Planning: Planning Mise En Scene - Mrs. Quinlan

Mise En Scene

Introduction:

Mise en scene is made up of body language and facial expression, lighting, setting, costume, hair and make-up and iconography. It is important to have mise en scene in films, especially thrillers because the audience are able to have a clear understanding of the events of a scene and understand whether the events occurring have positive or negative connotations. Moreover, with mise en scene, audiences are able to understand the film much more as they are able to pick out particular things from the scene and make inferences of it, what might later foreshadow in the film or represent. For example; If low-key lighting is accompanied by non-diegetic sound of a soundtrack, it creates more tension and suspense for the viewers. Viewers are able to suggest that something negative and terrifying is going to happen next due to the mise en scene used further portraying mystery and danger. In addition, not only audiences are able to make predictions about the film, they can also tell what type of character that individual is just from their hair, make-up and costume, body language and facial expression. For example; if a character has dark clothing, something that enable's the character to hide his identity will tell the audience that he/she is the antagonist of the film because he/she has something to hide. If the antagonist has confident body language, it also portrays that this individual has dark intentions because they are strong and confident in what they're about to do ignoring any consequences that might face them later on. I strongly believe that it's important to use mise en scene, especially if it's a thriller because it adds on additional emotions for the audience making it a thrilling and enjoyable experience for them, mise en scene highlights the suspense and tension through these elements such as costume and lighting so the audience are able to react to it immediately.

Body Language & Facial Expression

Antagonist: Jamie Anderson

The Antagonist Jamie Anderson will have an upright posture with a neutral facial expression throughout the opening. Anderson has this body language because he is confident of who he is and he doesn't really seem vulnerable to get easily attacked. This portrays that he is an important character, audience might wonder if he's the protagonist or antagonist due to his confident and upright body language he'll have in the opening. Anderson has a neutral facial expression throughout which doesn't indicate much yet till he gets home and remains calm when he after the viewers witness dead bodies scattered around his house. He has no reaction towards these dead bodies and simply ignores them like there's nothing there, this could indicate that his the antagonist as audiences are able to clearly infer that these people in his house were killed by him. Further suggesting that the antagonist is a psycho killer because a normal person wouldn't react to this normally. This is conventional to a thriller film because the audience are able to understand clearly that he is psycho through his neutral expression.

Anti-Hero/ Victim: Trang Lam

The anti-hero/ victim also has a slouched posture throughout the thriller opening to suggest that her body is lifeless. She's un-dead which is portrayed through her slouched and lifeless body that follows the antagonist around all day. This further portrays that she was a victim before but not longer shows that she's a victim by her neutral facial expression she has planted on her face which makes her the anti-hero, confident in what she's about to do next. Not only having a neutral expression to show that she's the anti-hero but also to denote that she's a living, dead body. She is a conventional thriller victim as her body language is slouched, showing vulnerability although at the same time, she is also an anti-hero because of her neutral expression instead of a scared expression to demonstrate that she's no longer a victim in the opening. Trang was once a victim, brutally murdered by the antagonist but has come back to seek vengeance and now is the anti-hero.

Victims: Victim 1, 2, 3, 4

These victims will be scattered around the house, they will have no facial expression, with closed eyes, it tells the audience that they are simply lifeless bodies that have been killed by the antagonist. Body language is also something to indicate that they're dead, by having a resting position on the floor, not moving at all shows that they are dead. Victim 4 who appears in frame 9 is still alive but barely conscious. He has poor, slouched body posture to show that he is a vulnerable victim trapped within this prison by the antagonist. Victim 4 has a terrified facial expression to further portray that his an innocent victim when he sees his perpetrator.

Lighting

The lighting in my thriller opening will mainly consists of low-key lighting, supported by various angles such as high, low and back. This is to portray dark and gloomy events that will take place in this opening indicating that the antagonist is in fact, the antagonist. In the first scene when we see the antagonist leaving the cemetery after attending a funeral, the weather will be very cold and gloomy encouraging the idea of pathetic fallacy. The low-key lighting directed on this man shows that he is a dark character. When he arrives home, low-key lighting is used throughout to show this man who brings negative vibes where ever he goes to tell the audience that he is the protagonist.
When the Anti-hero appears, back lighting is used to only show her silhouette and creepy figure keeping her identity hidden makes the audience feel uneasy and scared.

Setting

The setting for my thriller opening begins in a cemetery after the antagonist attends a funeral to which we don't know this person who just passed away is. The dark emerald green shades of the forest trees and grass portray that the antagonist feels envy. The dark and gloomy day also portrays that this particular character has dark intentions. This makes the audience question whether he is the protagonist or no because it wouldn't be a conventional setting for a hero to be in.

The second scene will be at the antagonist un-kept house, the house looks like it hasn't been cleaned in days with dead bodies scattered around the house and furniture tipped over, the house is a wreck. This shows that this is the antagonists house because it is also dark with no light. This suggests that the antagonist wants to keep this hidden from everyone else so refuses any light to stream in afraid that someone may see these dead bodies.

The last setting I decided to use in my thriller opening is when the
man is out in the public. He has changed his clothes to some more dark clothes to show that his the antagonist. There is still low-key lighting portrayed through the gloomy weather however the light source is coming from a high angle to demonstrate that he looks just like the other people walking on the street. The people around him on the street illustrate that he is just as ordinary like other people which gives it a more clam and relax vibe, just like an ordinary day which doesn't make him look intimidating.

Costume, hair and make-up

 

The Antagonist: Jamie Anderson

Anderson will be dressed in dark black suit. This shows that he is  the antagonist who knows well what he's doing. This is because the dark colour black portray his dark and evil intentions but the suit generally indicates that his confident in what he does. He is the antagonist that is the psycho killer who clearly gets away with it. He later changes into all dark clothes to make the audience fully understand clearly that he is the antagonist. He is neatly groomed to blend within society further demonstrating that he looks like a normal person who will never be assumed of these terrible things.

The Anti-Hero/ Victim: Trang Lam

The now Anti-hero is wearing all white long dress to show that that she was once a victim of the antagonist. It further shows her once vulnerability and innocence that was taken away from her by the antagonist. She also wears large contact lens to empathise her dark eyes to show that she has evil intentions towards the antagonist. Long black hair to hide her identity for the audience to later discover. She has a pale face to show that she's dead, also with smudge make ran down her face to show that she has been crying in her past life.

Victims: 1, 2, 3, 4

All the victims would have similar clothing to show that they are the victims such as having light colours showing vulnerability. Preferably the colour white to show innocence and purity, furthermore when injured tends to contrast the colour red of blood making it stand out and more visible. Having colours like that contrasting is conventional for victims as it tells the audience almost immediately they've been hurt because they are the victim.

Conclusion:

Overall, this planning has been very beneficial to me as I've made it very clear to myself what type of mise en scene that will be used in my thriller opening. I've identified each element of mise en scene that I want to include in my opening showing it's important elements such connotations that might indicate the audience particular messages. I have discussed each element in detail ensuring that my ideas are conventional to the thriller genre creating suspense and anticipation from the audience.