Narrative - Character positioning within the frame

Learning Objectives:

·      To recall how visual aspects within a frame create meaning for audiences

·      To discover how the positioning of characters and objects can give us clues to relationships and                         narrative development

·      To predict how lighting and colour can create atmosphere and meaning

In relation to the study of moving images, mise-en-scène translates as 'everything in the frame'.  

It is a French term which refers to:

Lighting and colour
Is used to create mood and atmosphere 
Positioning of lights creates different effects 
High key lighting? Connotations
Low key lighting ? Implies what?
Setting. 

Temporal or geographical connections
Props, costume, hair and make-up

Indicates genre and says something about the different character roles

Character positioning within the frame

Tells the audience who to and who not to focus on
Body language, expression and movement

Indicates superiority and inferiority of characters

The given image is a still from The Core, a disaster film from 2003.  Look at the way the characters are positioned within the frame so all the important characters are visible and how different levels are created to add visual interest to an inactive scene.

Discuss hierarchy:

• Which characters do you think are the most important in this scene?
• What gives you this impression?
• What do the props in the foreground and background tell you about what is happening?
• What is the genre of the movie?
• What typical elements of the movie genre are evident in this frame?

Task 1:

Apply the above points to the images below.

Fig 1:

Fig 2:

Fig 3: