Mise-en-scene Examples

Mise-en-scene is everything in the frame that you can see. This includes: set, props, lighting, costume & makeup etc. The mise-en-scene influences how the audience perceive the character or situation it shows.

JAWS
Steven Spielberg -1975

This shot is of a group of teenage friends enjoying themselves at the beach drinking and smoking. The community are sitting around a fire which connotes a sense of warmth and safety. However, the rest of the beach is in complete darkness and is desolate which suggests that it is dangerous. Later in the film, we see that two intoxicated characters wander away from the safety of the community and begin running along the beach, they're completely alone and there is only a small amount of light coming from the sun setting which symbolises that the end is near. A characters begins swimming in the water, she's a young female which instantly makes her vulnerable to the audience, after stripping off her clothes she becomes even more vulnerable.

This shot is again dark and the characters are alone in a single boat, we see them through a net which conveys a sense of entrapment to the audience and implies that the characters are in danger. We later see in the film that the characters do become trapped in a situation involving the shark therefore the mise-en-scene of this shot hinted at their upcoming danger.

The Exorcist 
William Friedkin -1973

This shot is a low angle shot of a young woman which makes her seem confident however she is scantily clad which immediately makes her vulnerable. She is in complete darkness except for a shadow looming above her head which resembles a row of bars implying that she is trapped. There is no music or sound in the mise-en-scene which creates a feeling of eeriness to the audience.

The mise-en-scene shows the woman alone in her attic, she is enshrouded by clutter which again suggests that she is trapped. The only light in the shot is coming from a small candle that she carries with her. There is no sound in the scene which builds tension. The camera angle is looking through the clutter which creates the impression that she is not totally alone in the attic and that something could be lurking, in this case it is the audience that is lurking.