In order to fully begin to visualise the mis-en-scene of our short film, I decided to brainstorm some typical key props used in films of the horror genre; in particular ones we are interested in using or are relevant to our story line.
Due to how a common code and convention of 'horror' is blood and gore, weapons are often used as a prop in part of the narrative, as they impend not only pain and injury but fear to both victims and audiences. They are an interesting prop to feature as they can clarify either the 'bad guy'/villain trying to do wrong, or the innocent victim trying to defend themselves. Unsure of how to make a weapon relevant to our idea for our narrative, we are going to definitely include some degree of pain or injury, whether it be cause by a weapon or not, as the connotations of blood and gore will fulfil the criteria of typical horror films.
A very simple, yet fear invoking prop often used in horror films are ringing phones. Often with a shrill and loud ring, phones can fill both the characters and the audience with dread and fear, particularly when there is a mystery as to who is on the other end. This is a particularly relevant prop we can feature in our story line, as our idea involves a baby sitter. Therefore the mother of the child needing babysitting can call our protagonist; thus we can utilise the element of a phone ringing. However, a typical convention of horror films is old fashion phones ringing, therefore we will challenge this by modernising it using a mobile phone, preferably an iPhone, and still try create tension with it.
A prop we are particularly interested in incorporating into the mis-en-scene of our short film is old, vintage style mysterious toys. Due to how different old toys from a few years ago seem in contrast to modern toys children play with today, featuring old toys will appear unusual, eery and odd to audiences. We are keen to use old toys in shots at particularly angles and times of the plot to enhance the scare factor and even shock audiences, for example we had an idea of using a jack-in-a-box as a jump scare. This suits our narrative ideas that we have had so far particularly well, as the babysitter can be walking round the mysterious house she's never been to that she is baby sitting at and find the toys lying around, for example stepping on a squeaky toy.
Along with the old fashion aesthetic mentioned prior to this about old toys, we had thoughts about how old books are often used in horror themed scenarios, as when they look worn out and dusty it heightens a sense of mystery. In horror films, the mis-en-scene often shows old books to give the impression that the location they are in is mysterious and old. As we are trying to use old toys in our narrative, we should be able to pair this with old books to emphasise the fear we are trying to inflict.
Another typical feature that pairs well with old books and old toys is old photographs. They can portray mystery if they audience or characters are unsure/unaware of what is happening in the photos or who is in them, however they can also reveal things that have happened in that past that the audience or characters may not have known before. We will be able to incorporate photos into our narrative as they can be placed around the house the protagonist is babysitting at. An old, burnt or decaying/damaged nature to the photo will heighten factors of fear also as it increases the tension of why the photo is in that state - has someone tried to destroy it?
Another rather effective convention of horror films is a clock ticking, particularly old fashioned 'Grandfather clocks' as they tend to appear more striking due to their larger size and louder pounding ticking sounds. These clocks are often coated with dust to increase the old, mysterious element. We thought that this would be interesting to incorporate during our narrative, as it can signify when the parents that the protagonist is baby sitting for should be home - midnight being the most 'scary' time for the clock to strike at. Comments are closed.
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AuthorsMolly Broad Archives
February 2016
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