I looked at the TV drama Desperate Housewives and studied how the directors use Mise en Scene to develop the structure of the program. I used the clip below to make comments on:
From the opening, the viewer can see that the theme is an idealistic view of modern American society. The music creates an atmosphere that denotes happiness and relaxation, providing a direct contrast for the events that happen later on in the sequence. The non-diegetic music adds to the effects that are happening on screen at the time and help the audience to feel emotion for the characters at the correct points. An example of how music is used at these points could be when one of the characters ‘Mrs Martha Hooper’ discovers ‘Mary Alice’, the music becomes tense and upbeat as we do not know what she is going to find when she peers through the window of the house. The music helps to create the atmosphere that the audience can become involved in which develops the mise en scene of the drama.
Colour is another aspect of mise en scene that the director has used well in creating an atmosphere. The colours of the street are bright and cheerful which demonstrates to the audience that the show is meant to be cheerful and light-hearted. The colours have an impact on the audience as they juxtapose the scene that follows from the street – where ‘Mary Alice’ commits suicide. This scene, uses colour in a different way, the colours are dull and dark which denotes a sadness to the viewer. The colours are particularly important in this scene because it is the first broadcast of the show, the audience need to become aware of how they should feel towards certain characters and the colours help to create this feeling.
Lighting is another technique that is used to connote the mise en scene to the viewer, the narrative perspective of each character is followed by the audience when lighting is used in a certain way. For example, bright lights usually convey the idea of purity, luck and joy whereas dark lighting could show sadness, horror and misery. In Desperate Housewives, lighting is used to great effect to get the viewer following a certain characters thoughts and views in different scenarios. Lighting conveys the feelings of the character without the character having to announce it to the viewer.
The costumes worn by the characters show the character’s class and social status as soon as they are shown. The audience can immediately tell that the families and the women themselves are middle/upper class and most have high social values. The costumes are smart and relatively formal outfits. ‘Mary Alice’s’ costume is very plain and simple which could convey the idea that her personality is also plain and simple – giving the audience an insight into the character’s actions.
The setting and the props that are used by the director also show that the program is American and set in a nice area. One of the most obvious hints at this is the white Pickett fence that is shown at the beginning of the clip, a white picket fence is an obvious American addition to the home and is instantly recognizable as this. The setting shows a suburban street that is idealistic and certainly not realistic for the audience as they know exactly what America is like. The props therefore are all used and based in the context of an American society – which relates to the narrative.
Mise en scene in the program Desperate Housewives has been used to a great effect and it conveys the ideas that the producers are trying to achieve extremely effectively.
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