Two minute mise-en-scene opening

What was the task?

The aim of the task was to create an opening to a film using mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of everything that appears in framing like actors, lighting, costume etc. We had to incorporate all of these aspects into the first two minuets of our film, including the ones that had all ready been provided for us by our teacher.

What elements of mise-en-scene were we given?

For the opening of our film we had to incorporate five different aspects of mise-en-scene that had been provided for us by our teacher. These included, a forty year old woman, fish and chips, a uniform, the roller coaster at Great Yarmouth and a sunrise on Saturday/Sunday morning. These were the things that definitely had to be in our film opening but everything else was up to use. Although these are the final five aspects of mise-en-scene we had to use, we were originally given a cup of tea to use instead of fish and chips. Fortunately though we were aloud to swap one element with another group so we swapped having a cup of tea with fish and chips instead. This was more convenient with our opening as ours was to be set at the beach and you associate chips with the beach more than a cup of tea.

Initial plot ideas

For our short opening we came up with three main ideas. Our first was that there would be an old woman going back to the beach after many years to revisit it. She would be exploring all the places she use to go to when she was younger, like the fish and chip shop and the arcade. She would eventually came across the old roller coaster where she would look at it for a while. Here she would then have a flashback to when she was younger and you would see her younger self at the beach. You would then see a young girl and boy at the beach having fun and playing about on their first date.

Our second idea was that there was an old woman at the beach on holiday just relaxing. She would have been just walking around and enjoying the scenery on her trip. She would be walking home after having some fish and chips on the seafront when a man stops her by the old roller coaster. The guy will then persistently try and take her purse and rob her of her possessions. When she started to fight back against him and resist him he would then pull out a knife and stab her to death before taking her possessions and running away. You would then see her laying there in a pool of her own blood at the end in front of the roller coaster with a crowed gathering around her body.

Our final idea was that a woman would be going to the beach to meet with her secret lover. She would be lying to her husband and saying she was going to her parents when in fact she was going to meet with her secret lover at the beach. The lover would then go and meet her from the train and you would see them having a romantic date on the beach. When he goes to drop her back off at the station they walk past the old roller coaster where the hug and say goodbye and he proposes.

Casting ideas

For our short film opening we thought that we would cast Tasmin's mum to play the forty year old woman as Tasmin is in our group so it'll be easier to get her to get her mum to come along and do the acting. It'd also be harder to get anyone else because none of us really know anyone else that is close to that age range. We were also going to have her sister and one of there friends be in the film as they would be perfect to play the young couple on the date. They also knew Tasmin is in our group and the rest of us didn't know anyone who would be free to play the rolls. Unfortunately they ended up cancelling at the last minuet and so we had to get someone else to play the roles instead.

Location ideas/research

Our first idea for a location was Great Yarmouth as we had to film the old roller coaster there for our mise-en-scene and so it would just be easier to film most of our opening there anyway. It also would make it easier as we all had to get a train there anyway to film the roller coaster so we might as well just film the whole of the opening there anyway. We did also think of filming some of it in Wymondham as well, we needed to film a sun rise as part of the mise-en-scene and it would be hard for us to get to Great Yarmouth early enough to film one there. This is why we decided to film it instead in Wymondham as most of us lived in/around Wymondham so it would be easier to get the sunrise there. Filming in Wymondham also help for the filming of the older woman who had to be in our opening as she couldn't make it to the beach on the day we needed her so we can just film what we need of her in Wymondham.

Prop ideas/research

Some of the props that we decided to use in our film opening included an old film camera that we gave for Emily and Matt so they could pretend they were getting a photo taken from it that would be used in a photo album that the older woman would be looking at. We also had fish and chips as a prop which we had them both eating while looking out at the sea on a wall. Our final prop was the photo album that Tazmin's mum would be looking through when she would discover the photo of her when she was a teenager at the beach with her date.  

Costume ideas/research

For our opening we originally thought that we could have our cast wear old cloths that people would have worn forty years ago so it would show that the flash back was from a while ago and not last week. This would include things like having the girl wear a plain dress and the guy dressing up smart casual. There would be nothing that looked too modern because they wouldn't have had that forty years ago.

Lighting ideas/research

Our initial idea was to use the natural lighting of the sun for all the filing done at the beach as we wont really need anything else. We also would film a sunrise which we would use in the film as it was part of our mise-en-scene and we have to include it.

Filming plan/ schedule

We all agreed to film on the last Friday of half term as that was when we were all free to go to Great Yarmouth and was also the easiest day for our actors to get there. We had organised a group chat that we used to see who was free when and then decided that Friday would be the best day to film on. We thought it would be better to go to Great Yarmouth early so then we could get the filming done when there would hopefully be less people around. We arranged to meet at half nine at the station and get all the filming done by around two. 

Final idea

Our final idea was to have a forty year old woman looking at an old photo album and she gets to a page with a picture of her when she was younger with a guy next to her and they would be smiling at each other. She would then get a flash back to when she was that young girl at the beach and you see her and a young boy having a fun and romantic date at the beach. There would then be clips them walking along the beach, having chips, dancing and finally going the pleasure beach and having there photo talking.

Final characters and casting

Our final idea's for the characters was to have a young girl who would be the forty year old woman when she was a teenager. She would be played by Emily because Tazmin's friend cancelled at the last minute and Emily was the only person we could get on such short notice. Then to have the young boy who will be the person going on the date with the younger version of the forty year old woman. He was played by Matt who was one of Tazmin's friends as the person she was originally going to have cancelled and so we had Matt come in last minute to do the role. The final character was the forty year old woman who was essential in the film opening. She was played by Tazmin's mum as she was the only person we know who was around the age of forty.

Final location

Our final location was Great Yarmouth because that was where to old roller coaster was that we needed to incorporate in the opening and so it was just easier to film the rest of the opening there. We filmed on the beach where Emily and Matt danced together and played by the water and just did general romantic things together. We also filmed by the pier which is where they shared and ate their chips and again just acted so romantic. Finally we filmed by pleasure beach as that is where the old roller coaster we needed to incorporate was located. We also filmed a small section in Wymondham because Tazmin's mum couldn't make it to the beach and so instead we decided to film her looking at the photo album at her home instead.

Prop list

The final props we included in the film were fish and chips, the photo album and the old film camera. The old film camera was used as the camera that the couple would film their date to the beach on and was also used for when a photo was taken of the couple together, which was the photo that was put into the photo album. The fish and chips were part of the mise-en-scene and we had to include them into the film opening. We decided to have Emily and Matt eat them on the sea font as a romantic action. Finally the last prop we used was the photo album with the picture from the beach in it. This would be used when the forty year old woman was looking in it and she would come across the photo album and find the photo of herself at the beach and have a flashback to that day she was at the beach.  

Costumes

For the costumes, because we had to change the people playing our roles we weren't able to get them to wear any sort of costume so they just wore their causal cloths. This consisted of jeans, trainers, hoodies and coats which is just what Emily and Matt were wearing when they got to the station and so that was their costume for the filming. 

Final lighting plans

The final lighting plans were to use the natural light from the sun at the beach as our lighting as we didn't need an artificial lighting. We also needed to incorporate a sunrise as part of our mise-en-scene and so we used this in our film opening as part of the lighting.