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Silent Hill Opening Analysis

‘Silent Hill’ 

Christophe Gans, 2006

 ‘Silent Hill’ is a modern horror film. The opening screen is first black, with the name of the director shown in white lettering; the font connotes that it has been typed. This is a motif font for horror as it suggests a grimy and imperfect feel to the text. Yelling can then be heard over the black, of a woman and a man. With the woman asking if the man can see anything. It then cuts to an image of a house at night with a low angle shot of a young woman, dressed in pyjamas, screaming a name. This fulfils generic expectations of a horror film, as the establishing shot of the young woman introduces her as the protagonist, commonly used in modern horror films. The time this takes place in is night. Which is also classic for horror films and conforms to the generic expectations of the audience. This connotes more fear and mystery as the audience can see little of what is happening and creates an enigmatic scene. The woman later runs down a pathway in the dark, past silhouetted trees, to pick up a stuffed bear. This creates an assurance in the audience that this is a horror film, as the trees silhouetted against moonlight are a motif amongst most horror films, and so create a certain connotation with horror. The stuffed bear has a connotation to children, especially female children; this also conforms to generic expectations, but suggests more of a psychological horror. This is because stuffed bears connote children, and innocence, which would normally challenge expectations, but doesn’t, as the rest of the mise-en-scene and the woman’s reaction to finding the bear suggest fear, and a sinister meaning to it. This conforms to psychological horror as it takes something the audience normally connotes as something safe, and turns it into something evil, and to be afraid of. Displaying a motif ironically. Near the end the audience is shown an image of the girl and the woman hugging, this takes place on a cliff, with a burning cross shown in the background. This fulfils more generic expectations of a horror film, specifically a psychological horror film as the cross connotes the church, and Christianity, however the fact that it is burning suggests an evil association with the symbol. This turns the symbol of something normally associated as safe and wholesome into something bad and evil. It also suggests a religious theme to the film, and treats religion ironically, which is popular in most horror films. One part of the opening sequence depicts a girl on top of a cliff, swaying as she stands. This connotes that she is possessed, which is very common in horror films and so the audience’s expectations of a horror film are further fulfilled. The shot then dissolves to what the audience is shown as what the girl is seeing in her mind, as a tall structure tinted red, with black pieces. This conforms to generic expectations, as these are classic camera styles and filters used in horror films. Lastly we are also shown the woman in a tunnel with graffiti inside it. This connotes fear again as the tunnel is dark, and the sound of running water can be heard, moving vehicles above can also be heard, but echo in the tunnel and have a warped sound to them. This sound technique is used in many horror films and so generic expectations are fulfilled to the audience.  

