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The Belgian film critic Dirk Lauwaert once proclaimed that mise en scène is the “most beautiful word” when talking about cinema. In this volume Prof. charts the term’s use from its origins in theatre circles in the 19th century, through to the auteur theories found in French film criticism of the 1950s and 60s, up to the present day and the place of mise en scène in the contemporary digital cinematic landscape.

Mise en scène, when understood as one of the most fundamental techniques of filmmaking, has always been a part of film history, from Georges Méliès’s 'artificially arranged scenes' to contemporary block busters or art house movies. But the practices to which the term refers have changed over time, and recent developments have shown that the complex interplay between space, actors and camera is also dependent upon technological constraints.

Mise en scène disentangles the various ways in which mise en scène appears in writings about film, with regard to its descriptive scope as well as its strategic functions. It also looks at the different practices of mise en scène and the way in which these are conceptualised. Kessler’s three-pronged historical, theoretical and practical approach fills a major gap in the existing literature on cinematic mise en scène.

• Title: Mise en scène
• Author: Frank Kessler
• ISBN: 978-0-9811914-8-5
• Publisher: 2014,