Mise en Scene and Film Style: From Classical Hollywood to New Media Art: 2014

by Adrian Martin

Styles of filmmaking have changed greatly from classical Hollywood through to our digital era. So, too, have the ways in which film critics and scholars have analysed these transformations in film style. This book explores two central style concepts, mise en scene and dispositif, to illuminate a wide range of film and new media examples.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Art

253 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2014

Reviews

[Daniel Granville · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well researched and intelligently argued monograph on cinematic mise-en-scène in its various manifestations. I recommend this book very strongly to fellow directors, to editors, and to all those interested in academic film analysis at large.

The book’s strengths are many and varied, one of which being its avowedly international scope and clear signalling within the text of a resistance to any sort of teleology or apologia that can often represent a trap for evaluations of classical/poststructural aesthetics. Every dog(ma) has its day, and in taking a longe durée approach to the argument here, this text excels.

Excellent and challenging work.

[Rick Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrian Martin's lucid survey of mise en scène film theory also challenges cinephiles and critic to considerable a new synthesis. Although I'm still skeptical of "social mise en scène" as a critical tool accepted as is, this is still the most fun and illuminating film theory book I've read in years. (But really, can't these academic books be priced more reasonably for those of us out of school and not on scholarships?)

[Christopher McQuain · Rating 4 out of 5]

***1/2, at least