 Mise-en-scene conveys meaning in the opening sequence by using darkness and the use of symbols. At the end the audience is shown the woman and girl embracing, with a burning cross in the background. This suggests an evil meaning in the text as a burning cross has connotations of the ‘KKK’ which are depicted as evil in society. The burning cross also has meaning behind it as a cross symbolises Christianity, which is thought to be a good thing in society. However the cross being shown as burning connotes a demonic feeling and corruption associated with the symbol. Or that God is absent in this location. Another symbol used is the stuffed bear. This has wholesome connotations with it as it symbolises children and innocence. However this is betrayed by the woman finding it discarded on the dirt floor. This connotes that something has happened to the owner of the bear, probably being a child, and that there is a loss of innocence, which creates an enigma. Showing the woman pick up the bear also suggests that the woman is the mother and that she is looking for her child. When the audience is shown the image of the girl wearing a one-piece set of blue pyjamas with a white butterfly on it, the audience assumes the girl is innocent and good through iconography.  This is also exaggerated as there is a bright white light shown on her face to make her seem more angelic, severely contrasting with the burning cross. The butterfly icon also symbolises youth, as does the one-piece set of pyjamas. The colours used during the girl’s vision also conveyed meaning as the director used black and red colours when the camera tracks down in a bird’s-eye shot. This forms connotations with hell. Which again conflicts with the girl depicted as innocent and suggests more corruption within the girl. This occurs again once the downward tracking stops at an image of the same girl, but instead of her being covered in white light, she is covered with a dark red light, suggesting evil and corruption once more and forming connotations with hell and a demonic feel. This creates an enigma as to who the girl is, or which one is the real girl, and what the significance of this is. At the beginning the audience is shown a house. The style of house suggests it is an American, family home as the connotations with the size, style and lights shown suggest so, e.g. the audience is shown a white picket fence which forms classic American family home connotations. The camera techniques also convey meaning. At the start the audience is shown an MCU of the woman’s face. This is used to show her expressions, which convey fear and looking for something as the camera goes close to show her looking around. A later ELS is shown of the woman running through the woods, this is shown to the audience to depict how vast the area she is searching is, and let the audience see the environment, to receive the connotations of the location. Also at the beginning the audience is shown a low angled MLS of the woman, this makes the woman look more powerful to the audience and establishes her as the protagonist. This is in contrasted with the man on the balcony in the background, out of focus, depicting him to the audience to be not as important. When running along the pathway, the camera films the woman running along the leading line. The camera then pans right to a new stretch of pathway, this suggests to the audience that this is where the woman is about to run along, and creates a new leading line. The audience is also shown the image of the girl on the cliff. The camera then crabs and pans left to the woman emerging from the woods. This shows the distance the woman is from the two characters and gives a smooth effect, making the audience feel like observers. Also when the woman turns to a new leading line, the camera pans very quickly as a swish pan. This makes the scene seem more frantic. The director uses a steadicam when circling the characters, and when panning. The camera never tracks with the characters. This makes the audience feel as if they are observing the situation without making them feel as if they are in the scene. Another angle is where the audience is shown a bird’s-eye view of the girl on the cliff, this shows the audience the environment, and connotes the girl to be less powerful and insignificant. Lastly the director uses an MCU at the end of the two older characters to show expressions of the characters clearly, and lets the audience focus on dialogue easier. Sound anchors the image connotations effectively in this sequence. As at the beginning crickets can be heard, this enforces the connotations of night, and the woodland location. This is further enforced with the sound of running water connoting a stream nearby. Car sounds also enforce that there is a road above the woman while she is under the bridge, which then echoes when shots under the bridge is shown, warping the sound and creating a mysterious effect. ‘Whooshing’ sounds are used to indicate the speed of the cars. A deep rumbling sound is used to anchor the image of a waterfall being shown. When shown the girl on the cliff a music track starts of a male groaning voice, with deep music behind it, this connotes sadness and darkness which anchors the image as having evil connotations. When shown the ‘vision’ of the girl the audience hears metal bars hitting one another, this anchors the image of the structure and connotes that it is unstable, and also makes a high pitched noise indicting the speed at which the vision is being shown. At the beginning the woman is shouting ‘Sharon’ this suggests that the woman is searching for a girl named Sharon. She also begins to look around frantically, this suggests that she is worried and anxious about the whereabouts of the girl. It is also clear to the audience that the man and woman have a romantic relationship through the way at the end they speak close to each other, hugging one another. It is also clear later that Sharon is their daughter as when she picks up the stuffed bear, suggesting to the audience that Sharon is a little girl, as she shouts ‘Honey’ which connotes that she is their child. This is later enforced when she says ‘wait for mommy’ which shows they are one family. From the girl we also learn that she has been sleepwalking as her body language suggests so to the audience, and through incomplete sentences. We also learn that she is scared of a place called ‘Silent Hill’ as she screams when she says it. Lastly we learn that this has been a problem from some time as the parents say that ‘she said it again’.

Other techniques the director uses is fading in and out of black at the end and beginning of the opening sequence to have a smooth transition between scenes. He also uses some shots starting high, then coming down low, so the audience feel they are being put into the action.

