1. MISE-EN-SCENE NOTE
Mise-en-scene is a French term meaning what is put into a scene
or frame. When applied to the cinema, mise-en-scene refers to
everything that appears before the camera.
Mise-en-scene is made up of 5 elements- Settings, Props,
Costume, Hair, Make-up, Facial expressions, Body language,
Lighting. Color and positioning of characters/objects within the
frame. The frame and camerawork also constitutes the mise-en-
scene. Each aspect of mise-en-scene creates meanings and
communicates them to the audience, influencing how we feel at
a certain point.
SETTINGS & LOCATIONS play an important part in film making and
are not just ‘backgrounds’. I used only one location which is the
protagonist’s house.
COSTUME, HAIR & MAKE UP tell us immediately whether the film is
set in the present or not and what society or culture it will center
around. It acts as an instant indicator to the audience of a
character’s personality, status and job. I’ve shown the costumes
through mise-en-scene as well. In my short film, the protagonist,
Samantha is not wearing any fashionable clothes. She’s wearing
simple and casual clothes which are mostly dull and dark. And
my antagonist, the Hallucination is wearing the same clothes
throughout the film, and they are a black shirt with black colored
shorts. I have not done any make up on my protagonist because I
had to give her a natural touch. And I kept her hair simple. In
2. one scene she was wearing a hair band while in the other scenes
her hair were open and lying on her shoulders. Same is done
with my antagonist. He is also not wearing any makeup.
LIGHTING & COLOR can be used to achieve a variety of effects for
instance, to highlight important characters or objects within the
frame, to make characters look mysterious by shading sections
of the face and body and to reflect a characters mental
state/hidden emotions. There are two types of lighting: High
Key and Low Key lighting.
High-key lighting has a little dramatic effect and it is often used
in a scene with no tension or to attach positive and uplifting
connotations to a character or situation.
Whereas, Low-key lighting is often used in tense scenes or
scenes where negative connotations are to be derived. It
comprises of a lighting pattern that has both bright and dark
areas in the frame. Drama films tend to use low key lighting to
make the film look more dramatic, to add emotions or to portray
tension in a scene. I’ve used Low key lighting throughout my
movie but in one scene, I used natural lighting instead of
artificial lights. All the scenes were shot indoors and just
because I wanted to build tension, I used bulbs with orange
colored light because of which it made the scene a bit dark.
Therefore, I can conclude that I’ve used Low-key lighting and
natural lighting depending on what I’m trying to portray. But
likewise psychological thriller genre, I’ve used more of Low-
key lighting.
3. PROPS are a vital part of mise-en-scene. The props that I’ve used
in my short film are as follows:
. Magnets: to show that the protagonist is disturbed
. Curtains: to portray a horror scene
. Red paint: to show the foot prints
. Mirror: to show a reflection of the antagonist
(mirrors are mostly used
In Psychological thrillers)
. Laptop: to create a scene with laptops light
. Fan: to show the suicide scene
CINEMATOGRAPHY includes camera angles, shots and movements.
I’ve used a variety of camera shots in my short film for e.g.
Over the shoulder shot when Samantha sees the hallucination for
the first time. Point of view shot when Samantha sees the
hallucination coming towards her. Otherwise, I’ve mainly used
mid shots to show the protagonists movement. Apart from the
traditional mainstream shots, I’ve made use of out of focus to
being focus technique for the starting of my movie when
Samantha enters the door.
