects of mise-en-scene are setting, costume/make-up, lighting, and staging, (Ch. 4). In The Baby’s Meal, the setting is more of a realistic setting that takes place on a picnic table directly outside of the family’s home. It’s easy to tell they’re outside because of the tree in the background and where the edge of the house cuts off. They are wearing what looks like casual clothes on a warm day. It looks like it’s sunny out because the light kind of reflects off of their faces. The people are staged sitting and eating a meal. In The Cook in Trouble scene, the setting is inside a kitchen, which is evident because of the stove and oven. Two of the actor’s are wearing cook costumes and the other two are dressed casual. The lighting seems a little dark and gloomy and there appears to be little light coming in through the windows, but the light reflecting off of the cooks’ costumes is bright. A cook and two others are staged sitting around a bucket and the other cook is further in the background cooking something on the stove. In the Meet John Doe clip, the axis of action appears to be from the wall behind the boss to the chair by the door where the girl sits. There are shots taken from behind the boss’ head viewing the girl and vice versa, but the axis of action is never broken. The girl is always on stage left and the boss is always on stage right. The man standing in the middle also always stays between the boss and the girl. The scene is shot from different angles, but the actors’ positions are always consistent.
THe four aspects of Mise-en-scene are Setting, costumes and makeup, staging, and lighting. In "the baby's meal" the setting takes place in a back yard patio area. It looks natural and seems to be genuine or well set. Their dress seems that of a 'normal' man and woman at the time. It doesn't appear that any extra makeup has been added. The lighting looks to be natural. The staging is set as a normal time of feeding a baby. The family together at the table sharing in the experience. All together this scene is seems to be a natural moment in time.
The next clip "the cook in trouble" is set in the kitchen of a small town. It clearly has painted walls and looks to be on a stage. The lighting is full stage lighting. Costumes is an important part of this clip. It looks like two chefs a maid and the other I cant tell from this pic. The staging is set with the main chef working on one side while the others are in a group pealing something. The whole scene clearly is a performance.
2) The axis of action is the left side of the boss' desk. IT is established in the first shot. All following shots are coming from the side of the room. It pans from the desk to the door. When the actress walks into the scene the shot is from back over his shoulder on that side. It only comes as far around as to shoot over her right shoulder after she approaches the desk. Even after the scene moves over to the left side of the room, the axis still stays the same.
Mike adams
section 802
The setting in the first clip appears to be on location at a real suburban home. This gives it a realistic quality that is not captured in the studio setting of the second clip. In the first clip the costumes seem to be appropriate for the time and place lending to a cinema verte style of letting an ordinary but real events unfold before the camera. In the second clip the costumes lend a realistic quality to the manufactured setting, or at least helps the illusion of being in the time and place of the story in spite of the unrealistic setting. The lighting in clip one appears to be less controlled which adds to the “on the spot” realistic quality of being in an actual moment. The second clip has more controlled lighting, which is reminiscent of a theatre setting as opposed to being at an authentic location. Finally, staging in both clips seems to be controlled. The reason the family is probably being filmed sitting down and eating is so that they can be placed tightly within the frame with little chance of moving out. This does not take away from the realistic aura of the shot and allows for a close-up of the action that is more difficult to attain with characters moving about on a stage. In the second clip the camera is drawn farther back allowing for more freedom of movement around the frame but does not allow close-ups of any particular action without a cut.
In the Meet John Doe clip, the camera stayed to the right side of a line from about the editor to the black chair, which the woman sits in. The camera does not move across this line which gives the scene continuity as the camera cuts and changes position.
