Analysis of Fear

Mise En Scène of Fear (1996) - Psychological Thriller/Drama

A 16 year old girl called Nicole (Reese Witherspoon) falls for a charming and affectionate David, and everything is perfect until she soon realises there is a darker side to him and his love for her turns to obsession. And her love into fear.

What is a genre? - a category or specific type of film or another thing i.e theatre, books.

A psychological thriller is a type of genre in films or books that involve a psychological narrative in a thrilling setting, they often have elements of mystery and drama.

Generic Conventions:

Psychological thrillers usually include the themes of crime, morality, mental illness, substance abuse, multiple realities or a dissolving sense of reality, and unreliable narrators. The film is a psychological thriller as it meets these things. For example, there is a scene where Nicole's best-friend Margo (Alyssa Milano) is smoking 'crack' which is a substance being smoked. Throughout the film there is certain scenes of David that shows he has some sort of mental illnesses as he hurts himself twice, one of which to make it seem like Nicole's father beat him up when confronting him. 

Story Elements:

The beginning of the film is obviously the start of Nicole and David's relationship and them meeting for the first time and it's all going good, they all love him and his 'charming' side. The rising action is where things start to go wrong and we start to see the darker and true side of David. The climax is when Nicole herself realises what David is really like and him and his friends try to break into their home and they are all scared and worried for what is going to happen.

Key Scene:

Scene Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wC8Ab5AZeE

The scene where Nicole's father - Steve confronts David outside. Steve tells David he doesn't want him seeing his daughter anymore and threatens him - "Now, either you're as smart as you think you are and you'll just go away, or else you're gonna make things harder on yourself than they have to be." David then ignores Steve's threat and talks back to him "I know you abandoned Nicole at the time she needed you most... I know about things coming apart at work. Maybe you lost it in that department." Then continues to say "Relax, Steve. We're friends." And laughs "We're practically family." Steve then just worriedly stares at David while processing what he has said to him. He eventually then says "I want you to understand something, pal" and threatens him "You got that, my friend?" while pointing at his chest aggressively three times and accentuating the 'my friend'. Steve then gets in his car and drives off, it cuts to a mid-long camera shot of David still leaning on his car. He then starts to roughly punch his chest 17 times as he does this the camera moves closer to him so you can see his facial expression more clearly. He is doing this to himself to make it seem like Nicole's father beat him during their conversation but also to turn Nicole against her father, she loves David so she instantly believes him. This scene isn't the first one where we see David's psychotic and darker side.

Technical Codes:

Editing - 17 cuts throughout this particular scene, going back and forth to show both David's and Steve's faces throughout the conversation they have until Steve turns and walks away to his car and drives off and it cuts back to David.

The camera in the beginning of this scene starts as an extreme long shot and then moves closer to David and Steve before cutting to a new camera angle of David's face (a close up). After their conversation Steve then walks back to his car and drives off as it cuts to back to David the camera angle/shot used is a mid-long shot.

The only main sound used in this scene is when David's car door being slammed closed at the beginning of the scene and Steve's car engine and tires squealing at the end of the scene when he drives off. There is slight sounds throughout the background of this scene of the wind and trees moving.

Mise En Scène:

Actors in the scene - Mark Wahlberg playing David and William Peterson playing Steve. David's costume is quite casual, just a dark blue shirt and blue jeans. However Steve's costume is a grey suit, quite formal, this shows he has been to work.

The set is outside in a neighbourhood. There is two props in this scene, David is leaning on his car for the whole scene. Another prop is Steve putting his sunglasses in his pocket at the beginning of the scene when walking up to David. The lighting in this scene is natural lighting as they are outside during the day. 

Production Context:

Director - James Foley

Written by Christopher Crowe

Production company - Imagine Entertainment

What studio was it made in? - Timegate Studios Aeria Games

Reception:

Box Office - 20.8 million USD

Awards - MTV Movie Award Nominee, Best Villian - Mark Wahlberg

Reviews - 4.5 Star ratings, 6.3/10 IMDB