Mise-en-Scène in Thrillers

Specific props used for Mise-en-Scène in Thrillers

This contains many important elements which help distinguish the genre of Thriller from other genres. This helps to create and keep the emotions of the film such as suspense by showing these elements multiple times or in different ways like different types of weapons used by a character.

Props, such as the use of sharp objects (like knives, machetes and swords) and weapons (bats, crowbars and firearms) show the audience the intentions of the character and the brutality of the action. For example, a gun is a quick weapon that can kill a person immediately. A knife however, is much slower at killing a person and may represent a character as being more sadistic. An example of a character who shares this ideology is the Joker in the Dark Knight as he claims that he uses a knife because "Do you want to know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can’t savor all the… little emotions. In… you see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were cowards?". This makes a character seem more violent and taking pleasure in killing people in horrific ways when the audience see them with a knife when the audience are aware of what motivates a character to use that weapon.

Other prop weapons may be used like in 2007's 'No Country fol Old Men' where Anton Chigurh uses a captive bolt pistol to kill people. This signature prop weapon is unique as it is not a standard firearm and requires a more personal and compassionate approach when killing someone. This requirement for Anton to get closer to his victims and place the weapon directly on their heads to let the weapon kill them whilst he smiles doing so shows a psychopathic nature in his actions. This is because he takes joy in working harder to kill a person and seeing the confusion in their faces moments before their deaths. This sort of sadistic behaviour is highly similar to the Joker's actions in 2008's The Dark Knight and is used by many directors as a means of fully asserting an antagonist.

Other more generic props used in Thrillers like 1995's 'Seven' where the detectives Mills and Somerset both use flashlights (often at crime scenes) which adds to the feeling of unsureness as the beam of light can only go in one direction and cannot fill the whole room to reveal if any evil characters who may harm the detectives are hiding. This combination of using light and a prop together to create an effect of fear in the audience.

Another prop used in the movie Seven and other Thrillers (like Shutter Island) is the use of badges for detectives or federal marshals). This adds authority to a character and makes other characters respect them and follow their orders. These badges can also be the topic for dialogue in films like Shutter Island. A n example of this is when Deputy Warden McPherson says " I've never seen a marshal's badge before." at 00:04:30 into the film.