Research into mise-en-scene - Miss Georgiou

Asylum Thriller Analysis - Mine-En-Scene

In this post i will be analysing a clip called 'Asylum Movie Clip - Leave me alone', as i feel this is a good clip that shows all the aspects of Mise-En-Scene.

Mise-En-Scene is everything that is put into a scene. It communicates essential information to the audience and involves;

• Setting & Iconography
• Costume, hair & make-up
• Facial expressions & body language
• Lighting & colour 
• The positioning of characters/ objects within the frame

During Asylum, the Setting and Iconography play an important role as they build the expectation of what is to come. As the scene begins, we see a woman walking up a set of stairs in a location we cannot yet determine. This is so the audience can immediately relate to the female character as the scene seems to be set in an everyday location. However, as the scene develops, we see that she is actually walking up a stairway of a tall clock tower. This could be set within a busy city and so is not stereotypical to the thriller genre, as normally the setting would be in a detached/abandoned house etc. I think this is done to build suspense and have a bigger effect on the audience, so that when the female falls, the audience are surprised and shocked. This is a technique (the 3 S's - Surprise, Shock & Suspense) that many thriller films use to make the audience feel engaged with the scene, and so this is conventional to a thriller.

Throughout the clip there are only 3 major settings and these are when the actress is walking up the stairs, on top of the roof and when she has fallen and is surrounded by people on the ground. Each setting tells the audience something about the scene. For example, when she is on the rooftop, we can see how high up she is and this makes us wonder why she is up there and what will happen next. 

Throughout the clip there is a lack of Iconography, as there are no props used. However, i think this was done for dramatic effect to allow the audience to focus on the female character and her actions, rather than being distracted by props. Usually, specific iconography would be used to indicate to the audience the genre of the film, but in this clip, the genre is indicated through other conventions such as low-key lighting. 

The Costume, Hair & Make-up used can help the audience understand each characters personality. In this clip, the woman appears to be well dressed in an evening gown, and her hair clipped back. This gives us the impression that she is a well respected lady, who is not short for money. She is not wearing loads of make-up which helps the audience to relate to her as being an everyday person. 

It is because of all this that we are surprised when she jumps off of the rooftop. There is no reason for us to expect her to do this, as she looks calmly focused from when she was climbing the stairs. This is conventional to a thriller because it helps the audience understand that the victim can be anyone, and not a stereotypical blonde girl. This makes the audience feel vulnerable as they realise this could happen to them. It also shows them that a person is not always what they seem to be, as we didn't expect the girl in the clip to jump, just like in thrillers you can sometimes be surprised by who the villain is.  

Facial Expressions are a clear indicator of how a character is feeling within a film. Where as body language can indicate a characters feelings towards a certain situation or another character and their relationship. 

In the frame opposite, the woman's body language is strong as she is standing up tall, with her shoulders back. I would therefore get the impression that she knows what she is doing and is focused. She also doesn't look 'scary' or domineering, as shown by the gentleness of her actions, and the calm expression on her face. This would reflect onto the audience as they wouldn't worry because they trust the character they have connected with.
However by looking at her facial expressions, my thoughts change as she looks worried. This suggests to me that she is trying to be strong but is doubting herself. This will also be reflected onto the audience, making them feel worried for the character. This in turn builds suspense and makes the audience feel nervous as to what will happen next. This build of suspense is conventional to thrillers as it helps to move the scene to a climax which exaggerates the effect of the shock when she falls. 

In comparison, the body language in this image seems more genuine. He is crouched over the female, with his hand on her face, showing he cares for her. This on its own could be seen as fake, which would make the audience nervous and on edge as to what he will do to the woman, but with the worried look on his face, shown by the wrinkles on his forehead from his surprised expression, i think it is genuine, which tells me a lot about his character. This makes the audience believe the woman is safe with this man, which in turn makes them feel they are safe them self.
I think this is done to build tension for when the woman speaks. The audience are left feeling that he is concerned for the female, but when she replies 'leave me alone' we are left with a sense of confusion. This would make the audience doubt their original thoughts on this man, and would then worry about whether the woman is safe, which proves the audience have connected with the characters. I think this sense of confusion was done deliberately because normally we would sympathise with the victim, but the victim in this clip is unclear. By using facial expressions and body language, it allows the audience to understand both characters clearly, and then make their own mind up as to who the victim is. 

Lighting and Colour are crucial in all types of films, as when used correctly they help to create a variety of effects.  In this image, low-key lighting is used to create distinct shadows of the stairs on the wall. The light is focused on the actress' face, to show the audience where we should be looking. Low-key lighting helps to disguise the detail in the frame, so that not a lot of information is given away. This helps to build tension and makes the audience feel exposed as they cannot determine what will develop of the scene and so are left waiting. This is conventional to a thriller because it tells the audience what genre the film is, due to the limited detail, and helps to create a mysterious or suspense like atmosphere.

Usually we would associate the victim to be the girl, however  the colour of her dress is blue. The denotation is blue which connotes mystery or sadness, but if she was the victim then it would be likely she would wear white as this represents innocence. The man however, is wearing white, and so this could suggest he is also the victim. 

There is definitely a sense of confusion as to who the victim is, and i think this has been done deliberately. The confusion of colours could suggest that they are both in fact victims in different ways, and this would leave the audience feeling overwhelmed as to which character to believe.
The use of colours is conventional to a thriller as usually it would be a clear indicator as to who the victim and villain were. In this case, the colours are conventional to show that thrillers can be misleading and the people and the ending may not be what is expected.

It is important in films that the positioning of characters or certain objects is done correctly as this helps draw our attention to them. In the opposite image, the actress is central and so is dominant in the picture. Although our attention is drawn to her as she is in the centre, you also feel that she is small compared to the rooftops in the background. 

I think this image shows how the character is feeling, and these emotions are reflected onto the audience, who are made to feel overwhelmed by her actions. She is central and so looks in charge of her actions, but she doesn't look like she belongs and so we feel worried for her, as we did earlier with the facial expressions and body language. 

This is a typical positioning within a thriller as it normally shows that the killer has the most power. In this clip, we could therefore conclude that the female character is her own killer, and so not a victim.

 In conclusion, I have learnt that thrillers don't tend to have a lot of dialogue in it and so replace this with music to help increase the pace of the clip and build suspense. As well as this I have learnt that thrillers don’t always need any iconography or many different settings, and sometimes by keeping everything simple, you can create the best effects. This will help me in creating my own thriller clip as it inspired me to plan to keep the majority of the conventions simple, such as only using one location, so that my viewers don’t feel overwhelmed unintentionally by all that will be used in the scene.
I plan to use this idea in my thriller opening by not using any dialogue and only using 2 pieces of Iconography which are a knife and a scarf.

The setting used in this clip inspired me as they made me realise that it is not the setting which builds the tension, but everything else, and so you can film a thriller anywhere as long as the edits and sounds build suspense. This helped when planning my group narrative as I knew we did not have a big budget and couldn't possibly film in the sets that professionals use, and so we kept things simple, by using a forest which is easily accessible and a swimming pool for the river scene. The edits and sounds we will go on to use will hide the lack of our budget and should build tension, just like any other thriller film does.