Deconstruction of mise-en-scene in horror movies in general - Natasha McGill

Deconstruction of mise-en-scene in horror movies in general

In Paranormal Activity, there are different mies-en-scene props. The main source of prop is the baby's toys. They move automatically when a supernatural presence is near and this makes it play a typical child's toy box music theme tune, this will spin slowly as the music plays slow as well building up tension. The dog and the baby themselves have a major role because they can both detect the spirit so therefore are more intrigued in whats going but the dog is more alert that there is danger. They have a usual normal house that is on the street surrounded by others so it makes it look normal but this house does have a basement which is where the spirit hides. The photo with the baby in it, the way the camera is showing the room is a high angle wide shot allowing the viewer to see the whole surrounding.

In the film, Emaze, there are many different spooky props as we can see in the image below that there are creepy pictures that are twisted and hanging of the wall to show little care looked after the house and the stairs have no carpet or proper flooring to suggest lack of maintenance and respect. All of these things build up and make the house creepier. Especially the effect of the photos shows little attention and caution and awareness off what is going on. Also the photo looks messed up and out of place just like what could happen in the film.

 

 

 

As in the Woman in Black, the mise-en-scene is very creepy. These are just two of the dolls/toys that are used along with many more old fashioned toys. These aren't the typical toys to give to children they are the old china toys that are easily breakable and can be seen as very creepy looking. The fact the doll has no expression with its backcombed hair and faced all scratched makes it looks freakier and if itself has been possessed. The fact that these sorts of props are used in horror films show that children are usually seen with them and makes them be seen as the victim. Also the clown is a prop that is shown a lot along with many toys similar for example an old monkey. We see these toys in a shot of a child's bedroom in the haunted house in the film, clowns are portrayed as being daunting and frightening and the make up on the clown portrays a more thrilling and creepy object. 

Deconstruction - Mise-en-scene: Mehrabi Ward

Deconstruction of Mise-en-scene:

PROPS - 

This is the doll used in the film 'Annabelle'. As you can see from this image, the doll looks quite battered and old, it is a very old fashioned type of doll, which looks to be made out of wood instead of plastic. Her face looks to be quite dirty and her hair is plaited to almost make her look innocent. From the picture she looks to be wearing some sort of pink clothing to make her look very girly and to look like what any child would want to play with. As from the film we know that the doll is evil, the fact that she is meant to be played with by young children almost makes it more thrilling for the viewer as children are more helpless than adults are, so it also suggests to the viewers that a child is going to be the main victim/target.

Also the way the doll has been positioned in this shot and how her neck is slightly tilted to look towards the camera it seems like she is looking at the audience. 

This shot is from the opening scene of 'The Woman in Black'. This is another example of a doll used in horror films as a prop. This doll isn't as scary looking as the one from the film 'Annabelle', it has more of an innocent looking face. It is still the idea that dolls are meant for children and the fact that it is being used as an icon in a horror film around the children which makes it more thrilling for the viewer as their faces can be seen as scary as they have no expression.

Deconstruction of mise-en-scene - Georgia Serrecchia

Deconstruction of mise-en-scene:

Props:

The props used in horror films are usually there to signify violence, pain, possession or death. It is common for horror film openings/trailers to show props which signify violence because violence is a big aspect of horror films. In supernatural horrors, it sometimes shows young children being violence whilst holding a violent object, which shows that they are possessed as it is not common for children to be this violent and they weren't that violent towards the beginning of the film.
In supernatural horror films, the prop used is normally a doll which is either already possessed, or becomes possessed throughout the film. There is also sometimes a religious book that is used in order to try and get rid of the evil spirits or demons.

This photo shows the props used in the film the 'Conjuring'. It shows the scary looking doll which appears to be very possessed looking, there is also some rope which is used towards the end of the film when the little boy tries to hang his whole family.The camera that is next to the doll is also used throughout the film, as every time one of the children is about to kill their family, they set up the camera in order to capture the scene.
In our film, we are going to use a doll or a teddy bear, in order to fit the representation of horror films, and it will make it seem more realistic if the little girl is holding a toy.

