RG: Technical analysis of 'Amityville Horror' Opening

 

 

Camera	Duration	Mise-En-Scene and Sound
Black background behind the white text ‘Based on a true story’	0.00-0.06	The font and the text colour used of black and white is very conventional of horror films. The use of the words "Based on a True Story" are also stereotypical of the horror genre. The reason for this being that the ideology of a story being true and believable automatically fears an audience more about the story.
"November 13th, 1974" Text	0.06-0.13	The use of the colour is again the same as above, conventional of a horror movie. Also, the use of a date places the audience in a certain era and makes them aware of the background narrative of the plot.
Extreme close up of the protagonists face	0.13-0.18	The protagonist is shown to have his eyes closed and he moves across very slowly. This conveys the possibility of him being either under a spell or the curse of something of the supernatural. This therefore leads the audience to believe that he is unaware of what he is doing. The shot is blurred, this means the audience are left unaware and not fully revealed the identity of the man.
Montage	0.18-0.19	It begins with a short flash of light, disorientating the audience and shocking them before the montage begins. The audience are then given a sense of location as you see the building which he is, along with a television. In horror films it is conventional for a flash light at the beginning of a shot to represent a flashback. This could be a possible technique used here.
Extreme close up of the protagonists face	0.19-0.24	The face is yet again blurred reinforcing the technique mentioned previously. Also, in this shot diegetic sound is used. The sound is heard to be whispered and quiet. The reason for this being is that it leaves the audience in the sense of the unknown and being unsure of what is occurring. In doing this, it creates mystery. Possibly, the character being told what to do by a curse.
Extreme close up on face	0.24-0.27	This shot is in focus now, creating a contrast with the previous shots. This happens as the character opens his eyes. This can therefore link the opening and closing of the eyes to the blur. The whispers then become more clear and we are able to realise the plot as the whispers speak the words "Kill them."
Point of view shot of television	0.27-0.30	This shot places us in the characters position and creates emphasis on the power of the television used.
Close up of a clock	0.30-0.31	The diegetic sound used of the clock changing emphasises the time of 3:15.
Mid shot of the protagonist	0.31-0.33	The protagonist quickly moves to facing the clock. He moves sharply and this leads the audience to believe that he is psychotic. There is also the diegetic sound of rain and thunder being heard. This connotes danger and fear as this weather is dark and normally in horror films introduces the idea of the upcoming horror that may occur.
Mid shot of a desk	0.34-0.36	The shot begins to reveal a religious book on the desk that is titled 'Evil is proof of God'.
Long shot of the back of a man on a bed	0.36-0.39	This shot reveals the character to be holding a gun. Connoting again the possible oncoming danger.
Long shot of the front of the man	0.40-42	His expression is a smug smile, showing he is careless as to what is occurring.
Close up of the gun being loaded	0.42-0.45	The close up on the gun also places emphasis on the power of a loaded gun, along with the danger that comes with it.
Close up of a shelf	0.45-0.47	One of the objects on the shelf is a picture of his graduation photo. This shows that the character is in fact an intelligent person. This leads the audience to sympathise with the character as they have seen his change in state to what he is like now.
Long shot of him standing, from behind	0.47-0.49	This reveals the room he is in even more. Again creating verisimilitude as the house is realistic.
Close up with a pan shot of the man walking up a set of stairs.	0.49-54	The diegetic sound of a creaking stair case is used. Very conventional of a horror movie.
Mid shot, close up of face and extreme close up of eyes	0.54-0.57	At this point the cutting rate increases and becomes much faster than previously. There is low key lighting apart from the occasional lightning flash. There is sound of the wind and banging noises, which contrasts to the very little sound that is heard earlier.
POV	0.57-0.59	This gives the audience the viewpoint of the character, showing the minimalistic set used in the house.
Mid shot	0.59-1.01	A jump cut is now used to cut to the gun which is being held by the man, this puts emphasis on the weapon.
Long shot	1.01-1.04	The lighting used is similar to a strobe because as the character gets closer, the flashes appear to make him move quickly and leave the audience uneasy as they are unsure of where he is walking to.
Mid shot	1.04-1.07	The lighting is positioned behind the character to create a silhouette of his body. This leaves the audience unable to see his facial expression.
Mid shot	1.07-1.11	A high angle shot is used to show a couple laying in bed together. Through the dark lighting and non-verbal language the audience presume they are asleep, therefore unaware of what is occurring.
Close up	1.11-1.12	The cutting rate begins to increase, this creates tension for the audience as they begin to feel as though something horrific is going to happen with the gun.
Close up	1.12-1.13	The focus of this scene is yet again on the gun as they aim to emphasise the fact he is loading it and is aiming to kill. This is shown clearly through the diegetic sound which is of a gun being loaded.
Mid shot	1.16-1.17	He takes aim with the gun and through his use of non-verbal language it is clear that he is used to holding a gun and knows exactly how to aim it, creating a narrative for the character's background.
Close up	1.17-1.18	A loud gun shot is heard through the use of diegetic sound. This is selective sound as the noise is clearly amplified to yet again place emphasis on the gun. Blood is then used to show to the audience that the couple in bed are dead.
Montage	1.18-1.19	The montage of photos here is used to convey the idea of a crime scene. The flashing lights connote the flash of a camera, along with the red blood on the images which indicates the significant tragedy which has occurred.
Mid shot	1.19-1.20	The girls face shows fear which indicates she may be aware of what has occurred.
Long shot, low to high pan	1.20-1.22	The fast paced walking (non-verbal language) suggests he is either to escape the scene or hunt another victim.
Mid shot	1.22-1.24



