Mise En Scene is the arrangement of everything that appears in the framing such as:
- Settings & Props
- Costume, hair & make up
- Facial expressions and body language
- Lighting and color
- Position of characters
Saw 5 (Head Game)
The
setting in the scene from the movie Saw 5 is in an unknown room. The
fact that the victims are trapped in an unknown location connotes that
the victims cannot escape which therefore is conventional to a thriller
as it keeps the audience on the edge of their seat as they are hoping
the victims can find a way out to release themselves from torture.
Furthermore,
in the head game scene you can see the props used are neck traps, these
signify and reinforce the pain and discomfort the victims are going
through, this is conventional to a thriller movie as the props used is
helping to show the victims suffering and the neck trap is a vague
victim suffering tool to use, the audience are now placing themselves in
the victims position and are shaking with horror.
Usually within horror movies you have a criminal/villain with either an hidden identity, powered character or is a psychopath.
The
character shown on the right is the villain named 'Jigsaw'. Jigsaw is
wearing a mask to hide his identity, Jigsaw is capturing each victim and
is playing a game. The game is to escape by completing a task, if the
victims are unable to complete the task they will face the consequences
of a very crucial and painful death. This is conventional to a thriller
as the villain is creating an enigma. This will keep the viewer
captivated in the film and will therefore prevent the film from being
boring as the enigma builds tension ready to shock the audience.
In
addition to the villain, as the camera moves in different directions
you can see that the mask has red swirls on both cheeks with red long
marks above the lips, this can connote blood which could suggest that
someone may die or tortured to an extent that there is blood shown.
A
victims facial expression and body language in a thriller is far
unusual to how an ordinary characters expressions and body language
would be. As shown on the left is an image of the victim in the 'head
game' scene, we can see by the characters facial expression that the she
is expressing pain, her body language of holding onto the chains and
dropping her body on the floor can be a metaphor of her dropping her
hope of her surviving. This is conventional to a thriller movie as the
victims are tortured to a certain level to where they completely give in
until they have no hope, we can also relate this body position to a
thriller as the victims always seem to be positioned in a less dominant
way in which we can see from the image above, this immediately brings
disappointment to the audience as they are wishing and hoping for the
victim to dominate the villain.
With
the use of lighting the audience can assume on the genre by the way the
lighting is displayed. The lighting is a key aspect to a thriller scene
as we can see on the image from a the scene head trap low key lighting
is used which brings out the main objects and characters within the
frame. The low key lighting is conventional to a thriller as it uses
deep shadows to emphasize the characters and eliminates the background.
These shadows are used to create a tone of suspense in which the shadows
are less ominous but represent clearly the facial expressions of the
characters. As the camera moves to different angles showing the back
light and the main light focusing on the victims stomach. The victims
stomach has a red blooded question mark printed on his stomach, the
color red can symbolize blood and makes awareness to the audience that
death is about to occur.
The
way characters are positioned within a frame can tell the audience a
lot about the character. The image on the right is part of the trapped
scene where Emma is tied to a wall. We can portray here straight away
that Emma is the victim and is the less dominant one as she cannot
escape so here the villain is clearly winning. This is conventional to a
thriller movie as the camera shot 'mid-shot' captures the true moment
to where the victim has no turning backs, she has been defeated and is
completely powerless. The audience are now at a stage to where they have
to take in the truth, this is conventional to a thriller as the
audience still have hope in the victim as they are forcing the victim
not to give up in their minds.
Mise En Scene is the arrangement of everything that appears in the framing such as:
- Settings & Props
- Costume, hair & make up
- Facial expressions and body language
- Lighting and color
- Position of characters
Saw 5 (Head Game)
The
setting in the scene from the movie Saw 5 is in an unknown room. The
fact that the victims are trapped in an unknown location connotes that
the victims cannot escape which therefore is conventional to a thriller
as it keeps the audience on the edge of their seat as they are hoping
the victims can find a way out to release themselves from torture.
Furthermore,
in the head game scene you can see the props used are neck traps, these
signify and reinforce the pain and discomfort the victims are going
through, this is conventional to a thriller movie as the props used is
helping to show the victims suffering and the neck trap is a vague
victim suffering tool to use, the audience are now placing themselves in
the victims position and are shaking with horror.
Usually within horror movies you have a criminal/villain with either an hidden identity, powered character or is a psychopath.
The
character shown on the right is the villain named 'Jigsaw'. Jigsaw is
wearing a mask to hide his identity, Jigsaw is capturing each victim and
is playing a game. The game is to escape by completing a task, if the
victims are unable to complete the task they will face the consequences
of a very crucial and painful death. This is conventional to a thriller
as the villain is creating an enigma. This will keep the viewer
captivated in the film and will therefore prevent the film from being
boring as the enigma builds tension ready to shock the audience.
In
addition to the villain, as the camera moves in different directions
you can see that the mask has red swirls on both cheeks with red long
marks above the lips, this can connote blood which could suggest that
someone may die or tortured to an extent that there is blood shown.
A
victims facial expression and body language in a thriller is far
unusual to how an ordinary characters expressions and body language
would be. As shown on the left is an image of the victim in the 'head
game' scene, we can see by the characters facial expression that the she
is expressing pain, her body language of holding onto the chains and
dropping her body on the floor can be a metaphor of her dropping her
hope of her surviving. This is conventional to a thriller movie as the
victims are tortured to a certain level to where they completely give in
until they have no hope, we can also relate this body position to a
thriller as the victims always seem to be positioned in a less dominant
way in which we can see from the image above, this immediately brings
disappointment to the audience as they are wishing and hoping for the
victim to dominate the villain.
This post demonstrates a proficient understanding of how mise-en-scene is used within your chosen film sequence. You have made a start in analysing the correct points and the examples that you have included, demonstrates your understanding of the conventions of a thriller in some extent.
ReplyDeleteTo develop this post, you need to-
1) Include points on the iconography used in the sequence
2) Include points on the colours used in the sequence
3) Relate your points back to the conventions of a thriller film in further detail
4) Include a summary, to explain how your research will assist you with planning your thriller film