Planning: Mise En Scene (Mr. S)

Planning: Mise En Scene

Mise En Scene is made up of lighting/colour, costume/hair/makeup, body language/facial expression, setting & iconography.

It is important in films because everyone involved in the production needs to have a clear understanding on what is taking place, where - and why. What makes it conventional? Our opening is closely focused on the setting of an empty white insane asylum room, but why? Because it's significant toward our anti-hero character: she's insane. Everybody needs to know the same amount of detail (which should be precisely all of it). Everything shown or symbolized is a message to the audience, in which they will respond. Mise En Scene helps to capture the ideal response and transform it into action at the cinema. 

I think it is important to consider the Mise En Scene, especially in thrillers because everything included needs to be conventional to the genre, and create an appropriate response from the audience. the ultimate goal of a production is to make a profit, sourced from the consumers. If an opening/trailer of a movie doesn't seem appealing or good, they won't come to theatres. Anything and everything within MES should be carefully considered due to the audience you want, then what you want them to think/feel in response to the film. Typically the iconography blood, weapons and photographs perfectly suit the ideology of a psychological thriller containing a psycho stalker/killer. The audience will be able to make this link between other similar movies they have seen and begin to recognise what they should expect when they go to the cinema. 

SETTING | Our opening will consist of four settings:

1. an empty write room (Lara's mental institution ward). We have chosen the room to be empty, and the walls to be white, because the expression of her mental state is enough to psychologically fill the room with madness and colour the walls with her boiling blood due to the different emotions exhibited (anger, fear, despair, etc.).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. a quiet suburban road (The scene of the crime). We have chosen the murder to take place on a quiet road because it represents the isolation that Lara intends for her new family - no-one to replace her or disrupt her future. Also, logically a crime should be done away from civilisation so as to not draw attention to herself.
3. a second quiet suburban road (The scene of the affair). We have chosen a similar setting to that of the murder, but it's conventions have completely changed. It represents the fact that they are dating in secret away from the wife. The road also symbolizes Lara's pathway or fate, which all changes on another road which is almost the same.
4. a bathroom (The scene of the 2nd flashback). We've chosen this because typically when looking at a pregnancy test you do it straight after carrying out the test, aka in a bathroom or public cubicle. 

ICONOGRAPHY | Our opening will consist of the following iconography:

• coffee/papers/pen/glasses/laptop/photographs - to assist Mohidin's role of a Professor by making it more realistic. The laptop is already needed due to the idea of his observations.
  
  

  
  

  

  
  
  
• chair/tray of food/whiteboard - for the empty white room. The food will be flung by Lara out of an outburst. The whiteboard will be displaying information such as her name, when she arrived and her current state. The chair will be her only option for comfort, but she ignores this.
• rose - for the 1st flashback. This rose is shown again during the scene of the dead woman.
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  pregnancy test - for the 2nd flashback. The test will be positive
  
• gun - for the 3rd flashback. Lara will use this to kill Elizabeth.
• blood - when we see the dead woman, she will have a gun wound on her dress which will be achieved with fake blood.

LIGHTING | Our opening will consist of the following lighting:

• top & under - for the Professor's theme, under from the laptop and top from a generic lamp
• under - for Elizabeth's theme, to highlight her bones and pale makeup, making her look scary and powerful
• top - for Lara's theme, light shining down on her to represent vulnerability and the source of light being out of her reach, much like her life slipping out of her fingers drastically
• natural - for the Professor's environment indicating a neutral character, for the quiet suburban road of affair due to the setting being outside
• low-key - for the Professor's environment (he has a combination of natural darkness and artificial highlights from above and below), for the second suburban road representing the crime at a fairly late hour 
• high-key - for the second flashback representing happiness due to bright positive lighting, for Lara's mental ward as the Professor will need to see her properly, also gives the impression that nothing supernatural is about to happen so audience are in for a shock.

COSTUME | Our opening will consist of the following wardrobe:

• Elizabeth (Fatima) - in the flashback she will be wearing casually smart clothing, allowing for the assumption that she's just been in a meeting or job. her age is 22 so the general clothing of the Oasis sixth formers seem appropriate for this effect. During the scene where she's dead, she will be wearing a long white cut-off dress exposing her bare feet. The dress will be ragged, ripped and dirty. We will also create a gun wound effect using fake blood to clearly show that this is indeed the wife.
• Lara (Lara) - in the mental ward, she will be wearing a grey top. This signifies the balance between black and white or 'good vs. evil', and in Lara's case she is battling herself with two personalities - the good which we see when protecting her family but the bad shown in how she does this (murdering Elizabeth). This balance also brings a Medium to mind, 

and our opening is mostly a psychological thriller. In the first and second flashback she is wearing casual, neutral colours - possibly a little brighter than ordinary because both of these scenes are a positive aspect within her life. in the third flashback she will wear a black hoodie to represent the 'bad' and the stereotypical corrupted young person of London. 

• Professor (Mohidin) - the Professor will be wearing what typical Professor's are seen in - a white top, grey or black smart pants, and a dark-ish plain or striped tie. We may include a lab coat as this Professor is one of psychology, being that he is observing Lara's mind, and we want to show this through his appearance. He'll also be wearing glasses to complete the look of a scholar. 

BODY LANGUAGE & FACIAL EXPRESSION | Our opening will consist of the following behaviours of our actors:

• Elizabeth (Fatima) - in the first flashback, as she walks, she will have a normal somewhat bored look on her face. She will be walking at a moderate pace, not too fast or slow, to show that her life is currently at ease and she's not expecting anything. She'll be on her phone, looking down toward it in her hands. As she looks up she sees the affair and stops walking; literally freezes in her spot. Her face is frozen too for a split second and then breaks out into a mixture of emotion that all wrap into tears. Primarily she will be shocked, this can be shown by her mouth open and a gasp while simultaneously raising her hand to her face.  When she's dead, she will walk in with her head bowed. Her posture will be straight and elegant. She will show no sign of characteristic in her walk, e.g. the way people swing their arms. This is to show that she is simply dead. When she raises her head and we see her face, that's emotionless too. Her expression is blank and she makes no attempt to scare Lara, even though she does go crazy nonetheless.
• Lara (Lara) - in the first flashback Lara will be looking and acting very happy; laughing and playing around with her boyfriend. In the second flashback she will be more obviously happy because of her smile and amazed expression at the pregnancy test. She will be very still to emphasize the shock. In the third flashback her character changes completely; she's nervous and apprehensive toward killing the wife. She shakes and hesitates a lot, and her eyes will be wide and lips pursed. Finally she toughens up, draws her eyebrows down, secures the hold on the gun and shoots. In the mental ward she is unpredictable and all over the place, for example one minute laughing and the next completely silent. She's violent at some point too, trying to hurt herself and the tray of food. 
• Professor (Mohidin) - The Professor will be sitting down with a straight posture to represent authority over Lara and her release/stay, what happens next etc. His elbows will be on the desk, granting him access to the objects on it (e.g. the coffee and the laptop). His face will be calm, because I think in general Mohidin looks like a calm person. But we want him to put on a seriously intrigued expression at Lara's behaviour. At times he should scratch his head and try making notes then scribbling them to show the confusion and frustration he has over not knowing what is going on. 

CONCLUSION | By now I am positive that everyone in my group, including myself, has a confident and clear understanding of what exactly is going to happen, and what exactly we need to do to make it all happen. I think all of our choices are very conventional, at times stereotypical but ultimately effective and bound to create expected and possibly unexpected responses from the audience.