Group - Concept Development

In the lesson we have developed our concept for our horror film opening, by thinking about ideological discourse and the character we have developed.

The character we developed is a 6 year old girl called Betsy, who is a white, British and middle classed. Her character traits are innocent and lonely, yet demonic and possessed. Her physicality is small and weak.

She is dominant for horror films in the fact that she is evil, and residual in society.

RG Mama Sequence Analysis

The movie 'Mama' belongs to the genre of supernatural thriller and in this sequence the audiences expectations of this genre are fulfilled. This is apparent instantly through the use of the antagonist being a child that has been feral, but also, could be seen as possessed.

The sense of foreboding is introduced through the antagonist being unknown, with the lighting being used to flash on the screen to build up the tension of what could be hidden in the dark.
Character exposition is present as the female is being shown to be a character who is musical, this is shown through her playing her bass guitar in a kitchen which is her normal home environment.

In this sequence the mise-en-scene conveys meaning of the protagonist female being vulnerable as she is frightened by the use of dark lighting, which flashes on and off creating an eerie atmosphere for the character. The use of lighting also conveys meaning of the unknown, as the antagonist is in the darkness.
The camera shots are intelligently composed so we are positioned with the protagonist  as she is the focus of the shots. Mid shots are used throughout to minimalize the scenery the character is in. Meaning the sense of the upcoming unknown is created.
The sound used anchors the images with the bass guitar being played as the only loud sound, creating a sense of silence with no dialogue, and as the child is seen and jumps across the table, the protagonist screams, which also positions the audience with her as it makes you want to scream as an audience.
We learn about the child being scary through the use of non-verbal language as she doesn't say anything, yet creates fear through her body language. This is as she creeps up on the protagonist, showing her creepiness and possible possessing of something supernatural, as a child creeping and leaping across a table are not normal traits of a human.
From this sequence we could take the idea of using the dark lighting and composition of shots, to create a sense of the unknown.

The narrative is organised appropriately as it tells the story as the tension builds up, progressing at a correct time. The major themes shown in this sequence are that of there always being something unknown and that we aren't always alone when we believe we are.

In this scene the woman is the protagonist and the focal centre in the scene. This represents an emergent ideology that goes against stereotype of men being the protagonist in horror movies. Age is also ideologically constructed as the child is presented as demonic and scary.