Planning Mise En Scene

Mise en Scene

Mise-en-scene is a french expression meaning what is put into a scene or frame which communicates essential information to the audience. The Mise-En-Scene is made up of 5 key elements such as Setting & Iconography, Costume, Hair & Makeup, Facial Expressions & Body Language, Lighting & Colour and the positioning of characters & objects within the scene. 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. Costume, Hair & Makeup act are an indication of a characters personality, status and job. Certain costumes can signify individuals. For example, if a character is hidden from using a item of clothing that discuses them usually they are the villain. 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

A setting has to be selected carefully as this can help to engage the audience, making them want to continue to watch on, as the setting helps to build tension and suspense meeting certain expectations. One setting that we have decided and planned upon as a group is a road in a quiet village with not many people around. When we film this scene we will film in the dim light as it will begin to be going dark outside. This begins to create suspense as the audience see at this point the young, vulnerable girls setting out for their walk into the forest late at night, with nobody around to help them if they were to need it. Furthermore, the next scenes will be filmed in the local forest, which we will also film in the near darkness we found that by using a smaller section of the forest this will help to make the characters come across as a victim as they are in an enclosed, isolated area and they also do not know there way around the forest. We wanted to use the forest at this time as it creates a sense of fear as it is unknown what lies within the forest, and creates a sense of foreboding as it is unknown what will happen next. In addition to this the isolated forest is conventional to the thriller genre that helps to build suspense and tension, as the audience will then empathize for the characters as they cant help but imagine themselves in this situation and how scared and terrified they would be feeling. 



Facial Expressions & Body Language

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. Body language can show the audience how the character is feeling immediately without even having to speak, or how they feel towards another character within the scene. Throughout or opening thriller sequence the audience will see the two protagonists facial expressions go from happy and smiling, to terrified and scared, to when they are possessed at the end looking angry and frightening. The facial expressions that will be used will clearly portray to the audience how they are feeling, and it will be obvious to the audience why they are feeling this way. The body language and facial expressions used will help to engage the audience as they will feel a sense of urgency and fear for the characters as they put there self in the current situation.

Iconography/Costume

Iconography is the visual images and symbols used in a work of art of the study or interpretation of these. The main piece of iconography and costuming we will use within our thriller opening sequence is a mask for our antagonist. This is because the hidden identity of the antagonist creates a sense of enigma and uncertainty for the audience as they do not know what is going to happen next, and who is behind the mask. This also makes them wonder who is behind the mask and what their intentions are. Not only this but they will begin to question why the unidentified antagonist has selected those specific victims building suspense, making them want to watch on. Another feature of iconography that we will be using is a dog, by using this the audience will want to continue watching on as they sympathies for the dog as the audience can sometimes build a better relationship with an animal rather than a character.




Lighting and Colour

Similar to many conventional thrillers, in our opening thriller sequence we will be using low-key lighting as the majority of our sequence will be shot during the evening and is almost very dark out by the time we will begin to film. We prefer this choice and style of lighting as it creates suspense and enigma for the audience and makes them want to continue watching. This is because both the audience and the victims can't see what is around them in the isolated setting, not knowing what may happen next. This intensifies the scene as the audience realise it is unknown what could happen to the characters and they are far away from reaching any help or escaping if they need to. Colours will help to represent the characters within the opening thriller sequence. The colours will be shown through the use of costume, for example, the antagonist will be wearing very dark colours, such as grey and black. This is to show his type of personality as black and grey have connotations with being emotionless, almost as though he does not care about the harm he causes his victims and does not think twice about his actions. We will use lighter colours to dress the victim, as this suggests she is innocent, the audience will begin to sympathize as she is in this situation without having done anything wrong. Furthermore, the use of black and white shows a contrast between the personalities of the characters and represents the good vs. evil between the antagonist and protagonist. Using colour within a thriller is conventional to the genre as it helps the audience understand about the different characters as the colours can help to build suspense and tension depending on what colour is used.

Positioning of Characters

The positioning of characters within a scene is important as it draws attention and focus to certain characters. The positioning may also show relationships between characters and how they feel towards each other. Throughout my opening thriller sequence there will be a varied amount of changes of the positions of where the characters are placed. One position, will be a mid shot of the girls walking down the center of the pavement. The purpose of having the girls in the middle of the shot is to emphasize the fact that they are by themselves and there is nobody around them, this will create suspense and tension for the audience as it will forebode that something bad is going to happen, and what will the young protagonists do if something bad were to happen to them. Throughout the opening thriller sequence we will also be using different levels as positions for the characters. For example, the victims will be lower down than the antagonist. This shows a clear difference in dominance and authority between the characters. The characters positioned lower down are portrayed as weak and vulnerable as they have a scary and tall figure towering over them. This automatically puts the audience on edge as they can see the vulnerability of the two girls as the antagonist is in clear control of the situation from positioning and body language. This is conventional to the thriller genre as this shows the different authoritative personalities and the clear difference in status and power between the protagonists and antagonist.

By planning for aspects of mise-en-scene that will appear in our opening thriller sequence this has enabled myself and my group to expand on each others ideas on what we think individually will work well within the sequence to improve our final product as much as possible. The mise-en-scene elements we are planning to include will help to create several emotions as the audience watch, including shock, surprise and suspense which are three key elements within the thriller genre which helps to engage the audience as they watch, making them want to continue watching onward.