Planning Mise-en-scene- Miss Georgiou

Planning Mise-en-scene

All films include a combination of a variety elements and subsequently allow us to decipher what type of genre the film falls into.  Each segment of mise-en-scene plays a different role within a film. The setting and iconography presents the location to the audience whether it be, a gloomy forest at night or a bathroom, this provides crucial information to the viewer in terms of, whats happening in the scene and what is about to take place. Costumes, hair and make-up provide a key insight to a character without even being introduced to them yet, as we can analyse and configure an assumption based around their status and personalities. Facial expressions and body language are crucial especially within a thriller, as the key focus for this genre is usual upon the traumatised and terrified state the protagonist is enduring. Lighting and colour, although typically a thriller film would not include much light or colour, this in itself is a powerful adaptation to these two elements, making it very clear to an audience, what is about to happen and how the characters are feeling. The positioning of characters may not seem as important as the other elements, but this is not at all true. The positioning allows the audience to see the characters from many different angles leaving them fully understanding of the scene, creating an emotive response from the viewer.

Setting & iconography

Our thriller film first presents the antagonist during the very beginning, showing him laying in the middle of a road. This scene is set on a typical English, quiet street at night, with only the street lights, passing vechicles and distant houses, to illuminate the setting. The street will not feature any signage as to create a fictional location, enhancing the ambiguity of the scene, as the audience can not identify where the film is set and whether it is real. The setting therefore aids the prevelant theme of hidden identity. The naturalistic street scene provides a vast sense of familiarity for the audience, helping them to easily relate to the film as they could easily imagine themselves within the setting. As the film progresses the setting is suistained and mirrors the normality of the street. As the antagonist lay in the road the road the audience are left tense with his recklessness and the possibility, he may be ran over by a car, meaning the audience would never find out the reason for being where he was, at that particular time and his importance to the film.
 Towards the end of my thriller film there is a chase scene, between the remaining female protagonist and the antagonist. We decided that the protagonist would be chased throug a forest. A forest setting presents the theme of enigma, extremely disimmilar from the safe familiriarity of the street. The forest offers many places, perfect for hiding and remaining unseen. The audience is aware of this and are subsiquently fearful as the suspense of the dark forest builds. It is important that the area of forest we use for filming is predominantly narrow pathways, for the protagonist to run down. This will present an uncomfortable, claustrophobic viewing for the audience. As well as this, the progression from open street scene to narrow, confined, secluded path, helps to emphasise a discomforting predictability for the protagonists well being. This suggests she hasn't much hope of escaping, leaving the audience routing for the character, as they urge them to break the typical conventions of a thriller film and survive. 
In regards to iconography, we have chosen a highly conventional thriller film element of a mask. The mask will be white and worn by the antagonist, towards the later half of our film (just as the first female protagonist is murdered). A mask works in conjunction with the prevalent theme of hidden identity, preventing the audience from discovering who the antagonist is, ruining the sense of ambiguity. The mask helps to dehumanise the antagonist, presenting them as inhuman, with no remorse for evil actions that will inflict pain upon others. This idea presented to the viewer builds a strong suspense as they realise that the antagonist doesn't have the capacity to convey emotion, foreboding that he will participate in something villianous and harmful. 
The colour white represented through the use of the mask represents the protagonist's innocence. It connotes the antagonist has ripped the protagonist of her innocence, by exposing her to the brutal murder of her best friend, and how he wears it proudly on his face, taunting her with the realisation she will never be the same, all because of him. Furthermore, we decided that using a swing, during the flashbacks, would be highly effective. A swing presents innocence and childhood frivolity. The immediate juxtaposition of the thriller genre of the film and the naive joy and happiness creates tension, as the audience are aware of this happiness will not last. The swing also emphasises the flashback, clearly conveying the theme of childhood. 

Lighting & Colour

Throughout my thriller film,  there will be a prevalent use of low key lighting, as it will be filmed during evening.However, as the opening credits begin to roll and the flashbacks commence, the lighting will be bright, to make the the flashback from past to present day clear and distinct. The bright illumination of lighting within the flashback presents the way in which life as a child, for the antagonist, was bright and hope filled until the point at which he reached a point where he had to leave innocence and naivity behind him. There may be a sepia tint to the lighting during the flashback episode, this reflects how the scene is retrospective and dated, disconnected from the present day. The predominantly low key lighting obscures the action, this creates tension  and uncertainty in the viewer as they have to attempt to make sense of what they see on screen . In addition the dim ambient lighting conveys the loneliness and isolation of the protagonists, create empathy in the audience.

