Everything's there for a Reason

EVERYTHING'S THERE FOR A REASON
By Meg Wozniak

"Mise en scene" is a French term meaning "put in the scene". Although we can learn a lot about a scene from the characters expression, dress, and placement in the frame, it is the objects and background that really allow us to understand not only WHERE they are physically, but also what their role is in that moment. For instance, in Double Indemnity, it is the character's (Neff's) surroundings that lead us to believe he's up to no good. First of all, the rule of thirds immediately draws our eyes to the label on the office door. We automatically understand that this is Keyes' office and we are not looking at Keyes. We know it is his office because of the desk, the pens, the reports, the recorders, and so on and so forth. I believe that the reason the director chose to put a coat rack was to emphasize the fact that there are no coats on it. Keyes isn't in his office at all. Then there's the big poster chart behind Neff halfway hidden by his shadow. Apparently this chart represents that the insurance business was really thriving at the time and because we know about Neff's scheme, we can see why he's literally standing in the way of this. Another factor that seemed to have a big influence on the type of set and lighting (dim, always has shades on windows, lots of shadows) was the fact that this was a Noir film.
In the second picture, from LA Confidential, the set sort of mislead us to thinking this man was innocent. He seems to be just sitting in his living room in his underwear, watching cartoons, eating junk food. He has some old stuff piled up on the side of the TV but nothing incriminating. Seeing this scene without watching the film, I would have never thought that this man was a rapist, let alone about to be shot. I think that the reason the director set this up like this was so that we could see this man from the shooters point of view and see that he didn't appear to be a threat. It's just to emphasize the poor police system (his shooting everyone). The windows are open and he's sitting right by it, relaxed. He's laughing and doesn't seem to be anxious in the least while in the Double Indemnity shot, Neff looks stiff, quiet, and worried. Without both characters surroundings we wouldn't know the full story. The background isn't everything but you need it to understand the full idea being portrayed. Every object in the set was carefully thought out and was placed to complete the picture.