This discusses the Mise-en-scene in the short film Black Swell.

1. BLACK SWELL:
MISE-EN-SCENE
Machaela Nicholls

2. Lighting:
Low Key Lighting: sets the
tone of the short film and
already tells us that dark and
mysterious things may
happen.
There is quite a lot of
light showing that even
though he is holding a
gun that he still has
some hope
Chiaroscuro lighting: half of
his face is in shadows, half is
in the light. It could show
that he is shadowed with
darkness and death but
there is still hope for him.

3. There are a lot of shadows on his
face – low key lighting-: could
foreshadow that there is a
darkness about him and could
foreshadow his death at the end of
the film.
In contrast, the older man,
he has some shadows on his
face but it is more of a high
key lighting:This could
represent that there is less
hope for the younger man.

4. Summary They used lighting in the short film to help
set the scene, to foreshadow future events
and to contrast people and/or things and
their futures.
This is good for a short film because this
allows it to spend less time on trying to set
the scene up and it allows them to add
depth to the story; as they use light to
contrast people and their feelings, which
allows for character development and
helps the audience connect and
understand the characters more.

5. Body shape and language
Hunched over,
hands grasping
on the bed like
he's trying to
brace himself.
He looks guilty
Position of someone
in a coffin.This
could foreshadow
that there is death
ahead and that he
may die.
Looks
comfortable
and relaxed.
In contrast he
looks
uncomfortable
and anxious – he
keeps rubbing
his hands.
This shows the
differences between
the two men and
contrasts them.

6. Contrast in body language.The old
man is hunched over and closed off
whereas the younger man he sat more
openly – trying to have a
conversation, wanting to open up to
someone – the old man just wants to
be left alone

7. Summary Body shape and language helps us to
understand the characters because,
through their body language we can see
how they feel and how they feel towards
others.
They used body shape and language in this
short film to foreshadow, convey the
characters feelings and to contrast
between the two characters.
This allows the audience to connect with
and understand the customers more and
contrasting the characters allows the story
to have more depth.

8. Facial
features
and
expressions
Focused: he is
focusing so
that he can
put the bullet
in the gun
correctly.
Sad: possibly thinking
about his life and the
sadness in it; possibly
contemplating whether
he should kill himself or
not

9. He looks unhappy and
tortured.This could
show us that he is not
in a good place and
could foreshadow his
suicide at the end of
the short film.
His eyes are wide
and he has a
creepy smile on his
face.This makes
him look slightly
crazy.Which could
suggest that he is
mentally unstable,
foreshadowing the
events at the end
of the short film.

10. He looks sad –
the older man
doesn’t want to
talk and he looks
like he could
really use
someone to talk
to about his
feelings.
He looks concerned and wants to
know what has happened to the
young man after hearing gunshots
come from the young mans room.

11. Summary They used facial expressions in this short
film to show the emotions of the
characters, to foreshadow future events in
the film and to see the characters
reactions to certain situations an
conversations.
This allows for the audience to see and
understand the emotions of the characters
which can help the audience connect with
characters and helps to pull the story
along.This can help build the characters
and give the audience more information
about them at that point in the film.

12. Props
He has an empty suitcase.This
could represent how he feels
empty inside and could show
that he doesn’t really have
anything left which could
relate to him having nothing
left to live for, so is killing
himself.
He has a gun.
This shows the
audience that he
is has gone there
to kill himself.
Alcohol.This could show that the
character is going through a
rough time so is trying to deal
with it though the consumption
of alcohol.

13. Summary Props add to the story and allows the
audience to understand the characters
more because the props that they interact
with can tell us different things about the
character, like with the alcohol, it tells us
the character has resorted to alcohol for
his problems and may even be an
alcoholic.
They used props in this short film to
represent aspects of the characters and to
tell the audience about the characters
personalities.

14. Costumes
The young man is wearing what
seems to be work clothes which we
can assume from the company logo
on his red shirt.This tells the audience
that he has a job with some sot of
income, giving depth to his character.
The older man is wearing
brown trousers, a blue shirt and
a dark blue jacket. His costume
I quite plain and simple which
can tell the audience that he is
a simple man.

15. Summary Costumes tell us about the character: it
allows us to find out where they work (like
the younger man) and how they are feeling
(someone who is wearing bright, happy
colours like yellow would make you
assume that they are a joyous, positive
person).
They used costumes in this short film to
represent the characters and to let the
audience know more about them.

16. Hair and
make up His hair is flat
and quite
tamed.This
could show
that he
somewhat
cares about
his
appearance.
His hair is quite messy, showing that he does not care
about the way he looks, which could lead us to assume
he no longer cares about his appearance which could
show that he doesn’t really care for himself anymore.
This is also emphasized when he says he has started
drinking a lot lately after his wife left him showing that
he no longer cares about himself and his health.This
could then foreshadow his suicide at the end of the
short film.
These two men are contrasted
through their hair because the
older mans is neat whereas the
younger mans is more messy.
Their hairstyles could represent
their states of mind: the old man
is in a somewhat better state of
mind than the younger mans
who's mind is a bit more frantic
and messy.

17. Summary The different hairstyles is to contrast the
men and to show the obvious age gap
between them.
It allows the audience to see a little part of
their personality and how they are feeling:
if their hair is well groomed and they are
wearing makeup it shows that they
obviously care about their appearance. It
allows the audience to understand the
character a little bit more.

18. Voice and
Tone
He starts shouting at the
younger man and tells
him to “GET OUT!”.This
shows that this character
is angry and he has no
more patience left for the
younger man.
This is in contrast to the
beginning of the short film
where is voice and tone is
much lower and softer.

19. Summary Voice and tone are used to help the
audience understand the characters
feelings and to identify them in the
character.
This is good because this allows the people
making the short film have the character
express themselves through voice and
tone to add to their character and to allow
the audience to understand the characters
more, allowing for audiences to enjoy the
characters and the short film more.

20. Colour
He is wearing a red shirt which could represent
blood which could foreshadow his suicide at the
end of the short film. However, he is wearing
light brown trousers which shows that there
could possible be hope for him. But his hope is
probably squashed when his teacher tells him
to leave because he doesn’t want to talk to him
or be in his company.
Apart from his coat he is wearing some what
bright colours like blue and light brown: Blue
represents wisdom, confidence and intelligence;
this could relate to the fact that his is old and a
teacher. Although his jacket is a dark colour and
this could represent his sadness and could
represent that he is in a dark place which relates
to the fact that he came to the motel to kill
himself.

21. Summary Colour is used to represent feelings of the
characters and to foreshadow future
events.
This is good for a short film because it
allows the audience to gather more
information about the characters, giving
the characters more depth allowing the
audience to connect with them more.This
means that they can then spend less time
on this and spend more time on other
crucial things and make their story
entertaining to watch.

22. Location
Motel
Beach:This
sets the scene
and tells us
that the motel
is somewhere
near the beach.
Motel room: from
the motel room we
can hear the wave
of the beach
showing the
audience that
these two locations
are related.

23. Summary The location adds to the story and help
gives the audience more information.
This is good because they then don’t need
to spend a lot of time trying to set the
scene.