Showing posts with label mise en scene. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mise en scene. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 February 2013

Mise en Scene - Background Images

Using Adobe Photo shop, I've created the 2 images that I wish to have within the frames with Nicholas and Riley.
The first one is a skull. This appears as a poster on the wall when Riley is on the phone to Nicholas. It foreshadows the appearance of Eilif and also what will happen to Nicholas and Riley later in the film. Because this skull represents Eilif, it tell the audience that he is effectively death and therefore that bad things will happen to the other characters when they're around him.

The second images depicts a Guardian Angel. It will be a picture on the wall that is in-frame behind Nicholas when him and Riley are talking.
This image represents Nicholas as a guardian to Riley, despite not totally appearing as one, he is more so later in the film.
As an angel is also depicted as a messenger or being of great power, it fits Nicholas' persona well and is a good symbol for him.

Both images have slight religious meanings. both "Death" and "Guardian Angels" appear in the bible. Because "SHOT" actually has a strong religious feel about it underneath the base, these images fit in perfectly.

Thursday, 31 January 2013

Planning Mise En Scene

Dream Sequence
In this sequence there will be hints leading to the direction that the film is going.
The colour will have a slightly purple/ red tint. Showing that it's not only surreal, but menacing.
Riley, while doing everything else in script, will be holding a mask. This is the same mask which the gunman is later wearing (subtle, right?). Though the movie may not lead to him actually being the gunman, I want the audience to have suspicions, just as he does about himself.
In this scene, Nicholas should be wearing the same kind of clothes that Riley usually wears. This should indicate that they share a similar situation, and possibly even inner-state. However, this will also show that in Nicholas' death, a part of Riley will also die.

The Bedroom
Despite this scene not being very long, I want it to show part of Riley's. current mental state. This means the lighting will be dark, to show that he's sad, troubled and lost. On the wall will be a hanging picture or poster of a cracked skull or something similar. This represents his mental instability and how venerable he is.
When on the phone, his shadow should be broad cast onto the wall behind him, as to appear big and hovering over him. The connotation of this is that something powerful is watching over him, something that's a part of him and event controlling him.

The Living Room
The living room is a place of security, where people, such as Riley, should feel safe. In the presence of his best friend, Nicholas, there's no reason for him not to feel secure. In this scene, Riley is telling Nicholas some of the things that are going on in his life and should feel safe in doing so.
This is the first time that the audience meets the reel Nicholas, so I want to communicate something about his relationship with Riley to the audience, other than their obvious friendship. Nicholas is effectively Riley's protector, similar to a guardian angel. Because I think religion should be a big theme in this, I think it would be good to view Nicholas as a guardian angel. I could use lighting to give the appearance of a halo above his head. It's either that or an image of an angel or small figurine. It depends on how easy it is in the filming process.

Street
Here, I want the audience to feel as though something bad is going to happen. To create an uneasy atmosphere, as well as having non-diagetic music that has a build up playing in the background, I'm going to have darker, creepier lighting. Shaky camera work could also help create an unstable atmosphere.
Because Nicholas is getting shot in this scene, I'd like for him to be wearing an article of clothing, ideally a shirt, with pattern on it that resembles a target.

Friday, 21 December 2012

Mise En Scene

Mine en Scene is about communicating certain messages to the audience using what's in the frame. This could be using setting & props, costume, hair & make-up, character's facial expressions & body language, lighting & colour and the positing of characters within the scene.

The setting and props are important. Setting is where it all takes place, it sets the atmosphere. A lot can be communicated just from the background. For example, a desert for a western is very stereotypical. This is because typically it's looked at as a place where heroes are made and villains tend to rule, until of course the hero rises up against them. In contrast to a city scape where there could be multitude of characters, the way it's communicated would now depend on lighting what part of the city we see. However, a city scape is normally looked as the concrete jungle, it's difficult to get to the higher end of society there and so we are ofter positioned with characters that we see fighting there way up.

The props a character has can also tell us things about the character or even the area or situation they're in. For a upper-class woman, it could be an expensive handbag, using colours such as gold on the zips and things. This would discretely communicate that the character is wealthy and probably wants everyone to know, as they're showing it off with the handbag. Other props could be in the background, a character doesn't have to carry them. A good example of this is in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" in the parlour scene. Marion is sitting behind a large pitcher of milk. Though she doesn't drink any of the milk, we can relate the pitcher to herself. The pitcher is a white colour, which depicts innocence and purity, telling us about Marion's current mental state.  yet the shape is curvy and smooth which we can associate with the body shape of Marion, it's almost planting seeds for what's later to come, when we later see her exposed in the shower.

Costume, hair and make-up can tell us about the character and their personality. Depending on the costume, we can see if they're upper, lower or middle class. We can also see if they're neat or messy depending on the state of their clothes.
The hair can tell us about their mental state and personality. We can see a character decent into insanity just from their state of their hair getting progressively messier into the film. It's not always insanity that messy hair indicates in movies. In Skyfall, Bond is lost in himself and doesn't seem to be in his best state, physically and mentally. His hair is messy and his facial hair is unshaven, before he begins to fix himself and straightens up, and his hair becomes neater as he does so.
Make-up can be used in a variety of ways, from discretely making a character's face pale or light to openly using eye shadow or lipstick. The type of style the make-up is used in will tell the audience about the type of character. If red lipstick is on a female character it can show the flirtatiousness of her. Alternatively is could be luscious or even evil. Maybe all three. Make-up can be used to make a character look tired or bursting with life. Using this can be extremely useful to communicating the character's well being to the audience.

Facial expression & body language are straight forward ways of telling an audience about a character. Though it can be hard getting an actor to play the character exactly how the director wants them. The focus on the facial expressions and body language (as with everything) depends on how the director uses the camera. So emphasis can added or lessened with different angles and shots, such as a close-up.

The lighting and colour and highly important for mise en scene. This is because with different colours, different messages are communicated. E.g. Red=lust or anger, purple=wealth, mystery or frustration, black= Evil or sadness and white=innocence or purity. There are other meaning for those colours also, but those are some of the main ones.
Lighting can completely change a scene. A lot of backlight can create a silhouette, often used in noir films because it's very dark. A lot of key light and filler can create a happier atmosphere, often used in rom-coms.

The positioning of a character is crucial. It can tell the audience how close they are mentally by portraying it physically. If they're mentality far apart they might be on opposite sides of a diner table, like in American Beauty or this scene in the TV series Breaking Bad.
If a character is standing on a step or something that makes that character higher up than others, then the one on the step could be in a higher class or financial or spiritually higher state than the others.