Research: Mise-en-scene Miss Heath

Mise-en-scene:
The term "Mise-en-scene" means the visual elements of a film the Mise-en-scene is made up of five elements:

• Settings and Iconography
• Lighting and color
• Costume, Hair and make up
• Positioning of the characters within the shot/frame
• Facial expressions and body language

Settings and Iconography:
These are used to manipulate the audience by allowing them to have expectations of the film due to a certain setting. Furthermore they are usually built on a set or a suitable and conventional location is found somewhere else e.g. The mountain side etc.

Lighting and color:
The lighting is normally used to reflect a characters mood or state of mind. However the lighting can also be used to empathize something important within a frame/ scene.

Costume, hair and make up:
These may be used to tell the audience a little about the characters personality; it also allows the audience to easily identify each character e.g. the protagonist and the antagonist. The costume a character wears is an immediate indicator telling the audience the characters social status or their power within the film.

Positioning of the characters within the shot/frame:
The positioning of a character during a scene may be used to sum up their importance within the scene. It may also be that the director wishes to draw attention to something or someone.

Facial expressions and body language:
The facial expressions and the body language of each character is a very important within a scene, this is because it allows the audience to connect to each character. It also allows them to identify how the character is feeling at that moment.

The Mise-en-scene within a thriller:

Costume, hair and make-up:

• Black clothing
• Balaclavas
• Wild hair styles
• Dark make-up

Settings and iconography:

• Weapons- guns, knives etc.
• Abandoned locations- warehouses, houses etc.

Positioning of characters/subjects:

• Middle of the frame- shows importance
• One character standing, the other not- shows authority and power

Facial expression and body language:

• Terrified expressions
• Determined expressions
• Vulnerable positions
• Authoritative body language

Lighting and color:

• Low key lighting
• Under lighting
• Black and red colours- connotations of blood and death

The Matrix clip:

In the film 'The matrix reloaded' iconography is used to provide meaning and response. The main protagonist Neo has to fight Agents using hand to hand combat. This tells the audience that he is important within the film in some way, it also shows he is skilled as he is able to fight with good techniques to defeat these agents. This is conventional to an action thriller because the audience is able to identify him as the protagonist straight away.

The clip starts off in an underground hide out when Neo receives a package containing an agents ear piece, the camera then zooms in on this item which shows it is significant to the scene in some way. Neo then tells the two men accompanying him to leave him as agents are coming, this tells the audience that Neo holds some sort of authority within this film.This scene is conventional to an action-thriller because the scene sets the atmosphere and the mood for the rest of the film.

Body language is one of the key elements in this scene this is because Neo stands with his back straight which shows confidence within the character. Furthermore another key element is his facial expressions as we see Neo look fairly serious when he knows there is trouble which tells the audience he doesn't want to lose the fight. This is conventional to an action-thriller because the audience expect this to be an action packed film, however there must be reason for the fight to commence.

Low key lighting is used within the clip during the fight scene. The use of low-key lighting indicates to the audience that something bad is about to happen, in turn this helps build the audiences expectations of the scene. This is conventional to an action thriller because the lighting creates suspense.

Conclusion:

Being able to analyse a film has helped me create and understand how to develop my thriller film effectively. The use of iconography in each film is conventional to the thriller genre. I have identified that action/ fight scenes are a main choice of iconography within thriller films as there is usually a kill/torture scene; Fight scenes are conventional within an action-thriller so my group has decided to create a jump cut montage showing a fight scene, this will build tension and a sense of thrill amongst the audience.