 The narrative is organised chronologically with some fast forward cuts, to switch to different parts of locations without spoiling the continuity. The audience is placed mainly with the mother throughout the opening sequence, but are placed out of the scene for the majority, by the use of bird’s eye shots and static shots, and panning instead of tracking with the character. The scene also cuts to what other characters are doing for small amounts of time so the audience can see what is happening altogether. Another example of this is that the director chose the camera to track into the vision, past what the girl’s viewpoint was. This gives the audience a more in-depth view of what is happening. But sacrifices being closer to what the character is seeing. The audience identifies the woman as being a young American mother. This is because of the clothing that she wears, which are a white tank top and a pair of shorts. This is the kind of clothing an audience associates a young woman to wear. And identify her as American through her accent. The audience also identifies her as a mother through her body language with the child, as she embraces the child, and calls her ‘honey’, then refers to herself as ‘mommy’, which is stereotypical American parental dialogue. The audience also identify the girl as being her daughter, and alienation is employed as the audience discover there is something mentally wrong with her. This is shown by the audience being shown her ‘vision’. Where a series of demonic connotations take place, alienating her from stereotypical depictions of little girls.

The audience is shown that this takes place in America through the iconic image of an American styled house, and through showing what cars are going past over the bridge, being mainly SUVs. Also the trees added with the stream and waterfall connote that it is a small town and therefore suggesting the location as an American village. The major themes in the narrative are mystery and fear. This is because the audience are not shown what the woman is looking for, for a duration of the opening and are left at the end with the enigma of ‘Silent Hill’ and what has happened in the past, as this clearly has happened a number of times. The theme of fear is created by showing a great deal of CU shots of the mother’s face when she is looking for the girl. Also, created when the girl is screaming on the floor the fear is created by showing how scared she is, the audience then empathises with the character and becomes scared also. Tension is created by hearing the screaming at the start, but no visual idea of what is happening, this pulls the audience in, waiting to see what is going on in the scene. This is then maintained as the audience follows the mother to see what she is looking for. Once she sees the girl, even more tension is created through the ominous music, and the threat of the girl falling off the cliff. This then comes to a climax when the girl begins to tilt forward, exciting the audience, but then the woman tackles her to the ground, shocking the audience.

 Parents and young children are represented in this sequence. The parents are represented by the two adults. They are represented to be caring and loving concerned parents as they are shown at the start and the end of the sequence to be concerned for their daughter’s health. They are also shown to care more for their daughter than for their own safety, as the father is shown running across a road with cars driving fast towards him, and only nearly missing hitting him. This shows that they value their child a great deal and so the parents are put in a  positive light with the audience. They are also depicted as being the ‘heroes’ as the mother saves the girl from falling off the cliff at the last second, clearly saving the girls life. This connotes that the mother is heroic and protective. It represents small children as people who cannot help themselves, and are helpless without adults. This is shown by the girl screaming about the vision, and almost falling off the cliff, but being saved by her mother. Later on both mother and father are shown hugging the daughter in a protective stance, lowering the audience’s view of her independence.  The ideological discourse created in the opening sequence is challenging the stereotypical view that men are the heroes, this is challenged by showing the shot of the mother getting to the girl first and the mother saving the daughter, without the help of the father. It is also challenged by filming the majority of the film with the woman, this connotes her acts to be more important than the male’s actions. Lastly this is also shown with the camera angles as the woman is shown with a low angle and in front of the man in the establishing shot, this connotes her to be more powerful as she is at the front, at a low angle, and the man is out of focus in comparison. Another ideological discourse in the sequence is enforcing that children need their parents for protection, and are not safe without the parents and are not independent. This is shown by the director showing mostly what the parents are doing throughout the sequence. Without showing what the child is doing, and she remains an object for the majority of the narrative. This is also shown by the parents comforting the daughter while she screams. This connotes that the parents are more in control and that the child cannot handle the situation whereas, they can. The parents are also shown hugging the child, this is a protective body language and connotes that the child needs protection form the outside world. The use of semiotics is employed to identify  how the characters are represent by for example giving the audience an image of a burning cross the audience connotes that the child is or has something evil to do with it. Also the child is represented as young and innocence by the use of having a butterfly on her pyjamas. But combined with her sleepwalking, this connotes that she is not in control and is in fact helpless. The woman’s tank top also is used as a device to show her role in the sequence as white tank tops are a classic symbol of a female that takes control through action. This is true as the audience is shown her saving the girl from falling. Lastly the symbol of a stuffed bear signifies that the woman is looking for a child, through connotations. This gives the audience a steady flow of clues as to what is going on in the sequence.

