Café scene from movie ‘American Gangster’. This is a long shot showing the boss of the gang talking to his brothers/ cousins etc. The shot is based in a rule of thirds because the main character is located in the centre of the shot with the sub characters located to the left and right of the shot. You can tell that the person in the middle is in charge because everyone is sitting around him, focusing on him.
In this scene there a multiple props but all of them are not major and related to the story they are just props used to give the scene a more realistic touch. For example most of the props in the scene consist of café prop such as plates, cutlery, food, glasses etc. The clothing that the people are wearing gives a big clue to who is in charge. The person sitting in the middle of the table is wearing much more smart clothes hinting towards his power and authority. On the other hand the people sitting around him are wearing casual clothing which gives the impression that they are working for the person sitting at the end of the table.
Shot of suspect kneeling in between two police officers/ detectives, from the movie ‘Law Abiding Citizen’. It is a long shot showing the suspect being questioned by police officers you can tell the two officers are in charge because they are looking down at the suspect and the suspect is looking up at the two officers. The two officers look slightly annoyed; I can gather this because the facial expression of the officer on the left hints to him being annoyed/ fed- up for some reason.
This shot does not have much mise-en-scene but the clothing in the scene gives the audience an idea of who each person is and what they are doing. For example the two officers either side of the person kneeling on the floor are wearing coats and smart uniform which hints to the fact they are police officers or detectives. The person kneeling on the floor is wearing very basic prison uniform and a pair of handcuffs, this shows the audience that he is a criminal and he has been arrested and sent to jail.
Shot of man carrying 2 double barrel shot guns on his shoulders, from the movie ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ . This is a medium shot because it shows half of the man as well as the two guns resting on his shoulders. The camera is also angled up so that we are looking up at the character, this hints towards power, control etc. Also his facial expressions hint that he is determined and he knows what he is going to do, he is in control.
This shot is quiet dramatic in the way of mise-en-scene because although there are not many props uses in the shot the props which are used build tension and drama. The main props in the scene are the two shotguns resting on the characters shoulders; these are very effective because people link weapons to violence and death and this character is carrying two weapons on his shoulder very calmly hinting towards what might happen next. The clothes the character is wearing also gives away what sort of person he is, he is wearing a leather jacket and a white shirt with a gold necklace, this gives the impression that he is quite a rough character.
Man standing in front of burning oil well, from the movie ‘There Will Be Blood’. This is a long shot showing the man and what is going on in the background. The camera is slightly angled up so that the whole of the shot can fit into. It also shows what is clearly going on in the background (fire, cloud, smoke etc). You can tell that the man is startled because of the way he is standing, what is going on is obviously not suppose to happen.
In this scene there is not much mise-en-scene but what there is hints towards what has happened. The main prop in the scene is the wooden stairs and platform which has fire exiting from the top, this builds tension because it is dramatic and something has obviously gone wrong. You can also tell that something has gone wrong because to the left of the wooden platform is a large pile of burnt and charred timbers which probably use to be part of the platform to the right. The audience can see from the pile of burnt out logs that a large amount of damage has been caused and the fire which is raging on top of the platform has probably caused the damage. The character looking at the devastation is dressed in rough clothing which has obviously been through a lot because it is all dirty and messed up, it is clear that he has been working around the fire because his clothing has clearly been working around the conditions.
Mise-en scene used in our thriller opening
The mise-en scene which we have decided to use in our thriller opening is very similar to the mise-en scene used in the ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ shot and the ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ shot. For the suspect’s clothing we have decided to use casual clothing which gives the impression that the character is not part of an organisation such as the ‘police, detective’s department’, we are trying to get the same sort of clothing effect as the character in the ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ shot. On the other hand the interrogator will be wearing clothing very similar to the two officers in the ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ shot; we have decided to go with this clothing set-up because it gives the impression that the interrogator is organized and part of an organisation such as the police, detective department.
For props we are using only a handful of major props and a few background props, to build up the atmosphere. Throughout the thriller only four props will be used, the first one being a piece of paper with writing on it and 3 photos clipped around the outside. We will be using this prop as a type of evidence that the interrogator will use against the suspect. The second prop that we will be using is a gun which will appear right at the end of the thriller opening. Once the interrogator has gained enough information from the suspect he will pull out a gun and aim it towards the suspects head. We decided to use this prop because it is very dramatic and it grabs the audience’s attention because they will want to know what happened which lead the suspect being captured and if the interrogator actually pulled the trigger. Throughout the whole Thriller a chair remains in the centre of the location, we decided to use a chair because it allowed us to tie the suspect to it allowed us interrogate and torture the suspect. Although the chair is very important to the scene it is not noticed as much as the document and the gun.
The last main prop which used was the large bucket which was used to torture the suspect, this prop is not as important as the other two and not much attention is paid towards it. After the interrogator is finished with the bucket he picks it up and places it to the side and it is not seen again.
We decided to keep background props to a minimal because we wanted the audience to keep their attention on the interrogator and the suspect not the props placed in the background. There are two sets of props which we used in the thriller, first being the tools stacked in the corner of the shed. We placed these there because we didn’t want the back wall to be so plain and it added effect because it showed that the shed was a working place and the tools left in the corner could also be used in a violent way. The second set of background props we used are the tools hanging on the wall on the opposite side of the shed to the tools stacked in the corner of the shed. We hanged the tools on the wall for the same reason why we stacked the tools in the corner of the shed, we added them because it didn’t leave the setting to plain and it added effect because the tools show the shed is a working area and the tools alike the others could also be used in a violent way.
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