Careful Use of Mise-en-Scene

Outdoor SettingsFor our outdoor filming, we only used two locations – a tunnel and the woods. We chose to use this tunnel as it is fairly secluded and creepy because it is a little run down, the dampness and old water that ran down the walls is also relative to our narrative because water plays an important part. This location is effective as its fits with the conventions of horror films being secluded as well as the graffiti on the walls having dangerous connotations. The woodland area that we had our protagonist running through was chosen to film in because we found that the woods are a common horror convention to use due to the unsettling and dark atmosphere.

House SettingThe majority of our filming took place inside houses as this is currently the main place for horror films to take place because its supposed to be a place of safety but the horror will mess with this and scare people more. The equilibrium of a group of teenaged friends hanging out and because they’re drinking alcohol this can connote danger as it may lead to a bad decision which in this case is summoning Akumu San. The bathroom was all white and this created an eerie atmosphere, making it seem creepier, as well as the fact that she is alone and in a peaceful state.

School Setting

As we have based our trailer on a group of teenagers, we chose to do a few scenes in a school to help set a calm equilibrium and also to make it obvious to the audience that the main characters were around the age of 16. Each of the actors are wearing their characters’ appropriate clothing for their personality traits. This location is a contrast to the rest of the trailer which is set outside of a school environment and it seems safest as the lighting is bright whereas the rest of the trailer’s settings seem eerier.

Protagonist’s ClothingFor our protagonist, Lilith, we decided to have her wearing black the majority of the time because this created a sense of foreshadowing for her character specifically but also those around her. Black also had dangerous connotations as well as being a common colour used in the horror genre because it looks sinister and is often associated with night, when many horror films/events take place.

Villain’s Clothing/Makeup

For our villain, we decided to have her clothed in a white nightgown as it played with binary opposition, which in this case is Lilith wearing black, contrasting the villain. As her dress is white, it suggests that the villain have once been innocent and was a victim as well as conforming to the idea of a ghost/demon wearing white because it often connoted death and decay. The white dress also adds to the overall ghostly look with the makeup and washed out skin.