Planning: Considering Mise-En-Scene

Costume

Costume is an important factor to consider when making a film because it can be hugely influential on how the audience perceives the character, as their image can be shaped by what they wear. By planning what each character wears, it will effectively help us to think about how we would like each character to be represented to the audience.

Eleanor:

 Eleanor's costume will consist of a black hoodie, black jeans and black converse. We chose this particular outfit as we felt that it highlighted the fact that she is not a stereotypical teenage girl and seems to be detached from society. Her dark clothing, in comparison to her neutral and somewhat brightly coloured room, creates a clear contrast that emphasises a substantial difference in her personality and what is expected of her. 

                                           

Abigail

Abigail's costume will consist of a long fitted navy blue coat, a smart/casual patterned shirt, generic black jeans and black and white converse. Whilst some aspects of her character could be considered to be stereotypical, we wanted to portray Abigail as more of a counter typical female. We felt that this costume comes across as being elegant and sophisticated, whilst casual at the same time. This would perhaps help to communicate her personality to the audience, as it shows that whilst she takes some pride in her appearance, it is not her main priority and is more concerned with intellectual matters. We also thought that the addition of the coat would be appropriate due the fact that the location is fairly secluded, and therefore would have involved a lot of walking to get there. 

Elijah (Original Killer)

The original killer's costume will include a band jumper, black skinny jeans and black trainers. We decided on this costume as he is a stereotypical teenager in the sense that he fulfils the public's current perception of young people today, specifically teenagers. For example, many teens are categorised thieving, knife-carrying, troublemakers who loiter the streets, which is typically what Elijah has been known for. Also, generally, you can tell a lot about a person based on what type of music they listen to. For instance, the killer's choice of music happens to be quite violent, therefore possibly expressing his violent tendencies. 

Props

Props help to form a sense of realism when watching a film, and also serve as tools for the actors to get the feel for their role, which would help improve characterisation. They can also often go a long way towards conveying the time and place of the narrative.

We gathered a range of images from Google, which included rather graphic images of past crime scenes and news articles relating to cases in which people have been murdered or have gone missing. We also included images of notorious serial killers, possible murder weapons and possible locations in which a murder could take place or has previously. We then cut them up and strategically placed them in a juxtaposition on the wall, linking them to specific locations using string and pins.

Our aim was to recreate an investigation wall, something of which you would typically associate with crime dramas such as CSI or NCIS. Through the use of this prop, we hoped to express that Eleanor's character could be classified as a psychopath. The fact that she has devised and researched such a detailed plan of ways in which she could recreate previous murders, considers to be a particularly morbid yet intelligent character.

We acknowledged the fact that fake blood is commonly used within the making of horror films, and therefore decided to make our own. To do this we purchased a bottle of golden syrup, red and blue food colouring and combined them with a small amount of water to form the right texture. We thought that the squirty-cap bottle would be useful when creating blood splatters and therefore used it to contain the mixture. When it comes to filming, we plan to use toothbrushes as a method of flicking the blood onto the face of the killer.

We decided that the lump hammer was both, the original and the copycat killer's weapon of choice, and is therefore quite a significant prop as it makes multiple appearances throughout the opening.