Mise-en-scene: Blog tasks

 1) Choose THREE aspects of mise-en-scene (e.g. costume, lighting and setting) and write a short paragraph for each about the denotation and connotation and what is communicated to the audience.

For example: 

Costume: The character at the start is wearing a white lab coat. This suggests to the audience...

Lighting: 

Setting: 

Props: 

Actor placement/movement/expression: 

1) Costume: The character at the start is wearing a white lab coat. This suggests to the audience that this character works as a doctor or as a scientist. The child nearing the end of the trailer was wearing jeans, flannel and an armless bright coloured jacket along with a backpack. The bright colours makes the child stand out, especially in the dark forest which make him very easy to find. The bright colours are also very childish, thus symbolising innocence and childish. 

Lighting: The lights in the building/hallways were flickering excessively. This suggests that something was approaching or setting some suspense to the audience. The use of flickering lights were used when a monster is nearby or during a chase scene. the outside what set at night time. The dark natural light (night) made the scene appear more mysterious and eerie.

Actor placement/movement/expression: The scientist/ man in a white lab coat was running through the hallways, hyperventilating, with rushed movements that sporadically fumbled over typing in the keypad to get through a door or elevator. This suggests to the audience that the man was running away from something, desperately trying to flee from it and due to him panicking, the simple mistakes becomes detrimental to his life. The same goes to the boy running away from the monster through the forest, through his house and ending at the shed. This makes the scene more fast paced, where we can see the clear panic in their expressions while we have no idea what exactly they're running away from as the monster wasn't revealed yet.

Extension / analysis

The opening sequence suggests that the series will be about children running and surviving from a lab created monster that escaped from a laboratory due to it breaching through its containment and killing the scientist who failed an escape. This makes the movie a horror and sci-fi genre perhaps due to the dark setting and chase scenes where the lone characters are terrified and running away from a monster.

Extension tasks

Watch the extract again. Try and write an analysis of the other aspects of mise-en-scene. Work through all the aspects of CLAMPS (the mnemonic we use to remember mise-en-scene).

C- The costume used to present the children, the ruffled scuffed clothing of the scientist, and the monster itself. The clothes of the scientist are purposely messy as he was used during a chase scene, a fast paced moving scene which contradicts the clean and tidy clothes/ hair of the children who were playing a game.

L-The uses of flickering lights when the monsters were coming gives a somewhat panic tone in the film, lighting was used as a warning that something was approaching and could be symbolism that is used.

A-The hurried and rushed movements of the scientist fumbling with typing in the code was a clear show and tell of his panic and fear for something, usually not thinking clearly and focused more on survival.

M- Makeup didn't seem to be used, however use of the sweat showed exhaustion and also something that many people have when scared.

P- Use of the board games and little action figures of monsters foreshadowing what will happen in the movie.

S- The setting of the forest and the fog created an eerie atmosphere, the perfect spot for bad things to happen as it is secluded and overall harder to see in the distance or to see where you are going. This may symbolise that the boy in that scene cannot see what will come after him and depends on the light for guidance.

Now think about the clip more generally. What does this opening sequence suggest the series will be about in terms of narrative, character and genre? What is it that tells you this? 

Read this excellent article on the 1980s references in Stranger Things. Which of these links specifically to mise-

en-scene? 

- The Set design and the costumes of the characters where they made all  the characters separated into different groups in various locations. The set design was varied but still needed to be realistic. Perhaps the most accurate set was the Byers’ house in California, an actual home that was never remodelled. The wood panelling, thick carpeting, massive stone fireplace, and vintage kitchen, all of which are different shades of brown and yellow, reinforce a retro California feel.

The hair and makeup team had to give the main kids more grown-up hairstyles and infuse a California vibe for the Byers. For example, Will’s (Noah Schnapp) bowl cut is shorter and more defined, while Jonathan’s (Charlie Heaton) hair is longer and more scraggly to reflect his stoner lifestyle. Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) has an extra-tall flattop, and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) have shaggy mullets, likely inspired by their new “hero,” Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), whose Eddie Van Halen-inspired hairstyle is arguably the best of the season.