Mise-en-scene - Location - Drama/Mystery/Psychological Thriller

Mise-en-scene - Location - Drama/Mystery/Thriller

The film Dream House is about a man who  moves into a new house with his family and then starts killing his family and friends without knowing what he is doing.

The locations in this film look very old and decrepit. The picture to the right shows that the room they're in looks very dirty and unpleasant. The colours used here are dull and grim which adds to the atmosphere for the film.

Here the location has warm colours like yellow and orange, which makes the house look like a happy family environment. Although there are certain part in the room that are dark which gives the feel of mystery.

The location here is very dark and the light focus is on the man, but also creates shadows which are conventions of making things look sinister/mysterious as people can't see what is in the darkness.

Here the colour of the shot changes to a light blue which shows that something in the film has also changed, it no longer appears that this house is a happy place and something terrible is going to happen.




The same technique is also used in the film Paranormal Activity:

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Genre - Psychological - Typical Locations

The typical locations for drama films are set in usual everyday places, such as: Peoples homes or cafés. This could be done to make the film seem more realistic and that the situation that they're in could just as easily have happened to the audience - making the audience get more into the film and on edge.

The lighting in these location are also quite bright making it seem like it's just a regular day, yet something is still not right about it.