Research into Mise-En-Scene - Miss Georgiou

Mise-En-Scene

All films include a combination of Mise-En-Scene elements including, Setting & Iconography, Costume, Hair & Makeup, Facial Expressions & Body Language, Lighting & Colour and the positioning of characters & objects within the scene. I have chose to analyse the clip from "Saw" 

Settings & Locations are an important element of making a successful thriller, they are not just "backgrounds". Settings can manipulate an audience by creating certain expectations then giving a 'twist' to the scene. It also allows them to know what is happening in the scene and what is going to take place. Costume, Hair & Makeup act are important of any film. For example, if a character is hidden from using a item of clothing that discuses them usually they are the villain. It gives us a clear indication and insight to the character based on personality, status and job all signified by costumes.Facial Expressions indicate how the character is feeling. For example if a character within the seen is smiling they are portrayed as happy, however if this is accompanied by music that is threatening this can change the portrayal of the smile and could be seen as mysterious and creepy. Furthermore body language can also infer to the audience how the character is feeling within the scene or how a certain character feels towards another character, this may also portray and reflect the two characters relationship.

Positioning within a frame is also a key convention of the mise-en-scene as it  can draw out attention to an important character or object. In addition to this a film-maker can use positioning to indicate relationships between people. Colour is also takes an important role within mise-en-scene, colour can give the scene a certain feel and look to what it wants the audience to feel. Colour also  creates certain connotations which may add hidden meanings to the scene which the audience may pick up on. For example red could be portrayed as danger and passion, whereas pink could symbolize love and romance.

Setting & Iconography

The scene that I have selected from the film "Saw" is located in a dirty, isolated bathroom. The dirty setting gives the impression that the room has not been used for some time creating enigma for the audience as they wonder how have the characters ended up in this room. The setting is also isolated, which gives a sense of urgency as the characters that are placed in the difficult situation, have nowhere to escape, automatically jeopardizing their own safety, making the audience sympathize as they imagine themselves in this situation and would also not know what to do. The iconography used within this scene is a knife. This automatically has the audience gripping onto their seats wondering what is going to happen next as a knife has connotations with blood, death and brutality. This automatically creates a sense of foreboding as the audience know that something bad is going to happen to one of the characters throughout this scene, and do not know which character this will be.

Costume, Hair & Makeup

Within this scene, each character is each wearing light coloured clothing, with all 3 of them having blood also on their clothes. The light white and grey clothing could symbolize the innocence of the characters as they do not want to be in this situation. However, grey also has connotations of being emotionless, which relates to the characters as they are all defending themselves and do not care much about each others safety and well being anymore. Aside from this, the blood on the lighter clothing contrasts the innocence that the victims once had, and the blood now denominating this as this has connotations with death, brutality and danger, which the characters have been exposed to.


Positioning of Characters

The positioning of the characters throughout this clip presents the dominance and authority of the characters. It can be seen that the young male, and female are huddled closely together on the floor whilst the male is towering above them as he asks for the dead boy to be turned round, to help himself and reveal the number. This creates suspense for the audience as it is unknown what the man will do in order to get the number and could potentially jeopardize the safety of the vulnerable female character. The roles quickly reverse as the woman suggests that she will not do as the man asks he then begins to cut his own neck, to reveal his number as he falls to the ground as his dominance is taken away, and the woman stands up as she is now in control as the cutting of the mans neck and he dies, now revealing his number for the woman so she can save herself, giving a sense of relief to the audience as nobody is murdered and a life has only been taken by the person itself. 

Facial Expression & Body Language

The female protagonist is represented as very distressed and terrified as the male is cutting his own neck and killing himself, the close up clearly shows her emotion and fear as she watches the man endure severe pain. This allows the audience to understand the terror and fright she must feel and wonder what she is going to do next. The zoomed in shot of the male protagonist allows the audience to see

what excruciating pain he is encountering as he is using the knife to cut into his neck. The audience sympathies for him as they could only imagine the pain he is in. This is conventional to the thriller genre as the emotions displayed make the scene so realistic and adds to the overall effect that the scene creates.



Lighting & Colour

The lighting and colour throughout the scene remains very low key and dim. The dark lighting helps to establish the personality of the man as he dies slowly on the floor, this portrays him as a nasty evil man as he was originally wanting to harm the two other characters in order to defend himself. The dark, low key lighting also helps to create and set the scene, as if the scene was brightly lit it would not be as intense and gripping as it does not build any suspense. It helps to create a eerie, suspicious atmosphere as the audience anticipate that something bad is going to happen within the dim lighting. The colours used within the scene such as white contradict the characters motives within the scene as they are not pure and moral as he is only trying to save himself. However, the grey used in the scene could represent the mans emotions as grey has connotations with being emotionless and a loss, which could possibly forebode the death of the male.  

In conclusion, mise-en-scene helps to create the entire scene and helps the audience to build relationships with the characters and understand the characters relationships with each other individually. When creating my own thriller opening sequence I will use this research to help with putting together and coordinating mise-en-scene elements. This has helped me as it will ensure the mise-en-scene elements add to create a well thought out sequence. For example, with costumes I will ensure it is relatable to the scene and has connotations which get the audience thinking. I will also ensure the lighting is appropriate for the particular scene to set the right mood and what will prove most effective for the audience.