Submission Post: Design for Animation, Narrative Structures and Film Language

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Other research blog posts:

Research Topic Notes: The development of Mise-en-Scene (arts.ac.uk)

Research Topic Notes: How Story Concepts Influence the Audience in Films Targeted for Children (arts.ac.uk)

Research Presentation

Research Essay Title:

How is Early of Mise-en-scene used in Comparison with the Modern Versions of it?

An analysis of mise-en-scene within various texts and comparison between their implementation of use. These texts are films form Georges Melies, James Blackton and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

Notes and Planning

What is Mise-en- scene?

The definition of the term mise-en-scene is “the arrangement of actors and scenery on a stage for a theatrical production” (Mise-en-scène, 2021). “In film production, mise en scène refers to all of the elements that comprise a single shot; that includes, but is not limited to, the actors, setting, props, costumes, and lighting.” To note others, that are not aforementioned, or less commonly mentioned in terms of mise-en-scene, include set design, makeup, colour, blocking, lenses, sound, and framing.

Mise-en-scene is the epitome of world building in any media production. Furthermore, mise-en-scene goes further than simply the extent of the scene’s objects, it also implies the meaning of their space and composition. Then, as the filming begins, the alterations between these aforementioned elements, or lack thereof, determine the extent of their meaning and narrative. The decisions made to determine the mise-en-scene depict the creator’s vision and its culture, whether fictional or non-fictional.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

(Vinney, 2019)

This theory explains how people use media to fulfil their needs through gratifications such as: For entertainment, Information and Education

Uses and Gratifications Theory by Blumler and Katz

Origins of The Theory:

“Uses and gratifications was first introduced in the 1940s as scholars began to study why people choose to consume various forms of media. For the next few decades, uses and gratifications research mostly focused on the gratifications media users sought. Then, in the 1970s, researchers turned their attention to the outcomes of media use and the social and psychological needs that media gratified. Today, the theory is often credited to Jay Blumler and Elihu Katz’s work in 1974. As media technologies continue to proliferate, research on uses and gratifications theory is more important than ever for understanding people’s motivations for choosing media and the gratifications they get out of it.”

Assumptions of the theory:

“Uses and gratifications theory relies on two principles about media users. First, it characterizes media users as active in their selection of the media they consume. From this perspective, people don’t use media passively. They are engaged and motivated in their media selections. Second, people are aware of their reasons for selecting different media options. They rely on their knowledge of their motivations to make media choices that will help them meet their specific wants and needs.”

“On the basis of those principles, uses and gratifications goes on to outline five assumptions:

  • Media use is goal-directed. People are motivated to consume media.
  • Media is selected based on the expectation that it will satisfy specific needs and desires.
  • Media influence on behaviour is filtered through social and psychological factors. Thus, personality and social context impact the media choices one makes and one’s interpretation of media messages.
  • Media are in competition with other forms of communication for an individual’s attention. For example, an individual may choose to have an in-person conversation about an issue instead of watching a documentary about the issue.
  • People are usually in control of media and therefore are not particularly influenced by it.”

Uses of the media according to the uses and grats theory

Uses and Gratifications theory as developed by Bulmer and Katz suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media. Bulmer and Katz believed that the user seeks out the media source that best fulfils their needs. (Uses and Gratifications Theory, n.d.)

  • The uses and gratifications theory assumes the audience chooses what it wants to watch for five different reasons.
  • Information and Education – the viewer wants to acquire information, knowledge and understanding by watching programmes like The News or Documentaries.
  • Entertainment – Viewers watch programmes for enjoyment.
  • Personal Identity – Viewers can recognise a person or product, role models that reflect similar values to themselves and mimic or copy some of their characteristics.
  • Integration and social interaction – the ability for media products to produce a topic of conversation between people. For example who is the best contestant on The X-factor who which was the best goal shown on Match of the day.
  • Escapism – Computer games and action films let viewers escape their real lives and imagine themselves in those situations

About Georges Méliès

George Méliès’ filming experiments were on the forefront of the creation of mise-en-scene. During the early introduction of cinema, film were deduced from real-life mundane trivialities. Whereas Méliès’ films mostly had fantasy concept productions such as: The Spider and the Butterfly (The Spider and the Butterfly; Le Dirigeable Fantastique; The Kingdom of the Fairies (The Kingdom of the Fairies, 1903); and The Merry Frolics of Satan (The Merry Frolics of Satan, 1906).

Preceding wartime, performance and camera work novelty aspects were used to attain the audience attention. Contrarily, wartime caused Méliès’ films to be mostly destroyed and melted for wartime resources. Even so, The Lumiere brothers called him the creator of the cinematic spectacle. Even Walt Disney paid tribute to him by calling him “one of the pioneers who discovered the means of placing poetry within the reach of the common man” (Showcase, 2021).

