Coursework: Pre-production - Mise-en-scene

Create a Mise-en-scene blogpost planning everything that will appear in front of the camera in your two-minute film trailer. 

Remember CLAMPS: Costume, Lighting, Actors (cast, placement and movement), Make-up, Props, Setting.

Costume
What will your characters wear? What is the costume supposed to communicate to the audience? How does this link to your Statement of Intent in terms of creating representations?

Lighting
How will you light your trailer? Day or night? Interior or exterior? If outside, can you use streetlights, shadows, reflected sunlight or other creative techniques to achieve the lighting style you want? If inside, experiment with creative lighting techniques using windows, blinds, artificial lights, phone flashes and more.

Actors
The first thing you need to plan is your cast - who will be in your production and which characters will they play? Try and cast people who are reasonably similar to the character they are playing (both in age and personality). Next, plan their placement and movement in key scenes in your trailer. Do you want them to appear trapped in a claustrophobic close-up? Or isolated as a tiny person in a wide shot?

Make-up
Plan any make-up you require - this could be particularly important for horror trailers.

Props
What props will you require? Remember, you can't use anything that might resemble a weapon in a public or school location (this is VERY important). Well-planned props can help to communicate genre and character quickly - vital in a short trailer.

Setting
This should already be largely planned using your script. However, now is the time to specify exact locations - if a classroom, which one? How will you arrange it with the teacher? When will you film there? For external locations, try and take pictures of settings or use Google Maps and Google Earth. Spending quality time planning your locations can make a huge difference to the professionalism of your film.

Here's a video guide to Mise-en-scene at degree or film-school level:



...And here's Darius Britt on the top 15 mistakes new filmmakers make - there are a few key aspects of Mise-en-scene in there:




Post your Mise-en-scene planning as a separate blogpost on your Media 2 coursework blog.