Many directors of the Russian and Soviet scenes attached great importance to the creative approach to the construction of scenes. These were such eminent directors as G.A. Tovstonogov, A.V. Efros, K.S. Stanislavsky, E.B. Vakhtangov, V.E. Meyerhold, A.Ya. Tairov, and others. The mise-en-scene translated from French by mise en scène - placement on stage. That is, the location of the actors in the gaming environment in the prescribed combinations with each other and the environment at different times of presentation or filming.
The purpose of the stage setting is to show their inner experiences, the essence of the conflict of their relationship, the emotional content, the logic of the stage action through physical and external interactions between the actors, wrapping it in an aesthetic form. The goals of the stage setting are to skillfully switch the viewer's attention from one action to another.
The mise-en-scene as an artistic image is the language of the director, a vivid means of translating the director's intention, both in the theater, in the cinema and even in photography. She is able to combine expressive artistic actions (musical, visual, light, color, noise, etc.) into a single harmonious whole. Therefore, the director is in close cooperation not only with actors, but also with artists, etc.
The art of staging is the director’s special ability to think with plastic images. The genre and style of the performance or film is manifested in the nature of the stage. Several consecutive mise-en-scenes reflect the directorial course of the production or make up the director's drawing. The constituent parts of each stage are a sequential transition from one action to another.
Each mise-en-scene, as well as on canvases of works of art, has its own composition, that is, it is organized in a stipulated stage space in such a way as to show the viewer all the components of the spiritual life of the heroes, their tempo-rhythm and physical well-being. That is why in theatrical universities, where they are taught directing, much attention is paid to teaching students the laws of composition in the visual arts, as well as psychology.
Stage scenes are most often centrifugal in nature, when all the actors involved in it tend to push off from each other. And also centripetal. In this case, all participants in the stage production tend to each other. Paradoxicality, counterpoint, restrictive graphics, plastic contrast, reality, spontaneity and a vital basis - these are the main qualities of mise-en-scenes.
Types of mise-en-scenes vary in their construction. When the characters try to move beyond the stage, as if projecting entirely to another place, the mise-en-scene is projective. According to the nature of movement on the stage, dynamic and statistical are distinguished.
The most common definitions of mise-en-scenes are geometric. In relation to the scene - diagonal, frontal, circular, circular, etc. And towards the middle of the stage - eccentric and concentric. Regarding the volume of the scene - cubic, cylindrical, pyramidal, etc.
Also, by the nature of the mise-en-scene, ironic, strict, hyperbolic realistic and metamorphic are possible. In theater terminology, it is customary to subdivide staged scenes into main, non-main, walk-through, nodal, service, transitional, supporting, inevitable and final.
In each mise-en-scene there is the most striking main action, which is its compositional center. All other operations should be subordinated to this spectacle. For this, the actors have certain tricks. The composition center of the mise-en-scene is usually accurately illuminated to focus the viewer's attention.
To properly position the actors on stage, the director usually focuses on seeing the spectacle from the audience by a spectator sitting in the middle of the 11-13th row. An expressive mise-en-scene may be born involuntarily in the process of rehearsing a performance through direct interaction and intuition of the actors themselves.
One of the fundamental differences between the cinema stage and the theater is that the audience in the theater is faced with the need to separate the particular from the general and perceive the performance analytically. But in the cinema, on the contrary, basically the viewer sees the parts of the spectacle and restores the general in his mind from them.
The order of mise-en-scenes in photography, cinema, theater and painting is equivalent. In photography, there are also staging scenes that include views of the participants and their winning position. Each mise-en-scenes brings the viewer to the essence of the director's idea.
