THE CONCEPT OF
‘MIS-EN-SCEN’ OR WHAT THEY CALL SHOT BREAK-DOWN.
We are not under the influence of Bollywood; yet, as we are
working on this from an Eastern country such as India, an image comes to my mind
that can serve as leading light for what is to come. We, I think, all of us know how Ajanta &
Ellora temples were carved out of massive, solid rock. There is an entire space
within that did not exist except in the “Mind” of the “Maker” ... to begin
with. The space within has architecture,
design, a feeling, a purpose with sense of proportion, elegance and Divinity
... along with highly refined sculpted figurines of deities right at the
sanctum sanctorum where in the beginning nothing existed but solid rock.
Evidently, someone interfered with that granite with a Diamond Head of an
incisive vision that drilled & chiselled an idea into rock. Now, assuming
there is a “scene” bound in physical space & time. It stands out there as a
monolithic entity. It germinates, grows, flowers & fruits; then dies and
decays in a chronological way. A craftsman of cinematography has a design on
it. He wants to get a certain feeling or a certain tension out of this scene.
With his camera and microphone he has to hammer & chisel; interfere with
that monolithic piece ... how will he
approach his job? Where will he set up his first shot? Why? What will that shot
include and what will it exclude? Why? Anybody with a ‘sane’ mind cannot answer
these questions and likely take decisions
at psychologically threshold moments, far from any notion encompassing the
entirety of enterprise of de-constructing only in order to re-construct in
Cinematic Space-time, the scene with that particular intent so that that
particular feeling or tension shall presently emanate.
This, I say requires vision / visualization in the mind of
Director very much like the vision in the mind of the maker of those excavated
rock temples. Our job is a little easier as we have flexible space & time
scenes with real people to work with and not an inert, solid, un-yielding piece
of granite. Now let us see how we can determine as to how & why ought we to
go at it in a ‘certain’ fashion and not any other-wise. If we can do that with
reasonable conviction and rationale, we have our mis-en-scen..!!
Mis-en-scen , I should imagine was a term co-opted from proscenium Theatre into Cinema around
the time of dis-engagement from its
stranglehold as well as from ‘tyranny of
the Word’. Basic ‘choreography’ of ‘musical / dance theatre’ advanced into
narrative structures and was known as Mis-en-scen. The concept amplified from what we now call the given ‘raw
scene’ which no doubt contains elements of Theatrical Mis-en-scen so far as
characters with quirks and costumes,
movement within the space, bodily gestures, facial expression, diction and
delivery; apportioning space vis-a-vis each other & the props on stage,
lighting, fore / mid / & back-ground etc translated into Cinema with the addition of a
roving point-of-view as opposed to the fixed POV from a certain seat in an auditorium.
It’s like walking into a huge ice cube and placing within it smaller ice cubes
with a certain ‘aspect ratio’; I refer to cuboids of volumetric occupation as a
result of interposing of lens, the six sided frame. The only caveat is that one
can’t ‘worm’ or ‘burrow’ ones way into it like the rodent gnawing at a chunk of
cheese; it has to come to one all at once, in a flash.
Q: Now, how is
‘Montage’ different from ‘Mis-en-scen’ ? ...
At this point it may be instructive
to look carefully, shot by shot, at a sequence each from Chaplin, Hitchcock,
Antonioni and Bresson... then contrast it with Eisenstein. Montage, I guess, is
another name for ‘editing’ ... mis-en-scen includes editing as the heart of
enterprise yet it is a lot more than editing. This is shooting stage with
concepts of Montage driving the shooting; not shooting-schedules drawn on
‘convenience of the Hero’. This is
‘interfering’ with live space & time where action and artists make a
component of the image, fragmenting ‘reality’ armed with Motion Picture concepts
of Cinematic Space-time, morphing ‘reality’ into ‘verisimilitude’. It may be
helpful, at this stage to imagine two clock faces, one lying horizontally, on
the carpet and another standing vertically like a room divider. Together a
reading on them can fix any given point in our ‘working space’. Then the
selective use of arsenal from Camera and Sound department, so to speak..!! So
we have them all here, present and kicking in ... Editing, Sound and Camera; we
are getting there, we shall include a dose of ‘dramaturgy’ & ‘conflict’ if
you like, throw in a few grunts and growls and we are ready to roll. I must
close with a note of caution; please do not, repeat NOT TAKE the easy way out
by ordering a ‘Master-shot’ and then cut into it according to ‘he said / she
said’ on the dialogue sheet, keeping to imaginary line & continuity of
looks. Please remember this is a river of molten fire and you have to dive into it, then go
across beneath the surface. {IN URDU:
“Ek Aag ka Dariya hai, Aur Doob ke Jana hai” ...}
Rahatavalokit
Caca895