 The target audience for this film is young males. This is because horror films try to mainly target young men as they as a majority are more likely to enjoy a horror film. Probable readings of the text are that the girl had been sleepwalking and is having visions of hell, and the parents saved her form falling to her death, and that Silent Hill is a place where they can stop this from happening. Another probable reading is that the girl is possessed and that the thing that is possessing her wants to try to kill her, and that Silent Hill is where this can be stopped. A negotiated reading may be that the parents are the ones doing this to her and that the parents are trying to kill her. An abberant reading may be that the woman is from the future trying to save herself as a kid. As a British teenager I read the text as the girl being possessed by something to do with a place called ‘Silent Hill’ I enjoyed the text as I found it ominous and enigmatic. My age may have influenced my reading as I am neither a parent, adult or young child and so cannot relate to the characters as well as someone else could, this may have made me miss certain clues within the dialogue in reference to explaining the enigma further. My gender may have influenced my understanding slightly as I may have not identified with the main female role in the sequence and saw the man as more of a hero than another might. My cultural background influences my reading of the text as many religious icons were used, and so other religious backgrounds may not have understood those references.

 

 

 

 

Amityville Horror Opening Analysis

‘Amityville Horror’

Andrew Douglas, 2005

The ‘Amityville Horror’ belongs to the genre of Mystery Horror, the opening sequence is set in the 1970’s and the storyline is clearly linear. The generic audience’s expectations are fulfilled in the text as in the opening scene ominous music is playing, it is night, lightning is striking constantly and there is a yellow filter used whilst the original colour is slightly washed out. The evil character “Ronnie” is male and the innocent characters are mainly females which reinforces the generic horror movie expectations. ‘The Amityville Horror’ conforms to the characteristics of the genre because it is produced by American’s who conform to the conventions of the genre. They stick to the classic style horror intended to unease viewers so that they jump at anything. The sequence is action charged and fast pace employing many of the classic conventions of horror including lighting, location, sound etc.
In this opening sequence mise-on-scene is used to inform the audience of certain things without explaining them in dialogue within the film. Firstly we can tell that the sequence is set in the 70’s due to the clothing worn by the characters. We can also tell by the text’s font which looks like a typewriter’s font that the sequence happened a long time ago and that it was a documented event. The items lying on Ronnie’s table also convey a sense of evil to the viewers. By showing a quick shot of the items viewers only have a split second to interpret them. Cigarettes are shown which have unpleasant connotations and are usually associated with criminal people. There is also a book lying on the table which title reads “EVIL is PROOF of GOD” this instantly gets the viewer thinking about evil, god and other powerful forces that may be at work in this scene. An establishing long shot is then shown of the basement which Ronnie is in, we know it is a basement because of the mise-on-scene of the location showing a low ceiling, staircase and old basement boiler. This is another example of how mise-on-scene explains certain things to the viewer without presenting them in dialogue form. The way that Ronnie’s hair is long and partially converging his face connotes that he is a rebel and that he doesn’t follow rules which adds another level of fear to this sequence. The pictures of Ronnie on his shelf show him at graduation which conveys the message that he was once a good person and that something has changed. The layout of the house once Ronnie starts to walk through it shows that the family is wealthy and large and from pictures hanging on the wall look happy, this adds a great contrast as the family is at peace expect one family member, Ronnie, who is presented as evil. The camera work in this sequence is also used to convey meaning by using different camera movement and different shot sizes. One of the first shots of the sequence is an extreme long shot of the house. This establishing shot sets the scene introducing the location. Then extreme close up shots of Ronnie are shown, this is to convey his emotions which at this point in time are possessed. A very fast cutting rhythm is purposely used to add tension to the sequence and emphasize the action. The shots usually start at a medium long shot to establish whereabouts a character is an then cuts to a closer shot such as a big close up to firstly add tension and secondly show the emotions of that particular character. The angles used a very deliberate, When Ronnie is shown in the shot the camera is at a low angle which shows him as big and powerful whereas when the rest of the family are shown the camera angle is very high which shows them as weak helpless and defenceless. There is a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound used in this opening sequence to anchor the images shown. Firstly the non-diegetic sound, throughout the whole sequence ominous and ambient music is