Why is Mise-en-Scene important in a thriller film?
Mise-en-scene is very important in a thriller film as all of the aspects of mise-en-scene together make a sucessful thriller film. All of the elements play a role in creating a conventional thriller by bringing all of the esstienal structure/conventions of the thriller genre together. Some elements tend to create a connection between the audience and the character in the film. While other tend to make the thriller feeling and conventions the viewer expects to see when watching a thriller film.
What is the Mise-en-Scene of your thriller film? and Why?
Setting and Iconography - The setting of our thriller opening scene is an industrial estate at night time. The setting is covered with lampposts at different intervals beaming dim light illuminating the path and some of the road. It is mostly dark so lots of shadows are created creating the eerie setting that we want as the distance it barely visible with no help around as not many people go to this place at night. Creating a secluded setting that the audience expects to see in a thriller film.The audience properly have visited this setting before and can relate to it making it an ideal setting. Props that we will be using are a knife as it is a conventional killing weapon that is used widely across the thriller genre the knife will be stained in blood because blood is also a massive symbol in the thriller genre.
Costume, Hair and Make Up -
Blonde Female Victim - This character will be played by Hannah. We as a group want to give the audience the interpretation that this character is in some way or another a victim of some sort we can show this through the use of the characters costume and hair and make up. We want the costume to be that typical of a young girl as night time. We though the best way to capture this would be by making the character wear some form of bed ware. This would make the audience feel more relatebale to the character as they would feel comfort in the attartie worn by the girl. In relation to the hair and make of the character we want the character to look very pale with heavy black eyes. This is as we want her to stand out on the camera for the main reason that she looks very cold by the pale face and heavily bruised so it looks like she has been hurt by the heavy black eyes. Her hair will also be as if she beaten it will be scruffy and not straight so it looks like she hasn't spend time preparing for something.
Teenage Male- This character will be played by Luke. We want the audience to be able to relate to this character the most as they will experience empathy for this character when the switch of power takes place in the scene. We want this character to look as stereotypical as possible so the audience will be able to relate the most to this character. The characters costumes will mostly consist of wearing typical clothes of a teenager for outdoor wear such as jeans, coat and trainers. This will be so the audience can relate further to this character as our target audience will dress very similar to this particular character as he will be in there same age groups. In terms of make up and hair the of the character it will be completely unchanged so it looks normal so the audience can relate even further.
Facial Expressions and Body Language - The facial expressions and body language of each of the characters will vary as we want the audience to gain different responses from each of these character.
Blonde Female - The blonde female will be completely emotionally disturbed at the start of the scene showing neutral facial expressions with a slow and upset body language. This will be until she meets the teenager down the alley way. Her facial expressions will rapidly change as she become more confident and stands up straight, she will break out with a smile looking at the teenager before she disappears.
When she later returns towards the end of the scene she will move slowly with a confident body language and once again a smile on her face as she know the task she set out to do has been complete. After she has killed the teenager she will become complete emotion neutral as she is starring at the corpse of the life she has just claimed.
Teenager - We want the teenager to show confidence on the way up the alley way before we meets the girl. We want this to be maintained until the shift of power has taken place between the two characters. This is when the characters confidence will be dropped as he will become more panicked and confused as he does not understand the situation that has just occurred.
Lighting and Colour - Our filming will be taking place at night so the light we can use to our advantage will be the light produced by the lampposts. It will be Low Key Lighting as only the lampposts will be used There will be many shadows that will be cast my the dim light so it will create an eerie setting. The colours that we will mainly use will be dark like the fake blood that will be on the blonde females costume and the blood on the knife as well. We will relie on the lampost as our main light source as it is the only conventional light used in the thriller genre and any other lights used would defeat the purpose of have a shadows redian setting.
Positing of Characters/Objects within the frame - At the start of the scene the blonde female victim will be central to all of the shots in the scene she will be represent by camera angles such as the high angle to show her vulnerability in the setting. In addition she will also be insignificant in some of the shots to show at first how little power she has. When the characters meet they will both be central to the scene if we film some of the shots from a low angle we can show how dominant the male character is over the blonde female victim at first. When the power shift has occurred will be reverse these techniques to also show the audience the dominants/vulnerability of the characters.
Setting and Iconography - The setting of our thriller opening scene is an industrial estate at night time. The setting is covered with lampposts at different intervals beaming dim light illuminating the path and some of the road. It is mostly dark so lots of shadows are created creating the eerie setting that we want as the distance it barely visible with no help around as not many people go to this place at night. Creating a secluded setting that the audience expects to see in a thriller film.The audience properly have visited this setting before and can relate to it making it an ideal setting. Props that we will be using are a knife as it is a conventional killing weapon that is used widely across the thriller genre the knife will be stained in blood because blood is also a massive symbol in the thriller genre.
