Mise en scene

Mise en Scene

In Psychological thrillers, low-key lighting and shadows are normally used.  They add tension into a scene, and in some cases, are used to represent the inner darkness within a character. Sometimes, red lighting, or white lighting is used to create a sense of disorientation and to portray a characters mood.

 

Setting:  The setting of a psychological thriller is commonly used to portray and outline a characters life, through where they live, the things they own and what their lifestyle is like before they meet a series of unfortunate events, which will haunt them psychologically. Psychological thrillers are usually set in an urban area, or a house.

Costumes: In psychological thrillers,  the protagonist usually wears something that draws the attention of the audience making them stand out from the other characters. The protagonist is usually wearing brightly coloured clothing, juxtaposing the Antagonist who would stereotypically wear dark, black clothing representing suspicion etc. The antagonist also usually wears smart clothing e..g. A suit or a shirt and jeans. Costumes usually match the location of the film, e.g. in  a built up area the character would be wearing a suit and tie.

Here is the mood board that covers the topic of Mise en scene in our teaser trailer. We have chosen to focus on red lighting for our teaser trailer, so we can convey the disorientation and confusion of the protagonist when she takes the drug. We want our trailer to have a variety of different locations, however it will mainly take place in her house. After she takes the drug, her personality will change and we want to convey that by using “dark” locations such as an alleyway or a dark corridor etc. We will also use low-key lighting for this to represent the darkness of the character. We decided that our protagonist would wear “normal teenage clothing” to fit with the conventions of the genre. She will wear a suit in the school location as it matches the location, this is conforming tot he costume stereotype in Psychological thrillers. Once she has taken the drug we are going to change her clothing to darker colours, similar to typical Antagonists in psychological thrillers. This subverts the stereotype of typical costumes in psychological thrillers. We decided to do this to convey to the audience that she is her own worst enemy, exploring the theme of split personalities, and that she is essentially battling with herself.

Characterisation

In Psychological Thrillers, the behaviour of characters usually represent  psychology, as the characters often battle their own minds, e.g. trying to determine what is real, or who they actually are.

Typical Characters in psychological thrillers include:
Characters with Dark pasts- Silence Of The Lambs
Psychotic Individuals- The Shining
Menaced Women-Sleeping With The Enemies
Innocent Victims-Hear No Evil, See No Evil

The Characters psychological state is the driving force of the plot line, and often there is a first person narrative allowing the viewer to better understand the characters psychological state of mind.

Typical Characters in Psychological Thrillers:

Here is the mood board that covers the topic of Characterisation in our teaser trailer.  We want to focus on the transition of our character from before he takes the drug, to after he takes the drug. We therefore collected photos of TV and Film "villains" as well as "heroic"  and "anti heroic" characters for our mood board, to portray the change in personality our protagonist will face in our teaser trailer. We focused on the character Bradley Cooper plays in the Film "Limitless"  and his character change  after he takes the drug, as it is a similar transition. This shown through the image on the mood board of a close-up of him holding the drug in his hand, and the image to left where he has blood over his clothes. 

Originally we wanted our protagonist to be a male, so we focused on looking at male characters when creating the mood board, however, after creating a survey, and asking people what gender they would want the protagonist to be, the majority chose female, so we decided to change the gender of the character. It is stereotypical of Psychological Thrillers to cast a male protagonist so we have decided to subvert this. It will challenge the audience's expectations and this is one of the criteria a film of this genre should conform to. 

Location Scouting-Party Scenes

We decided we wanted a party scene in our teaser trailer. We therefore decided to use a hall in order to film the party scene. The Images below show the exterior and interior of the hall we are planning to use when filming our party. We decided that the hall would be suitable due to its simplicity- which we hope will be much more effective when we add strobe lighting. We also liked its exterior, as the location of the hall is by the woods, and surrounded by trees, giving it an unnerving feel, which we would like to portray in our trailer.

This is the exterior of our location for the party scene. We will be using strobe lighting at the party, so there will be the opportunity to get some good shots of the lighting through the windows on the outside. 

