PLANNING: MISE EN SCENE- MRS. QUINLAN

 

What is Mise en Scene? Why is it important to consider it in your opening?

Mise en Scene is an important factor that helps in the characterization and realism of the sequence. It includes: costume, hair and make-up, iconography, facial expression and body language, setting, lighting and colour. These are important because together with other microelements they complete a whole and can create some sort of reality that is viewed by the audience. It is important that Mise en scene is well planned, together with other microelements, and considered when deciding on a narrative because different stimulus will affect the way Mise en Scene needs to be presented. This microelement works with any other one and together can create a strong effect and cause an intense audience response.  For example setting of a graveyard can have a bigger impact on the audience response if cooperated with an eerie non-diegetic sound, thus creating suspense and tension amongst the viewers. Similarly with cinematography where a long shot can display full costume of a character and therefore give the viewer an insight on their role and intensions. Simultaneously Mise en Scene on its own can already help the viewer to create some assumptions based on the way that these aspects are used. For example a black attire will propose evil intensions and perhaps suggest that this character is an antagonist because of the dark connotations that the black colour holds. Therefore, Mise en scene is important to consider because if used inaccurately it will cause distortion to the scene and can leave the audience frustrated and angry because they already hold some expectations and if they are subverted the sequence will not make sense to them.

The intended Mise en Scene for our Thriller Opening.

Iconography:

·         News Paper cut outs- these will play as typography to our opening credits and will be used throughout. We decided on this less typical typography because it will make the viewer intrigued and much more engaged into the viewing as they are encountered with something less familiar. Additionally, often newspaper cut outs are associated with threat and blackmail because these help to hide the antagonist hand writing and keep them anonymous, which can create a sense of unsettlement for the spectator who will feel uneasy about using such a secretive way to present the opening credits, as nothing obvious is revealed.

·         Magazines- another inevitable iconography used will be the different fashion magazines which will be constantly referred to and shown throughout the opening, forming a montage of images. We decided to use magazines because it will fit nicely with the idea of newspaper typography but in addition, will give an insight into the character's life and interests, which can be significant for the audience. Simultaneously, these can be a false clue for the audience who will instantly connote fashion with the female gender, however as an element of surprise we decided that this deception will impact the audience more when they start to realise that this is in fact a male character. Additionally, these magazines will have beheaded models on, which yet again will help to give an insight of this character likings as well as show that this is the antagonist of the narrative and someone we should loathe.

·         Red Lipstick- another iconography that will be reinforced throughout the opening is the red lipstick that will be used to write the title of the film. We wanted to use red lipstick to reinforce the female nature and yet again confuse our audience which will help buildup to the climax and emphasise this element of surprise. At the same time red is a strong color with connotations of evil, proposing that this is an antagonist, as well as blood, which will symbolize that the character has brutal intensions, but also passion. This reflects that the antagonist is someone with an obscure obsession and crazy mania towards his interest. The red will alert the audience as we connote this strong colour with danger and evil.

·         Red Bra and Underwear- this iconographies will be briefly accompanied by one of the cast names. We decided that the character will quickly grab these props, as if rushing to do something or being ashamed, which will intrigue the viewer who is unaware of what is happening. We decided on a red bra and underwear because bras are part of female attire which will lead the audience to assume this is a female character. We want it to be red as, similarly to the red lipstick, this colour has strong connotations and will also imply sexual desire or romantic passion which will seem obscene when we realize that this is a man, thus surprising the audience.

·         Mannequin- This will be displayed at the middle of our sequence and a zoom in will be used to introduce this and show its significance. We decided on a mannequin because it will show that this character has a passion, nearly an obsession, for female fashion and females overall. This will make the viewer feel uncomfortable, knowing that this person's desires are out of control, which is typical of an antagonist as often they have a fixation on one thing that they keep hold of throughout the film.

·         Mirror- Lastly, we intend on using a mirror which will display the title written in lipstick. We want to use this iconography because it will be a metaphor for a reflection of his past as well as the real him. It will also help to reinforce the idea of female gender because stereotypically they tend to spend a lot of their time trying to improve their image and looks which shows that this character wants a change in his life, making the audience reflect on themselves.

Body Language and Facial expression:

·         The main character will have a steady and firm body language, when the audience is finally fully introduced to him at a low angle. This will give him superiority and authority amongst the viewers who need to look up to him, which will make them feel intimidated too. At the same time this posture will show that this is a strong character and is determined about something, which contrasts his feminine side and unconventional clothing.

·         When the character leaves, his body language will be very masculine and juxtapose the feminine clothing. This will give the audience more insight into the character, proposing that this is someone who has a split personality and seems lost in the society; not knowing how to behave or fit in.

·         The character will have an angry facial expression when he looks at the magazine cover. This will represent his feelings of hatred towards the models, allowing the audience to infer that he is either jealous of them or has a troubled mental state in which case he can be seen as a threat because people have various misconceptions about mental disorders thus naturally fear the unknown.

