Lucy Morrissey A2 Media Studies: Mise-En-Scene Preparation

Mise-En-Scene is a French term meaning what is put into a scene or a frame. It is also made up of visual information in from the camera and communicates essential information to the audience about setting and character. Mise-En-Scene is made up of 5 elements:

· Settings and Props
· Costume, Hair and Make-Up
· Facial Expressions and Body Language
· Lighting and Colour
· Positioning of characters and objects within the frame

Settings and locations play an important part in film-making and are not just ‘backgrounds’. Settings can manipulate an audience by building certain expectations and then taking a different turn. Costume, hair and make-up can tell us immediately whether the film is set in the present and what society or culture the film will centre around. In addition to this, it will act as an instant indicator to the audience of a characters personality, status and job. Certain costumes can signify certain individuals (e.g. black cloak of a vampire) or groups (e.g. policemen.) Facial expressions provide a clear indicator of how someone is feeling. If someone is smiling broadly, we assume they are happy but we may get a different feeling if this is accompanied by scary music. Body language may also indicate how a character feels towards another character or may reflect the state of their relationship. Positioning within a frame can draw our attention to an important character or an object and a film-maker can use positioning to indicate relationships between people. Colour has a big impact on how we as an audience see a film as colour carries certain connotations which may add meaning to a scene and it can give a scene a particular look, feel or mood. There are many different types of lighting that can be used in a film; ambient, low-key and high-key etc. Lighting can be used to achieve a variety of affects. Lighting can be used to highlight important characters or objects within the frame and to make characters look mysterious by shading sections of the face and body. Furthermore, lighting can be used to reflect a characters mental state/ hidden emotions.

The antagonist within our horror trailer, Melinda, will be wearing a white dress portraying innocence. However, this white dress will be juxtaposed by ‘Melinda’s’ dark hair and make-up. We have ordered this dress and an image of a dress can be seen below. Melinda will also be wearing a red and white ribbon in her hair, which will be curled. The red ribbon in her hair will be juxtaposed from the white to give her a sense of evil. This also follows the codes and conventions of other horror trailers as red has connotations of blood and evil. Melinda will be wearing dark make-up, giving her a 'witch-like' effect to portray the fact that she is the antagonist within the trailer. We decided to add blood because she has been missing (fake blood and temporary scar tattoos will be used when filming the real trailer). From testing Melinda’s hair, we realised that it needs to have a messier effect to show that she has been missing for a long time. Lucy will be wearing her school uniform. Lucy’s hair will be kept straight and neat to create a contrast between the two characters. We thought that it was important to show that Melinda was an outcast by having the rest of the characters look neat compared to her.

Below, you will find test shots of Melinda’s hair and make-up accompanied by videos.

**WE HAVE ORDERED FAKE BLOOD AND TEMPORARY SCAR TATTOOS, WHICH WILL BE USED WHEN FILMING THE REAL TRAILER**