Research: Mise en scene: Costume, Body language and Facial Expressions - Ms. Begum

Mise en scene

Costume, body language and facial expressions

What is costume?

A costume is what the character wears within the film, with this the costume would link and be conventional to the film and genre. The costume of a character allows the audience to be able to read what type of character they are and their intentions. Costumes also show whether they are the protagonist or the antagonist. As for the genre of thriller that I am doing the conventional characters would be; antagonist, protagonist, female victim and a child.

The protagonists usually wear bright nice clothes that suit their persona. They often look approachable, appropriate and confident but also serious in different situations. They also have a significant weapon that they wield in order to prevent the situation that they are in.

The antagonists usually wear dark clothes with make up, masks, tattoos or scars that hide their true identity but this lets the characters identify the antagonist by their trademark (mask, makeup etc..). In thrillers they often carry lethal weapons which shows that they are dangerous and have bad intentions. Also antagonists would usually have long messy hair or scruffy facial hair that hides their identity. This makes the audience feel intimidated for the protagonists because the antagonists looks scary and dangerous.

What is body language?

Body language is a the characters body movement, actions, gestures and the way they present themselves.  The way a character acts can be conventional as we can identify a character just by the way they act so body language helps the audience to identify who the characters are in a film.

The conventional body language of a protagonist is usually confident, strong and confident. This portrays them as the hero and this makes the audience expect this character to survive and defeat the antagonist.


The conventional body language of a antagonist is usually tall, big, muscular and confident. This makes them look intimidating towards the victims and protagonists. They often look confident because usually the antagonist act like they have committed crime, murder before so they are used to it.

What is facial expression?

Facial expressions are how characters portray their emotions to the audience. The look on their face and the faces they make give the audience and idea of how the characters are feeling.

The conventional facial expressions of an antagonist are usually serious and scary looking or
sometimes even smiley, teasing their victims. This represents them as the evil character. Their facial expressions make the audience feel uncomfortable and frightened by the antagonists. The way the antagonist make certain faces and the way they express themselves can be used to identify them by the audience.

The conventional facial expressions of a protagonists is usually smart, confident, serious and attractive to the viewers. This makes them look superior which makes the audience support this character and have faith him/her so that they overpower the antagonist and prevent the situation.

Conclusion:

For my thriller I am planning to use dark costume and rough hair and make up to for the antagonist to create an evil look. The body language that I will show from the antagonist is a strong, muscular and maybe show unordinary actions to show that this character is not normal. The facial expressions for the antagonist will be serious, angry and maybe happy/smiley to show that they are teasing the victim. For the protagonist/victim I will use brighter colours and neat hair and make up to show the innocence of this character. The body language I will use for this character would be confident and strong and maybe vulnerable by their physique. The facial expressions the protagonist/victim will use are smart confident, happy, serious.