MISE EN SCENE – DON’T BREATHE TRAILERBy Jas

WHAT IS MISE EN SCENE

• Mise en scene is a French term meaning what is put into a scene or frame. It is visual information in front of the camera. It also communicates essential information to the audience. Mise en scene is made up of 5 elements;

• Settings and props – locations play an important part in the film making (not just the backgrounds). Sets can be built from scratch or a lot of time and effort is put into finding a setting that already exists. Settings can manipulate an audience by building certain expectations and then taking a different turn.

• Costume, hair and make up – These act as an instant indicator to us, as to the characters personality, status or job. It also immediately tells us whether the film is set in the present and what society or culture it will center around. Furthermore, certain costumes can signify certain individuals.

• Facial expressions and body language - these provide a clear indicator of how someone is feeling. If someone is smiling broadly they are happy but we may get a different feeling if this is accompanied by scary music. Body language may also indicate how a character feels towards another character or may reflect how they are feeling.

• Positioning of characters and objects – positioning within a frame can draw our attention to an important character or object. A film maker can use positioning to show relationships.

• Colour – this carries certain connotations which may add meaning to a scene. It can also give a scene a particular look, feeling or mood.

• Lighting – Lighting is used to highlight important characters. It can also make characters look mysterious and reflect emotions.

LIGHTING• The beginning clips are high key lighting, for example in a house – by having

high key lighting it looks a lot more natural and sets the mood to be relaxed. Another example is when there are clips from outside which make the atmosphere seem light hearted and innocent. A prime example of this is when the old blind man is outside, the lighting is very bright, which connotes innocence. However, this all becomes the opposite when we enter his house.

• When the setting changes to the blind mans house, the only lighting used are filler lights, which represent the fact that he can’t see anything. It also adds dramatic effects, for example when the phone lights up it adds tension as all the characters are silent and in shadows.

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND BODY LANGUAGE

• Close ups show the facial expressions of the characters so we can see how they are feeling. For example, in this image we can tell that the girl is scared due to the tears filling up in her eyes. We can also tell she is shocked due to the slightly open lips. We can also tell that she is tired due to the bags under her eyes, and this is shown through the make up used to make the scene even more dramatic as people act differently when they are tired. The fact that she is tired makes the audience even more empathetic towards her as she may not react as quickly as she would if she was alert. As this is a horror movie we learn that things might not turn out as happy as we would like it to be.

COSTUME, HAIR AND MAKE UP• The costumes in Don’t Breathe represent the characters

background and lifestyle. An example of this is when the main character is talking to her little sister they are in old dirty clothes, which signify to the audience that they are not very well looked after by their parents. Their hair is also messy which also indicates unhygienic living situations.

• Another example of clothes signifying their social class is the old blind mans clothes. However his clothes are misleading as we believe him to be laid back and vulnerable but we come to realise that he is the complete opposite. This is done so that the plot takes a turn for the worse and leaves the audience confused and scared as to what will happen next.

PROPS AND BACKGROUNDS

• The main types of props used are weapons and general house hold objects used as defensive tools. They use normal household objects as it makes the film more realistic as it is based in an old mans house. For example they use guns, but also use objects such as metal bars.

COLOUR

• Colour is very important in this movie as it is about a blind man, therefore the use of dark colours recreates the sense that you are not only in the film, but at some points you are also the blind man himself.

NIGHT VISION EFFECT

The night vision filter adds to the tension to the action and the image its self. As everything is black and white it creates an even more horrific effect on the audience.