Mise-en-Scene in Horror films

There are 4 main areas that make up Mise-en-scene which are:

• Setting
• Props
• Costume
• Make-up 

Setting 

Typically horrors are set in gloomy or eerie locations such as haunted houses where the protagonists will normally feel isolated and this feeling is passed into the audience to scare them. This is one of the crucial methods to scare an audience as it is much easier to scare people in these gloomy areas in comparison to a nice sunny day in the park. The darkness and the filters used play a part in this, as the mist or darkness makes it easy for the antagonist to sneak up or scare the audience and gives a sense of unknown to the audience. Examples of this are seen in the Woman in Black where she hides in dark places and the misty forest surrounding the house, as well as this the protagonist is alone on in the marsh house which makes the audience feel alone too. 

Props

In horror films props can be used as either a subtle tool or obvious tool, it is rare there is ever an in between. The reason for this is this is because if props are being used in a subtle situation such as Iconography then it has a hidden innuendo, for example in the Scream opening we see our Protagonist playing with a knife which can be seen as her playing with something dangerous much like the conversation she is having with the antagonist on the phone. On the other hand we see a prop being used for a blatant reason, such as stabbing someone to death which we see in the Scream opening.  

Costume 

Costume design is another important aspect to highlight or add personality to protagonists or increase the fear that the antagonist gives off. An example of this would be light clothing colors being used to give a connotation that the characters are innocent or pure but red implies danger much like what is used in our Main brief where Liv is using a red Jersey which implies she encounters a dangerous situation later on. The scarier or more horrifying the antagonist costume the more frightened the audience will be, if it can install fear into the character it will also scare the audience. Colors and clothing help to identify the Antagonist as well, the audience will often believe that the dark clothed character.

Make-Up

Make up in horror films is used to make the victims or the antagonist look scary or horrifying, we decided to apply this to our main brief by putting fake blood and bruising to Lucy's face to show that she is dead or has been attacked which makes her scarier as a character. The sight of blood can make some people for uneasy which is why its common for victims and villain's to be coated in lots of blood.