In comparison to the Lumiere brothers, who generally made snippets of everyday life (Showcase, 2021), their films were ordinary in comparison, considering Méliès created such novelty fantasies. This unique style creation stemmed from being ‘a man of the theatre’. Film historian Ian Christie that “He has growth up with the magic theatre, which was a big thing in the 19th century. He was used to doing illusions, which involved dressing up in costumes”. Georges Méliès was one of the first people to visit the Lumiere brothers cinematograph on the 28th of Dec 1895 (Showcase, 2021).

“His films were tremendously popular in the first years of the 20th century” (Showcase, 2021). They were more expensive than others and highly ‘valued’.  In fact, Le Voyage dans la Lune was the “first film to achieve international distribution (mainly through piracy)” (History of Film – Méliès and Porter, n.d.).  “According to Méliès’s memoirs, his initial attempts to sell A Trip to the Moon to French fairground exhibitors met with failure because of the film’s unusually high price” (World Film Directors, 1987). Then once he gave it to an exhibitor for free, the next theatre showing was packed until midnight. The exhibitor immediately bought the film, and the international distribution slowly spread over the next months (A Trip to the Moon, n.d.). It is said the Méliès’s influenced the works of other film producers such as: Segundo de Chomón, a Spanish filmmaker and pioneer of special effects; and James Stuart Blackton, an American pioneer of Animation (Showcase, 2021).

References

Wikipedia. n.d. A Trip to the Moon. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_the_Moon#Legacy> [Accessed 14 December 2021].

Byrne, J., 2013. Mise-en-scene in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. [Blog] Film Form and Culture University of Maryland, Available at: <https://engl245umd.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/mise-en-scene-in-stanley-kubricks-the-shining/> [Accessed 5 December 2021].

Corrigan, T., 2009. A Short Guide to Writing About Film. 7th ed. Pearson.

Encyclopedia Britannica. n.d. History of Film – Méliès and Porter. [online] Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/art/history-of-the-motion-picture/Méliès-and-Porter> [Accessed 6 December 2021].

Humours Phases of Funny Faces. 1906. [film] Directed by S. Blackton. United States: Vitagraph Company.

In: Merriam-Webster. 2021. Mise-en-scène. [online] Available at: <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mise-en-scene> [Accessed 17 November 2021].

KyleKallgrenBHH, 2015. How to Speak Movie Part 2: Mise en Scène. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clBT7O3A3wI> [Accessed 9 December 2021].

Le Forestier, L., Barnard, T. and Kessler, F., 2021. Montage, découpage, Mise en Scène. 1st ed. Bloomington: caboose.

Lynch, K., 2017. The Shining (1980): Danny On the Carpet. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N3ME6vQOnQ> [Accessed 14 December 2021].

McWilliams, T., n.d. The Enchanted Drawing. [online] IMDb. Available at: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000300/plotsummary> [Accessed 2 December 2021].

Revisionworld. n.d. Uses and Gratifications Theory. [online] Available at: <https://revisionworld.com/a2-level-level-revision/media-studies-level-revision/uses-and-gratifications-theory> [Accessed 16 November 2021].

Rosen, Miriam (1987), “Méliès, Georges”, in Wakeman, John (ed.), World Film Directors: Volume I, 1890–1945, New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, pp. 747–65

Showcase, 2021. The Cinema of Georges Méliès. Available at: <http://The Cinema of Georges Méliès – YouTube> [Accessed 6 December 2021].

Silent Film Locations, 2015. BBC Paul Mertons Weird and Wonderful World of Early Cinema.. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87km5sFrIQQ> [Accessed 12 December 2021].

Star Film Company, 1900. The One-Man Band. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh5cHcL6pGQ> [Accessed 3 December 2021].

StudioBinder, 2020. What is Mise en Scene – How Directors Like Kubrick Master the Elements of Visual Storytelling. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3euNFd7-TCg&t=341s> [Accessed 5 November 2021].

The Astronomer’s Dream. 1898. [film] Directed by G. Méliès. France: Star Film Company.

The Enchanted Drawing. 1900. [film] Directed by T. Edison. United States: Vitagraph Studios.

The Four Troublesome Heads. 1898. [film] Directed by G. Méliès. France: Star Film Company.

The Kingdom of the Fairies. 1903. [film] Directed by G. Méliès. France: Star Film Company.

The Merry Frolics of Satan. 1906. [film] Directed by G. Méliès. France: Star Film Company.

The One-Man Band. 1900. [film] Directed by G. Méliès. France: Star Film Company.

The Shining. 1980. [film] Directed by S. Kubrick. United States: Warner Bros.

The Spider and the Butterfly. 1909. [film] Directed by G. Méliès. France: Star Film Production.

Vinney, C. (2019) ‘What Is Uses and Gratifications Theory? Definition and Examples’. [online] ThoughtCo, 19 April. Available at: <https://www.thoughtco.com/uses-and-gratifications-theory-4628333> [Accessed 17 November 2021].