We also decided we wanted to film along a road/alley, so we took some pictures of potential locations where we will film these scenes. We liked the effect of the street lights as it creates an eerie atmosphere. We will potentially use this location in the scenes after our protagonist takes the drug, due to the dark and creepy atmosphere that it creates, which will reflect our protagonist.  

Deconstruction of American Horror Story Trailer

The first shot of this teaser trailer is immediately eye-catching. Even for those who are not fans of the show, this figure creeping towards the camera dressed in black latex raises a number of questions that a viewer might want to be answered. The lighting is low key and for the time being, the only sound is a crackly unidentifiable non-diegetic noise. The shot doesn't last long before it is followed by a very fast shot of a head shaking vigorously. Although the editing is fast-paced, the speed of the action on screen changes, and this variation makes the trailer that much more interesting. The majority of the shots are monochrome and this gives the trailer a particular gothic, grungy aesthetic.

A loud beat signifies the beginning of the non-diegetic music and is familiar to fans of American Horror Story. The shot on screen when this occurs is a close-up of some eyes that are distorted with an effect similar to a mirror being bent.

Throughout this trailer, some similar shots are repeated over and over again, which is a technique often used in teaser trailers, to tease the audience. Some shots I really like are the close ups of Lady Gaga when she's dressed as a sort of puppet or doll. It has the appearance of a type of photo shoot- the background is completely white which contrasts Lady Gaga's body which is grey and shadowy and over-exposed. In this montage of three shots, the first and last depict slow, creepy movement while the middle shot is of her body shaking. From what we can see, it seems that this technique of altering shots is used to create a sense of not being in control.

The overall effect of this trailer is very twisted and grotesque which makes you feel uncomfortable as it is intended to.

Shot List

This is our shot list for our initial ideas.

Deconstruction of Bad Trip Teaser Trailer

The first shot is preceded by an 'old television' transition, giving the viewers an opening that immediately suggests everything is not as it appears. For the first 15 seconds, the soundscape is empty, with the exception of a few non-diegetic parallel sounds, which match the quick paced straight cuts. The first shot is an eye level close up of a girl's face, as she awakes from unconsciousness. The audience cannot see the girl's face clearly due to her wayward hair and the low-key lighting.

Shadows occupy most of the screen which gives the shot an ominous feel. With the camera so close to the girl's face, as she wakes up, their is a voyeuristic ambience. Between shots of the girl waking up, the audience are shown quick flashes of footage, all with a red tint. It is hard to determine exactly what these shots are of, but the close up of the eyeball is very effective and again supports the theory of voyeurism.

A clear establishing shot of the city is presented next, and is followed by 3 more city-based shots. In each, the city is increasingly distorted- which may relate to the film's theme of drugs and the effects they have on people. Two of these have blurred bright lights, while the last one is a tracking shot of some dark buildings.

Throughout the trailer- typography is used to give the audience extra information on the plot and production of the film. The white sans serif typography is clear and modern and it is very effective against the dark black background. The white powder floating through the air is an interesting technique and ties in with the theme of drugs.

The trailer uses a collection of close up shots and distortion, to give the effect of being high. The close up shots of the girl's face when she's walking along the road in low key lighting, suggest the distorted shots are from her point of view. The music is very effective and increases in intensity as the trailer goes on. The main colours used are red, blue and black, which are all dark and contrast the occasional use of white.

 There is a continued motif of a hand with white powder in the dark. This is very effective, as the contrasting monochrome colours are aesthetically eye-catching.

Plot

The first section of the trailer will be a fast-paced montage displaying a teenage girl and her normal life.
Then she will take the drug for the first time, and she will be lit in bright white/red light.
Then when she is in the party, we will see a series of POV shots which will be distorted due to her fragile state of mind.
The rest of the trailer will show the consequences of taking the drug and becoming addicted to it.


Party scenes - drugs, dancing etc.
Dolly zoom of him taking drug
speeds up - flashing images of party
shots of him screaming

Repeated shots:

Party scenes
Bright lights