Mise-en-Scene of Saw

Mise-En-Scene in Saw

Saw is set in mainly just one room with two men and a corpse on the floor. The scene is set from the very beginning and there is tons of Mise-en-Scene within just one frame. 

The room that the characters are in is an underground room that is dimly lit. The lighting plays a large role in the mise-en-scene of the film, because it helps establish that this film is not light hearted because it is not well-lit and is very claustrophobic with there being a small room and little freedom inside. The room perfectly shows the fear as there are two men in either corner of the room, and they are chained to rusty pipes by their ankles, and in the middle is a dead man who has shot himself in the head with a  revolver that he holds in one hand and a cassette tape in the middle, decorating the floor in his blood from his brain. 

The room has dirty tiles on the walls and floor, showing that the room is abandoned since it has not been cleaned, or repaired. As the artificial lighting used on the ceiling is dangling, and some bulbs are broken. The floor is also covered in cold blood of a bald man in the center, and there is rot on the floor and walls where it has not been in use for a long time. This makes an effective room for a killer's hideout, because it shows how all the grime caused by the failure to clean is a good trait for the killer's personality, how they keep it looking abandoned and run down and may even be a metaphor for their own behavior on how they are rotten inside or that they do not care for clean and nice things as long as there is something to satisfy their demented blood lust.

Some tiles in the room are broken, and there is a sink that is clearly broken, as well as out of place pipes that just hang from the walls and are covered in rust, as well as the grimy look on the sliding door that is inactive. Even the chain around their ankles is full of detail, with it being strapped to their ankle tightly and another sturdy object nearby so that they cannot move too far like they are prisoners or victims in someone's disturbing game. Some walls have even crumbled like they've been hit with a bulldozer, and urinals are yellow and dusty. It is unclear hat this room used to be, since there is toilets and smashed ones, as well as urinals but also some rusted bath tubs that are still full of water. 

Their body language perfectly shows how one would be in this situation, as one of the two men shake his chain and try and break the pipe he is chained too, this is what most people would do as they are scared and confused, and don't want to be trapped in a room, especially with a stranger and a corpse in the center. 

The mise-en-scene of this scene is very effective on creating a mystery to put the characters in and engage the audience, because both the audience and the characters are confused as to what is happening, and this effect using just the scene that they have with the props in it make it a very effective looking scene with many clues as to how they got there or where they actually are or where the exit is.