Research:mise en scene:setting an iconography

Setting

A place or surrounding where a scene is set and filmed which helps develop the narrative or situation in a film.

• house
• deserted land
• alley ways
• basement
• warehouse
• street

Many settings in a thriller tent to be isolated and far away from civilization. This is because the director wants the audience to feel deep emotion of not knowing how the victim cannot find help. for example look at this picture of a destroyed house it looks haunted because its torn apart and windows are blocked off. this would be a typical setting for a thriller because when we think house the audience members can relate to their own homes which makes them frightened.

Iconography
Is an important aspect of genre. we expect to see certain objects on screen or piece of prop when we see a particular genre, for example in a thriller objects we see are:

• knife.           
• gun
• sward
• blood
• ax
• fire
•  hammer

These weapons and things are used because when we see them the audience automatically thinks of death and it creates suspense.

connotation is what the denotation implies- so when an audience member see's the denotation which is a piece of iconography they imply what it could mean. so for example if we see a character with a gun we can say the person wants revenge, to protect themselves or to kill a victim. and this is why anxiety is created.

both setting and iconography link and compliment each other because certain iconography can be expected in a certain setting. For example old and deserted house the audience expects it to be haunted, isolated, with ghosts, spirits and dead bodies. This conventional to a thriller because it creates that fear that an audience member expects.

This is a short clip from final destination 5 where a girl is receiving laser eye surgery but it goes tragically wrong. In this scene we continuously see iconography that send signs of what could possibly happen to her. For example 0:21 the surgeon brings out the eye clip to keep her eyes open. There is a focus on the clip and everything around it is blurry which means the clip could have an essential part in the scene. The audience may connote that the clip might kill her. Through out the girl is holding a teddy bear, when we see a teddy bear we associate it with feeling safe and in comfort. However  at 1:21 she holds the teddy too hard and the button eye falls of on the floor. this can also signify how her death will take place because we link the fact shes having lazer eye surgery to the fact the teddy's eye fell of. The last piece of iconography on screen of this scene is when she horrifically falls through the window and her eye ball falls out at 3:42. This makes the audience reflect on all the iconography they saw and hold it has lead to her death which makes them feel responsible for the dramatic irony.

Conclusion
In my thriller the setting will be in a dark Forrest and in a house. This type of setting is used to frighten the audience and make them uneasy. I will also use iconography that signify's a child teddy/ribbon. I have chosen to use this because it will help the audience understand the relationship between the teenage girl and the little girl who died.