Costumes:

In most supernatural horror films, the everyday clothes worn by the actors are normally just jeans and a normal t-shirt in order to portray innocence within the characters. It is suggested that ordinary clothing portrays the thought that the characters are innocent but it is innocent people that find that trouble or bad things come their way.

In the film 'Saw', rough and dirty clothing was used portraying the thought of their social class and how less important the two characters are in terms of status, because they have been left in an abandoned room with barely nothing.

In 'Creep', you're unable to see the costume within the first few minutes because the images are being shown from a point of view angle. This portrays that the audience have not got a sense of what type of person this character is because you're able to tell a lot from what people wear e.g. wealth and their culture.

In the thriller film 'The Resident', costume is used to show the roles of the victim and the different stages of the plot. The actor wearing pyjamas evokes vulnerability as she is about to go to bed and not wearing much. Whereas in the final scenes, the victim is wearing blood-stained clothing, this shows the audience that there is a climax in the film as blood represents danger, death and violence.

Realting back to supernatural horror films, in the 'Sinister', it shows the family waring normal everyday clothing order to show innocence and vulnerability. Throughout the film the clothes become a lot more dirty and tatty and blood-stained, representing violence and death.
This image from the film shows the young victim wearing her usual night gown, however it is covered in blood and it looks rather old and ratty.




This image shows the woman from the 'Woman In Black'. It shows her dressed in all black with a black veil covering her face. Both these images show them wearing black which shows that the common representation of the possessed figure in supernatural horror films is that they are normally very pale, and dressed in very dark colours to portray darkness.





In our supernatural horror film opening, we are going to fit this representation and we are going to dress the being in all black clothing, accompanied by a black veil that covers their face. The young girl who is becoming possessed, if going to be dressed in pyjamas in oder to make it more realistic. However, these pyjamas are going to be ripped and have blood splattered across them.

Deconstruction of Mise-en-scene - Mehrabi Ward

Deconstruction of Mise-en-scene 

Costume:

This is the first image I found which is from one of the Paranormal Activity films. In this shot we can see that the girl is wearing what looks to be a long white dress. We usually associate the colour white to be pristine and to portray purity, however in this shot it shows the opposite, the dress looks to be worn away, rugged and also quite dirty. Which could suggest that as the dress used to be clean and 'pure' so did the girl, as in this shot she looks like she is possessed.

This image is from 'The Woman in Black'. In this shot we are able to see what the woman in black is wearing fully. In a way her costume almost looks like what somebody would wear to a funeral, and even in this shot as she is stood what looks like to be a grave, that supports my idea further. She is wearing what looks to be a long black dress with long sleeves and a high neck, so hardly any of her skin is on show. She is also wearing a hat and a vale over her face. This choice of clothing again means that we are hardly able to see what the woman actually looks like, we aren't even able to see the colour of her hair. 

Practical Task: Props- Charlotte Wilson

Practical Task- Props

I got my inspiration for my practical task from the film Annabelle ,liked the idea of using a doll instead of a teddy. 

After this i went on to youtube to look for ideas on how to make dolls look old and battered, possibly a bit scary aswell. This is the video i found:

Firstly i found an old doll of mine which was this. 

I then got the equipment which i needed which consisted of matches, scissors, fake blood and black eye shadow.

I then cut the dolls hair oddly so it was all uneven as if its torn away over time, i then stapped her eye with scissors so it was turned around the wrong way to make her look a bit my freeky and as if shes been played with a lot.

After this i added some black eye shadow around her face smothered  and on her arms legs shoes etc so she looked old and dirty like a bit mouldy. I the put some fake blood around her eyes and on the back of her head to make her look possessed. I then started to set her on fire. 

I set her on fire on the edges of her clothes and on her heart, i also singed her hair. 

This was my finishing result:

Deconstruction of Mise-en-scene- Charlotte Wilson

Deconstruction of Mise-en-scene 

I looked at the miss-en-scene from the film Annabelle.

