Research on Mise En Scene
Mise en scène encompasses the most recognizable attributes of a film – the setting and the actors; it includes costumes and make-up, props, and all the other natural and artificial details that characterize the spaces filmed. The term is borrowed from a French theatrical expression, meaning roughly “put into the scene”. In other words, mise-en-scène describes the stuff in the frame and the way it is shown and arranged.
For 'BLUD' mise en scene is essential in displaying the code and conventions of an urban drama and vampire genre. In order to be successful in doing so our mise en scene needs to display an hybrid of genres in three areas - location, lighting and costume.
Location - Block of Flats
- Urban blocks of flats are incorporated into the conventions of the urban drama genre and play a central role in setting not only the location but the theme. Blocks of flats connote ideas relating to the working class, inner city and gangs. We would like to include flats in our teaser trailer as it represents elements of our protagonist - that she comes from a working class background. Flats also present the idea of a lot of people living on top of each other which can be quite claustrophobic. This relates deeper to the narrative of our film - as it is about a working class girl who is trying to escape and be free.
Lighting - Low key lighting
- Low key lighting plays a major role is vampire films as it suggests the ideas of darkness and evil. Low key lighting setts the tone of vampire films and is incorporated into its conventions. We would like to include low key lighting in our film as it connotes similar ideas about our protagonist. Not only this but the low key lighting suggests ideas about the narrative. Dark light portrays the feeling of someone wanting to hide something or 'keep something in the dark' - this is exactly what our teaser trailer is about - a girl who has something to hide which can be represented through the use of low key lighting.
Costume - Track suits
We wish to subvert the conventions of the vampire genre in how they present female characters and conform to the codes of the urban drama genre. In vampire films it is very common that you will see females presented in a sexual way, normally wearing revealing clothes. In urban drama films however it is very common to see females be presented in the opposite way, with a rather masculine appearance showing less effort has been taken into their appearance. We would also like to include this idea as we want our female protagonist's costume(s) to consists of dark coloured tracksuits. Not only do tracksuits relate to our protagonist being more masculine and less sexualised but tracksuits are a major part of urban culture. Tracksuits especially those of brands like Adidas, Nike and Puma relate to a more 'road' character - who would be perceived to be of a working class and perhaps involved in a gang.
We wish to include all these ideas of mise en scene in our final product.
Armani Q-Gray