playing. This music creates and maintains the tension within the sequence and makes sure that every shot is seen in an evil light. The only change to this music is that with the action it speeds up and gets louder to emphasize fear and tension. Other noticeable non-diegetic sound is a deep bass boom and camera click. The booms happen in synchronisation with shocking elements within the sequence to enhance them and cause an increase in tension within the audience. This works very effectively and also coincide with the fast cutting rhythm to add to the fast pace of the sequence. The camera clicks are played as the shots cut to convey the message that this is an event that has happened in the past and to help the fast cutting rhythm flow well. There are many diegetic sounds within the sequence one of the most important being the voice over. This voice over is diegetic because it is actually a somebody’s voice coming from the house, the voice is in a whispering tone but loud in volume so the audience can clearly make it out, the voice speaks the words “Catch them, kill them!” which reinforces the sense of evil within the scene and adds a very sinister level to the sequence. There are also many conventional horror sounds within the sequence which also conform to the generic expectations of the genre, these include lightning strikes, creaking doors etc. We also learn things about the characters through their dialogue. In the opening sequence there is only two lines of dialogue spoken by two individual characters, this happens right at the end of the sequence when Ronnie is about to murder the last family member Jodie. She asks him “What’s wrong Ronnie?” which is spoken in an innocent quite voice. This explains to us the characters naivety and also her innocents. Ronnie then replies “I love you Jodie” before killing her, this shows that Ronnie does not want to kill her and is being made to do it by something else. This idea is also reinforces by the tear that is running down Ronnie’s face at the point. The director uses many visual techniques to connote subliminal messages in the sequence. Firstly he washes out the colour and uses a yellow tint, as well as making the sequence feel slightly surreal it makes it feel old conveying the message again that this is an event that has happen in the past. He also uses lots of flashes and black screen to increase the cutting rhythm even more to action charge the sequence and to avoid showing gory parts so that the viewer assume what has just happened. Another visual technique used is a light ray effect. This is used when the light source is positioned behind Ronnie, what it does is cast Ronnie completely in shadow causing him to be a silhouette, this silhouette of Ronnie has connotations of evil and the light source behind him connotes the fact that there is some good in him.
In “Amityville Horror” the audience are not positioned within the narrative, they are a spectator who is shown everything that happens to each character. Even though the audience is positioned as a spectator they are set up to feel emotion for certain characters as if they were positioned within the narrative. The director has used the fact the Ronnie lives down in the basement on his own to alienate him from the rest of his family and to raise the audience’s suspicions of Ronnie himself. He also used old clothing on the characters so that it is easy to identify them as from the 70’s.
In this sequence there is an ideological discourse because of representation of social groups on a macro level. The ideological ideas of capitalism are reinforced by “Amityville Horror” because it shows how wealth leads to a happiness and success in life. The ideological ideas are also challenged in the sequence because family idealistic views seen in the photographs on the walls show a happy family whereas the truth is that there is something going horribly wrong within the family. This also challenges capitalism because even though this family is wealthy and supposedly happy in reality something is going horribly wrong. This can also be seen as challenging capitalism as it can be trying to show how capitalism can blind you from the truth as Ronnie’s family members could not see him changing into the evil possessed character he is. The semiotics in the scene work as a framework to show how capitalism is good, for example the pictures on the walls of the house show how the wealthy people are also happy and live a healthy lifestyle. There are also other symbols to show characters profession, for example Ronnie is wearing a checked shirt which would connote that he was a manual labourer.
I believe that from watching the opening sequence of “Amityville Horror” the target audience is young males aged between seventeen and thirty. The audience could read the text in many ways that differ from the intended reading. The preferred reading of the text is to show how a wealthy, successful and happy family is destroyed by paranormal experiences experienced a young male in the household. This is the preferred reading but people may interpret the text in other ways for example they could read the text as trying to challenge capitalism. As a young British male I interpret the text in my own unique way, I do understand the text in the preferred reading way but I also do not feel completely connected to the text because it is set in America with American actors. This means that the text is actually more powerful when shown to American young males as opposed to British young males like myself.

