Research into mise - en - scene - miss Georgiou

What is mise-en-scene?

Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production (essentially a visual theme or telling a story) visually artfully through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction.

Se7en - sloth scene

I am analysing the sloth scene in se7en as it contains all of the main elements of miss-en-scene, the purpose being because this scene has all the elements which I intend to include in my own thriller sequence.

Lighting and colour 

The lighting and colour in the sequence changes throughout the sequence. When the swat team burst into the building, the lighting instantly goes pitch black; the only light emitting from the guns which the swat team members are holding. This could possibly be used attract more attention to the weapons (iconography). The entire sequence in which this takes place has a eerie atmosphere due to the only lights coming from the previously mentioned source and from the curtains later on in the scene (back light). This could also be used to connote to the reader that someone thing is about to happen, an example for foreshadowing as something bad has occurred. 

Facial expressions

The facial expression and body language is used in the sequence to indicate to the reader who is significant in the sequence. When all of the swat members and other characters are going up the stairs of the building, the facial expressions of the swat members can't be seen due to the dark shadows and lack of lighting, however once the detectives travel up the stairs, a light is shone on to there face, making there facial expression visible - showing a serious expression. The body language of everyone in the sequence is very uptight also, which could imply to the viewer that the following segment in the film is of importance. The lack of faces being seen until the body is found at the end of the sequence (minus the part with the detectives mentioned previously) could be an example of foreshadowing also as it is very dark and eerie, and as the only faces shown up to that point are of the detectives which could of been done to show that they are a key part of the sequence.

Settings and iconography 

The setting of the scene is of a low lit building, with a very dark atmosphere with shadows contrasting from the lack of light. It contains many pieces of typical film iconography also,  an example of this is the weather in the sequence (raining). Rain is used in this scene to create a dark and dense atmosphere, which implies to the viewer that something bad is going to occur (which could also be an example of foreshadowing). Before the body is found at the end of the sequence, an array of air fresheners are visible before seeing the body which could also be an example of foreshadowing being used as only seconds later a body is found (used to freshen the stench).

Costume, Hair and makeup

No strong/visible makeup seems to be in the sequence until the scene in which the sloth victim is found, as before entrance of the room all faces that have screen time do not appear to be wearing makeup. As the scene is very dark due to little light, it would seem the reason as to why they are not wearing makeup as all small details and imperfections are not visible (if it was a well lit scene, almost certainly more makeup would be used). Another possible reason for the lack of makeup could be so that the sloth victim (which is wearing a lot of body makeup) seems more realistic as it could have a unconscious affect on the viewer as no makeup had been used up to that point.

During the sequence, every character is wearing a costume which connects to law and enforcement (swat team and detectives). As later in the scene the body of the victim is found, the presence of the characters in the scene foreshadow that an incident has occurred, and it creates criminal like atmosphere doing this also.

positioning of the characters (objects within the frame)

The positioning for objects within the frame can draw attention to the importance of an object, an example of this is used during the later part of the sequence. Slightly before the discovery of the sloth victim, air fresheners are focused on for segments, and is featured in the background of scenes where there not. This could be used to foreshadow the discovery of the victim (as the air fresheners would be used to cover the odour). This is supported by the fact that all of the characters in this part of the sequence are shown standing around the bed, in which both the air fresherners and characters are in the shot.

How will the research assist me when planning for my own thriller sequence

All of the different elements of mes-un-scene that I have discussed I intend to use when I go to create my own thriller sequence.  The main aspects that I will try to encorparate into my thriller movie more so will be "lighting and colour" and "facial expressions and body language" as I believe they are the most essential when it comes to creating a thriller atmosphere.