mise-en-scene: The Power of Horror Movies

Mise en Scene is using 5 key pieces of film to create the atmosphere, feel, tone and look to your film.

1 Props

The props you use in a film emphasises what kind of film you're watching.

 A slash horror movie wouldn't be complete without some form of sharp instrument that the antagonist terrorises the other characters of the film with.

Above pictures the 1996 film Scream. This medium shot shows the antagonist with his signature props of the knife, and the scary "Scream" ghost face. This gives him his unpleasant, no faced scare factor.

2 Costume

Costume is vital when it comes to setting the scene. Whether this is the antagonist or protagonist.

Costume creates the time period the film is set in and allows narrative progression to happen too.

Within a horror film, costume is used to determine the difference between the protagonists and the antagonists of a film.

Within the 2011 film You're Next, the use of masks also hides the character and completely dehumanises the  antagonist.



3 Make-up

Make-up allows horror films to either create mythical or potential creatures that can make a film more realistic and terrifying. They can even use make-up for a gore factor too.

Within this gif, the use of make-up creates one of the zombies in the film Shaun of the Dead.

The make-up within the 2009 film Daybreakers creates their rogue vampires, which attack other vampires.

4 Settings

Settings show what kind of time period, a film is set in, the type of place a film is set and what kind of environment the characters are in.

Typically in a horror film, the favouring of abandoned, old housings are usually to the genre of paranormal/ghosts and demons.

Here shows the poster for the 2013 film The Conjuring. As you can see, the eerie house shows this is where the "weird happenings" of the film take place.



5 Facial Expressions and Body Language

The facial expressions within films shows the reacts and feelings of those the characters in the film.

Within horror films, the usual facial expressions are fear, shock and terror. In the contrast, some of those in horror films do fight back and show determination and power.

Here shows the facial expression of the character Hannibal Lecter from the 1991 Silence of the Lambs.

His psychopathic killer intentions are shown within his deadpan facial expression.

6 Lighting and Colour

The use of lighting and colour within films creates an atmosphere. Low Contrast makes a scene look mysterious, scary and atmospheric.

Here is an example of low key lighting from the 1999 film The Blairwitch Project.

High Contrast lighting creates a must lighter and cheerier tone to a scene, everything looks more natural and calm.

An example of high contrast lighting is the film Bridget Jones' Diary.

A rom-com like Bridget Jones has a completely high contrast, natural lighting look to the scenes due to the fact they want the film to be bright and "lovely" because its romance and is supposed to be light hearted and humorous.

Positioning in the Frame

Positioning in the frame can be key when it comes to vital characters or objects. Positioning draws the audiences focus to either an object or characters that is vital to the scene.

Within the 1999 film The Blairwitch Project, the pan of the camera pans to the friend at the end standing in the corner of the shot, then the camera drops to the ground and the film ends.

This illusive ending scares the audience because we don't understand what has happened to the friend, or the person filming, but it draws attention to the fact that the friend is being odd.