Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene means everything that is seen in the frame.

There are 5 elements of mise-en-scene. These are:

1- Settings and props.
2- Costume, hair and makeup.
3- Facial expressions and body language.
4- Lighting and colour.
5- Positioning of the characters and objects in the frame.

Settings and props.

The setting is where a media text takes place.  Settings and locations play a vital role in film making and they are not just backgrounds. Sets are either built from scratch or a great deal of time is spent searching for a suitable setting which already exists. Settings can manipulate an audience by building expectations and then doing something completely different. 
In a Science Fiction film, you will most likely find something abnormal, so things like Aliens, spaceships, galactic space stations. In a romance, you wold most likely find bright colours in the house or set, maybe some flowers, maybe a bench, so if it was set in a park, you would find trees, a bench, ducks in a pond, couples walking around, people walking their dogs and so on.
        
Costume, hair and makeup

Certain costumes define a character, such as a black cloak for a vampire. 
Costumes can be quite stylized, dragging attention to their graphic qualities. Costumes are carefully set up to match the character's personality, so each character is different and you can understand the character just from what they are wearing. For example in the hunger games people from the capitals dress more extravagant than people from the districts.  
  


All actors wear makeup for the camera, even if it is subtle and unnoticeable. it is designed to make them look their best. Also, it is very hot behind the camera for there are many lights on the actor, and so the makeup is specially designed to make sure the actor does not sweat or feel clammy. Make-up can be used in extreme forms as well, such as hiding traumatic wounds or even transforming an actor into an alien or abnormal creature. A good example is the lord of the rings. 

Facial expressions

Facial expressions show how someone is feeling. An audience can easily tell the difference between whether someone is happy or upset just by their facial expressions in movies. Small changes can send out different signals, so if an actor is smiling broadly, then the audience can gather that he is very happy. But if he continues that smile for a very long time then the audience will notice that something is wrong because it is not normal behavior. 

Eyes are very important signals to show us someone's expression, and it is usually used to help the audience follow the direction of the actor's sight. So if a director wants to draw attention to a feature, they can make the audience focus on someone or something in the frame.

Also, the way we move and hold our bodies indicate our thoughts and feelings. Like facial expressions, everyone is different, but there are other things to show our feelings, such as shaking a fist at someone to show anger or crouching down into a ball to protect ourselves. 

 

Lighting and color

Lighting and color help to create mood and atmosphere. These elements can guide an audiences attention by lighting up an object. A director can use shadows to  create suspense and tension by obscuring an object from the audience. Using bright and dark light can create an effect of confusion. The connotations created by the colours can be used to support the mood, such as red for anger. So in 'We Need To Talk About Kevin,' it all starts off with blood red colours and bright red colours, it starts in a tomato festival, which could show that there is something bad about this movie and something terrible will happen. 

Positioning of the characters and objects in the frame 

There are many ways a director can use positioning in the frame. If a director chooses to position a character or object in the foreground of a shot, then the audience should think that the character/object is of importance.
A moving character/object positioned against a stationary background will immediately draw the audiences attention, as it would in real life.
If characters/objects are positioned evenly in the frame, then it will give a very balanced feel to the frame, but if all of the characters were at one end of the frame then it would appear as unbalanced.
The director can also use positioning to indicate relationships. So if a couple are arguing, they will be positioned on either two of the outside corners of the frame so there is a lot of physical distance between them. This reflects the emotional distance they are feeling at this point.
Whereas, if a couple have just married, they will be close to each other in a romantic place, mostly in the middle of the frame so that they are the center of attention.

A denotation is the literal description of an idea, concept and object. Denotations are a particular wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Connotation is what we associate with a particular idea, concept or object. Connotations are things like anger, danger, romance, blood etc.