RESEARCH INTO MISE-EN-SCENE

RESEARCH INTO MISE-EN-SCENE

•Settings & Iconography

•Costume, Hair & Make Up

•Facial Expressions & Body Language

•Lighting & Colour

•Positioning of characters/objects within the frame

MES means everything that is put into a scene. This consists of the five things above. Mise-en-scene is used in most films but is most commonly seen in thriller films. I have picked the thriller film 'Scream'. The clip above only shows a short time frame of the film although throughout the whole film mise-en-scene is used.

(1)In this first picture is shows the scene of the house. It is very dark and mysterious outside. Inside the house there is few dimmed lights on, this makes the character stand out more to the audience and giving the bakground of the house a dark and gloomy look. The house is very old fashioned which gives the feeling the house has been there a long time. This creates tension for the audience, also making them feel scared for thr young lonely girl, as we can see more things than she cant. The audience feel the urge to shout at the vunrable woman and explain to her what se is getting herself into.

(2)In this picture you can see the characters eyes glancing at the main object of the room. Her white jumper indicates that she's an innocent young woman who is in this large house on her own. There is a very restricted amount of lighting on in the room and her and the knifes stand out and are the main focus for the camera. The camera is zoomed into her face and the direct point for the camera is the knife. The knife is the main feature of the room and makes the audience feel scared. I as the audience feel scared for her aswell as us, we dont know what is going to jump out or scream in her/our faces, creating a sense of mystery.

(3)Thirdly, you can now see that the character is playing mind games with the 'scary' voice and her facial expressions soon change. Her smiling face shows that she is happy with chosen weapon and is right in her eye frame. Her position shows that she is directly in the middle of the room with all sharp kitchen utensils around her. This shows although she may look sweet and innocent she is in fact very clever inside.

(4)Lastly, the popcorn popping in the background gives a huge effect for the background noise. As there is no music and just background silence, the phone call going on is all you can hear. From the phone call you can hear a dark and deep voice coming through the speaker, this is done intentionally so the audience can hear the full conversation going on between the two. Although this victim doesn't seem to be bothered that her popcorn is ready to eat, her main focus is on playing mind games with her secret caller and her position is still on the main weapon in the room. Her facial expressions do not seem to show her being frightened at all, she looks as though she has the main power. This creates an overall suspence for the audience and in the room. Her mind games are winding up the murderer and the long lasting popcorn noise is a typical conventionn of a thriller film. 

The film Scream is a prime 'thriller' film for mise-en-scene. This film has all five of the features, making it a great film. This character has a petite young looking woman, wearing a slim fitted cream jumper. This could influence that she is very innocent. The fact that she is left on a house in her own at night time in the middle of no where is a prime scene for a horror movie to take place. There is also limited lighting which gives the effect that no one is home and it would be easy to scare someone. Unlike most horror films her facial expressions show that is she is not afraid of this cold caller and feels she has no reason not to answer the phone. Her house is very old fashioned which could implicate that her / family have lived there a very long time. Furthermore, the fact that its night time would mean blinds/curtains would be closed, unlike the background scene in the first picture which shows the house is on full display and the lights being on implicates that some body is in that room. This clip will help me to create my own thriller as i have looked at the background, for example, in this film the background is in the middle of the no where giving a greater effect to the watcher. Furthermore, the knife is creating suspense and she grabs it, making the audience scared. This has helped me as i will now explore what objects i am going to use to create suspense for the audience.

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