NARRATOR: Animation is an especially rich form of cinema to consider in any discussion of mise-en-scene, because in animation, everything is placed there so deliberately. And placement in a scene or on stage is the literal translation of the French term mise-en-scene.

Wes Anderson's 2009 adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's novel Fantastic Mr. Fox is an impressive example of stop motion animation. In stop motion animation, each frame of a scene is filmed individually, and the figures are manipulated between frames to create the illusion of movement. The backgrounds must remain consistent from frame to frame. In Fantastic Mr. Fox, there are richly detailed golden hued settings inhabited by the foxes, other whimsical animal characters, and by their human antagonists, the farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean.

Props play a significant role in Fantastic Mr. Fox. For instance, they are used quite effectively to establish characters. The farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean are all styled differently. They are each shown against a specific backdrop with a distinct set of props, creating a unique iconography for each farmer.

The film's plot even revolves around the fate of a key prop, Mr. Fox's tail. While emerging from his tree for a late night TV thieving mission, fox is ambushed by the three farmers. But they only manage to shoot off his tail before he disappears back down into the tree. Bean retrieves Fox's tail, fashions it into a tie, and wears it as a trophy around his neck, baiting Fox's son Ash, who vows to retrieve it.

The handcrafted look of Fantastic Mr. Fox, for which more than 4,000 props were created, contrast deliberately with the smooth surfaces of a lot of contemporary computer generated animation. Nowhere in the film is this more obvious than in the final exciting sequence. The animals hatch an elaborate plan to rescue Kristofferson from the clutches of the farmers.

In a way, their use of handcrafted technology in their mission pays tribute to the film's artisanal aesthetic. After the animals set off a fire bomb made from pine cones in the sewer, Fox and Possum pop out of a manhole cover in a puff of smoke, smoke that is quite clearly made out of cotton wool. The shaking background as Fox and Possum speed through the countryside, though diegetically motivated by the antiquated motorbike, pays homage to the jerkiness of vintage stop motion. And the news helicopter tracking the animals' progress is shown flying over fields, obviously made from stitched together textiles.

Because creating the world of Fantastic Mr. Fox is so reliant on mise-en-scene and so labor intensive, montage is downplayed. Instead, camera movements like tracking shots give us time to feast our eyes on detail and the animation technique of the movie. In this sequence, the animals are gathered for a communal meal in their makeshift but convivial lodgings in Badger's flint mine. The camera starts on Mole playing the piano and tracks right, taking in the characters' movements as the kids set the table and as Rabbit prepared the meal.

The camera speeds up to follow Fox and Badger as they talk about Fox's injury. The camera pauses just as Ash appears on camera. Overhearing his father's words prompts his bold plan to get the tail back. Now tracking backward, the camera watches as Ash approaches his cousin Kristofferson with his idea. Of course, this virtuoso single take is simulated, as the models are manipulated between each frame to create all the delightful on screen activity we witness.

The plot of Fantastic Mr. Fox seems to echo this careful, even obsessive, attention to setting. Much of the plot is about rearranging mise-en-scene. For example, Fox initially provokes the farmers by moving into the root system under a vacant tree. Ash's model railroad shows his interest for staging props and settings.

And the outraged farmers rearrange the mise-en-scene by forcibly moving the animals around. First, the farmers users earth movements to try and dig the animals out, forcing them underground into tighter and tighter spaces. Later, the farmers use cider to flush the animals out into the sewer system.

Wes Anderson fans will find much in this film that is consistent with the director's body of work, from the flawed father figure to the idiosyncratic athletic clothing. Yet as an animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox remains unique in Anderson's body of work. And it is exemplary in its remarkable visual consistency of characters, props, and sets.