The Importance of the Setting, and Characters.

     While a story line and an understandable plot sequence is extremely important for the development of a cinematographic film; the Setting and characters, also known as Mise-en-scéne or the look of the film, are vital to the level of engagement the viewers would get while watching the film. Mise-en-scéne is a pretty broad term, ranging from general things such as setting, to small details such as makeup and hairstyle. These things are the ones that call a viewer's attention and keep them attached to the film. They help explain things such as character and personality and are a great way to describe a character's role in a film.

A scene from Edward Scissorhands.

     As seen in the famous 1990's film, Edward Scissorhands, our beloved main character Edward is a complete outcast in this mundane and monotone town that strives to be unique but fails in an epic way.

The first detail to take note of is his castle; once again, the setting is extremely symbolical helping tell this story. His castle is intimidating on the outside, beautiful on the inside, and broken and lonely on the deep inside. This is a great symbol for Edward himself, the castle is a huge representation of his physical and emotional structure, therefore making the setting or mise-en-scéne a vital part of this movie.

A scene from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

     Another great example of mise-en-scéne doing wonders is the classical film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in which the main character Francis tells a story to a man about the wicked Dr. Caligari and how he goes on a murdering rampage by making his somnambulist, Cesare, commit the killings while he is sleep walking. In this film everything is unrealistic and all the aspects of the setting are completely uncomfortable to the eye. Turns out the story is told from Francis' perspective as he is a crazy man that lives in an asylum and thinks that the director is a serial killer and that's why the viewers see the world of Caligari like that; because they are looking through an insane person's eyes.