In this first image we see the dolls lined up and Annabelle being placed, the woman is saying 'she fits right in'. We can see that they are all wearing similar dresses but Annabelle stands out from the rest as she is larger and the camera is focused more of her and the lighting being brighter. The doll is used throughout the film a common representation usually within supernatural horrors. 

The long shot shows us a women holding a doll, we assume its Annabelle. The lighting has gone very dark telling us how the mood of the scene has changed and something bad is happening. 

We can see in this long shot the woman holding the doll up higher them her telling us she may be quite vulnerable and that the doll is powerful. The dress which the doll is dressed in is quite old fashioned telling us how the doll has been around a long time. We can see the dolls in the back ground and colour of the room being pink that this is a little girls room. 

This shot is cut from the long shot of the women holding the doll to an over the shoulder shot is used here, we are able to see the dolls face clearly. The doll looks quite realistic in comparison to the others, her stroking the hair shows us her connection with the doll.

A long shot is used i this image where we see a cabinet of dolls and in the middle the main one Annabelle. The use of the dolls being used is also s common representation in super natural horrors for a Demond or spirit to be in the object or toy. We can clearly see from this there is something different with the main doll in the middle, the lighting is also very doll, the camera focus' on her. 

In this image we see the doll which has been used throughout it, however though in this picture the dolls in the back ground are all pushed over, showing us something bad has happened. We also see in this the writing all over the sealing and images drawn i found this very effective. The word 'her soul' conforms to the representation of supernatural horrors including religion. As there is a crib and the mobile above it showing us clearly its a child's room.

Deconstruction of film opening Annabelle - Natasha McGill

Deconstruction of film opening Annabelle

Conventions of supernatural horror movies usually involve a connection with a demon or a spirit, which possess them making them do something they wouldn’t usually do. The children are seen as the vulnerable ones as the demon or spirit usually targets them as their victim. The typical location for a supernatural horror movie would be in a house where everything starts off okay then it turns haunted. Sometimes religious symbols are used in the movies and a priest is usually involved to help the family overcome their traumatic experience.

Camera angles

A different variety of shots are used in horror, but close up shots could be portrayed as scarier because it can make the viewer jump or in Annabelle we are able to see very fine detail on the dolls face.  By having these close up shots of the doll and how scared and cut her face looks, this gives an insight into what the doll is going to do to the family; it will scar them. The doll itself has a creepy face and we can see this through the close up of its face. This is effective because it builds up tension of what the doll is capable of doing.

Mise-en-scene

The horror movie is based inside a house; this conforms to the conventions of a supernatural horror. As shown in the picture the doll is lifted out of the box and is soon placed on a shelf inside the child’s bedroom, at the start of the film this doll was given to the mum as a present. What they thought would be an innocent present soon haunts their house. There is a symbol that appears on the wall which also conforms to conventions of supernatural horror movies, as this is some form of marking which is made by the possessor. This is effective because it is unexpected so this gives the audience that anything could happen at any one time. Also in the beginning scene, a girl is having a discussion about the doll and why is it possessed.

Sound

Sound is used in many different ways with the diegetic dialogue of a girl who is explaining the backstory of what happened with the doll in the first place. Once she has finished explaining there is a close up of the dolls face as it zooms in close and while this is happening the non-diegetic music of dramatic music which involves a screaming aspect which gets louder as it gets closer to the dolls face. Then the use of children’s wind up toys was used to make more tension is to what is going to happen next.

Editing  

Towards the end of the opening scene as the non-diegetic music off the children’s wind up toys come to an end, the title is displayed on the screen like the image below. A cut is used to go onto the title page and then again once it has been shown. It zooms into the title then carries on with the movie. The use of red writing could suggest blood or something eerie.

This is a very good film opening and the way it is laid out and when the lady first receives the doll, just the way the doll looks is  rather disturbing and creepy. The use of mise-en-scene was very good and looks very creepy. The house itself doesn't look haunted but in the child's bedroom with the old rocking chair and all the old dolls makes it creepy and so confoms to the genre of horror.