Research into mise-en-scene- Miss Georgiou

James Edwards - Scream 2

Mise en Scene

The arrangement of everything that appears in the framing – actors, lighting, décor, props, costume – is called mise-en-scène, a French term that means “placing on stage.” The frame and camerawork also constitute the mise-en-scène of a movie.

I am analysing a clip from the film Scream 2, the clip begins with a women at her home and the phone begins to ring. The first thing that happens is the close up camera angle on her, this is so the viewers can relate to the actors emotions and how they are feeling. The actor seems as though she’s nervous and worried about answering because she thinks it will be the scream killer on the phone.

The costume that was evident within my chosen film sequence was a long black cape and a ghost mask. This was used throughout the sequence, as the unknown killer had murdered a number of innocent people.  This is because it helps to hide the identify of the killer. Black has the connotations of death and mystery and this is conventional for this to be used within a thriller film and this is because it helps to hide the identity of the killer. Hidden identify is a thriller convention because  many of the killers are unknown and especially in the film scream it makes it more scary.

A prop that was evident within my chosen film sequence was a knife. This was used throughout the sequence, as this was the weapon that the killer used to murder his innocent targets. A knife is used because it is a very gruesome way to die and the killer wants you to suffer and not die peacefully. This is conventional to a thriller film and this is because it relates to death and pain. 

The clip is set a night which is related to a thriller because when you think of a murder or danger it is always more scary and edgy when it is at night. There are also lots of small backlights that are on this is to show shadows and make it feel a bit more spooky. There are rarely many bright lights in the short clip because when it is bright it feels more calm so when its darker you are more on the edge of your seat.