Mise En Scene

Key

Bob | Stu | Tom | Stacey

Locations

The interior and exterior of Stacey’s location was chosen as it has a wide filming space for the crew and the bedroom is very girly, helping connote her popular, false identity. With the help of a few props, we will also make this a geeky room, connoting her secretive geeky side. The interior is perfect as it connotes wealth through all the luxurious items she has in her room, and is self-explanitory as to why she gets the clothes she wants to hide her true self.

 Bobs room is messier than the other bedroom choices and is more relevant to his personality. This suits Bob well as it is more reflective of his character and personality. It is also more spacious so we have more room for the crew to film. It is slightly geeky already and a few props will transform Bob's gaming corner for World of Warcraft into a true gaming geek's paradise.

Stuart's living room is in the same location as Stacey’s (though we will obviously keep this fact oblivious to the audience). We did this as we decided to have Stuart not seen in his bedroom, showing that he is ready for school and eager to leave. We chose to film in the same house as Stacey's room as the lounge is more high class than the other options and had more room for the film crew. 

For the character Tom, we chose the orange bedroom as one side of the bedroom wall is covered in comic book wallpaper. This room is ideal as it suits Tom's personality and shows the audience what he enjoys and takes interest in. The room is small and cramped to a degree. However, this will not matter for our crew because we can stay more towards the doorway as Tom doesn’t move from one side of the room to another.

Costumes

Tom’s favourite colour is purple so we have included this into his costume by giving him a purple jacket. Purple is stereotypically considered a feminine colour, suggesting he perhaps isn't very masculine. He also loves comic books so we intend for him to wear a superman shirt and belt. To make him look like an outcast, Tom will also wear jeans that are too short for him revealing his white socks. For footwear, Tom will wear Nike trainers. All these little touches will give the audience a great deal of information about Tom from first glances as they show his attempt at dressing 'fashionably' and give an insight into his ambitions to be popular. Tom is also a fan of fingerless gloves; this is to show that he has an arguably lame fashion sense.

Stuart is the nerdy one out of the group; this is the impression we wish to connote through his costume. Stuart is seen already dressed for school meaning he has no other outfit in the opening. He has a checkered shirt tucked into a plain belt, denoting he is intellectual, mature and businessman-like. However, a business man wouldn't wear a casual checkered shirt to work, showing Stuart's youth is still intact to some degree. He wears smart trousers, which could be mistaken for school trousers. These match his formal black shoes, though we are debating if he should wear converses instead. We will test both kinds of footwear and choose the better result during the audition stages. Also, Stuart will be wearing a digital watch. A digital watch could be considered childish, feeding the audience through the enigma code that perhaps Stuart still hasn’t grown up despite his outfit.

Like discussed in our character profiles post, Bob is considered the ‘fat’ one of the group. This means trousers that are considered for skinny people do not fit him. This lead us to the choice of baggy jeans for Bob. Plimsolls, converses and smart shoes won't match the chosen jeans so we will use DC trainers as they are cool and will fit well with the baggy jeans. We want to connote to the audience that Bob truly isn't fussed with trying to look cool, handsome and normal. This will be connoted by making his plain black buttoned shirt slightly tight showing he has no fashion sense and takes little pride in his appearance. This, if not already apparent, will feed the enigma code to the audience that Bob doesn’t get the ladies of his choice, if not any ladies at all. To allow the audience to get a better understanding of Bob he will also have an ‘ACDC’ wristband connoting that he is a rocker or at least favours the rock brand of music. However, Bob will not be fully dressed in this outfit throughout the whole scene as he will first be introduced in boxers and a 'toy story' shirt. This works perfectly as we want to have his jeans slightly pulled down so the audience can see Bob does not change to a fresh pair of boxers but instead just leaves the same pair on.

Stacey is first met wearing her pyjamas. We will do a costumes test on the best outfit for this as we want to try and choose one which doesn’t just connote she’s a geek but also that she's very feminine. Stacey's costume mainly consists of pink and dainty items that match her popular, non-geeky side. Her costume is used as a mask to hide her true identity and this therefore means that she needs to fit the part of the popular cheerleader role. To achieve this, we ensured that she wore some type of pink top. A simple pink vest connotes she is feminine and also reveals her figure. This helps her appear more attractive which links to the enigma code leading to the conclusion she gets the popular handsome boys of her choosing. On the bottom half, she will be wearing skinny or slim-fit jeans, or a form of jeggings. This is also used to compliment her body. She will also wear either pink stiletto heels as they are dressy and show that she enjoys to dress up contrasting to her true geeky self. Small pink accessories, such as a flowery hair accessory or necklace, will also be used to show her femininity and her 'beauty'. This outfit will show she has a keen fashion sense and will help the audience become more aware that she is a popular person.

