Mise en Scene in Thriller films

We are researching the typical mise en scene used in thriller films to help us develop our ideas for our film.

It is typical in a thriller film for the characters (protagonist and antagonist) to be dressed completely different so the audience can easily separate them from each other and establish who’s good and who’s bad. The antagonist is normally dressed in dark colours to connote there darkness because they’re evil. However, protagonists are normally dressed in brighter colours such as white. For example, Jenny in Eden Lake is dressed in white, bright colours to connote good), however the youths are dressed in dark colours (to connote evil). This is a typical example of how protagonists and antagonists are dressed so the audience can easily separate them. Also many of the youths wear hoods and Brett (the leader of the gang) wars glasses in some scenes whereas Jenny doesn’t, also in Eden Lake, a lot of dark lighting is used to cover their faces, when this is done in thriller films, it plays on our fears of not knowing who they fully are, it brings an element of mystery into the film. Whereas the protagonists face is seen because there is nothing to be afraid of. A lot of thriller films use lighting to cover half of the antagonists face which also creates a sense of mystery to the character and encourages the audience to feel more afraid.
 

Also thriller films like to play on our fears especially in the mise en scene. Thriller films are commonly dark lightening because a lot of people are scared of the dark. This builds suspense when the audience are watching the film, also they like to use a wide depth of space, this is to connote isolation of a certain character (depending on the storyline). Blood is also a common thriller convention along with weapons, this is to illustrate violence has occurred in the film and someone has been injured or killed. Many people are scared of blood and weapons because they are linked to death, majority of people hate the thought of dying or other people dying too which is why thriller films use these conventions

Thriller films are quite commonly filmed in either urban areas or quite country villages. The urban areas is to illustrate a person’s helplessness in the film, the small village in the country villages is to play on people’s fears (urbanoia), no one wants to be stranded or alone in the middle of nowhere. The colours which are mostly used are black and grey, this is to illustrate the darkness and dullness of the average, boring city life. Sometimes colours such as blue and red will be used as well, blue is to connote that someone is about to die and red is to illustrate danger.

Weapons (such as knives and guns) and blood are quite often used in thriller films, this is to illustrate violence and action in the film. The weapons can also be used to connote danger and even create fear and suspense for this audience because something could be about to happen.

We are going to combine our research for thriller films and mystery films to ensure we incorporate both genres into our films.