Mise En Scene: Blocking & Camera Position

In Cineamatography, a classic way to analyse film is the Mise en Scene (Studiobinder, 2026). A french term, literally translating to "setting the scene" it refers to giving everything inside the camera frame placement.

That means:

The Set

Lighting

Costumes

Props

Mise en scene is important to extracting the meaning behind art form and it is a useful visual language for analysing and constructing video with purpose and meaning (Studiobinder, n.d.).

Fig.1 The mood board curated by themes of urban decay, and ambitious plans of the post-war era.

From the mood board, I sketched concept art to establish a clear picture of the style & theme of the animated scene. Using perspective lines, the concept art uses props and sight lines to communicate the "streets in the sky" 1970s vision. the ornaments and architectural styles from different continents convey the international new vision, representing the built environment of multicultural cities.

Fig. A scan of my sketched concept art. Includes a Obelisk & Paifang gate.

When arranging a scene, it is important to do scene blocking to work out what should be inside the camera frame before getting down to small details. In videography, this is a stage of choreography where the director is working out the details of an actor’s moves & stage props in relation to the camera (NYFA, 2009). In our digital equivalent this is flipped, we manipulate basic shapes' position and size to create sight lines which direct our vision to key elements.


Fig.2 Basic building façade mesh established. 

The scene development began by creating a building façade inspired by the mood board example. Using the array modifier, I experimented with different arrangements to create visually stimulating leading lines.

Fig.3 Different blocking arrangements of the scene and camera position to establish a focal point.

The chosen layout of the scene was a staggered arrangement, as it emphasises the "floating city" concept more than the uniform vertical. Additionally the floating walkways translated better to a less uniform structure.

Fig.4 Camera focus shot for the walking animation

Fig.5 Camera pan perspective seen from the 2-3rd floor of the building. Tangent seen in the Right balcony to floor overlap

After taking feedback from peers, I analysed the scenes focal points which where captured the focal points of the I wanted the camera to pan to. From these key points, the scenes position where adjusted to avoid visual tangents, missing details, and unintended geometry. Some details changed are:
  • Bevelled Edges added to reduce unnatural sharp edge 
  • Floating island position and scale changed to showcase ground fog effect
  • Door, window and bollards added to feel "lived-in"
  • Camera rise higher up  to avoid tangents (see Fig.)with building floors.
Additionally, I upgraded the buildings material using seamless textures (taken from Architextures, 2026). Detail was also generated by rendering and editing Perlin Noise and using photoshop advanced brushes.





Fig.6 Diffuse Textures on the building façade and obelisk sculpture

References: 

NYFA, 2009. https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/the-5-stages-of-blocking-a-scene/

Studiobinder, 2026 https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/mise-en-scene/

Mize, D. 2026. https://emptyeasel.com/2008/11/18/avoiding-tangents-9-visual-blunders-every-artist-should-watch-out-for/


Textures:

Architextures, 2026. Buff, Broken Herringbone. https://architextures.org/textures/3514

Architextures 2026. Grey Painted Brick, Stretcher. https://architextures.org/textures/3514

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