Boo! Did scare you? This week, we'll be analyzing the Mise-En-Scene of a movie to learn more about its composition and the thoughts that went towards portraying it to the audience. In honor of Halloween being this week, I decided to change it up and do it for a scary movie, The Conjuring 2! This is one of my favorite out of the conjuring movies. This movie follows the story of Ed and Loren, a couple who are paranormal investigators known for their ability to sense and remove spirits haunting families. We're going to look at 5 of my favorite scenes from the movie and address important elements like costume, scenery, lighting, actors, and more.
Scene 1:
To start, we are going to talk about one the most suspenseful scenes in my opinion. For context, Ed previously had made a painting of a entity he saw in the dream. This entity begins to play in Lorraine's mind with her experiencing a vision-like dream where the Nun comes out of the painting. I want to look at 2 shots showing Lorraine walking into the dark room, and then turning towards the painting. In this scene there's 2 main elements of Mise-En-Scene used to create a feeling of suspense and anticipation for both Lorraine and the viewer. The director first utilizes lighting. When Lorraine originally walks in frame the lights are off and the viewer can only see her face and the face of the Nun building anxiety for the viewer, since she's oblivious to what's behind her. Then, the director used a lamp to create lighting in the frame, having Lorraine turn, see the painting, and turn on the lamp. This creates a sense of relaxation for the audience. The second main element is framing. In this scene, within the frame, we only see the painting, Lorraine, and the lamp. This forces the focus onto the scene, giving the viewer nothing else to look at but the characters. Additionally, the scene is a loose close up creating a personal feeling.
Scene 2:
For my second scene, I wanted to use the scene where one of the protagonist in the movie, Janet, is giving an interview when she suddenly becomes possessed by the ghost of Bill. In this shot, the director uses props, setting, and scenery to emphasize the feeling of invasion, but also portray a sense of a reality. The shot above takes place in the home of Janet, where she lives with her family. The setting can be interrupted to be so that Janet feels comfortable where she is, making the event of her possession even more disturbing. Additionally, the use of props such as light sources, a camera, coffee table, and a mic places attention on to Janet specifically, as they all face her. These two elements all contribute to the scenery as the create a intrusive mood. Janet being at home, which is filled with people from outside observing and questioning her, 2 cameras placed on her, and all additional props pointing to her already sets a feeling of confinement. Then the scene takes that feeling a complete step further, utilizing the heavy focus placed on Janet from the props to create a uncomfortable event.
Scene 3:
Lastly, for my third scene I wanted to use one that utilizes a jump-scare, created by costume, props, and actors. For context, in the minute of the night Janet and her sister are woken up by a haunting and ran to tell their mom, waking their brothers in the process. The mom comes in the bedroom and starts to lecture the girls, since she found a "Ouija" board in their room, when the door slams and the dresser is slammed against it, locking them in the room. The director uses costume and setting to place a unsecure mood, having the scene occur at night inside Janet's bedroom (a place deemed to be safe) and all the characters in sleep clothes (comfortable) but the scene portray in a unsettled manner. Also, props are used to elaborate on the bedroom setting, with a poster and dresser visible in the background, and then using a drewer to come from out of frame and slam the door. This all comes together in the framing as in beginning of the shot we see the character places in a zig-zag position creating separation. The frame also separates the mom from the kids as they are visible in twos with the girls being inside the room, and the boys standing outside the door, but the mom standing by herself and back towards the camera. Then when the drewer slides forward this pattern is broken, now separating the boys from the girls and mom as they run to her for protection.
Thank you for reading this blog post today! I hope you enjoyed your Halloween and watch The Conjuring. :)
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