Mise en Scene

The term Mise En Scene, or ‘Place in the scene’, is used within theatre and film to describe the visual aspects. This includes props, costume, setting, make-up, non-verbal communication (NVC), performance, lighting and set design. The director uses these to develop the film thus making it seem more believable and to evoke the audience emotion. For example, a director may use ‘horror’ make-up (cuts, bruising) in a horror film, such as The Exorcist, to convey the full horror of the exorcism, than to what would’ve been without make-up.

Within our thriller 'Netherton' we have decided that the location alone is enough to set a grim atmosphere. At first we though upon using a costume on Lewis's character to make the film more realistic but on further thought we would do flash backs of his before life and therefore the doctors costume would be needed for that. We have chosen a more professional attire of a suit trousers and tie combination.

Isobel's character is the 'innocent young girl' and therefore for her costume we have chosen a simple dress and shoes, portraying her innocence and femininity.

Props we are going to use within the film are a crow bar and a rusty saw, which we found on location. These props symbolise violence and brutality.

These visual aspects of the film will help to make our film more realistic and hopefully, more professional.