Research into mis-en-scene - MIss Georgiou

The Purge included many features of mis-en-scene.


Mis-en-scene is used in films and is split into 5 sectors; settting & iconography, costume,hair and makeup, facial expressions & body language, lighting, postioning of characters/objects in a scene. I am looking at these elemnts in the film The Purge, and how they effect the scene in terms of the audience and also how they relate to conventional thriller films.

Setting & iconography
At the start of the scene, we see the killers arriving at the house. It then leads onto being at a doorstep. This is a small confined space and it is during the night. This is conventional to a thriller film as it is mysterious and leaves the audience in wonder as to why they are there and who are they. The setting almost sets up the scene as it is mostly on the doorstep and we see him through the CCTV camera for most of the scene. Furthermore the man who is at the doorstep is holding a gun, this tells the audience that he is only there to kill.

Costume,Hair and make up
In this scene the killer is wearing a suit which shows authority. This is conventional to a thriller as the murder/killer, would usually wear a black or dark clothing. This then makes the man look more normal as he is wearing a suit but also prestigious. In addition to this, the woman is wearing a white dress, whilst also wearing a mask. This then contradicts itself as a white dress usually symbolises purity, and the mask shows hidden and unknown. The mask is very common to a thriller as it keeps the killers identity a secret thought the film.

Facial expressions & body language
In this scene we can see that his face is very calm and collective. But from the scene we expect a different reaction (anger) as he is hiding his emotions which makes the scene build suspense by the audience being scared at the unexpected moment. This is conventional to many thrillers as it creates tension by the audience being 'thrown off' by his facial expression.
Also the woman in the white dress is leaning up against the wall as if she is bored or tired of waiting.

Lighting
The key light in this scene is on the man's face. This is because he is the main feature of this scene, and its main focus is on him.
The back-light is being portrayed as a street light in this scene, creating a silhouette of a human figure in the background.
There is also a low key lighting being used on the woman in the white dress behind him as it keeps her in the dark and leaves her as a mysterious character.

Positioning of characters/objects within the frame
In this scene, the characters are positioned all in the house, looking at the CCTV, the family are all confused and scared by the man at the front door. The camera that is usually being used as a CCTV camera is almost making the audience feel like they are in the film looking from the camera. The characters (killers) at the door are all purposely placed in this scene to show that there is more than one person outside, with the two people at the door, with the sword purposely placed in her hand to show that they are their to kill.