Mise-en-scène, a French term meaning “what is put into a scene” or “frame,” encompasses all the visual elements within a frame that work together to tell a story in animation and film. These components communicate critical information to the audience without the need for dialogue.
Settings & Props: Settings & Locations play an important part in the film and animation. When I decide to create a shot, I should build the settings from the beginning or I can find a place that already exists. I can manipulate the mood of the audience by building certain expectations and then taking a different turn.
Costume, Hair & Make Up: I learned that costume, hair, and makeup are used to convey a character’s personality, social status, or occupation instantly.
Facial Expressions & Body Language: I learned that facial expressions communicate emotions directly, while body language reveals relationships and underlying feelings.
Lighting and color: I learned that lighting and color profoundly affect a scene’s mood.
Positioning of Characters & Objects within the Frame: I learned that the placement of characters or objects in the frame directs the audience’s focus.
Lighting & Colour: I learned that these can be to achieve a variety of effects: To highlight important characters or objects within the frame. To make characters look mysterious by shading sections of the face & body. To reflect a character’s mental state/hidden emotions.
Depth-of-field: I learned that the distance of the lens focus.
Types of Shots: There are 4 types of shots: Long shot, medium shot, close-up, and extreme close-up.
Moving Shots: There are 3 types of moving shots:
- Pan shot, which is the camera mounted on a non-moving base and films while pivoting on its axis along the line of the horizon from left to right to right to left.
- Tilt shot, which is the camera can move up or down while fixed on its axis.
- Traveling shot (dolly shot), which is the camera can move forward or backward while fixed on its axis.
- Crane shot, which is the camera can move in and out and up and down while mounted on a mechanical crane.