Mise en scene; Harry Wainwright: prom night evaluation

Mise en scene; Harry Wainwright: prom night evaluation

Mise en scene is a French term for ‘everything in the camera shot’. They use the expression as a simple abbreviation for the following factors: settings and iconography, costume hair and makeup, facial expressions and body language, lighting and colour and positioning of characters/ objects within the frame. These five factors help portray a theme to the audience that can sometimes cause a false judgement.

The lighting throughout the prom night clip is constantly changing. At the start in the hall when they are about to announce the prom king and queen, the lighting is dark and moody to create tension and suspense. This was an example of low-key lighting. Also in this scene the fire alarm goes off just as the antagonistic music is about to announce relief or surprise. This is a false ‘jump’ and is a common convention in a thriller film. The strobe lighting kicks in and this creates a mood of panic and haste. The strobe lighting would be known as key lighting; the brightest light in the shot.  This lighting would affect the audience as they know why the alarm has gone off because of the killer but the characters in the film don’t know this. This is called dramatic irony.

The setting to prom night was a hotel in NYC. The hotel was real but they probable remade the hotel room and main hall. This is because they need specific things from the hotel and if it can give some if them but nit all, they can reconstruct the hotel the way they want it (inside) somewhere else. The iconography of the film was very conventional to a thriller film. For example the fire extinguisher the killer uses to break down the door of the hotel room that the ‘typical female victim’ has locked herself into. The gun the policeman uses to track the killer after she escapes the room is another example of iconography. The gun is, in my opinion is an unconventional feature to a thriller film because it has no suspense or thrill. A knife is a common weapon for thrillers as it is scary and more painful.

Mise en scene is a very crucial component of a thriller film and is used to unveil a hidden meaning. The iconography has to be specifically crafted and designed to fit the purpose and genre. This is a very vital convention and is extremely hard to get right.

Harry Wainwright