Costume, Hair and Make Up -
Blonde Female Victim - This character will be played by Hannah. We as a group want to give the audience the interpretation that this character is in some way or another a victim of some sort we can show this through the use of the characters costume and hair and make up. We want the costume to be that typical of a young girl as night time. We though the best way to capture this would be by making the character wear some form of bed ware. This would make the audience feel more relatebale to the character as they would feel comfort in the attartie worn by the girl. In relation to the hair and make of the character we want the character to look very pale with heavy black eyes. This is as we want her to stand out on the camera for the main reason that she looks very cold by the pale face and heavily bruised so it looks like she has been hurt by the heavy black eyes. Her hair will also be as if she beaten it will be scruffy and not straight so it looks like she hasn't spend time preparing for something.
Teenage Male- This character will be played by Luke. We want the audience to be able to relate to this character the most as they will experience empathy for this character when the switch of power takes place in the scene. We want this character to look as stereotypical as possible so the audience will be able to relate the most to this character. The characters costumes will mostly consist of wearing typical clothes of a teenager for outdoor wear such as jeans, coat and trainers. This will be so the audience can relate further to this character as our target audience will dress very similar to this particular character as he will be in there same age groups. In terms of make up and hair the of the character it will be completely unchanged so it looks normal so the audience can relate even further.
Facial Expressions and Body Language - The facial expressions and body language of each of the characters will vary as we want the audience to gain different responses from each of these character.
Blonde Female - The blonde female will be completely emotionally disturbed at the start of the scene showing neutral facial expressions with a slow and upset body language. This will be until she meets the teenager down the alley way. Her facial expressions will rapidly change as she become more confident and stands up straight, she will break out with a smile looking at the teenager before she disappears.
When she later returns towards the end of the scene she will move slowly with a confident body language and once again a smile on her face as she know the task she set out to do has been complete. After she has killed the teenager she will become complete emotion neutral as she is starring at the corpse of the life she has just claimed.
Teenager - We want the teenager to show confidence on the way up the alley way before we meets the girl. We want this to be maintained until the shift of power has taken place between the two characters. This is when the characters confidence will be dropped as he will become more panicked and confused as he does not understand the situation that has just occurred.
Lighting and Colour - Our filming will be taking place at night so the light we can use to our advantage will be the light produced by the lampposts. It will be Low Key Lighting as only the lampposts will be used There will be many shadows that will be cast my the dim light so it will create an eerie setting. The colours that we will mainly use will be dark like the fake blood that will be on the blonde females costume and the blood on the knife as well. We will relie on the lampost as our main light source as it is the only conventional light used in the thriller genre and any other lights used would defeat the purpose of have a shadows redian setting.
Positing of Characters/Objects within the frame - At the start of the scene the blonde female victim will be central to all of the shots in the scene she will be represent by camera angles such as the high angle to show her vulnerability in the setting. In addition she will also be insignificant in some of the shots to show at first how little power she has. When the characters meet they will both be central to the scene if we film some of the shots from a low angle we can show how dominant the male character is over the blonde female victim at first. When the power shift has occurred will be reverse these techniques to also show the audience the dominants/vulnerability of the characters.
How is the Mise-en-Scene conventional to a thriller film
Set Iconography - A thriller film makes go use of this element as thriller film take place in a secluded location usually for example a house. The setting is usually linked with the audience so they can relate to the film and the character. This stands as well for the Iconography of the film. The typical props that the audience sees for example a knife can be seen across the whole of the genre. So it is important that the film contains a set of props which are conventional to the thriller genre.
Costume, Hair and Make up - Some thriller films contain very iconic figures which have very complex costumes and others contain more eerie character with costumes. This is also another important element as the costumes and features of the character need to be widely considered as they need to be relateable to the auidence so they can create a bond with the audience.
Facial Expressions and Body Language- Thriller films contain lots of the characters emotions throughout the film and they are expressed through many camera angles such as close ups. This element needs to be considered as the audience will not feel the emotions of the character and will not be able to create a bond with them during the film.
Lighting and Colour - Needs to be considered as Lighting is key to creating a suspencful thriller film. If the lighting is not considered the film will not have the same effect on the audience of suprise, tension and shock created by various lighting techniques such as Low Key Lighting. As the colour as well it can comminicate esitenial information to the audience such as blood can mean death.
Positioning of Character and Objects within the frame - This element draws attention to a character at a certain time. This is important in thriller because they tend to focus highly on a character before they are killed. It gives time for the audience to bond with the characters that they have been draw to because of this element.
How can you thriller build a relationship with your target audience?
During my thriller opening scene there are many ways I cna build a relationship with my target audience. I can do this my the facial expression and body language of the charaters. I will do this by making the actor who plays the blonde female express her emotion that she feels the characte would feel like if she was in the situation of the character and show these to the audience in Close Ups and Mid-shots of the actor. I can also show this my having the blonde female in the centre of most of the shots in the opening of the scene to make it apprent to the audience that the girl is in trouble therefore creating a connection with her as they will feel they want to help her.
This post demonstrates some planning techniques. You have considered the mise-en-scene that you would like to include within your thriller sequence, but further analysis of your sequence is needed, to demonstrate further planning techniques.
ReplyDeleteTo develop this, you need to relate back to the mise-en-scene in a lot more detail. Also aim to include still images, to support the points that you have included.