Mise-en-Scene (#2)

 The mise-en-scene of the party scene begins with Scarlett walking around in the party. We are going to achieve this effect by throwing a small party with our friends and acquaintances to give the effect of a real party. The house where the party is being thrown has three areas. The pool area opens up from the front door, and the scene begins with her walking outside the front door.

Her costume for this scene is a black cropped shirt and a skirt. This symbolizes that she is mentally aware more than ever that her relationship is toxic and she is grieving the lost love. The skirt symbolizes her pending freedom once she finally leaves the relationship. Ricky is wearing a white shirt and jeans. This signifies that he now believes it’s his time to play the perfect, apologetic, innocent boyfriend. (But if only this was the type of act that lasted, since this version of Ricky was the one Scarlett fell in love with.) 

She walks through the door and the camera follows her. The audience can see a scar from the cut from the bottle, made with prop blood and a fake scar from a halloween store. The lighting in the house party is low, and there are some colorful lights around the house as well. We would get these from any store and scatter them around the house.

There are also many people talking in the background, drinking, dancing, laughing, and overall just having a good time around the house. As Scarlett looks around, she waves to some of her friends and even stops to talk to some of them. She continues walking through another door to the inside of the house and sees people sitting on the couch, dining room, and just gathered around chatting and having a good time. She continues to walk through the house and walks out the back of the room into the garden and looks around. She sees Ricky waving and she grabs her arm, as a sign of distress. She masks her anxiety with a forced smile and figures she should at least talk to him.

The mise-en-scene is really important for this part of the opening. This is because it is where most of the plot is uncovered and the audience can tell there is a change in both of their demeanors. The biggest change is that Scarlett is no longer willing to be by Ricky’s side anymore, after all that she has been put through with him. Ricky, on the other hand, wants to pretend as if nothing happened and wants to have a good time at the party, but it cant happen because Scarlett cannot forget the past.

Well executed mise-en-scene can make or break the scene. I think it is one of the crucial parts of this film especially and it is very important to me and my partner that we get it right.