Deconstruction of Mise-en-scene- Costumes

Deconstruction of Mise-en-scene- Costumes 

I decided to look at different thriller or psychological films to analyse the costumes used and see if there were any trends that we could follow when making our film opening. Firstly, I looked at Se7en because it is Psychological-Thriller and also it was made in 1995 so I thought it might be interesting seeing how the conventions change, if at all.


I looked at the trailer of Se7en. Throughout, there are characters who are 'normal' people, just like the viewers would be. Because of this, they are in 'normal' clothing i.e. tops, jeans, jumpers etc. Their clothes are non-extravogant and don't really capture the audiences attention, they are plain colours and non-designer e.g. the grey jumper that Brad Pitt is wearing below is just a solid grey jumper with no designer brand on it and this is something that the audience can relate to because it's something that they might find in their wardrobe and wear as well. This makes both characters more relatable to the audience and they can put themselves into the characters' shoes.

Within a lot of thrillers, there is often a detective. The stereotypical detective costume is a long coat over a suit and tie and maybe a hat as well. Se7en conforms to the common conventions because they have included a detective wearing a long beige coat over a black suit with a black bowler hat. This gives the audience the immediate message that this man is a detective because there aren't other professions that walk around in this unusual get-up.

Jurassic World is a far more modern thriller than Se7en as it was made in 2015. I chose to look at this to see if the costumes were any different, but again, I noticed that they just used everyday clothing for the characters so that the audience can relate to them and think 'that could be me', which is the whole idea for thrillers and psychological also.

 

The main characters in this film are two children, a younger boy and a teenage. The teenager is conforming to what people would commonly think a male adolescent would wear; a dark hoodie, jeans and his hands in his pockets. The producers maybe did this to create a moody, distant character at the start of the film to then give them the film to develop the character and make a change in his personality by also changing his costume.

Cabin in the Woods (2012) still followed the same trend of having the main characters in 'normal' clothing. Looking at this trailer made me realise another trend within costumes; the love-interest male is quite often wearing tight shirts or tops which emphasises their muscular body and broad shoulders, making them appear strong, dominant, good-looking and attractive. The love-interest girl usually wears either tight trousers or a short skirt, maybe a low-cut top or jacket which makes her appear seductive and potentially manipulative.

 

A common prop used in psychological horrors is a mask (normally for the villain/killer) and in this case it's a plain, white mask. The blank expression creates a whole new dimension to this feature because not only is the mask hiding the wearer's face, they aren't giving any clues as to who the wearer is. The blankness and lack of identity allows the audience to overthink and over speculate about who it could be which plays with the minds of the viewers.

For our psychological-thriller, we should follow the main trend in having the 'normal' characters wearing 'normal clothing' and I also love the effect that the white mask brings on to the audience; it's a whole new level of being in the unknown as it forces the imagination of the viewers to explode with different theories like a blank canvas.