Group Discussion - Story Ideas

Over the last few weeks George and I have narrowed our story ideas into two different concepts. 

Our first idea was to have an image of someone at night, and film this person running away from something that the audience cannot see, the person eventually runs into a barn and closes the door, the scene goes quiet, then banging is heard on the door, then more silence. The person finally turns around and a CU is shown on the persons face, the person screams and a flash of black is scene across the camera, taking the person out of view from the camera. And the title screen will appear.

Our second idea is to show a low shot of a hooded person, you cannot see the face, the person then looks around. The camera, after this then cuts to a birds eye shot, and shows there are dead people on the floor (location undecided) the person seems not to take notice. The person then starts to walk into the camera while the camera tracks back. While walking POV shots are shown cutting constantly to a montage of what is to be assumed as life before whatever has happened. E.g. Cutting from the image of a dead boy, to him speaking into the camera, from dark to light, and grainy. The person then comes to a door with red/orange light coming out of the window. The audience cannot see through the window and have a side view LS. The person then opens the door, screaming can be heard, he walks in, and the door closes, then silence. The title screen will then come up. 

We are undecided with which idea to use and will probably use a mix of the two. 

Group Discussion - Music and Locations

Toady Cameron and I discussed music and locations for our opening sequence. We both agreed that the music we chose for our opening would have a dramatic impact on the feeling and effectiveness of the sequence and therefore decided to look into the genre of ominous ambient music. We chose ambient music because from our initial story ideas the opening sequence is not likely to be action charged so slower tempo music would be fitting. This presented us with a problem because we both didn’t know of any ambient and ominous music tracks. We decided to do a bit of research and after a couple of minutes found loads of ambient ominous tracks to choose from. The music which we found put us on edge when listening to and had an eerie feel to it so it was perfect. For locations we thought that it would be a good idea to find deserted, dirty and old locations as from my locations mood board we had seen that these locations were the scariest. After a few minutes we realised that there was a perfect location in Pembury at the farm, this would be idea as we both live in Pembury and so filming would not be an issue. It was an old deserted and dirty barn which would be perfect. After asking the farmer for approval to use it for filming we would like to somehow incorporate it into our opening sequences.

Here are some photographs of the barn:

Psychological Horror Moodboard

Psychological Horror Moodboard Analysis:

This moodboard shows that psychological horror is more about being disturbing than being an adrenaline rush of shock. Psychological horror tends to be more subtle compared to other sub-genres of horror. It creates discomfort in the viewer by displaying common psychological fears society represses or denies. Or conveys something society finds safe and innocent as something to be afraid of, making the audience feel vulnerable, e.g. showing the church as location for evil doings, or a child as a killer. A good example of this is in the image above of the little girl with no mouth. The lighting and costume connotes her to be innocent, but the missing mouth suggests there is something severely wrong and disturbing about this girl, betraying the previous connotations, as most psychological horrors do. Psychological horror also creates fear in the audience by using dark, blue, red and green filters. This connotes death and evil as occurs in most horrors. And includes most stock locations associated with horror, like in the moodboard below. Psychological horror tries to take something society sees as safe, and turns it into something to be afraid of, challenging certain connotations. 

Horror Locations Moodboard

Location Mood Board Analysis:

From this mood board I have learnt that darkness is very important in creating an ominous atmosphere in a location. In nearly all of the pictures darkness is used along with a high contrast which connotes a sense of evil, portraying whatever objects are in the picture in an evil light therefore giving the location a scary feel. For example if a grave was shown in a bright picture with flowers on it, it would be interpreted differently from if it was shown in darkness. In many of the pictures the colour is washed out and they have a red or blue tint to them. The ones with a blue tint feel very cold and evil whereas the ones with a red tint have a sense of evil or anger to them. One thing which instantly sets of connotations of evil in all these locations is iconography. The use of gravestones and misty woodland is particularly effective but even the general mess shown in some of the locations sets of connotations. So when I set out to find locations for my coursework I will look for deserted locations preferably slightly messy with an ominous feel to them. Then after shooting I would decrease the brightness and increase the contrast and maybe put a colour filter over the top in editing to really make the location feel scary.

