Planning Mise-En-Scene

Planning Mise-En-Scene

Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means "visual theme" or "telling a story"—both in visually artful  ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction. Mise-en-scene include things like iconography and setting, facial expressions and body language, lighting and colour and costume and make up. Some of these conventions can be typical of a thriller film for example a knife is a typical thriller weapon and is placed in the iconography section. 

Setting and iconography

Our opening sequence is going to be filmed in two location. Our first and main location is a forest. We have chosen a forest as one of our settings because it is typical of a thriller film and it is also very eerie and mysterious. This makes it easier for our antagonist to blend into the background and to watch the victims. Our second setting location is a house. We have chosen this location because it makes the audience relate to the characters because they are just normal people living in a normal house. This makes them feel comfortable with the characters and it also builds a relationship between the audience and the characters. This makes it easier for us to scare the audience because they wouldn't expect something bad to happen at home. The iconography we will be using is a knife. This is typical of the thriller genre because a knife is normally always used. The knife won't appear much in our opening sequence but were only using it to show power. By the antagonist carrying a knife it shows that he has the upper and over the other two characters. We are also using a mask in our sequence. This mask will be worn by the antagonist and it will symbolise danger whenever his around.

Lighting and colour

The lighting of a film is very important. Lighting sets the scene and it also makes the setting clear. Thriller films typically have dark lighting to try and scare the audience into thinking anything could be lurking beneath the shadows. My group have gone for the same idea. Our opening sequence is set in a forest which I genuinely dark anyway. We are going to wait till dusk so that there is some light to show the antagonist but not enough light to clearly show his identity to the audience. This way we keep the audience wondering who the killer is. We are not going to only use dark lighting though. Some of our scenes are set in locations where there is going to be lots of light like the house scene. We are using this technique to try and trick the audience into thinking that nothing bad will occur in the specific scene because it is light. We will add in a jump scare to catch the audience unawares. Colour is also a key aspect in films. The colour a person is wearing can indicate what there emotion or personality. Our antagonist is going to be wearing all black with a white mask, These dark colours are used to make our antagonist look dangerous and mysterious. We want our audience to be afraid of him but also curious of who he really is. Our victims (Hannah and Ella) are going to ear bright colour to indicate there innocents and vulnerability. This will build a relationship with the audience because they know that they could get themselves into danger.

Facial expressions and body language

The facial expressions and body language a person has can clearly indicate there mood. Our antagonists face is going to be covered up by a mask so the audience wont be able to see his facial expressions. This means that they will find it hard to know his mood or how he is feeling. This emphasis the element of mystery because they don't know what his thinking. This in turn breaks the relationship between the antagonist and the audience because they cant build a bond with him. Our antagonists body language is going to be tall and stern. This indicates power and authority because he is bigger then the other characters in the film. Our two victims are quite small which indicates vulnerability because they would be helpless against the giant killer. The makes the audience feel protective of the two girls because they are no match to tall figure who lurks in the forest.

Costume and make up

Costumes and make up are used to hide the identity of characters. The antagonist in our film is hidden behind a mask and a black cloak. The black cloak makes it easier for the killer to move in and out of the shadows without being noticed until your close to him. This makes it easy for the killer to scare the audience and to take victims easily without anyone noticing. The white mask is the only thing visible when the killer attacks. The white mask symbolises death and is known in the area that when someone see it , they disappear a few days after.