Research into mise en scence- miss georgio

Research into Mise-En-Scene

Mise-en-scence is a french termanolgy meaning what is out into a scene, it is the visual information which is shown infront of a camera in a film, there are 5 elements to mise en scence which are; setting and iconography, costume, hair and makeup, facial expressions and body language, lights and colouring and the positioning of characters and objectives within the frame. These are all key to the film and help give the audeince the visual informaton they need to help them understand the film and have their own intrepretation on it. To help me have a further understanding on mis en scene, i watched the 'pendulum trap' scene from 'Saw 5'. from this i took 5 parts of the clip which shown out to show all 5 elements of miss en scene.

  Firstly, low key lighting is used to create a tense atmosphere while the man is chained to the table. this lighting is used as it creates a contrast to the background, making the man the main focus, showing the audeince he is in a vunreable position, which builds up suspense. this relates to a typical thriller as the lighting creates shadows and contrast, giving off an eery atmosphere. The shadows help create a sense of an hidden identity, causing the audience to think that there may be another chararter in the sence or they may relate it back to Jigsaw. The contrasting lights help create the man look more vunreable to what is happerning, giving the audience there own view on what is about to happen, causing them to feel more involved and unknown to what will happen next.

The actors facial expressions and body language play a big importance to a scene, as this is a key element which connects most with an audience, as they can relate it to how they would react themselves. While the man is chained to the table he shows a variety of diffrernt facial expressions, all showing that he is in destress and in an vunreable postion as he is unable to move.  This gives off a shock factor to the audience, as you begin to understand how much he is unable to do and the pain he is suffering, this relates to a thriller film as it helps create the three main points all thrillers need, shock suspence and surprise. The man shows he is in a create deal of stress and through out he is tossing his head side to side and elevating his chest in the air. Which could show as a weakness and that he is in a vunreable postion, the particular screen shot ive posted above shows the shock and surprise in his face, which would leave the audience wondering what he has seen above him, causing them wanting to continue watching.

Another key element to Mise En Scene is costume hair and makeup, this is effective to the audience as it shows what sort of person the actor is, and can show past experiances that the person has gone through, or what the future holds, so this helps the audience have there own view on the actor or actress for themselves helping them interpret what the film will be about. The man on the bed creates suspense and leaves the audience wondering if he will be tourtured and as he already has scares on his body it makes the audience thing that he may have done before. Him being semi naked shows his vunreablity, this creates suspense as the audience are unaware of whats going to happen. The tattoos which cover parts of his body are mainly of sculls, signs and stars, suggesting a rugged side to him, creating a mystery to what the man is like as a person. The dark circles round his eyes and sweat over his body shows he is in great stress as he is restrained, making the audience feel sympathetic torwards him, and anxious and they are unaware of what will happen.

The setting in this perticuler scence plays an important role as it helps create suspense, and builds surprise as it confuses the audience as they are unknown to what will happen because the setting which surrounds the man in the centre is dark. There are few intervals of light  which shows parts of the blade above, building suspene allowing the audience to imagine what will happen next, giving them a wider view on what will happen.

In this scene per each frame the man chained to the table is the main focus point, with the computer not far from the table which was telling the man what was going to happen to him.The man and the computer being this close indicates that there is something going on between them, the computer being positionedas a high angle view above the man can indicate to the audiences its superier to him, as it is because from whats behind the screen is whats making him be tourtured.


From the researching of mise en scene i think that it will help me to be able to plan my own thriller as i know now how to create the five elements of mise en scence and will beable to use ideas from the thrillers i have seen to make them seem more scary. From watching this clip i have got many ideas to help make my own thriller, such as having low lighting and a main focal point as this draws the attetion towards one thing. Allowing me to create unexpected thinigs happen, which will create the surprise factor.