in film, mis-en-scene means everything in a present in every single frame. including the placement of objects and people. in my last blog, I covered what is mis-en-scene and the elements and people who work behind the screen to achieve it.
in our opening sequence, we decided to divide each job between us so we get a chance to do all. the jobs include production designing, art direction, makeup, costume and DOP. we also thoroughly informed the actors about there actions and blocking in the frame and that helped us achieved what we were looking forward to.
as for location props, we use toothbrushes, toothbrush stand and soap dispenser along with the presence of the sink to make sure it looks like a washroom. the style of the mirror and the toothbrushes indicate that the washroom is inside somebody's home. the lift and hose doors represent that it is outside somebody's home. the dining table and the presence of food represent easily that she is having a meal with people who she knows. so does the chairs and tables that represents that she is in a classroom.
as even for makeup, we did different makeup on all actors to bring out their character's personality. Zia and her brother with very light natural makeup and her mother having heavy makeup as of that of a working businesswoman and we even took references for all. we did so with the costume too. Zia wore the school uniform almost throughout to make her look like a student, while her mother and brother wore more formal corporate clothes. we even paid attention to the small details that include her brother's loose tie to indicate that he has been doing work since long.
character props played a great role in our opening sequence. zia's bag is a one that is pretty expensive that indicates their social status and the amount of money they earn so does the mother's phone and the brother's laptop as they are expensive items and are popular worldwide. the cutter and chart paper that Zia uses in school also indicates that she might be doing a project.
we went with dim lighting to help bring out the overall mood of the opening sequence and tried to keep it a little dim. we also tried our best to make sure our shots might be symmetrical and have balance in terms of lighting between cool and warm and symmetry.
we tried our best to incorporate all the elements of mis-en-scene while shooting the opening sequence.
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