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Chapter 7: Mise-en-Scene

• The setting of Bada Bing! signifies the unsavory, hyper-masculine character of characters in The Sopranos.
• A scene from Citizen Kane reveals the set's ceiling, which was quite unusual in 1941…
• … and in 2007 Mad Men used the same technique to highlight its fluorescent light grid.
• A diagram of the Frasier living room, as illustrated by…
• …a view toward the front door…
• and a view toward Daphne's bedroom.
• Studio setup for programs with studio audiences.
• Studio setup for live-on-tape programs without an audience.
• Bob Eubanks at the podium of The New Newlywed Game.
• David Letterman, behind a conventional desk, interviews Emily Deschanel on The Late Show.
• Anchor Bob Schieffer is surrounded by video displays on the set of the CBS Evening News…
• …which may contain reporters at remote locations.
• Contestants and the host stand behind the iconic wheel on the set of Wheel of Fortune.
• Letters are revealed as part of the game play on Wheel of Fortune.
• The lighting grid above the set is revealed in The Price Is Right…
• …and Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.
• David Letterman emerges from behind the desk to perform the monologue on The Late Show.
• A reporter's position at a site of a news event lends credibility to her report.
• The imagery of Miami Vice's opening credits draws on the city's reputation for exoticism…
• …sexuality…
• …and wealth.
• The nature of a character can be conveyed through an Armani suit (Sonny Crockett on Miami Vice)…
• …a trench coat (Columbo on Columbo: Ashes to Ashes)…
• …jewelry (Mr. T on The A-Team)…
• …or a snow parka (Kenny on South Park).
• CBS Evening News: The informal dress of a news reporter…
• …contrasts with the formal attire of an anchor.
• Eerie under lighting of Darla in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• Back lighting silhouettes the actors and adds to the mystery of CSI: Miami.
• Three-point lighting: key light, fill light, and back light.
• An actor is illuminated with a key light only — no fill or back lights.
• An actor is illuminated with all three lights.
• High-key lighting in a nighttime scene in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Note the shadow cast by the lamp shade.
• Low-key lighting in the music video Only You.
• The lighting in Rembrandt van Rijn's The Nightwatch is a prime example of chiaroscuro.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy's face is half in darkness and shadows from Venetian blinds cross her chest as she talks to Angel…
• …who is similarly lit.
• Hard light may illuminate scenes in both nonnarrative (Cops)…
• …and narrative (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) programs.
• A scene from My So-Called Life is blocked in deep space, but shallow focus. Graham watches ballroom dancers while behind him, out of focus, his wife, Patty enters the room. When he looks in her direction…
• …the focus shifts, or pulls, from him back to her.