Planning: Planning mise en scene - Mrs. Quinlan

Introduction

Mise En Scene is made up of body language & facial expression, costume hair and makeup, settings & iconography and lighting and colour. These four groups are very important in a film as they support other elements placed within a film such as micro-elements and themes as they show the audience that each group plays a large factor in the film, e.g. lighting and colour can be used to create an effect in a scene that wouldn’t be created if it wasn’t there. It is important to think about the Mise En Scene in thriller films as it can help a producer, lighting operator or sound technician think about what to include and not to include in their film and allows them to see their film in a different perspective than how it would be without these extra additives.

Key Areas

Spotlight – Will be used to isolate and introduce the main character to the opening scene, we chose this type of lighting because it is the best possible way of just showing the audience this character and helps cancel any other unwanted things and objects in a room. Spotlight is a common convention in thrillers as they are used in criminal themed thrillers where one character may be interrogating another character, or a scene where we are introduced to a main character. This type of lighting can also be used to show the character as they are, they can’t hide their identity and instead they are stripped off their hidden energy and shown to the audience as this character on a chair or somewhere in the glow of light.

Low-key – This will help us as low-key lighting is a good way to support a characters role as an antagonist or anti-hero. This type of lighting is normally used in very dark scenes to further explain the themes behind a film. Low-key lighting is common in thrillers as it is used to show the dominance of a character(s) and the power they may have in the film, when used it is important to understand the effect it has on a scene. Low-key lighting is used in many thriller films to show the effect of this one character most commonly an antagonist in dark superhero movies the superhero such as Batman they show him in low-key lighting for the audience to acknowledge their physical strength as well as the influence in the film.

Under-lighting – Is when the source of light is placed directly below the character. This usually allows the audience to understand who this character is and how demented and alone he is, also under-light is a good way to promote the character. Under-lighting is used to create dark reflections of a character which is another way to hide their identity and create silhouettes of that character, in other thriller films under-lighting may be used to show the audience that there is about to be a death or murder or the arrival of an assassinator to conclude their job. Under-lighting can also be used to show a much slow and calm scene in a thriller and the romantic bond between the main character and his love interest if there is one and confuses the audience as it can be used in many ways to produce different effects for a film, scene or opening.

Conclusion

I have identified the specific lighting I will use and how it is used so that I can look back on it and decide what to use and why I should use it. It also furthers my understanding in the way that I now know what lighting to use and with this I can help my partner in adding it to my thriller. From my analysis of lighting I can sit back and further my study to aid in the knowledge of what lighting to use for the opening to make it better. The use of good lighting can help in stepping away from the common use of editing a scene and into the making the scene effective from scratch which will help us look at the scenes we create and see where we went wrong and then fix it as easily as we created it.