Mise-en-Scene In My Thriller

It is extremely important to get the mise-en-scene of my thriller completely right otherwise the audience will not believe what they see is 100% believable and will therefore lose interest. 


For example, famously from the film 'Gladiator' there is a member of the crew in one of the shots wearing a pair of blue jeans, as shown here: 




The name given to mise-en-scene when it reflects real life in an almost completely believable way is, 'verisimilitude'. This is a key component for the audience to be captivated by suspended disbelief. 


It is therefore important to research into costumes, props, lighting (of characters and sets), sets and/or locations.

Reaction To Pitch

The majority of the class preferred Will's idea to mine, Chuffy's and Sarah's, therefore it emerged as our number one. Will's idea was about how terrorists shut down all communication between the Western Nations of the World and plot an attack, sparking the beginning of World War III.


I believe that my idea got some good feedback and the kind of response that I predicted, which was mixed but I think overall supportive. 

Preparing My Pitch

To prepare for my pitch I created a powerpoint of the final idea I decided to go with, which was the freak snowstorm that hit the East Coast of the United States. I presented my powerpoint to the class with Will, Chuffy and Sarah, the other three members of my group.

This picture shows Sarah, me, and Chuffy (from left to right) as we displayed our ideas to the class.

Here is a screenshot of the powerpoint that I made to display to the class: 

Within the powerpoint, I included the Title of the thriller, the plot, and what I would make of the opening two minutes. 

To turn the Snow Storm idea into a thriller film I decided to research into past thrillers such as 'The Perfect Storm', '2012' and 'The Day After Tomorrow'. I looked at how environmental changes can be dramatized into becoming something greatly suspenseful and exciting. 

Using The News As Inspiration

BBC News, CNN, Fox News, all news can be used as an inspiration for a thriller film.

A couple of news stories that I lookedat were:

A freak snow storm that hit the East Coast of The USA. I thought that this could potentially develop into a couple of interesting stories.

Snow Storm Story: 

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/freak-snowstorm-11-dead-as-bad-weather-hits-us-20111101-1msww.html

Why Is Genre Important For Audiences & Institutions?

Genre is important from audiences because it allows them to know what kind of film they're about to see. It allows them to know what to expect when they walk into a movie theatre. If someone has bought a ticket for a comedy film, they exppect to walk in, sit down and laugh their heads off for the next hour and a half. They don't expect to walk in and be horrified by a dead man lying on the floor... In the film that is.

The producers and institutions have to know what kind of film genre they're going to produce right from the word go, so they know to get the right actors, props, set, dialogue etc.

When promoting the film advertisement also tells the audience a lot about the film. For example, the SuperBad Trailer tells us about the comedy of the film. Immediately, because the distributors and film producers knew what they wanted to get across to the audience, the audience can tell what kind of film they'd see if they went to see Superbad at the  movie theatre.

Final Thriller Idea - 'Snow Storm'

For this idea to come alive I had to do some research into what I thought could make a great thriller. I would put this idea under the subgenre heading of an ‘environmental thriller’.  I was reading the BBC News Website when I came across a story about a freak snowstorm that hit the East Coast of the USA and this is where I got my idea from.

My idea was to tell the story of one man and how he survived the initial storm. For my opening sequence I would have white text on a black background to show the film company, actors etc. Then the diegetic sound of a tuning radio would come on shortly followed by the sound of a tape running and plates being washed in a sink. The shot would then cut to the main character looking out the window as he listens to the radio talk about an expected freak snow storm. From different shot we then learn about the character’s reaction to the news over the radio. I believe that the group has decided to go forward with this idea and that it should work well and that we can come up with enough dialogue and shots to make up for the opening two and a half minutes of the film! 

Another Thriller Idea - '17 and Gone'

This idea is about a youth in London who is heavily involved in gangs, drugs and violence. 

The overall plot is about how he is the key to his own downfall. The film will show him and his life over a few days and how he gets into 'beef' with someone else, who in the end kills him. The main character doesn't have any close family.

In the opening two minutes I would have shots taken from high and low angles of the main character walking around the estates in the night. There would be non-diegetic music playing over the top of the sequence with the titles rolling over it. For continuity editing I would make sure I follow simple rules with the camera like the white balance, the 180 degree rule etc.