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Mise-en-scène Case Study

Writer's picture: Julia ChemerinskiJulia Chemerinski

Updated: Nov 21, 2022

All my scenes are from Heartstopper.












Episode 2 “Crush”

In this scene, Elle is feeling lonely at her new school, she struggles to find her place and make new friends. Elle is shown at the front, with a shallow focus. This was done to show how isolated Elle feels at her new school. In the background, Tara and Darcy are shown playing a game, rolling dice, at their desk while they share a scarf, laughing. This was put in the scene to show how carefree they are. As well as comparing them to Elle, them being like that is also comparing them to how judged they feel when they come out(a few episodes later). As Elle is shown looking at Tara and Darcy “Girls” by Girl in Red plays. Girl in Red wrote this song to express her sexuality and everything that comes with being a woman who loves other women. I believe this song was chosen to hint at the viewers that Tara and Darcy were dating, however, I do not think it was a great choice as it makes it seem as if Elle, a straight girl, was developing feelings for Tara.












Episode 4 "Secret"

In this scene, Nick runs to Charlie’s house in the rain, wanting to apologise. Nick Stands outside, as Charlie stays in his house, shocked at the fact that Nick came all this way just to be with him. The rain is important in showing that Nick would do anything for Charlie. Also, the way that blocking is used shows the difference between Nick and Charlie. It mainly shows the contrast in body shape, Charlie being much skinnier. The inside of the house is pretty dark, whereas the outside is brighter, despite the rain. The dim lighting inside the house shows that Charlie himself feels “dim.” The contrast between that and the bright outside shows the light that Nick brings into Charlie’s life.

Throughout the entire series, Charlie is represented by the colour yellow, and Nick is represented by blue. Charlie is optimistic, daydreams a lot, and has anxiety, all traits attributed to yellow. Blue, on the other hand, is described as “enthusiastic, sympathetic, communicative, compassionate, idealistic, and sincere” by Michigan State University. Those traits all represent Nick. Additionally, blue is traditionally a more masculine colour, which Nick appears to be. Also, when Nick leaves the house, Charlie gives him a blue and yellow umbrella, showing their bond despite any obstacles they may face, which are represented by the rain.

Nick is shown wearing a blue hoodie that he lent to Charlie a few episodes prior. Since Charlie wore that hoodie, Nick was shown wearing it a lot more. Additionally, Charlie wears converse and Nick wears vans, those shoes are pictured frequently in the books. That shoe combination became iconic for young queer people after the books came out. Asking for someone to be “the vans to their converse,” or vise versa is a signal that a teenager wants to be in a queer relationship.










Charlie’s room says a lot about his character. His room is an organised mess. While he does have a lot of things lying around everywhere, Charlie’s room is not messy to the point where you can’t walk through it, and it has many organised aspects to it. For starters, Charlie’s bed is made everyday, which is a big thing in itself. His room also has many posters, quotes, and other frames hung around perfectly aligned, as well as a fully stocked bookshelf. Charlie’s closet is very neat as well, with shoes in their own cubby, and everything else hung or hidden. Charlie struggles with his depression and OCD, so it makes sense that his room is a mix of both. Charlie’s room has band posters, a drumset, and an LED sign that reads “MUSIC,” so it’s no secret that he likes music. Whenever he feels stressed, he plays the drums.

Furthermore, Charlie’s comforter changes colour throughout the show. At the beginning, it’s white with yellow stripes, but when he made his first connection with Nick, the stripes changed to green. Since Charlie’s colour is yellow, and Nick’s is blue, them having a connection made the sheets green, but when something went wrong in their relationship, they went back to yellow. Also, behind his bed, Charlie has a poster for the art and culture magazine, Juxtapoz. Not only are the hands in the poster blue and yellow, but the name literally means “place or deal with close together for contrasting effect,” which perfectly describes Nick and Charlie’s relationship.






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