Mise-en-Scene Miss Georgiou

Mise-en-Scene is very important within thriller films as it makes the audience aware what genre of the film they are watching. Mise-en-scene makes the film more interesting and engages the audience. Its important you have successful mise-en-scene conventions in your thriller otherwise the audience may miss the concept of your film and will be unsuccessful altogether.
The five elements of mise-en-scene are setting iconography, costumes, hair and makeup, Facial expressions and body language, lighting and colour and positioning of characters within the frame. Iconography is a symbolic representation, especially the conventional meanings attached to an image or images, for example in a thriller film a knife could just be a prop that is used throughout that scene but the symbolic representation of it could be danger or pain that someones going through. Costumes hair and makeup are what the actors/actress look like throughout out the scene. In the thriller genre the victims are typically blonde females with innocent clothes and makeup on to look innocent whereas the killer of the scene will typically be in dark clothing, dark hair and have makeup on that will make them look evil. Facial expressions show the audience how the characters feel in the film and the body language of them show the audience how they act towards something. Lighting and colour in the film is how dark the scene is, in thrillers its typically low key whereas in comical films high key lighting is used. Positioning of characters is where they are in the scene for example main characters are in the middle of the camera whereas other characters will be at the sides so the audience become aware who the main characters are and who they should focus on.

As a group we decided to set the location of our thriller film in a creepy house and in a forest as its very conventional to a thriller and adds a sense of mystery to the film. By setting it in a forest the audience will also become aware that the girl is possessed as she is walking alone by herself. We also decided to set it in a forest because when we was asking our questionnaires the responses we got was that they like thrillers which are set there. In the editing stage we will add in different effects as it will create a tense atmosphere for the audience which is conventional to the thriller genre. We will make the house creepy by using household objects which will give off a mystery feel to the audience and edit the house scene after filming to create a tense atmosphere for the audience which is conventional to a thriller genre. We will also edit the forest scene to make it look sketchy which will build tension for the audience. 

This is the forest that were filming at.

We decided as a group that our iconography would be the glass of water, television and the lake. We are using the glass of water as iconography as its linked with the death of the girl. At the end of the scene when the girl drowns it becomes clear to the audience that she got possessed by water whereas they might of not understood the story line before. The glass of water gives of a clear sense of mystery throughout the scene which is conventional to the thriller genre. The audience will be thinking why did she drop the glass? or why does she circle the glass? The glass of water could also show shes drank something to become possessed which makes the narrative clearer at the end. We specifically chose a glass of water instead of something like drugs as our rating of the film is a 15 and we wanted to keep it clean. The television is also iconography as its on a static screen which shows the audience that she could be mental and became obsessed. It makes the opening sequence more interesting for the audience and more jumpier when its edited successfully. The lake is iconography as the girl drowns herself in it which engages the audience and makes it clear she wasn't right in the head. Lastly the main iconography of the scene is the watch. We are using a close up of the watch to clearly show the audience what it is. We are using the watch to show the audience that she has'nt got a lot of time till her death is due. The connotation of the watch is that her time is up which will build tension for the audience. We decided to use the watch as the iconography to create enigma and interest the audience.

We discussed carefully about the costume choice as there is only one character which is the victim that gets possessed, she will wear normal clothes which are stereo typically be innocent looking so when she becomes possessed the audience with feel empathy for her, building a relationship between them. Her hair is blonde which is conventional to a victim in a thriller as it makes her look more vulnerable which is key when trying to build a relationship between the audience and the characters. At the beginning of the scene she will apply make up to show the audience that she is a normal typical girl. We used the evidence of make up being applied to help build a relationship between the audience and the characters as they're gain feeling for the girl and therefore get more attached to the girl as she shows her vulnerable side.The blonde female victim is very conventional to a thriller as she looks really innocent which builds more of a relationship between her and the audience as they will feel sorry for her more. Also because there is only one character she will be wearing bright colors so the audience are clear shes the victim not the killer. 

The body language of the victim will look like she has become possessed after she has dropped the glass so the audience are aware that an innocent girl has got possessed. The victim will storm out the house and look angry which shows that she has gotten possessed and will build tension for the audience as the may become aware that something bad will happen. It will also create a mystery feel which is conventional to the thriller genre. The facial expression of the character will look quite ghostly and dead to show that shes gotten possessed. It will build high tension and make the atmosphere jumpy which is conventional to the thriller genre. We will use a close up in one bit of the scene to make the facial expression clear to the audience which will create suspense. 

We discussed that the lighting of our opening sequence will be low key but not too dark to show off the victim character. We want the victim to stand out as shes the only character in the scene so we cant have the lighting too dark. Low key lighting is also very conventional to thrillers as the audience wont be able to see parts of the scene which will create tension and suspense. Our questionnaire showed us that we should use it for a successful thriller. The positioning of the character will also be in the middle every time as shes the only character in the scene and the so the audience will focus on her and the mise en scene around her.

Our mise-en-scene is conventional to a thriller as we have used many conventions of a thriller in our scene. Our setting is very stereotypical a thriller as its set in a dark house and forest, the costumes are also stereotypical as the victims outfit will be innocent looking, the facial expressions is not so typical to a thriller but it will bring excitement to the audience. The lighting is defiantly conventional to a thriller as it will be low key throughout. Many thrillers use low key lighting. Positioning of characters is conventional also as in films the main characters are in the middle which we are planning to do for our film. Mise en scene help build strong relationships with the audience and the characters.

Our thriller can build a relationship with our target audience as it will have many conventions which suit are target audience which is a 15. The conventions which interest our audience which will be in our opening scene will be small violence, jumpy scenes and elements of excitement.