Mise-en-scene and choices behind everything.

I've mentioned a little bit in previous posts about the mise-en-scene concerning the locations, however I have included far more, so thought it would be sensible to write a little more about it.

Opening of "Education Education Education"- The very beginning of my film is black, with just sound. I have chosen to do this so that the audience focus' on what is being said, rather than what is going on in the picture. This represents how, often the way someone looks is what other people determine their opinion on. By having the just a black screen this highlights the meaning behind the speech, but also that part of the social injustice I wanted to display. 

Girl standing as school children rush past-  I positioned my actress on the right hand side of the shot because its been proven that when watching something a viewers eye gravitates naturally towards the left hand side. I put her there to represent how the character is feeling invisible, she's standing in amongst all of her piers and she blends in immaculately. In post production when editing I chose to speed up the school children walking by. This represents how quickly everything in moving and how the character feels lost in a world where no one can just slow down to check if she's okay. This shot mimics the goings on in her mind, rather than real life. 

Red dripping paint on magazine- Again, this is the slightly more surreal part of the piece. The red paint represents the turmoil and injustices occurring, I used red paint because it evokes death, blood etc, all things with negative connotations.  It also foreshadows what could occur to both of my characters, they are both physically and mentally damaging themselves, which could invariably lead to death, or other dire consequences. Also, the red paint is water based stuff which is often found in schools and nurseries, I had the paint dripping off a miniature table, again found in schools. This was to represent how social pressures start at such a young age and often we are behaviourally conditioned from an incredibly juvenile age. Another aspect to this shot is the magazine articles that the paint is dripping on. Magazines and social media are filled with images of "perfection" and celebrities partying endlessly, having scandalous relationships and so on. The red paint is dripping on this, again forming the negative connotations, setting up what the film is going to be about. 

Fragmentation of continuity- In the main body of the film i've chosen to break up the action, by cutting it out and leaving a blank space for a less than a second. Simply this is to highlight the fragmentation of each of my characters state of mind.