This is the mise en scene for clip 4 of the Descent.

1. Analysis of Clip 4
ANALYZING MISE EN SCENE

2. The movie is set in some American
mountains, although the location shown in
this clip is the cave which they were trapped
in. Its fits in with the whole feel of the clip,
since it is very dark and difficult for viewers to
make sense of what they are being shown. As
well as this, the shot showing the large open
space is almost used as a huge revelation
about where they are in. Not only that, but
this shot is similar to the shot of the group in
the room after they were caved in, showing
the audience that their situation is escalating.
Location

3. Costume
As expected, the group is wearing the
suitable cave exploration gear; helmets and
track suit styled flexible clothing to make
movement easier. To make the movie seem
more believable, the girls are seen without
any make up and as minimalistic as possible.
Although the movie makes it seem as though
not much time has passed in the cave, the
girls hairs have been made to look dirty and
unclean due to the oily look. The crawlers
have also been made using prosthetics and a
large amount of makeup, in order to
successfully transform a human into
animalistic creatures, with the right features
like slimy skin and pointy ears.

4. Lighting
Lighting in the Descent is used in a way that
makes the viewer wonder what is truly going
on in the scene, due to how dark it is.
Therefore, this enhances the relief of having
the light that is being emitted from the flares
and the light from their torches. The
sequence also interprets the camera’s night
vision feature into the shot, which puts the
audience in the characters shoes and
enhances the shock of the scene. The night
vision is also very effective in showing
realism.

5. Props
There are a variety of props shown
throughout the sequence such as ropes, pick
axes, torches and the bones spread around
the floor in the large open room. These small
touches to the shots give a more realistic feel
of danger and death around the area,
subconsciously informing the audience that
nobody is safe in the scene. The pick axes
are also given a lot of attention from close
ups, which hint at them being the saviors of
the characters that wield them.

6. Acting
Like any horror movie, actors are made to act
as though they are scared and in danger, and
its usually portrayed through screaming.
However, the producers went a step further to
achieve a realistic reaction by isolating the
female cast from the male cast that played
the ‘crawlers’. This in turn would cause the
girls to react to the creatures as they would if
they were real, making a more believable
performance. On the other hand, the
crawler’s acting was realistic enough to
question whether they were actually the
monsters they were made to look like,
through their outstanding performance.