Mise en scène

I watched The Hunting Party with Richard Gere this week. The suspense was awesome. It also seemed like the filmmaker put a lot of thought into the design and composition of it. It is set in Bosnia after the genocide and resulting peace agreement. The movie is gritty and dark to reflect the post-war atmosphere and despair. When the plot starts and all three main characters arrive in Bosnia, they are told by a native that the criminal, who is the antagonist, that they are looking for is known for using a caravan of orange cars to get around (pictured above). Later in the film, after a particularly tense meeting with a Serbian native, the three main characters arrive at their hotel. Richard Gere informs them not to trust anyone, not even the hotel help. The shot right after he says this is of a dirty and sinister-looking hotel janitor. The next shot is the one pictured at the right. Note the orange hallway. The characters enter their respective rooms and are promptly met by guns held by the antagonist's henchmen. It is mise en scène because it indicates something related to the bad guy is about to happen.

The first shot appears to be a long shot because the person is small and insignificant compared to the background. The second shot is a medium-long, or American, shot because the characters are framed from the knees up.