Lighting

Bob is first greeted into the film by a shot of him asleep on his keyboard whiles playing World of Warcraft and has a mike still on his head. Because he is a gaming geek he would have had minimal lighting from the night before and as he hasn’t changed his environment since that night it is still the same. So all blinds/curtains will be closed and the only lighting will be that coming from his computer monitor and his beloved lava lamp; resulting in a low key location.

Stu is first greeted into the film by a shot of him lying down doing homework as he is already prepared for school. He is located in the living room with his curtains wide open to let in the morning sun. This results in natural high key lighting. However, if on the day of filming the weather isn’t sunny we will have to create high key lighting for ourselves using the living room main lights.

Tom is first greeted into the film whiles he is watching Jeremy Kyle (his favourite show) as he consumes one of his home made muffins. As he is already wide awake he will have many lights on resulting in high key light room. However, he still isn’t ready for school so his curtains will be drawn shut so he is not revealing his private self to the world leading to high key un naturalistic light room.

We wanted to explore possibilities to help show the audience Stacey is hiding her true identity. We can connote this very well using lighting leading to the result of our own produced enigma code.  So at the beginning of her opening sequence of shots she will be dressed as a geek in a low key light room. As the opening progresses the room will become higher key with the introduction of lamps and natural lighting from curtains connoting she is no longer a loser alone but instead someone with many friends.

Hopefully on the day of filming it will be sunny. However, if not we still have to film the shots of the three boys walking down the street towards school. This will all be natural lighting.

Blocking

Shot One- Titles

Shot Two- Stacey is in the corner of the frame as it pans.

Shot Three- The alarm clock is cantered in the middle of the frame, Stacey is in the back of the frame asleep on her bed. This makes it apparent that it is early morning by the clock and that she is about to be woken by it.

Shot Four- Bob is then seen in the centre of the frame asleep on the keyboard this leads into….. Shot five- as Bob wakes still scene in the centre of the frame. In both shots he has many geeky props surrounding him on his desk. The layout of these props will be set in an order so the audience can clearly see them letting them gain better understanding of the character Bob.

Step Six- The next shot greets Tom into the film and he is seen in the bottom left corner and the television in the top right. This is shown by an over the shoulder shot from Tom’s right shoulder. This allows the audience to easily link Jeremy Kyle with Tom allowing them to gain better understanding of him also.

Shot Seven- Tom is then seen from the front in the centre of the frame eating muffins connoting he enjoy seating muffins (a fetish revealed later on in the film).

Shot Eight- Stu takes over most the frame; he is shown in the centre of the frame from an aria shot allowing the viewer to see him head to toe. He is also working and as the rest get ready this shows he is a nerdy geek who leads an arguably mature life. This leads to….. Shot Nine - Stacey is then seen from a normal close up reading still in the centre of the frame. Both these give the audience more of an understating surrounding Stu’s character. 

Shot Ten- Bobs shirt is all that is scene within this whole frame as he tucks it in.

Shot Eleven- The next shot shows Tom putting on some fingerless gloves.

Shot Twelve- The next shot reveals Stu standing alone at his window in the centre of the frame. This could be connoted in many ways, as he is alone staring out he could be said to be a loner. Or it could just show his eagerness to start the day as he is always a step early and prepared.

Shot Thirteen- Is of Stacey doing her makeup as she hides her geeky identity, she centred in the middle of the frame. Her makeup will also be apparent allowing the audience to experience her transformation from geek into hot babe.

Shot Fourteen-Shot sixteen: Are split screens of all four characters so we centred them in the middle of each of their section allowing them to still remain focus of attention.

Shot Seventeen-Shot Twenty:  These shots are done in a fast order of all four characters shutting their front doors walking into the street. Each shot will have the door and character in the centre of the frame so they once again are the centre of the audiences’ attention. Also these will be quick shots allowing the fast pace continuity editing to keep the mood going.

Shot Twenty one- The next shot shows the boys all in different positions within the frame. Tom is the closest to the screen followed by Bob then Stu. Bob is to the left of the frame, Tom is in the centre and Stu is to the left. This shot is done via a backwards tracking from their fronts allowing the audience to see them meet. Making it apparent they are friends. Tom being in the centre of the frame could connote him is the leader this is proven during…. Shot Twenty Two- as Tom is in the centre of their line supporting the evidence he is the leader.

Shot Twenty Three- The next shot is located in front of the school gates and the boys are seen walking towards the date still in their line from the previous shot connoting the same theory.

Shot Twenty Four- Bob is scene in a close up within the frame as a sandwich smashes into his face.

Scott Collins