Mise-En-Scene and making a composed picture come to life.

Hi, my Darling,

Happy Late Night. Well, it was another Thursday night at the CSUN Cinematheque, and if you saw my FB posts, you know I was amazed by the film, and especially it's technical aspects. As with all the other Tarkovskys, I have 'em on dvd and have seen them several times each, but to see them on a movie screen gives me a whole new appreciation. Tonight, what blew me away as much as the film itself (the story and acting) was the integral part played by the camera movement and the editing. It's like he took a ruler or a protractor, and filmed everything according to specific angles that all fit together for the whole movie.

That, and the tracking shots, which would slide down corridors and then make a perfect 90 degree turn around a corner, or would move through rooms of a building or a structure while holding characters and objects perfectly in place. In the French critical terms of film theory, this is called Mise-En-Scene, meaning the placement of subjects (people) and objects (stuff) in the picture frame. The best directors use Mise-En-Scene like still photography, and that's what it really means. It's the same definition as composition in a still photograph. Meaning placement. And with placement comes structure, and most of all balance within the frame, like in a painting. The human eye can tell, and can instinctively feel, when things are in balance in a frame.

But the thing about Mise-En-Scene, when used by a guy like Tarkovsky (and other greats like Robert Bresson or Ozu or others, but especially the Tarkster), is that he can take an establishing shot of a scene - which sets the placement - and he will shoot it like a still photograph, perfectly composed. And then he will begin to slowly move the camera in ways that preserve the "still" quality of the scene, and yet make it come to life in three dimensions. That's Mise-En-Scene to a "T", and in "Nostalghia" he nails it.

Today was a basic day other than that. I am glad to see you have so many projects coming up. I know you are probably super busy, but I did see a post or two with Versus Me, rehearsing in one, shooting hoops in another. Those guys are cool and I am glad you are their photographer and maybe videographer too.

Post if you can. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)