Mise en Scene

 Mise-en-scène, defined as ‘An expression used in theatre and film to describe the design aspects of a production’ has despite this, been called film criticism's "grand undefined term" because the term has many different meanings. In simple terms it  is why we used the set and props we did and what they represent. In French it literally translates as ‘putting into the scene’ and generally consists of:

Setting

Decor

Props

Lighting

Costume

Make-up

Colour

And Character Body Language and Movement

The Mise en Scene props and costume of our piece is formal attire with a comical twist, me and Liam have achieved this by wearing suits while Paige wears a formal jacket and skirt. We have done this is promote our serious message of voting and having a say in who runs our country, intertwined with the comical approach of our video that will grab the attention of our teenage target audience.

The Setting and Decor was that of a stereotypical office area with computers and props such as the flip-board. We then added posters with the band name ‘TNB’ (The Midnight Beast) around to compliment our colloquial twist.

Lighting and colour was also stereotypical of an office with greys and blacks to set the scene, which was a direct contrast with the energy of ‘fun’ of our dancing and lyrics. We used a flashing light technique for Liam’s rap which is typical of rap videos. This was achieved by leaving his TV on, muted, behind the camera.

Body language and movement was the key element used to portray the message of our video. Comically we reverted from the ‘office’ norm with our dancing and singing to show the political system can involve the younger generation. Hopefully this provoked a reaction from our audience while getting our point across.

Other props used have included cheese, wine and posters. Goodwin's second point is to use props to make a relationship between visuals and lyrics, an example of this is when I spin on my chair and sing 'We'll welcome you with the Cheese and Wine' and show the camera cheese and wine.

             To achieve our 'office' and 'London' sets we have used filming locations (reccies) in school ICT rooms and Oxford.