The work of Cindy Sherman:

American photographer Cindy Sherman is known for her elaborately “disguised” self-portraits that focus on social role-playing and sexual stereotypes. She uses the different aspects of Mise En Scene to create different characters or settings. She is very talented and can make some really excellent transformations as seen in the photos bellow, as she goes form what looks like a librarian to a trashy trailer park woman. the series of pictures show the transformation she went through using makeup, props and costumes.

Mise En Scene – the arrangement of the scenery, props, etc. on the stage of a theatrical production or on the set of a film. It is the visuals of the film so anything that can be seen is part of the mise en scene. What creates a mise en scene is? 

1.Setting 

This can reveal a lot about the characters mood or life. For example, if the setting is someone’s bedroom and they have gaming posters then they are clearly someone that likes playing video games. 

2. Décor 

Décor is usually symbolic of something in the story. For example, colour can have deeper meaning about the character so black is usually associated with death or if there is large rugs or polished floors then the owner could be quite rich. 

3. Lighting 

Different lighting usually suggests different genres or the feeling of the scene. If it is dark, then it could be a dramatic or horror film. Bright lighting normally means a lighter hearted film such as a comedy. 

4. Depth of Space 

This is the distances between objects, people and everything else in the scene as well as how the camera moves, positioned and focused. Larger and clearer things on screen bring the viewers’ attention to them and contrasts them to other things in the scene. 

5. Costumes and Makeup 

What a character wears, looks like and how they wear it is crucial to portraying that character. Makeup can also bring out facial shapes and details, such as lots of black makeup may mean that there is a lot of darkness within the character. 

Bellow are some of the photos we took in our lesson on Mise En Scene, we used different costumes, sets and lighting to get the feel of the pictures right.

A film has verisimilitude if it seems realistic and the story has details, subjects, and characters that seem similar or true to real life, or mime convincing aspects of life in important or fundamental ways

For example:

1. In Harry Potter, Hogwarts although about magic and wizardry; still has sports, homework and detentions which relates and grounds the viewer to the film.
2. If a character is always a good person then the film must make sure he does good deeds and is never evil otherwise that betrays the verisimilitude of that character.