Research into Mise-en-scene- Miss Georgiou

Firstly MISE-EN-SCENE is French and is the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play. It is made up of various elements such as settings&iconography (props) , costume-hair and make up, facial expressions/body language, lighting&colour, positioning of characters/objects within a frame. Colours carries certain connotations which may add meaning to a particular scene. Furthermore it can be used for a dramatic effect. Connotation is the implied meaning and denotation is the first meaning. Low key lighting is created by using only the key and back lights to create an effect towards the audience. Furthermore it produces sharp contrasts of light and dark areas. There are also deep, distinct, shadows/ silhouettes are formed. In contrast high key lighting uses more filler lights are used. Lighting is natural and realistic to our eyes. In additionally it produces brightly lit sets or a sunny day. The key light in a frame is the brightest light in a frame which is usually based in the center of the frame. The back light is the light that is commonly behind the actors. The filler lights are used towards the back to reduce the sharp rays so that the frame isn't too bright.

Firstly Mise En Scene is being used through this sequence. In this particular part we can focus on the lighting that has been arranged. The lighting seems to be generally low key and all the bright light is focused in the center so that all the attention is on the victim by the use of the key light. The filler lights in the background reduce the sharp rays but also display what is being used in the background as we can see that the victim seems to be trapped in an abandoned place.  The purpose of this is to create a isolated atmosphere which then leads to building up a suspense atmosphere as the victim is clearly being held under hostage and is clearly vulnerable as he is being abused and manipulated for no reason. This is conventional to a thriller as the lighting has created a mysterious atmosphere and keeps the audience alerted at all times which is ideal for a thriller genre. As the audience we build a sympathetic relationship with the character as well feel sorry that he is being treated in this manner. The lighting puts all the audience focus on him which makes the feelings stronger towards him and enables them to engage more within the sequence and give them the ability to build a better relationship with the character.

Secondly, the next Mise En Scene to be shown is the positioning of the character within the frame. From this we see that he is powerless and vulnerable as he is laying on a stone table and is chained up so that he is restricted and cannot move. The purpose of this is to show that he has clearly been over-powered and has been manipulated and defeated as he now has no control of anything that happens to him. This is conventional to the thriller genre as this is sign of overpowering and weaponry, he has no choice but to be tortured by a swinging axe. The position he is laying in leaves him no choice but to suffer through the torturing which links to the thriller genre. Just by this, we build a extremely sympathetic relationship with this particular character as we feel sympathy that he has no control and that we can witness him being tortured and eventually dying. He has no power and has been manipulated and has been chained up so that there is nothing he can do to save his own life and prevent himself from death. 

Thirdly the Mise En Scene linked to facial expressions and body language can be clearly seen in this clip. This is evident as he is consistently distressed throughout the clip and is panicking constantly with a worried expression. The purpose of this is so display the struggle that he is facing and to display the amount of power that he is lacking which is why he is in the position that he has been put in. This is conventional to a thriller as their is always a victim who has been overpowered and manipulated and is being tortured so this scene links to the thriller genre. This builds a disheartened relationship towards the victim has we feel hurt that he is this distressed and hurting that much from all of this torture that he is suffering from as he is an innocent character and should not be treated like this. 

The next Mise En Scene that is being viewed is the costume, hair and make-up. This is evident as we can see the victim has only got trousers on and is not wearing anything on the top half of his body. The purpose of the victim not wearing any top is show the level of pain. The axe only swings on the top half of his body so if he is wearing no clothes on the top half of his body then he is more likely to suffer more pain as it would be more painful as it makes contact with the skin so he would suffer more. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it displays the use of weapons to create pain towards the characters. This makes the audience feel sympathetic as we struggle to watch his suffer in pain. Also there is a lot of make-up being used on the doll to make it look more manipulative and evil.The purpose is to show the big contrast between the two types of characters and just by their image we already know both their personalities. With the enemy, it is conventional to a thriller as he is the antagonist and is trying to manipulate an innocent victim who is suffering badly. As the audience we feel hatred towards these types of evil characters as they are full of bad omen. 

Lastly the Mise En Scene includes the setting and iconography. From the clip we see that setting is set in an isolated, abandoned room which looks like it has been set up specifically to punish people and to make them suffer which is why the layout of the room is mysterious in which their is a stone table which has a length to fit a human body lying down. The iconography in this clip is the axe that it being swung consistently to kill the victim. The purpose of these is to create a suspense atmosphere as we sense that this room is specifically for torturing and killing innocent people so the tension builds up throughout the clip. The iconography is also used to build up tension as it gets closer and closer to his skin each time and is an effect that keeps us on the edge of our seat. Both of these are conventional to a thriller genre as the setting has been used to create the suspense which is ideal for this genre as it makes it more mysterious and the iconography builds up the tension that is used in thriller films. This builds up a sad,disheartened and sympathetic relationship with the character as we know from the start from the general atmosphere that something bad is going to happen to him. 

My research that I have conducted will help assist me when it comes to planning my own thriller as I have now learned different techniques that can be used to create different atmosphere which are conventional to the thriller genre. I would like to use the different types of lighting as I find that is the strong Mese En Scene element for a thriller genre and it is simple to set up yet has such a big impact on the audience. The lighting will consist of mainly low key lighting as I find this is the most ideal for a thriller genre as it builds up more tension within the atmosphere and also enables the audience to become more engaged and build relationships with the characters. Furthermore I would also like to include settings and iconography as that has a wide impact and sets the general atmosphere in any films. I would also like to use facial expressions and body language as I find intricate details can be very mysterious and peculiar and is what tends to be used to build a relationship with the audience. Depending on what the plot of the film is I will decide whether the costume, hair and make-up will be a strong factor of the thriller genre as it does not appeal to certain plots.