Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scène is a French term and originates in the theatre It means, literally, "put in the scene." For film, it has a broader meaning, and refers to almost everything that goes into the composition of the shot, including the composition itself: framing, movement of the camera and characters, lighting, set design and general visual environment, even sound as it helps elaborate the composition.

The setting for the film prom night was set in a hotel, this type of setting is not usually conventional to a thriller film as the ironic type of settings often feature a ordinary location, to allow the audience to feel a link with certain characters, alot of the setting in thrillers are eerie ones with an eerie past such as old schools, manors or churches, the setting of prom night this gives the audience a false impression as the plot unfolds. Also the fact that the film is set in a hotel with a large number of people miss leads the audience as they don't seem to think its likely for a murder to take place with the vast amount of people. 

Another element of mise-en-scene used in prom night was iconography, the scene at the beginning  of prom nights uses props such as glasses and bottles to represent that everyone is having a good time, later on in the film a fire extinguisher is used by the killer to break down a door to get the victim inside the hotel room, this is used to show the audience the victim is no longer safe in her room. This is conventional to a thriller as it is a weapon used to attack a victim, it also makes the audience feel sympathetic toward the victim and on edge to what is going to happen to them. Another prop used in prom night was a knife held by the killer, this portrays the killers power and dominance over the weak female victim as she has no weapon and is helpless.


Lighting and colour play a major part with highlighting people and objects within a film. Prom night uses low key lighting in this scene to represent a darker atmosphere, which is scary or mysterious.  It  produces a sharper contrast of light in darker areas on screen in order to develop deep shadows and silhouettes formations. in the case of this scene the shadows are of the murderer who is only just behind the victim. This is conventional for a thriller movie as it try's to create mystery so that the audience will be interested and want to try and work out what is going on.

The costumes used in prom night are suites and glamorous prom dresses, the way in which the characters are dressed gives us a clue in that they are very wealthy so therefore could be victims as they have money. A few of the victims in the film are dressed in in white/cream dresses which represents innocence and weakness, where as the murderer is dressed in dark clothing and a hat making him mysterious and giving him a hidden identity which is typically used in thrillers as the audience do not usually know who the killer is till nearer the end of the film.





This analysis has helped me understand mise-en-scene and the different aspects of it and the effects they create. My thriller film will include costumes such as the victim wearing white and the killer wearing black to show the higher status of the killers. I will also use facial expressions to convey emotions so the audience feel sympathetic towards the victim for example.