Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene

There are very common stereotypical mise-en-scene used in horror movies., such as typical settings, dark lighting and everyday costumes and make-up.

Setting

The whole aim of horror movies is to be as realistic as possible, whilst still frightening the audience, therefore, common settings are forests, hotels, warehouses, ancient buildings or even a normal family house.

This is the main setting in Psycho.

The effect of using a motel meant that no one was there to find out about the death or could save them. The size of the hotels rooms also suggests a claustrophobic feeling.

All the paranormal activity films are set in a typical home, but it is supposedly haunted.

The effect of this is that it could happen to the viewer, making it more realistic, so as to be more scary.

Lighting
Most horror films have dark lighting in scenes to represent the face that something scary will happen in this scene.

The whole frame has an eery yellow colour to it creating a dark shadow on what the audiences attention will be drawn to.

Drawing the audiences attention to a person, object or place is an effect often used in horror films to foreshadow the plot.

Costumes and Make-Up

In order to make horror movies more realistic and relatable the costumes worn by the victims are everyday clothes that the audience would wear, but they usually represent what type of person they are, for example, the athletic hero or the innocent female character.
On the other hand, the 'bad guy' in the film, such as the murderer, usually has an odd costume. Sometimes if the bad character is human they have a mask, or if they are not a normal person, they will have something abnormal about them.

An example of abnormal make up is Freddy Krueger awful skin and teeth and the fact that his hand is a claw. With his costume, he wears an easily noticeable stripy jumper.