Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Mise-en-scène: Film Style and Interpretation explores and elucidates constructions of this fundamental concept in thinking about film. In uncovering the history of mise-en-scène within film criticism, and through the detailed exploration of scenes from films as Imitation of Life and Lone Star, John Gibbs makes the case for the importance of a sensitive understanding of film style, and provides an introduction to the skills of close reading. This book thus celebrates film-making as well as film criticism that is alive to the creative possibilities of visual style.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• 1 The Elements of Mise-en-Scène
• 2 The Interaction of Elements
• 3 Coherent Relationships
• 4 Investigations in the Critical History of Mise-en-Scène
• 5 Mise-en-Scène and Melodrama
• 6 Case Study: Imitation of Life
• Conclusion
• Appendix
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index