Mise En Scene (Stranger Things)

I am writing my mise-en-scene post on the first episode of Stranger Things which came out July 15, 2016. The show is about a group of friends that live in this town then one day one of the friends go missing, the group starts to notice all the paranormal things that are happening in this town. In the show we learn how the kids have to deal with the stress of losing a friend and trying to find him. We see plenty of ups and downs between all the friends in the show. The creators of the show are the Duffer Brothers, Matt and Ross Duffer, and it is loosely based on all of the conspiracies that were going around during the cold war.

In the beginning of the show we start by hearing a very earie noise playing in the background showing us the date, then we pan into a shot of a Laboratory in the middle of the night. Then we see shots of dark earie hallways with flashing lights. As the camera is zooming into a big metal door the audience experiences a jump scare when someone runs out of the room and an alarm starts blaring. The laboratory is made to seem like a scary place where creepy things are happening without the people of the town knowing. Whenever we see the laboratory it is dark and loud, also the sounds that are included in the shots are creepy and gives the audience chills. The clothing that the workers wear in the laboratory are all lab coats, this gives the audience the idea that these aren't just workers but are closer to evil scientists. During this scene we also learn about the monster of this show, we don't specifically see the monster, however, we do hear odd noises that sound like something an alien would make.

The next scene in the show is when we cut to Mike Wheeler's house, this house is a major setting all throughout the first season. When we cut to the house though it is very quick and odd because we see a close up of a sprinkler at night. In this scene they are playing a game of Dungeons an Dragons talking about a monster that is coming. Within the first couple minutes of this scene we assume that the four friends aren't the most popular kids ever, we assume this because instead of being out with the "cool kids" they are in their parents basement playing Dungeons and Dragons. Since the show is supposed to be based off of cold war conspiracies, the clothing that they wear is very significant to the time that they are in. Also, the appliances that they own are similar to the time, we see the dad messing around with the antennae on his tv. We then see as Will Byer is kidnapped at his house, because Will's family is pour his mom and brother have to work late; because of this nobody is around when Will is kidnapped. During this scene we also learn more about the monster and its powers, whenever the monster is around the electricity seems to go out.

In the end of this movie we see how the whole town comes together to look for Will Byers. Even though Will is not a popular kid the sheriff of the town is friends with Will's mom so he makes sure everyone is out looking for him. We also see how Will's family is able to deal with everything that is going on.