Genre Conventions: Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene

The arrangement of the scenery, props, etc. on the stage of a theatrical production or on the set of a film

With regard to scenery, we made a collective decision to set our film in a house which was built sometime around 1864. The era that this house was built helps us to achieve the 'old ancient and haunted' look that we were trying to achieve within our setting. Although the house looks very cosy and humble which is not usually the type of setting for a horror film, the old interior such as the stone floors, brick walls and wooden beams lining the ceiling makes it seem more eerie and fearful than a typical standard house. The attic in which we filmed looked more abandoned as it is rarely ever used in actual reality which helps with our setting.

Due to our film being based around a Ouija board; props were a key factor in the producing and filming of our project. The Ouija board was our key prop and we tried hard to make it look as authentic as possible. The first Ouija board we bought was from eBay, however this proved to be too small for the use of our five characters. As a result of being on a tight schedule we decided to DIY our Ouija board by printing off an A3 picture of a Ouija board and sticking down to a piece of thick wood; this created the illusion that is was real and made it look very authentic. Whilst filming the Ouija board scene, we used and candles and placed them in different spots around the room. From research we conducted, we found that candles have connotations of spiritualism and are often used when casting spells or when conducting séances, which correlates with the storyline of our film; so it was only natural that we included them during our own séance scene. The candles gave of a creepy and eerie ambience whilst also creating light necessary to film. To keep the ghostly aura of this film, we tried our hardest to make sure that every prop was outdated and old-fashioned. Props such as the old rickety ladders used to get up to the attic looks very rustic and ancient, despite being a safety hazard. All props used in our film were carefully thought out in order to keep up the gothic nature of the film.

For costumes, we decided to keep the looks simple and not over-complicated; this would help our audience to be able to identify with the characters more easily. We made sure not to make the characters look too cliché and instead portrayed them as normal teenagers. Riley, one of the main characters, wore jeans and a crop top. The reason for this is because it is a popular fashion trend in todays society which would be identifiable to most teen girls. This outfit goes with Riley's 'girly girl' stereotype and fits in with her character profile perfectly. Malia, another character, wears a similar outfit to Riley as they are both in the same social group, however she pairs it with a blue denim jacket. This is also a fashion trend and helps to give Malia a sort of 'edgy' vibe and makes her seem a bit more 'hip' than Riley. Mackenzie the last girl character wears a simple white top and a green cardigan which fits in with the 'quiet girl' stereotype that she was given. Both of the boy characters in our film are wearing simple black and white clothing which could symbolise their straightforward attitude and also their lack of interest in the Ouija board. Jace is your typical teenage boy and wears brands such as Nike and Adidas which is representative of his age group. By wearing these brand, teenage boys who also like these brands will easily be able to identify with the character. Eli wears glasses which helps him to portray the 'nerdy introvert' which is his character.

The lighting used throughout this film is typically low-key or naturalistic to keep the realistic and eerie atmosphere we are trying to maintain. The whole Ouija board scene is filming with minimalist lighting, with the only source of light being candles and flashlights. The darkness of the scenes creates a more scary suspenseful and gloomy atmosphere. We could film some of the scene in the natural lighting of the day in order to overcome the problem of the shots being too fuzzy and pixelated due too the lack of lighting; filming in the day will help to improve the camera quality.