Joe Steigerwald, section 802
In the screenshot from Lumiere Brothers’ “The Baby’s Meal”, you can clearly see that it is a very natural scene. The setting is a backyard or patio and the lighting appears to be natural lighting, simply being lit by the sun. The costumes feature the baby in a gown, the woman in a dress, and the man in a shirt and vest. They are acting as you would expect a real family to act. This is far more realistic than the screenshot from George Melies’ “The Cook in Trouble”. The set is an interior of a kitchen with painted and exaggerated props such as the pot and fire. It is lit from the front so all of the actors are visible. The costumes are that of workers and cooks as you expect to find in a kitchen, although I’m not sure what the middle man in the lower left hand corner is holding on his head. Their actions are very over exaggerated to compensate for the lack of the sound in the film. In the clip from Frank Capra’s “Meet John Doe”, the axis of action is between the man behind the desk and man who leaves and is then replaced by the woman that walks in. You can determine the axis of action because the camera never goes farther than either of their characters and they are the focus of the scene.
Nelson Schneider
Section 802
Chris Schasse
Section 401:802
1.) The four aspects of mis-en-scene described in the book are setting, lighting, staging and costume/makeup.
In the screen shot of The Baby’s Meal, the Lumiere Brothers used costumes and a simple (yet elaborate) setting of an outdoor dining table. The lighting from the sun highlights the babies head and the mother’s cheek and gives this impression of just a homey, casual afternoon Sunday brunch, with nothing really special happening (except for the mother’s dress and hair, which I’m sure, at the time, was in style.)
In the screen shot of The Cook in Trouble, the lighting extenuates the actors because of their light clothes (costumes), bringing them to the foreground over the painted background (setting), and I can imagine them singing and dancing around the screen while they make their meal (staging), though I have not seen this film before.
2.) It’s hard to describe the axis of action without drawing a diagram, I have found, but my best description would be from the corner of the editor’s desk to the same corner of the chair the woman is sitting in most the shot. The camera ventures over the two’s shoulders, and pans back and forward and long shots of both, but it never looks at that back corner wall where I perceive the camera, or viewer, to be. If that doesn’t make sense, I’ll draw you a diagram.
In The Baby’s Meal the elements of mise-en-scene that stand out to me most are lighting and setting. On the right side of the womans face there is much brighter lighting than on the left side, indicating a key and a fill light. This draws our attention to the faces of the people. “Lighter and darker areas within the frame help create the overall compositions of each shot and thus guide our attention to certain objects and actions” (Bordwell and Thompson, 124). Also the people are sitting outside a house that is obviously real, indicating that this shot was filmed on location. In The Cook in Trouble the acting and props are prominent. The cook is stirring a huge pot and wearing an apron and a cooking hat, implying that he is the cook. The people sitting down are laughing and appear to be unobservant to anything that might happen, creating a sense of nervousness along with the title. In the clip from Frank Capra's Meet John Doe, the axis of action is horizontal across the room, intersecting the desk. This is observed because when a lady sits down on a chair across from the desk and the man talks to her, the camera does angled shots over the listeners shoulder to the speaker. It goes back and forth. Also you never see the wall that is opposite the door.
T.J. Waite
Setting, lighting, costume and the make-up and also the stage of where it’s all taking place are the four aspects of mise-en-scene. I'm going to give you my thoughts on both pictures by going one by one. In the first picture it looks like the setting is being taken place at the family's home. Either on the patio, or somewhere next to there house, as where in the second picture it looks like the setting is in the basement of a building, or restaurant, and is in a kitchen.
The Lighting in the first picture looks as though it is somewhere in the day time, and maybe natural lighting from the sky and sun. Though in the second picture the lighting looks like it would be around the same time, because everything is clear and the light through the window is visible as well.
The costumes in the first picture look normal the make up gives you the impression that there isn’t anything out of the normal. As for the second picture the men are going for the Chef look with the hats and such, and the other two just look like they are in everyday cloths back then.
The staging would be the table and the three people looking like they are about to enjoy a nice breakfast or lunch, and in the Kitchen in the second picture would be that one chef is doing an individual task, why the others are doing a group thing.
As for the Axis of Action, which states that in the 180-degree rule, you must remain on one side of the center line. So, as I was observing, it looks as though the axis of action is the straight line from the older gentleman with the phone, to I would say just about the door leading in and out of the office. The camera doesn’t go to the right of the line. At least I would be confident into making that my argument if I was off by a little bit or so.
T.J. Waite
sec 802
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