Week 8 - Tuesday: Applying Mise-en-scène to my Game Environment

Over the past few weeks I have been better acclimating myself with the concept of mise-en-scène. Whilst the expression is mainly used to describe the design aspects of a film production, I believe the visual storytelling philosophy covered by mise-en-scène is equally applicable to the realm of video games. I have been reading two books on the subject from different authors which I believe have helped focus the visual design of my major project.

The first book I read from author Jane Barnwell titled “Production Design for Screen: Visual Storytelling in Film and Television”, gave me an effective new methodology for evaluating the set design in films (although I intend to apply this methodology to the visual design of game environments). The author has separated the set designers work into five distinct areas of analysis, each of which is given its own chapter.

Below I have broken down the five categories from the book and extrapolated some questions from them that I can then ask myself to help evaluate the design of my environment. They are as follows:

1. Space – How have I used this to convey the size, scale and geography of the location to the player? 
2. In and Out. (Or Interior and Exterior) – How does the look of the environment change between the exterior locations to the interiors scenes? Are they all lit in the same way? What are the boundaries of the interior, and do they constrain the player’s actions in any way and can you use this to create an emotion or atmosphere? 
3. Light – What are the light sources and their position within the environment? Are they a certain colour and does this convey any character or story elements to the player? Have you used the light to illicit any emotions? 
4. Colour – Have you chosen a specific colour palette and ask yourself what the intention of this was? What is the emotional colour of the scene? Have you used the colour red anywhere and if so, does it denote anything important? 
5. Set Decoration – Has this been used to explain the character of the person who resides in this location? What period and style have you chosen and is it consistent with the story?

When asking myself these questions I can see some aspects that my environment design has excelled in and others that I have barely considered at all.

I believe so far my “set decoration” has done well in conveying the personality and character of the previous owner. I have populated the environment with ornate objects that speak of an older time when hand crafted objects were far more valued. The classical design of the furniture and main stairway emphasise the wealth of the mansions former occupant. I want to illicit a sense of intimidation as the player explores the mansion and I believe classical architecture does this well.

My use of colour on the other hand has been rather weak. I didn’t give much consideration to this aspect and the interior in particular feels much too washed out. I chose to keep my colour palette in line as much as I could with images of real abandoned homes that I have studied online, however this has resulted in a very plain looking scene. I would like to improve this element as well as my lighting, as it isn’t telling the player anything about the story. Originally I wanted the scene to be set at twilight as a visual metaphor for the sun setting over this once prosperous home, but I think this is an element that will need to be exaggerated. After all video games are a visual medium and they take on an almost “hyper-realism” where everything is a little more extreme than it is in real life.

The second book I read by Jean Whitehead titled “Creating Interior Atmosphere: Mise-en-scène and Interior Design”, highlighted to me the importance of taking advantage of my medium and using each element of mise-en-scène that I have control over to convey the story or message. Whitehead mentions that the use of distinctive visuals themselves can be the primary means in which a director conveys a story. In my case I would like to use the mise-en-scène to literally be the only method of storytelling in my game. Therefore I have decided to exaggerate the visuals of my abandoned mansion and really show off the state of ruin it has fallen into.

To do this I think I will need to add more debris and decay to all of my assets that populate the scene. I intend to study some other environments from games and analyse how they have used mise-en-scène to amplify the storytelling.

BARNWELL, J. (2017) Production Design for Screen: Visual Storytelling in Film and Television. New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.

WHITEHEAD, J. (2017) Creating Interior Atmosphere: Mise-en-scène and Interior Design. New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.