Planning Mise-en-Scene - Miss Georgiou

Mise - en - scene is everything which the audience can see on the screen.  It makes the film more effective and makes it more realistic and it sets the scene.

Mise en Scene consists of 5 elements including:

• Settings & Iconography
• Costume, Hair & Makeup
• Facial Expressions 
• Body Language
• Lighting, Colour and Positioning

SETTING

We have decided to use different settings such as a car park and a forest.  People may be able to relate to a car park scene as it could be close to reality.  It would be close to reality because everyone can realise a car park.  The car park would need to be empty, to give a sense that it's abandoned and the victim may the only one there at the time.  Another reason, we have decided to use the car park would be that our sequence requires a car and the car would pull into the car park.    

Even though a forest is quite typical of a thriller, we have decided to use the forest as we know it may create a different atmosphere but it is also a relatable location, therefore meaning they will be able to connect with the character.  The setting of a forest, may makes the audience think something bad might happen.  Forests are known to be desolate, isolated settings, as its hard for people to find other things.  Therefore, creating suspense for the audience because they question if the victim will escape/survive or not. 

The mise-en-scene is conventional to a thriller film because the setting would be abandoned as nobody would be around the car park, which would be conventional to the thriller genre because most settings in thrillers are set in secretive, abandoned places where it would be possible for victims and the killer to get found out otherwise it would be too easy for the killer to get caught and the victim to get away from the killer.  

ICONOGRAPHY
Iconography is a key element in thrillers as certain objects can add significance to the film as it adds meaning to the scene.  It is a way of introducing an important object the scene.

In our thriller the iconography will be a mask and a knife as these pieces of iconography are conventional to the thriller genre as the knife indicates to the audience that a death/murder will take place and knives have connotations of death, danger, murder and blood. The fact that the knife indicate danger and death to the audience, would inform them that there will be a death which will take place.  An unfortunate event may happen to the victim, once the audience knows that there is a knife involved.  The thought of the knife will make the audience feel hatred towards the killer, therefore meaning they have made a connection to the situation.

The mask is conventional piece of iconography as this will help create mystery and signifies a hidden identity to the audience, making them want to know who the killer would be.


 COSTUME, HAIR & MAKE-UP

Depending on what the characters are wearing, the costume makes the audience make assumptions of what they are.  Weather they're wearing something which looks expensive, the audience would believe they would be wealthy etc.

The antagonist will be wearing dark colours, as dark colours hide the identity, therefore creating a mystery.   The antagonist will also be wearing a mask, this would help create suspense as it also creates a sense of mystery.   We chose the villain to wear dark colours because it is conventional to thrillers as it keeps their identity hidden.

The victim will be wearing work business type clothes, so the audience will get an idea that she has come home from work.  This is conventional the thriller genre because in most thrillers the antagonist wears dark colours to create mystery and keep the hidden identity.  The audience will be able to relate to the victim as they will relate to the fact that she is wearing work type clothes.  Therefore, making them relate to the situation.

We want the victim to look normal, therefore meaning their make-up will look normal and their hair will be normal in an everyday style.  



FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Facial expressions are a clear indicator of how the character is feeling.  Depending on what facial expression the audience sees the characters face.  If the audience sees a character frowning, they would make the assumption that he/she is in a sad mood.

The facial expressions for the characters will be shocked and confused as the victim will have to portray these emotions in order for the audience to see what the victim will be feeling and relate to the current situation.  This would be conventional to the thriller genre because the victim has to convey fear and the killer has to convey the confidence that they will kill the victim.  

BODY LANGUAGE

Body language is another factor which indicate to the audience how the audience is feeling. An example would be that a character may be in a slouched position, meaning they may be sad.

Body language of the victim will be scared and the body language of the killer will be confident, as the audience will be able to see the difference of body language and see how the characters feel according to their body language.  

The villain may come across to the audience as confident because of his posture and by the way they walk.

When the victim is running through the forest she will be looking around for other ways to run.  She will be unsure of where she will be going and will keep on looking around to show, she is unsure if where she is going.

LIGHTING

The lighting of this thriller will be low key lighting, as this type of lighting is able to create an eerie atmosphere than high key lighting would create.  Low key lighting is also good for creating mystery to a film as it has a completely different feel.  Low key lighting limits what the audience can see.  It has the ability to build suspense and tension as they don't really know what else is going to be shown.

COLOUR
The colour will be in RGB as it is able to add a realistic feel to it than black and white, even if it would create a different atmosphere to it. The fact that the colours will be normal, will give the audience an idea that its just a normal everyday scene.

POSITIONING OF CHARACTERS
The positioning of the characters, can make the audience make assumptions on the characters depending on how or where the are positioned.

The positioning the characters would be that the victim would be in front of the killer at all times to signify that she is the victim and wants to get away from the antagonist who's aim is kill her. 

The mise-en-scene is conventional to a thriller film because the setting would be abandoned as nobody would be around the car park, which would be conventional to the thriller genre because most settings in thrillers are set in secretive, abandoned places where it would be possible for victims and the killer to get found out otherwise it would be too easy for the killer to get caught and the victim to get away from the killer. 

Our thriller will be able to build relationship with our target audience as audience may be able to relate to the settings and the audience being able to see the facial expressions and body language of the characters, the victim in particular as the audience will be able to relate to her fear shown through the body language and facial expressions.