Horror Characters Moodboard

Character Mood Board Analysis:

From this mood board I have learnt that there are many techniques used in all these characters pictures to connote evil and to scare people. The first most obvious technique is that all the characters eyes have been made very wide and distorted, this removes the characters personality making it very hard to know what the character is thinking, we interpret the unknown as a threat and therefore the characters are scary. Much like the locations, the characters have a blue or red tint to them; this connotes the cold for blue and anger for red. The characters are in uncomfortable poses often an aggressive stance which creates discomfort in the viewer. The use of unpleasant things such as damp and dirt are also used to put the viewer on edge and make them feel uncomfortable. Another technique used here is to make the camera shot cantered, this gives a sense of unease in the picture and connotes a feeling of no control. When I set out to create horror characters I will look at trying to distort their eyes and making them dirty, I will also make sure there pose is awkward and threatening.

28 Days Later Opening Analysis

'28 Days Later'

Danny Boyle, 2002

“28 Days Later” is a modern horror film that falls under the genre of post apocalyptic British drama. This instantly sets the audiences generic horror movie expectations and 28 Days Later fills all of those expectations by sticking to the successful horror movie formula. In other words it doesn’t push the bar by straying from the classic horror film form. The opening sequence also conforms to the characteristics of the genre, presenting something intended to be scary with all the conventions of a horror film instead of playing with contrasting entities. For example when the infected monkeys escape later in the opening sequence, dramatic music starts playing instead of calm music. From the first scene it is obvious the film has a linear storyline and that the introduction is the cause for the rest of the movie. The character exposition in the first scene introduces two sets of people, an animal testing scientist and a group of animal cruelly extremists. It is obvious straight away who the characters are because of the use of stereotypical views, the scientist is dressed in a lab coat and the extremists are wearing balaclavas. To make the characters deeper than the stereotypical views that the scene first portrays, the use of verbal and non verbal language is key. The extremist’s voices are loud and delivered in an aggressive, their posture is also aggressive and movement is fast but have a naivety about them as they are in unfamiliar territory. This portrays them as tough characters but also blinded by their aggression and naivety. On the other hand the scientist non verbal language clearly shows he is scared. This is backed up with his voice which unlike the extremist’s is quite stuttering and quite but he is presented as knowledgeable talking in a formal way using scientific terms.
The style of “28 Days Later” has many aspects. Firstly, the camera work is quite unique. During the eerie slow parts a very slow, panning, wide long shot is used to set the scene and convey the idea of a relaxed atmosphere. The shot usually includes something at the edge in the foreground which is not important to the scene but used to convey mise on scene and give a sense of scale. Then during the more action orientated parts a steady cam is used with a medium long shot but doesn’t move much at all. The use of the medium long shot combined with steady cam put us into the scene more to give a more immersive experience. From analysing this sequence I can see some camera techniques used to build tension. In some shots the camera angle is cantered to convey the feeling of unease. This is particularly effective when used in conjunction with darkness. The audience is generally positioned within the narrative as a spectator getting to know people and feel emotion for them, yet again this gives a more immersive experience for the watcher. When the woman extremist starts to turn towards the end of the scene a big close up is used so that we can see her emotions. The use of steady cam rather than handicam keeps the watchers calmer and able to focus on key events in the scene. The lighting is very dark throughout the scene which connotes a sense of evil, the unknown and mystery, the scene seems to have a high contrast which also makes the shadows more dramatic. Colour is also used to stylize the sequence, to do this a blue filter is used in calmer parts to keep watchers clam but still on edge with the sense of cold and a red filter is used in heavy action parts to connote the message of anger, rage and action and other associations made with the colour red. The most used non-diegetic sound is the music which is constantly ambient throughout maintaining the tension of the scene. This ambient music is slow in tempo through the low action parts anchoring the images to the feeling of mystery and eeriness, this conveys to the watcher mystery and eeriness as they interpret all the props in the scene such as the monkey heads which is another techniques used to build tension in this sequence. This is a great example of how the feel of a scene can be changed by the music. When the action starts the music continues but another non-diegetic sound begins. This is a fast pace, pulsing, heartbeat type sound which connotes fear, adrenaline, etc adding tension to the scene during these parts. The original ambient music also speeds up connoting the feeling of tension and subconsciously putting the watcher on edge. The diegetic sound which stands out to have the biggest impact on the scene is the screams of monkeys; this yet again connotes fear and the sense that something isn’t right. For the setting, a stock location lab is used; the lab is presented as very high tech which connotes the idea of modern, advanced complicated science. The use of modern clothing on all the characters also tells us that the film is set in the modern world.
There is a lot of ideological discourse even in just the opening scene of “28 Days Later” so I will explore some of this discourse on two layers. Firstly the social groups within the text are represented in a certain way. One of the extremists has long hair which would connote that he is a rebel and doesn’t abide by rules, this also reinforced with his swearing. On the other hand the scientist is pale faced and very skinny which connotes weakness and poor health. On a bigger scale the views shown in the text such as the extremists who are against animal testing can be interpreted as all people with anti-animal testing views are rebels who don’t follow rules. This is also true for the Scientist, which represents all scientists as skinny and unhealthy. The ideological discourse also reinforces the set of beliefs that animal testing is wrong and also dangerous. The monkeys are kept in very bad conditions and the extremist woman reacts to that by crying. This reinforces the idea that animal testing is morally wrong. The sequence also reinforces the idea that animal testing is dangerous rather than beneficial.
In this opening scene the mise-on-scene is also important. The props lying around the lab include test tubes, vials and parts of monkey. This conveys the idea of experiments and scientific work and reinforces the stereotypical views of the lab, backed up with the ambient music these items in the scene feel eerie. The way the characters are positioned in the scene is also significant. The extremists are shown in a group in a small area whilst the scientist is shown on his own in an open plan area. This shows that the scientist is completely outnumbered and doesn’t stand any chance of stopping the naive extremists.
From the opening sequence of “28 Days Later” I believe that the target audience are males ages between 18 and 30. As a young British male myself I interpret the text in a certain way because of my social background. As the film is set in modern Britain and I live in modern Britain I believe that I interpret the text just as the director intended me too. If I were of a different nationality I would have to look deeper into the social situation of Britain before making my interpretation of the text.

