Blog 6 - Research on Mise-en-Scene & Sound

 Mise-en-scène

is everything we see on screen for example costumes, lighting, props, and how things are arranged. To understand how professionals use it, I analyzed Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale.

In Pretty Little Liars, dark lighting and shadows create mystery and suspense. In Riverdale, color is used to show emotion, blues for sadness, reds for danger. Both showed me that the visuals are really important 

https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/pictures/riverdale-season-7-everything-to-know-about-the-final-season/

How We’re Using It in Karma High :

In Karma High, we’re using natural lighting with slight shadows in the hallway scenes to make them feel realistic but tense. The main character’s outfit is neutral showcasing how she blends in, while another character wears dark tones to hint at secrets. Props like phones, notes, and lockers aren’t random; they are to represent how the information spreads and how eventually everything becomes revealed.

I paid attention to how Euphoria incorporates their use of sound, it’s never just background music; the show uses a low, echoing sounds and quiet tension to make scenes feel more intense. I want to try something similar in Karma High, using a soft hum under lines so it feels like the pressure is slowly building throughout.

(soft background tension music, slow footsteps echo, faint chatter fading in and out.)

Blog 5 : Research on settings

We know that choosing the right setting is a really big part of shaping Karma High. Since our story takes place mostly in a high school filled with rumors, secrets, and drama, I wanted to look at how some professional teen dramas use location to create mood and convey realism.

I started by studying two shows, Euphoria and 13 Reasons Why. Both series use school hallways, classrooms, and bathrooms as emotional spaces, not just backdrops. In Euphoria, the camera angles are tight and the lighting is very moody, showing how stuck the characters feel in their own lives. In 13 Reasons Why, the school feels cold and serious, reflecting the show’s themes of everyone’s guilt on the situation.

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/euphoria-hbo-meet-the-characters-cast

Putting it into our Film

In Karma High, our goal is to mix that sense of realism with a somewhat mysterious tone. We chose our school’s hallway and the classroom as the main locations because they’re familiar to the viewers, but we’ll use different lighting techniques and camera movement to make them feel unsettling.

I also researched different filming techniques for school settings and found a guide that explained how the camera framing affects how the audience feels. It made me think about how I could position our characters in each shot, like keeping one person in focus while another stands in the background to quietly build tension.

📍 Possible locations : classroom, hallway, school courtyard.

—> the classroom = control, the hallway = exposure, the courtyard = (fake) sense of safety.

Blog 4 - Filming style and editing

 for our second research post, we focused more on lighting, camera shots, and editing styles. lighting changes everything, if a scene is too bright, it doesn’t feel serious but when you dim it a little or even add a bit of shadows, it suddenly feels mysterious. for Amara’s scenes, we want very cool tones and shadows so it feels like she’s kind of in her own world. when the bullies are together, it’ll look warmer and more normal to show the contrast between her and them.

we also plan on using some handheld camera shots to make it look like someone is actually following them. that’ll give it that creepy “someone’s watching” look. and when things start getting tense, we’ll speed up the cuts to make it feel like time’s speeding up.

sound is gonna carry most of the emotion. even if nothing’s happening visually, we want people to feel something’s off through sound. things like faint or heavy breathing, footsteps, or background music that slowly builds up.

after researching all this, we realized we can make Karma High look way more interesting just by being smart with our shots and sound to set the right mood.

Blog 3 - Genre study

this week we researched about some thrillers to get ideas on how we would be able to shoot and edit our film. one of the biggest ones we looked at was Gone Girl. that movie is good when it came to suspense, they would have you constantly guessing what’s true or not while watching. the way it makes everything feel tense even when nothing’s happening. we want that same energy in Karma High, where the silence in the scenes says more than words to the viewers .

we also looked at Promising Young Woman, which is another get revenge kind of story but told in a emotional way. it’s colorful on the outside but very dark underneath, and we thought that was good  because that’s kind of how school is, everyone smiling and acting normal when there are  real problems or issues going on inside.

also watched movies that uses music and camera movement to make scenes uncomfortable without needing blood or violence. learning that with thrillers, the best scenes are the ones where you don’t know what’s about to happen but you feel like something’s is about to happen.

all that research made us realize we can do a lot with just sound and editing. we don’t to showcase actual violence just a good story and background, some silence, and tension.

Blog 2 - student production

so for our short film Karma High, we’re making it a psychotic thriller. the story is centered around the main character Amara, who used to get bullied and never really got over it. now that she’s went into high school, she sees those same girls again Jenna, Kayla, and Mya and with all that anger from the past she buried down, comes back. instead of going off on them, she plays it very smart and quiet. she learns their everyday routines, watches them, and lets them know someone’s always there.

we picked this genre because it’s all about the story tension. thrillers don’t need jump scares or violence constantly, it’s more about the feeling that something’s off and not quite right. we wanted Amara to appear calm but extremely unpredictable.

our group roles were pretty easy to decide. one of us is directing, one’s editing, one’s filming, and we’re all acting in it somehow. for editing we’re using capcut or imovie, depending on what’s easier for the editor, sound is super important, so we’re using locker slams, footsteps, and maybe even whispers to make it suspenseful and as if someone was to actually be watching a real thriller. 

the goal is just to make it feel professional. not slapping scenes together just enough to make the audience uncomfortable but still want to know what happens next.

Karma High – Film Introduction Project

hello everyone,

so my groups film is called “Karma High.” it’s about a girl who got bullied back in middle school, and when she gets to high school, she runs into those same girls again. this time, she’s not the same. she starts planning her revenge in quiet, sneaky ways that mess with their heads. the vibe is a bit dark, mysterious, and a thriller.

My group’s inspiration was by movies like Gone Girl and Terrifier, where it’s more about mind games along with suspense rather than showing anything crazy. i really enjoyed watching how those movies incorporated the use of lighting, sound, and close-up shots to build tension, and so that’s the direction me and my group will try to go in. 

this blog’s gonna be where i post everything behind the process consisting of my ideas, any research i make, our shot plans, editing, all that. basically showing how it comes together from start to finish.

super excited to see how this turns out!