Course Work; Mise en scene

I found Mise en scene an enjoyable part of creating our thriller opening, I feel like me and my group have used the right props, costume and setting for a thriller convention and that it suits the theme of our plot well for example the setting is a house which is meant to represent a natural/ familiar atmosphere, the props such as a phone and the young boys costume e.g. pyjamas also add to this is make it clear that there is a character in a normal setting, however it is contrasted with negative  strange things for example somebody is watching over the house and is inside it. 

Costume:
There was only one person in our film opening, and therefore his costume was key, I came up with the idea of putting him in his pyjamas and slippers. We decided on this because it made him look more vulnerable, it represents the fact that it is almost evening/ night time which makes the audience feel unsettled that he is alone at this time. In addition because he is young, he should have been getting into bed, however the use of the costume shows that he is scared and has been abandoned emphasising the title of the film Forsaken. This creates tension within the opening and represents that something bad is going to happen. 

Lighting:
In a thriller film, especially the opening the lighting is very important this is because it sets the scene and shows the genre of the film. The lighting usually represents what a character is feeling and what might happen. Due to the fact we filmed the opening in the day time, we wanted to make the lighting darker to represent day turning into night, therefore when filming we decided to shut all the blinds and curtains in the house. On some scenes we changed the lighting on imovie for example on the shots outside the house, this also improved the quality of the video. 

For this shot we changed the lighting to make it seem clearer, we tried to make it darker, thankfully on the day of filming it was raining and the natural light was already quite dark. 

In contrast from the lighting outside the house, the inside of the house was represented as warm and cosy, this is to show at this point the boy thought he was ok and felt safe in his home however towards the end of the opening it is made clear that this isn't the case. 

When the boy heard the knocking from upstairs the lighting turned darker and colder. This is to represent danger and something strange.  Overall I think that the lighting resembles the genre of the film, it is done well and represents the feelings of the character. We have similar lighting to film openings like The Ring, we did not plan to do this however, it is good that it has worked out this way. 


Props:
We didn't really use many props in the opening, however we did use a good use of objects that were necessary in the opening.

The use of the doorbell is good, this is because it also uses sound. The fact that we used the door bell instead of somebody knocking is more effective, in addition it shows that an actual person has rung the bell, then in the next scene they have disappeared. When editing we added in the sound effect of the doorbell, this was so that it was louder and clearer for the audience. 

We thought that it would be a good idea to use the cooker, to show that somebody has turned it on, it also shows the eye line cut of what the boy is looking at, this represents that something abnormal has just happened and more things may happen. 














We also used the phone to show that there was nobody to help him in the house, the fact the the phone also was cut off shows that he is alone and vulnerable and therefore our props have made the audience feel worried for the boy. Even though we didn't use many props in the opening I feel like we used a reasonable amount and that they all had a good effect on the audience. Many thrillers use stereotypical props such as guns and weapons, however I feel like the use of normal everyday objects contrasts the atmosphere of the opening e.g. dark and shows that unnatural things are happening in a natural place.  

Finally, the last use of props that were used in the opening was when the cupboards and draws, we decided to open all of the doors and cupboards in this scene so that it was made one hundred percent clear that somebody was in the house, it meant that there was a lead up to the ending and the reveal of this is done well e.g. the use of a pan from the boys expression (close up) to a mid shot of the kitchen is slow and builds up tension within the audience. This idea was not thought of when planning, however we were told to film more than we needed and I came up with the idea to open all the cupboards. I think that this was the best use of props we have used and therefore me and my group are happy with the outcome of the effect of props on our thriller opening.