  Our thriller film will show an evolution from a brightly lit state ( in the flashback ) to a low lit , menacing , state in the present (forest scene). This progression from light to dark may be seen as an interpretation of the antagonists movement from the  light  of childhood -innocence, naivety, optimism  to the disturbed and murky state of the present with its sense of foreboding. It is important that we make the protagonist's facial features clear to the audience, especially within  the chase scene in the forest to convey emotion and fear. I feel as though the protagonist could desperately fumble for her phone whilst running and struggle to turn on her torch. This would create an excuse to create a light source with a directed focus within the context of events. The jolting erratic movement of the torch beam, highlighting random  objects such as  her shoes, tree stumps etc as she ran would heighten the sense of panic  and confusion and the juxtaposition of this with the eerie half light would add to the sense that the natural order was disturbed. 

The colour also has an important role in the film, for instance when the first protagonist is murdered and her friend discovers her body, she coughs up blood . The bright red effusion of blood creates a poignant and shocking image. The colour red  carries implications of danger, love , hell, all of which will affect the perspective of the audience . The death of the first protagonist should occur under a street lamp so that the light shining down upon the body will frame the dead girl and suggest a halo effect to represent  her innocence, purity and premature death and add a religious aspect. 

Costumes & Make-up

The costumes of both the protagonist and antagonist are simplistic and don not require a lot of research into, as the film is set in the present day. Firstly, the female protagonist wearing, dresses and heels or typical party, outgoing attire, as they return home from celebrating one of their 18th birthdays. The party clothing, paired with their drunken state, highlights how vulnerable they are, making it apparent to the audience that they are easy targets. However, the antagonist will be wearing, old, worn, and mostly black clothing, such as a black track suit. His clothing is tattered and old to present a theme of enigma, leaving the audience to question where he had come from and what happened to him. The black colour scheme emphasizes his evil persona, warning the audience, as well as creating a form of camouflage for him during the darkness of the nighttime setting of the film. The makeup use for the protagonists will be typically out going. As the thriller progresses into the final chase scene, the protagonist's makeup will show a gradual deterioration, as well as the remaining protagonist's clothing, due to her frantic running desperation. We decided to use special effects, as I have a lot of experience with a variety of special effects techniques. For our thriller we will be using fake blood and I will be adding some bruising to the murdered protagonist to make it as realistic as possible.

Facial Expressions & Body Language 

Facial expressions and body language are crucial for creating a realistic viewing for the audience. When the scene begins as the antagonist is laying in the road his face should be free of any emotion or tension and his body limp and sprawled. This will create a lifeless and almost dead appearance, therefore creating an eerie ambiguity because we can not decipher whether the body is alive, and if not, what or who killed them? The abnormality of the antagonists actions immediately singles him out and highlights to the audience that he may be mentally disturbed, as he does not abide with social conventions. A juxtaposition between antagonist and protagonist is immediately evident; the contrast of energetic and spiritely girls, with the lifeless antagonist presents an instant imbalance within the film, leaving a sense of foreboding with the audience as the  sever contrast in characters is displayed to them. The girls are not sober and therefore encapsulate a vulnerable appearance, as they are not fully in control of themselves. This vulnerability is used to mirror the flash back, when the young boy sat slouched as her sits sadly on the swing set. Therefore the audience is reminded of the antagonists presence even when he is not in the frame and only the protagonist are shown.

Positioning Of Characters

The positioning and placement of each character presents attachments and relationship, without the use of dialogue. During the flashback within the beginning the young boy sitting on the swing will be shown, directly in the center of the screen. This presents to the audience immediately that his positioning and power created by opening the thriller film means he is a central character in our film. As well as this, the little boy is framed in the middle of the shot, this presents his isolation and how singled out he is. The isolation conveyed to the audience by his positioning provokes a feeling of empathy from the viewer. Towards the end of our film, in a moment of panic remaining the female protagonist trips over a stray twig on the forest floor. As she lay paralyzed with terror and pain, she is shown on the floor starring out the antagonist. The difference in level (floor&standing) displays the power struggle between both characters. The antagonist is standing to emphasize his power over the protagonist and how she is perceived by him as a lower human being. This positioning makes it clear to the audience that the antagonist holds all the control of the situation. This in turn causes the viewer to be sympathetic for the protagonist and generally very tense. The film ends before the viewer can see what happens next, therefore leaving the audience in suspense with the sense of enigma. This strong suspense created is highly conventional of a thriller and used to suddenly shock the audience when the next shot abruptly appears. 

The planning of mise-en-scene meant myself and my group could explore, in detail, every element that helps to create a successful thriller film. Also analysis each element has allowed me to alter a few elements we has not previously thought about. For example, when analyzing lighting I realised there was not much diversity, as it was all low key lighting. I feel the inclusion of a torch light, held by the protagonist, during the chase scene would help to break the constant low key, night time state, creating an enhanced viewing for the audience. Mise-en-scene will help to build a relationship with the audience as it combines a variety of elements, providing the three key words, in relation to a thriller film shock suspense, and surprise. Through analysing each element, this meant we could finalise and perfect each part of mise-en-scene. In addition we hoped to improve the audience response from each element through ensuring that each part of mise-en-scene was extremely realatable with the viewer.