Reasearch Mise En Scene (Costume,Body language and Facial expressions)

Mise En Scene

Mise en scene is a very broad topic there are a few elements to mise en scene. Also body language and facial expressions, the characters body language and facial expressions show the audience what is happen and it tells the audience about the character. Costume, hair and make up these are used to present the characters to the audience n the scene or the film.

Scream analysis

(Analise costume, hair and make up)

Victim

• The victim dress sense is very simple with a cream jumper and trousers

• She has straight hair nothing fancy just a night in

• she is wearing red lipstick which could symbolize death

• During the phone call and seeing her boyfriends death she is pale or the make up makes her look really pale

Antagonist

• Costume dark long costume

• hidden identity with the mask

Parents

• Look pale when they see the daughter hanged

• Very modestly dressed smart casual (middle aged people)

• Hair is very simple and well groomed

The victims costume, hair and make up is very simple. This is because she is spending her night in and her costume shows that, as she is wearing a simple plain cream jumper and trousers. With her simple dress code this makes the victim look very innocent. The audience sympathizes for her because her dress code makes her look vulnerable also with the light colours that she is wearing it makes the audience see her as a very pure,simple and innocent person, the audience can see and figure out that she will be a victim to an attack. The costumes makes the audience feel a certain way towards the characters, in this case the audience have a soft spot for the victim as the audience can anticipate something unpleasant will happen to her. The make up that is used on the victim are very simple but bold. She is wearing a very bold red lipstick and her face is very light. With the red lipstick this indicates danger, blood and death that could occur. This makes the audience anxious as in what will happen and the audience can create their own version of events of what will happen. Also to add during the ordeal the victim looks really pale because of the shocking events seeing her boyfriend killed and the the torture over the phone.With her very pale face the audience can see the shock that the victim is going through and how this ordeal is effecting the victim.

The antagonists costume is very dark. The dark costume shows the evil within the antagonist. The dark colors are always associated with the antagonist as the antagonist is not a very nice individual and disturbed in some way. The dark costume makes the audience fear the antagonist and it makes the audience curious into what the antagonist is like as the dark costume hides the antagonists identity. The identity is hidden by a mask, that mask almost what the antagonist is remembered for. Although the antagonists identity is hidden the antagonist has an identity and that identity is the mask. The mask mask keeps the audience in the dark in what the identity under the mask however it makes the audience fear the antagonist and the mask is what the audience can remember.

The parents costume which is very simple and it is smart casual this show the audience that they are middle aged people and their hair style shows that they are people who live a simple life.This also can show their innocence in the attack that took place showing that they knew nothing about what happened. Also it shows the audience that they are vulnerable as well and the audience fear that they could be attack as well.

The stereotypical or common costumes for the victim in thrillers are, the victim is mostly wearing plain clothing and light colours. Also the victim in thriller are instantly recognized as they are mostly blonde and attractive. The victim is very innocent and mainly alone at home. 

These are examples of victims from scream the different sequels of scream. The victims are very similar they are blonde and attractive and their costume is very simple, with this simplicity the audience are made to feel sorry for the victim.

This is another victim from the thriller final destination. The victim is again very similar and the trend can be seen as the victims costume is very common. The victim in final destination is again blonde and attractive and her dress sense is very simple to outline her innocence.

This is another victim from Die Hard this victim is not blonde however the victims dress sense is very simple and she looks very innocent and the audience will sympathize for her. Most of the victims are blonde that is why it has become very common to see a blonde and attractive victim in thrillers.

Lastly the victim from taken has the same costume as all the other victim the costume is very simple and she is attractive. However she also will get a lot of sympathy from the audience. There is a clear trend on the costume fro the victim in thriller and this can  be clearly seen.


The stereotypical or common costumes for the antagonist in thrillers are, the antagonist mostly has their identity hidden by a mask and a dark costume. Also the antagonist also may have a facial defect that chills the audience.

This is an example of an antagonist from Batman. This antagonist wears dark costumes and also the antagonist has a facial defect which is very common with antagonists.

This is another example of an antagonist from scream there is alot of common costume usage with this antagonist. Again the antagonist has very dark costume and the antagonist has a mask. This is very common with antagonists in thrillers.

This is another example of an antagonist this antagonist is from Harry potter. Again the antagonist has dark costume and a facial defect that makes the antagonist recognized as the antagonist and the audience will remember the antagonist for their costume mask or facial defect.

Body language:

Body language is a characters actions, their movement and the way they present themselves. It is also the way that a character holds themselves or acts conventional to other films of the same genre. The body language makes the audience understanding who they are and how they will be represented.

In thrillers the body language that the audience will expect from the characters are the following:

The body language of a male protagonist should be or is expected by the audience to be Authoritative as the male protagonist has to restore order and to resolve the situation that the other characters face in the film. For the male protagonist to restore order and to resolve the situation the protagonist is expected to be strong, bold and to defeat the antagonist.

The body language of a female protagonist should be or is expected by the audience to be independent as the female protagonist has to resolve different situations that she will face and the other characters will face in the film.With this the female protagonist will have to feisty and have a good physic to over come any problems and defeat the antagonist.

The body language of a female victim should be or is expected by the audience is to be a weak physic which makes the victim look very vulnerable. Also the victims body language and body posture is very small and timid.

In thriller films, conventional characters are protagonists, antagonists, child and female victim.

The conventional body language of an antagonist are dark, isolated strong physic and a hidden identity. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it makes the audience fear and it makes a chilling response for the audience about what the antagonist will do to the characters in the film.

The  victim on the other hand are, innocence and weak physic. This is represents them as vulnerable, weak and an easy target. This is conventional to thrillers as the audience feels a sense of sympathy towards the victim and the audience fear what will happen to the victim in the film.

This example of body language of the different characters is from se7en I will analyses the body language in the se7en scene.

Morgan Freeman or detective somerset when he sees the box the body language of detective somerset is very conserved as he does not know what to expect. At firstly it does not show that the detective is looking at the box this conserved body language is used to make the audience think about what the detective is looking at. Then the detective body language is more readable as he is confused and scared to open the box. The audience seeing the detectives anxious body language as to what is in the box the audience begin to think and fear what could be in the box.

Brad pit the other detective who is keeping the antagonist far away from the detective somerset. There is a shot shown where brad Pitt detective mills looks in full control as his body posture is straight and standing firm holding a gun at the antagonist. This makes the audience feel safer as the protagonist is in control of the antagonist. However as the tension grows over what is in the box detective mills begins to pace around and the body posture is lost his body posture is lose and it is not assertive as the tension and uncertainty of what is in the box grows. This uncertainty and the lose posture from detective mills makes the audience feel unsettled as the don't know what to expect and they fear the worst as the protagonist is no longer in control.

Detective mills body language change several times during the scene when detective somerset comes to detective mills detective mills i very agitated and wants to find out what was in that box. This agitated expression unsettles the audience as the protagonist is no longer in control and the audience sympathize the protagonist. However detective somerset looks in control as he is trying to reason with detective mills this shows the audience that there is still a sense of control as long as detective somerset is around. Mills breaks down as he finds out that his wife was pregnant and that it was her head in the box this shows that mills is devastated and it shows the audience what he has lost. Somerset looks very composed in trying to stop mills from killing the antagonist and somerset looks un-phased about what has happen to his colleague

When detective mills has killed the antagonist knowing that the antagonist has won by getting mills to kill him the two detectives posture drops their shoulders drop and their heads drop in defeat as they know that the antagonist has got the better of them. Also the two detectives walk off after the incident this makes the audience are devastated as they have seen the antagonist win and the protagonist walking off in defeat it makes the audience think what will happen now.