Mise-en-Scene

When creating my 5-minute short film, one of the most important techniques that I will use is mise-en-scene. This encompasses costume, lighting, actors, make up, props and settings.

The mise-en scene in my film is as follows:

COSTUME

The costumes worn by the various characters in my short film are used to establish the time period and setting of the piece (i.e. early 1900’s England). The various costumes include:

A trenchcoat and hat for the main character. This is both a stereotypical and conventional of old film noir style mysteries, and adds an authenticity to the film in terms of genre, it also adds a certain amount of suave and sophistication to the character, as below:

   

The initial victim will be wearing bed clothes. This not only helps to show time of day within the scene that she appears in, but also connotes vulnerability due to the thin fabric. Showing this vulnerability within a young girl in films nearly always connotes that the girl is likely to run into some sort of trouble through the course of the film (in this case, she is murdered.)

The final victim in the short film is the detective’s wife, she will wear a flowery dress. I have selected this costume for the character because flowers typically connote beauty and love. This love is taken away when she is killed in the final scene of the film, sparking a vendetta for the main character.

The villain will wear a red waistcoat, (which unfortunately will not be seen due to the film being black and white) shirt and smart trousers. This connotes a well-respected man of high social status. The colour red also represents majesty and most importantly, blood. This tells the audience that the character is likely to be an antagonist.

LIGHTING

The lighting throughout my short film will be mainly natural and low key, particularly when a murder is nearing, as the night typically connotes some form of disaster and also increases tension.

Another prominent form of lighting within my short film is the 'lighning flash' in the second scene. This was done used to signify a storm, which in itself is foreboding (as it connotes that a disaster is about to occur), and increases tension.   

ACTORS

• Sophie Wetherall-Initial Victim (Lillian Andrews)
• Keith Wetherall-Main Character- Ex-Detective (Milton Andrews)

• Lewis Pickering-Main Suspect (Frank Myers)

• Robert Wetherall (myself)- Main Villain (Edward Andrews)

• Lynne Wetherall- Main Character's Wife (Violet Andrews)

MINOR CHARACTERS 

• Unnamed Characters- Keith Wetherall

• Executioner- Kane Guichard (Formerly Sophie Clarke)

I chose these actors as they are easily accessible to me and are able to portray the various emotional and physical states required, which is essential as without speech, the actors must use mime and body language to convey their ‘message’. For example the suspect needs to be quite aggressive to show that he is unhappy with the situation that he has been put in, while the initial victim needs to look vulnerable, as she is the first victim. Another deciding factor in me choosing my sister as the initial victim is that she is a young girl, which adds to the element of vulnerability required as well as making the scene very foreboding (i.e. the audience knows that something bad is going to happen to her.

The main character’s actor was chosen after deciding that my mother would play the final victim. I had always had an idea that the final victim would be someone close to the detective, sparking a vendetta against the killer and leaving the film on a cliff-hanger and creating an enigma. (I.e. what will happen next?). I chose my father as the detective knowing that since the two are married in real life and already have that pre-existing love, the detective’s emotions in the final scene after he finds his wife dead, would be more authentic.

MAKE UP

I will not use any make up in this film, as I want to make it as aesthetically ‘pure’ and realistic as possible, and also this avoids the risk of over-enhancing any of the characters. This keeps the film totally ‘real’ and allows the audience to see the ’true character’ (i.e. without any additions)

PROPS

There are two main props that I will use within my five minute short film. These being the murder weapon (a handkerchief) and a ‘calling card’, which is left at each murder scene.

I decided to use a handkerchief as the murder weapon as in the early 1900’s, what I would call ‘low trace’ weapons were hard to come by (e.g. guns were too loud and would most certainly have left no end of witnesses at a murder scene, and knives would have blood all over them),so the weapon of choice for many killers around the time was a simple handkerchief, which were both common, and leave little residual evidence apart from saliva (which could be argued to be from the murderer sneezing as the technology to prove otherwise had not been invented yet. I also chose to use a handkerchief because it adds a ‘sophistication’ to the killings, rather than the all-out brutality seen in many modern weapons such as guns and knives.

The idea for the ‘calling card’ came from my watching many crime dramas involving serial killers, in which most left these so that they could be recognised and feared by the public, mostly to prove a point and seek attention.

SETTINGS

I had to choose my settings carefully, as if they were too modern, the film wouldn’t look authentic. My main film location is Lincoln, as the city contains a lot of old architecture and is steeped in history, however, I also filmed in Kirton Lindsey at the old mill, a derelict building on the outskirts, which, in the film, will be the house of the initial victim.  This was to connote that the following scenes would lead to a dereliction of the detectives emotions leaving him on the verge of a mental ‘collapse’. I also chose this building because it is somewhat reminiscent of the desired time period for the film (early 1900's).