Introduction to Media: Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is a vital aspect of Media Language and builds nicely on our work on denotation and connotation.

Mise-en-scène is a French term meaning ‘Put on Stage’. It refers to the Media language used by the producer in their media product to communicate with their audience so…everything we see on screen. We can remember what this includes using the acronym CLAMPS:

• Costume
• Lighting
• Actor placement and movement
• Make-up
• Props
• Setting

When we look at a clip, image or advert in Media Studies we need to be able to identify aspects of mise-en-scene and explain the effect it has on the audience.


Mise-en-scene: Blog task

Watch the opening of television drama ‘Stranger Things’, a science fiction story set in the 1980s when four friends get wrapped up in a dangerous alternate universe.




Create a new blogpost called 'Mise-en-scene Stranger Things analysis'. 

1) What do each of the letters in CLAMPS stand for?

2) What TV genre is Stranger Things? You can use the IMDB website to help you with this. 

3) Choose THREE aspects of mise-en-scene (e.g. costume, lighting, setting) and write a short paragraph for each about the denotation and connotation in the opening 8 minutes of Stranger Things. What is being communicated to the audience? How does the mise-en-scene help to communicate the genre of Stranger Things?

Finish this for homework: due next week.

Extension tasks

Make sure you've finished and posted your Photoshop fruit bowl on your blog from last week.

You can read more about mise-en-scene on BBC Bitesize here. 

If you want something really challenging, here's a film-school website offering amazing detail on mise-en-scene.