Planning Mise-en-Scene - Miss Georgiou

Planning Mise-en-Scene

Mise-en-scene is important to use in a thriller film as it allows the audience to connect with the film through elements that they may not be directly looking at and may not even take notice of them but they will subconsciously influence the audience to understand the films narrative and it's characters better. For example, costume can be used to make the audience think the main character is good if he is wearing a lightly-coloured costume while a piece of iconography like a clue can engage the audience into wondering what the clue means and how it will help the victim to solve the mystery of what is going on. A dark setting like an abandoned building may serve to create suspense in the audience and if something were to attack the victim in this place it could create shock and surprise also. It is small things like what I have mentioned that will give the audience information about the narrative beyond what dialogue of other micro-elements like cinematography, editing or sound can do to connect with the audience.

In our sequence we have decided to use all the different areas of mise-en-scene to add to what is being shown. For our setting we want to use a school which is shown through the character's costumes and the backgrounds of the shots. We have selected this setting as it will create a false sense of security for both the victim and the audience as when the stalker is shown in the background of the shots of the victim it will make the audience believe that she is in danger and has nowhere safe to hide. This is relatable to the audience as it can be assumed that our target audience are either going through school or have been to school and recognise it as a place of safety that the victim will be safe in. The use of a school as the setting explains the narrative as the audience is shown that the victim is a teenager and is at a vulnerable stage in her life that the stalker will try to exploit and create suspense as the stalker toys with her and the audience is left questioning whether he will kill her or not. This will make our opening sequence more conventional as the audience expect to see a weak female victim who is unable to defend herself against the stronger male killer who is trying to kill her, creating suspense when they finally do fight as the audience wants to know who will win. This will create suspense and shock in the audience as they want to know if people will die at the school as this can be seen as a safe place that children go to, so if a murder takes place here it will shock the audience as it has shattered this perception, and the audience will sit in suspense as they do not if any children will die. The audience feels sympathy for the victim as if she is in school and getting dogged by the stalker it shows that she might die and if she does that her life is cut short by the killer and his need for bloodshed.

In our sequence we have decided to use a knife for our iconography in the sequence. The knife will be shown at the end of the sequence when the killer prepares to kill the victim and approaches her, the knife will be central to winning the fight with the victim winning it in the struggle and killing the killer. We have decided to use a knife because it connotes an element of danger in the sequence as it is a dangerous weapon that can kill either of them easily if they should get their hands on it and attempt to kill the other. The use of a knife is relatable as the audience recognise it as something that is very dangerous if not used correctly as well as it being used as a weapon in other thriller films as the killer's weapon that is used to kill his victims, an example of this is 'Ghostface' from the 'Scream' franchise. The use of this explains to the audience that the killer is trying to remain hidden for as long as possible due to him using a knife that is a silent weapon that can be used without anyone noticing, suggesting that the killer plans to kill more people than just the victim and intends to stay hidden for as long as possible. This will make our film conventional as the audience expect to see the killer using a knife in an attempt to stay hidden for as long as possible so that he can get to his victim while killing others. This can create shock when the audience see a character who do not seem like a threat or a target get murdered with a knife as it can be a quick or slow kill but due to the knife not making  a lot of noise the killer will not be panicked in the situation and only appear to be stronger with the more kills he achieves. The audience begin to feel sympathy for the victims in the narrative as the killer will be able to kill them without anyone realising while the lethality of the knife can kill them almost instantly without them getting a fighting chance.

In our sequence we have decided to use positioning to make the stalker seem more powerful over the other characters. We have planned to have the stalker be shown in ways that make him appear more elusive to the audience like having off-center in the shot. We have selected this for the our sequence because it will tell the audience that the killer is trying to stay out of the victim's view to keep her from finding him until he has time to enact his plans at the end of the sequence. This relates to the narrative as it reinforces the idea that the killer is stalking the victim and so has to remain unseen in order to watch her for as long as possible, creating suspense in the audience as they want to know what he is planning to do and why he has to watch her. This will make my thriller film conventional as the audience expect to see the killer as being mysterious with a hidden identity so the victim and audience have to work to find out who the killer is and stop him before he kills any more people. The suspense the audience feel is conventional as they expect to have to wait eagerly until the narrative tells the audience more about the killer so they can learn what to expect from him and what will happen next. This allows the audience to feel sympathy for the victim as they know that the killer is following her and that she does not know it, so when he finally attempts to kill her she will be taken off guard and he will have the upper hand which will mean she will have a hard time beating him.

In our sequence we have decided to use costumes to represent the killer as being a sinister and mysterious character. We want the killer to be shown wearing a black hoodie with a mask over his face when he is shown in the scene until his mask is knocked off at the end of the sequence. We have selected this as it will help to show the audience that the killer is the sinister character and that he has dark intentions with his plans and that he will attempt to kill the victim which is reinforced with the black hoodie. The use of a mask also tells the audience that the killer wants to remain anonymous in the hopes that he will be able to complete his plans before the police catch up to him. This tells the audience that the killer of the narrative will be the stalker as he is shown to be dressed in a mysterious manner making the audience want to know why he is so mysterious and why he is targeting the victims and what he will do to them when he catches up to them. This will make the thriller film conventional as the audience expect to see a killer in the film in order to give the film a purpose in that the victim and audience have to work out who the killer is and why he is targeting the victims and attempt to stop him before he kills the main victim of the narrative. This will help to surprise the audience as the killer will appear out of nowhere behind the main victim with his costume and mask drawing attention to him, creating a surprise as they do not expect him to be so close to the victim and out in public wearing a costume like his. This will make the audience want to know more about the killer as they may not expect to see the killer so close to the victim and in public while still dressed like a killer so the audience want to know why he is so confident and what his advantages are over her that he will be able to use.

