The scene that I picked for the mis-en-scene example is when Buffy and her friend are in their dorm room talking about Buffy’s relationship with Riley. The set design seems really on point with what a dorm room would look like and the way that her and her friend are dressed they fit the part of college aged students in that time. The only sounds that are coming from the scene are those from them talking with one another and the sound of the refrigerator door closing, meaning that the sound was diegetic. The lighting seems to be slightly darker which I think adds to the darkness in the scene since Buffy is unable to admit her true self to Riley.
The scene that I picked as the example for both diegetic and non-digetic sound is the scene that shortly follows after Buffy and her friend discussing Riley when you see the man and woman who were planning to meet come together. You hear her knock at the door followed by them talking to one another and then the sounds of them kissing(diegetic). To follow that we are introduced to what looks to be the outside of a clock tower being brought into scene with dark, ominous music(non-diegetic). We hear the clicking of the clock (diegetic) then hear the sounds of a creak as this grayish-green dead looking hand opens a box. The ominous music follows as from scene to scene we are introduced to houses and people asleep and whispers of voices carry as a fog like cloud comes from about each persons mouth and travels to its resting place inside this deathly creatures box.
I think in the second example especially all of the sounds, the costumes and makeup and the special effects added to the horror of what was to come next in this episode. We do not know from just this scene who this scary creature is, but we do know that he is not good and whatever his box is collecting is something that it shouldn’t. In the first scene I think that the costumes, make up and set design were really adding to the story that the show Buffy surrounds, but did not necessarily add to any “horror” within the show.
I really liked the example of mis-en-scene you used. I think your example is very close to the definition of mis-en-scene, which essentially means “visual theme” or “telling a story”—both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction. In my paper of this week, I chose the light for my example of mis-en-scene, so I think examples of mis-en-scene can be varied depending on how people see things and individual difference. Is there anything that cannot be mis-en-scene? In my personal opinion, the term is so universal just like our main topic “art.”
It’s a very good point to make that a term like mis-en-scene is as universal as the main topic of this class. I too believe that art, or what people define as art is such a universal and open ended topic. The same would absolutely go without say for mis-en-scene. The idea of this theory is very open to many different interpretations, and it is so intriguing to me that a theory or definition of something within a type of art form (film) is as open ended as art itself. It seems like art and everything it encapsulates can go on and on infinitely like the sign of pi in math.
I really agree that all the examples that you provided and like the way that you described in details. The dorm set with all these design, character’s dress, and the light provide us a good mis-en-scene example. I like the point that you addressed that “the costumes, make up and set design were really adding to the story that the show Buffy surrounds, but did not necessarily add to any “horror” within the show”. In movies or TV shows, all the factors, like mis-en-scene, diegetic sound, and noon-diegetic sound come together to create different effects and feelings to audience. Even though one movie usually has one main background, environment, or topic that the director wants to create, it doesn’t mean all the elements must surround the only one main topic. Because it always need to create different feelings and atmosphere to corporate with the main topic; otherwise the movie will be boring and lack of a sense of gradually developing.