The director
of a film controls what audiences see on screen, but they cannot control the
way certain people interpret a film. Before movies dominated entertainment,
there were plays that took months to years to write and direct. After seeing a
film, one may not remember particular cuts or effects in various shots, but one
may remember an outrageous costume or eerie setting. The cinema term
mise-en-scene can best be applied to what audience members remember or take
away from a particular film. Mise-en-scene is the
arrangement of everything that appears in frame for the camera to film. This
includes all actors, lighting, settings, props, makeup, and costumes (Moura,
2011). Originally the term was used by the French meaning “placing on stage”
and applied to the directing plays. Even though there many professionals that
all take part in creating a film, the director is the one that oversees the
entire mise-en-scène and all of its elements (Moura, 2011).
Director’s
use various elements achieve mise-en-scene and control what audiences see on
screen. The first aspect that comes into mind when talking about mise-en-scene
is realism. Many films are judged based whether or not the film appears too
real. Even though this is standard value, it is also a standard that is
problematic. When people view films across different cultures and at different
times what may be “real” today may not be “real” in the future. A large portion
of mise-en-scene is the setting aspect to a film. The setting of a particular film
or scene could incorporate particular colors throughout, props, staged set,
exterior shots, and the film is typically evoked by the setting. Mise-en-scene incorporates
various forms and styles. The overall system of that viewers perceive from the
different elements in the whole film, typically the plot, is considered the
film form. Mise-en-scene has a particular style to it as it has a unified,
developed, and significant use of particular technical choices and provides a
formal system of their own. Finally, the costume and makeup play a major role
as it emphasizes or deemphasize human figures against the setting.
In
the film, “Hostel” written, produced, and directed by EIi Roth the aspects and
forms of mise-en-scene take place in a vital scene of the movie. The film
revolves around three American college students traveling Europe simply looking
for a good time. After meeting a man at a party, the stranger tells them of a
hostel near Bratislava where they can continue their party with good looking
women and stay for free. But the party came crashing down when after a night of
party they were slipped drugs and woke up cuffed in a dreary dungeon type room.
Cutting the end of the film, as the main character Paxton, escapes by shooting
the guards, hiding out, and drives away from the scene. But before completely
escaping, Paxton must hide and that scene shows most aspects of mise-en-scene.
The scene begins with
Paxton hiding in cart that has mangled bodies and bloody body parts. To convey
realism director Eli Roth uses “sensation directly to the
audience, to make them imagine the queasy feeling of being smothered by bloody corpse parts,
begins as an exercise in identification but ends in the realm of attractions”
(Lowenstein, 2011). The expression from Paxton gagging and being terrified
portrays the realism of the bodies. In the scene, the setting has very low
lighting “which is often seen in horror movies and thrillers, comprising of a
lighting pattern that has both bright and dark areas in the frame” (Moura,
2011). When showing the setting to the audience, Roth grabs them in by showing
a sawed off hand dropping from a desk, its presentation to the audience
emphasises the sheer visual curiosity and visceral sensation aroused by the
macabre image of a severed hand in all its carnality” (Lowenstein, 2011). All throughout
the film and in this particular scene, the film form is quite simple to the
viewers as the plot is the Elite Hunting Club pays people to kidnap young teens
and then they pay a price to torture them. Finally, in this particular scene,
the costume and makeup adds a chilling element to the scene. Roth incorporated many
point of view shots which encompass the audience being in Paxton’s place, which
is lying bloody with heavy dead bodies on him.
Lowenstein, A. (2011). Spectacle horror and Hostel: why 'torture porn' does not exist. Critical Quarterly, 53(1), 42-60. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8705.2011.01976.x
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