Research: Mise en scene: Setting and Iconography - MS B

Mise en scene - Setting and Iconography

What is setting and iconography?

Setting is the surroundings in which something is set; scene and the scenery, properties, or background, 

used to create the location for a stage play and film. The setting of a film is very important to the audience as it gives the audience an idea of what type of mood the film will be. Iconography is the objects used in a film and also objects used by the characters, e.g. a weapon. 

Setting: What are typical thriller settings and why? Discuss connontations and denotations?

Empty Houses

The denotation of an empty house presents a unknown story as the victim will not know what is in the house. This will give a chilling response from the audience as the victim is in the house, alone and helplessly. 

Busy Roads

This is a clip from the Thriller film 'Fast and Furious 6' this scene is set on a busy road as there are countless cars which are speeding cars with no limits. The denotation of this scene is that it gives the audience a fear as the speeding cars can cause death. 

Setting and Sub-Genres: How are settings dependent on sub-genres? Examples.

Crime Thriller

A crime thriller would be excepted to be in a hospital or empty houses/ apartments as this gives a chilling response from the audience as this type of setting creates a illegal death.

Psychological Thriller

 

In a psychological thriller, the characters are exposed to danger on a mental level rather than a physical one. A psyco Thriller will be set in a Homes, Hospital, Alleyway and Haunted House, as its presenting a sense of loneliness and hopefulness. 

Iconography: What are typical thriller iconography and why?

Iconography is the objects used within a scene, this is important because it craetes different meanings towards the audience and also conventional to the genre the film belongs to. e.g.  if a knife and blood is being shown, the audience would connote that this belongs to a thriller, horror or action genre as it symbolises death, crime, murder etc.

Action Thriller

In an action thriller the iconography evident includes cars, drugs, guns and blood. The denotation of cars, drugs, gun and blood connotes danger and death. This creates a chilling response from the audience as they wait in suspense to see what is going to happen and whether the protagonists will defeat the antagonists. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it is expected for the protagonist to experience difficulty from the antagonist and use this particular iconography in order for support, for example, a car may be used by the protagonist to chase the antagonist. 

Thriller Analysis 

In this scene there is iconography used to defend the characters role, the male kid has a bat in his hand. This creates an frightened scene as the 5 year old is trying to make sure he is safe from the victim. The victim is carrying a knife, this indicates that the 5 year old is unprotected and the victim is out of control. This will create a terrified affect on the audience as the scene has presented the setting in a house which is not safe and the little boy has no where to run, he may hide around the house but the audience does guess that he will get caught by the victim. 

Conclusion

From researching Setting and Iconography, I now have a clear understanding of the importance within a film and its dependence on sub genres. When creating my own Thriller, i will set my film in a banned place which these setting connote darkness and loneliness. The use of a loneliness setting allows my audience to feel suspense and drama which is about to come.