Staging is essentially the composition of the scene; a clear representation of an idea within an environment. This idea can be an action, an emotion, an expression or a mood. Staging physically exhibits the internal emotions of the character so as to make the audience feel more connected to the character.

For example, look at the following scenes.


Image credits - Vajra Pancharia.
 

Image credits - Vajra Pancharia.

Here, as we observe the actions of the characters between themselves and with the environment, and we make assumptions to assess the situation. We are given a slight glimpse into their life and we understand their world and the surroundings in which they live. This triggers the emotional life into the scene which is largely accomplished due to staging.

As layout artists, our primary objective is to design layouts which will lead the viewer’s eye to the primary idea of the scene without much distractions so that it can aid in triggering an emotional response in the audience.

Good staging can be achieved by keeping some essential principles in mind. These principles can be broadly classified into:

• Principles of perspective.
• Principle of compositional design.