Setting by Vlad in essence awfully boring (4,2,5)
I believe the answer is:
mise en scene
'setting' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'vlad in essence awfully boring' is the wordplay.
'vlad' becomes 'me' (where the crossword setter is 'Vlad').
'awfully' indicates an anagram.
'boring' indicates putting letters inside (some letters must 'bore' a hole into other letters).
'in'+'essence'='inessence'
'inessence' is an anagram of 'iseenscen'.
'me' going around 'iseenscen' is 'MISE-EN-SCENE'.
'by' is the link.
(Another definition for mise en scene that I've seen is " The setting of an event".)