In our sequence we have decided to use facial expressions to represent the killer as being emotionless and not being able to have mercy for his victims. The killer will be shown as being expressionless when his mask is knocked off regardless of the tension of the scene. We have selected this as we feel that it will tell the audience that he is unable to feel compassion to the victims and they will not be able to reason with him and will instead have to overcome him physically to stop him. This relates to our narrative as it shows the audience that the stalker is adamant on following the victim and she will have to face him at some point due to his persistence on following her as well as that he will attempt to kill her and she will have to kill him due to his lack of remorse or mercy shown. This will make our thriller film conventional as the audience expect to see the killer determined to kill the victim where at some point the victim will have to kill the killer in order to get away from him as well as the audience expecting to see a killer that can not be reasoned with our being possible to run from as he is unable to see this and is blinded by his rage. This will create surprise in the audience as they do not expect to see the killer be so blank and expressionless in the moment where the victim looks visibly scared as they would expect the killer to look angry or vindictive but instead he has a blank face. This will create intrigue in the audience as they want to know why the killer is so blank and expressionless as he is about to kill his target where they would expect him to look determined, suggesting he has an ulterior motive at hand and that there is more to him than he is letting on, while also reinforcing the idea that he is deranged as he appears to be showing no sympathy to his victims as he kills them.

In our sequence we have decided to use body language to show the victim is vulnerable to the killer. The victim will be shown as being relaxed and not at high risk and we will do this by having the victim, when she is walking home, be walking slowly and not really paying attention to anything while the stalker can be seen behind her. We have selected this at will tell the audience that the victim is more vulnerable to the killer as she is not prepared to face him if she were to be attacked and that if he were to attack her she would be taken off guard by him and have trouble fighting him off if it came to it. This relates to the narrative as it helps the audience understand that she is an everyday schoolgirl with nothing going wrong in her life and so it will be more of a surprise to her when she is attacked and that when the plot twist reveals she is the killer it will have a larger impact because it was not hinted at. This will make our thriller conventional as the audience expect to see the victim be a character that is not prepared to be drawn into the killer's games nor are they physically capable to fight the killer due to them never needing to fight before as they have lived a sheltered life shown by the relaxed persona.This will make the audience feel suspense when the victim is drawn into a struggle at the end of the film as they do not know if she will be able to overpower the killer due to her not being shown as physically dominant previously in the sequence so the audience are left wondering who will win. This makes the audience feel sympathy for the victim as they know she is unprepared to face the killer who is stalking her so when he finally does attack, that the audience are aware of, the audience will have to wait and see whether she can overcome his strength and planned attack on her.

In our sequence we have decided to use lighting to show the audience that the victim is trapped and cant escape. The audience will see light coming in through the windows when the victim is walking down the corridor. We have selected this as it will connote to the audience that she is trapped in terms of her not being able to escape the killer until she kills him as the window represents the killer with the light representing safety that is blocked by the killer that she must 'shatter' to get free of him and into safety. This relates to our narrative as it foreshadows that at the end of the sequence she will be trapped by the killer and unable to escape and so must kill him in order to secure her escape as he will keep following her if she does not finally kill him. This is conventional to the genre as the audience expect to see the victim trapped by the killer to show the killer's power over the victim and how the victim will have to work hard to escape the killer and overpower them to finally be free of their presence. This creates suspense in the audience as the audience want to know if the victim will be able to get away from the killer and whether she will be able to escape his trap or if she will have to work her way out and also how she will overpower him when it comes to it. This makes the audience see the killer as being an organised and dominant person as he is able to overpower the victim and keep her trapped whether she knows it or not with the way he keeps her trapped and unable to escape shows this.

In our sequence we have decided to use color to show the killer as being a sinister and evil character who wants to kill the victim. The audience will see a point-of-view shot of the killer's view watching the victim with a red filter over the top of the shot. We have selected this as it will help to show the audience what the killer is thinking and that he has violent plans for his victim that has been shown through the point of view. This relates to the narrative as it shows the audience who the victim is and that the killer wants to kill her rather than make her suffer, also the point of view shot will be taken from further away from the victim so it will connote that the killer is stalking the victim. This will make our thriller film conventional as the audience expect to see the killer as being a vengeful and angry character with the intent to kill the victim which is shown by the red filter, while the point of view shot is conventional as the audience expect to see the killer wanting to remain anonymous and watch the victim from afar before making his move against the victim. This creates suspense as the audience do not know who the killer is and why he is watching her and so they want to know this in order to feel like if they can put it together the victim may have a chance of working out who the killer is and stop him. The red filter adds shock as the audience are shown that the killer aims to do something violent towards the victim that they must watch and build up to. The audience feel sympathy for the victim as the audience know that she is being watched and that the killer aims to kill her yet the audience are powerless to stop it.

By planning our mise-en-scene before we start our thriller film we will be able to make sure that the mise-en-scene we are using is conventional and will fit into our narrative and what we are doing so what the audience see is consistent and will make sense to the audience and not confuse them. By planning our mise-en-scene we will also know what we can do and see if it feasible to complete for our piece so that we are making a good quality piece with well-done mise-en-scene rather than getting too ambitious and having our sequence not look good because our mise-en-scene was badly done. The mise-en-scene is important to do right because it helps to aid the narrative and characters with what the audience are seeing and not interfering with the cinematography, sound and editing, although if the mise-en-scene is done poorly it will distract the audience from what is going on and instead they will keep seeing the distractions with the mise-en-scene.