Planning Mise-En-Scene - Miss Georgiou

Mise-en-scene is everything that is put into a scene, that includes;

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

It is important to use within a thriller film because it helps to communicate essential information to the audience. Other than sound, editing and the narrative, mise-en-scene makes up the rest of the details that should be included in the thriller film, and so are essential to include.

When planning the mise-en-scene we thought about what we should include in our thriller opening clip, and then we carefully discussed all the aspects listed above in detail and came up with the following;

Setting - 
When thinking about my groups narrative, I knew we needed to include an underwater scene which we thought would be appropriate if it looked like it was in river. This would make our thriller clip unique and therefore interesting, allowing us to keep the audience engaged. We then decided that the rest of the clip should be based around this river and so thought a forest would be appropriate. A forest is also very conventional to thriller films as it is away from any potential help and so will make the audience sympathise and feel even more nervous for the little girl.

Choosing a forest as a setting is conventional to the thriller genre because it is a scenario in which the audience can relate to. It also makes the audience think something bad will happen in the forest which will make them sympathise with the victimised characters as they know they will not be able to escape the killer or get help from anywhere.


Iconography - 
The iconography we decided to use was a scarf, knife and a rose. The scarf belongs to the older sister in our narrative and we associate the scarf with memories of the sister.We didn't want to use a lot of props as this would distract the audience from what was going on in the scene.

The knife acts as the murder weapon which is conventional and stereo typically used in any thriller film. When the audience see the knife they immediately associate this with a murder which makes them sit on edge. It builds the tension and creates a very nervous atmosphere, which will heighten any emotion viewers may feel. It will also make viewers feel angry or negatively towards the killer, which shows they have connected.

The rose is used to symbolise the little sisters death. The white is to convey her purity and innocence, which when she dies will help the audience feel even more sorry for her.




Costume - 

We decided that in order for the audience to relate to the two female characters, we needed to portray them in an everyday manner. We therefore decided they should both be wearing everyday, casual clothes such as jeans and a top with a coat etc. This will allow the audience to connect to the characters closely, especially when the little girl dies.


We also came up with with the idea of the little sister wearing a dress to portray her youth. This would present her as being even more victim like and would make the audience think she is sweet, therefore emphasising the shock etc they will feel when she dies.



When portraying the killer in our clip we want to keep his identity hidden as this is very conventional to thrillers. This will create an enigma as to who the killer is and what his motives were to kill the little girl. To do this, we decided that he should be wearing black, as the audience would associate this colour with dark and creepy things, like the killer. As viewers will only ever see parts of the killer such as his hands, his arm and his feet, it doesn't particularly matter what clothing he is wearing, so long as it is dark and plain. The killer will only be shown in a very small part of the clip and so to emphasise he is the killer, but to also keep his identity hidden, the clips with the killer in will be very fast paced. See dark areas of image above on the right.



Hair & Make-up - 
Like with the costumes, we wanted to portray the two girls as being normal and so their make-up and hair should be of an everyday style,
so the audience can relate to them.  When the little girl is in the underwater scene, I suggested that the girls hair should be spread out and flowing in the water, to emphasise the fact she is underwater.


Also, the cut we see in the reflection of the river in my groups narrative would come under make-up. Blood is conventional to thrillers as it tells the audience that something bad has happened, such as an attack which builds tension as they wonder what has happened and whether or not the little girl is in danger, which shows that the audience have connected to the little girl emotionally.





Body language - 

When the little girl is walking through the forest alone, her body language should show her to be sad and lonely, which can be shown by her having her head down. She should also be portrayed as being unsure of her surroundings and perhaps confused to emphasise the confusion the audience will feel. This is conventional to thrillers as it creates a tense and mysterious atmosphere which will make the audience feel on edge and nervous.


However, when the little girl is having the flashbacks, the two girls should be portrayed as being happy as the idea of the flashbacks is to show the little girl remembering the events that lead up to her death, and so some of the memories should be happy.


Lighting - 
When discussing the lighting, we decided that when the little girl is walking through the forest, there will be low-key lighting use. (An
example of low key lighting is shown opposite).  This is conventional to thrillers as it hides and limits the detail that can be seen, and also helps to create a mysterious atmosphere. It can build tension and makes the audience wonder what is going to happen and why they cannot see everything clearly. Also, it puts the viewers into the mindset of the little girl and gives them an idea of what she can see and what she is feeling, which helps them to connect with her.

During and in the transition between normality and the flashback, the lighting needs to help show the difference clearly. This can be done by using a slightly different colour when showing the clip, or by having a blurred effect around the frame. The lighting in the flashback should be bright to portray the happiness of the memories, except during the flashback of the fight scene. See opposite.

Colour - 
We decided that for the majority of the scene, the colours need to look neutral to give the audience the impression it is an everyday scenario of which they can relate to. However, there were two specific colours (Red & Black) that we thought about as we thought they would help give extra meaning to the images.

The colour of the blood on the knife/hands etc is red which symbolises danger and we hoped this is something the audience would notice. The red blood on the hands is straight forward as the audience will assume something bad has happened and so will feel nervous. They then watch the underwater flashback which will show the blood on the knife. This being the murder weapon, the audience will realise that this knife has been used to hurt the little girl and so they feel worried for her but also confused as they have just seen she is still alive.

We also thought the killer should be wearing all black as this is very conventional to the thriller genre and it helps to enhance the aspect of the hidden identity, creating an enigma. Although we don't ever see a full body shot of the killer, we needed to cover up as much detail about him/her as possible and so thought wearing plain black clothes was the best way to do this. This links in with the low-key lighting used throughout the clip, showing the dark colours and minimising the amount of detail that can be seen. The inspiration to do this was that most of the thriller films I have seen, the killer is nearly always wearing plain black and so this told me that it works and is effective and so we thought we should use it for ours.


Positioning of characters/objects within the frame - 
When planning the positioning of the characters within the frame, we knew this was important as it can immediately tell the audience something about the character. For example if a person looked big compared to his surroundings, viewers would think that he was superior and so possibly the killer. When portraying the over the shoulder shot of the little sister dead on the floor, we used zooming out to create some distance from the scene. This portrays the girl to look very small compared to her surroundings, which will make her look innocent and more victim-like and so the audience will feel sorry for her.

Another example, is how we chose to present the rose in our clip. We decided that because the rose symbolises the girls death, and also is how the little girl and audience realise she is dead, it needs to look quite big compared to its surroundings to emphasise its importance. We also decided to use shallow focus, with the rose being in focus, so the audience could focus all their attention onto this rose.


My group and I have already decided that our target audience for our thriller opening is between 15 to mid twenties, and the age certificate most appropriate for our narrative is a 15. Therefore, by presenting the little girl as an ordinary person and in a pink dress, with a pretty pink scarf, emphasises how young she is. This will appeal to any parent or adult who has younger family or friends and will make them feel twice as emotionally connected to her as any other person. This means they will sympathise with her more, and will be twice as shocked etc, meaning they will feel the full effect of the thriller. This is similar for teens and young adults as they can relate to either one of the sisters, and will make them think that this scenario can happen to them too.