·         However as the character calms down and leaves, his facial expression will seem lifeless and dead, proposing that he is fed up or has another goal. This concerns the audience because they can infer that he will take out his anger in another way, probably cause harm to someone else or himself. This therefore leaves the viewer in apprehension, because they could worry for the possible victims but at the same time do not want him to end his life or hurt himself.

Costume:

·         The character will be seen putting on a hand bag which will reinforce the feminine nature and propose his subverted values and morals, because it is not mainstream for a man to wear a hand bag. This makes the audience feel uncomfortable as often we do not want to stay open minded or think ‘outside the box’ therefore we begin to loathe the character and associate him with bad deeds or intensions which are then justified when we see more beheaded women.

·          Another significant costume that we intend to use is a dress which the antagonist will wear. This will show that he stands out from the crowd and isn’t ashamed of it but will continue to aim for his own longings and goals, without anyone’s approval or thoughts whether it is right or wrong. This will make the audience scared, because knowing that this is such an obsessed character, will show that he will even cause harm just to reach his goal.

·         Lastly we intend on using holed black tights. The holes will represent the unfulfilled life and aspirations which are then taken out on someone innocent. At the same time it will show the carelessness towards himself because of the fixation on his goal, which has blinded this character. Black will also represent evil nature, because of the dark connotations that this colour holds. Overall this will make the audience afraid of the antagonist because they see that this is a psychopath with no morals or rules and could hurt others with no obligations.

Lighting & Colour:

·         Lighting - The lighting we intend to use is low key with top lighting throughout the scene. This is because we want to create a cunning and evil atmosphere and make the audience have a fearful response because dark connotes threat and death. Moreover we will use the top lighting to focus on the objects such as the magazines and the writing on the mirror. This will show the significant parts of mise en scene and make the audience focus their attention on these factors. The top lighting will also glamourize the female models thus showing that they have control and significance in the character’s life, thus acknowledging the audience how serious this fixation is. On the other hand it can make them look vulnerable and innocent because top lighting has such connotations which can draw pity from the viewers. The under lighting will be used when the main character is displayed and begins to put on tights and a dress. We want to use this technique because it will help to create a distorted image of the frame and character, thus proposing the evil intensions and negativity, which will scare the spectator. Lastly, we think that these lighting techniques are conventional to the thriller genre as it will evoke the right response from the viewers and keep them in suspense throughout the opening.

·         Colour- The colours that we intend to use during the editing stages is a dark yellow filter. We decided on this because it will help to convey the idea of toxic life that this character carries. It will also show danger as often yellow with dark highlights are used on caution signs. This will make the audience feel fearful as they can expect something bad to happen. In addition, it will give them an insight of the character and their nature. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it causes the right audience response and creates a thrilling atmosphere.

Hair and Make-up:

• Hair- the character will have a messy hair when he is finally presented to the audience. This will help to reinforce that this is an antagonist as often they do not care for their appearance but mostly focus on their goals. This will make the audience feel uneasy when looking at him because it will look terrifying and threatening together with other uses of micro-elements which will contribute to creating a fearful atmosphere.
• Make- up- the antagonist will have a messy make up, smudged all over his face. This be an intertextual reference to Joker who has a messy make-up to represent his psychopathic nature. We chose to do this because it will reinforce his chaotic life and mind. This will make the audience feel sacred, because they realise that this is someone who cannot stabilise himself and can cause harm.

 

      Setting

 

·         The first part of our opening scene will be set in a drama room because of its lack of lighting and wide spacing thus giving a thrilling atmosphere, appropriate for the genre, and easy to film in. We also chose the drama room due to the scratches and marks on the black floor which creates a distorting effect to the audience as it gets them thinking what caused all the scratches and overall looks concerning. This is conventional to a thriller genre because it will create a threatening and chaotic atmosphere for the viewer, who is unaware of the location just yet, and because of the surrounding darkness. This will make the audience feel intrigued but at the same time scared as often we fear of unknown but want to find out what is being hidden from us.

 

·         The rest of the opening scene will be set in 'Moda Istanbul Boutique’ where the location will be much clearer to infer for the viewer. We decided that this location would be suitable for our opening scene because it can give an insight into the character past or hobby, thus show the audience what are they like. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it will be an isolated setting with low key lighting, creating a threatening atmosphere. Also, often settings are used to create a specific character representation. This will make the audience feel scared because they can sense that something bad will happen through the isolation and low key light which is often evident before the climax.

 Conclusion.

To conclude, Mise en scene is a very important factor in the moving image and helps to fulfil the director’s vision by making it seem believable and realistic. Knowing exactly what Mise en scene we plan to use is highly beneficial to our production because we will then be able to create an accurate representations, which will help the audience when viewing the opening. We have clearly discussed our use of Mise en scene and how it will complement the genre and have its originality which is important because we do not want to make something too obvious for the viewer who will quickly get bored. Therefore planning this was important just as looking at all the other micro elements.