Donnie Darko Opening Analysis

'Donnie Darko'

Richard Kelly, 2001


“Donnie Darko” is a hybridised teen/science fiction/horror film.
The opening of this film depicts a teenager lying on the ground in early morning, with his bike a few feet away. This already begins to fulfill the audience’s expectations of the film being a teen film, but still challenging the audience by using a blue filter giving a dark and sinister feeling. This is then exaggerated later as the boy laughs, as the laugh suggests evil, or that something is mentally wrong with this person. This then hybridises the two genres teen and horror. Music playing at the time is in a very ominous tone giving suspense to the film and shows the film may be a thriller or horror. The fact that this remains unexplained in the opening leaves the enigma of the audience trying to interpret what has just happened. Once the camera moves in to give a closer, brighter look at the teenager, we can see that he is wearing pyjamas, perhaps connoting that he had been sleepwalking, and, the style of pyjamas he’s wearing connoting that he is American through iconography. This also suggests to the audience that this is a teen film as the style of pyjamas are iconic of an American teen thus confirming suspicions of the film being a teen film. Later on the boy cycles past a sign talking about Halloween, This treats the stereotypical small American town ironically as Halloween connotes death, destruction and fear or evil. Whereas the style of the houses within the small town, with trees around, and the bright filter being used suggests the opposites of theses things, it connotes happiness, life and good nature. The horror genre is also confirmed with the styling of the title of the film, which are in large very gothic lettering styles, this connotes evil and darkness, which is then highlighted against the dark horizon of the mountainside, this connotes solitude, fear and mystery helping to challenge the teen element of the opening further.
While the camera moves in towards the figure, you can notice the use of the mise-en-scene to be quite foreboding, as the lighting is very dark, making it difficult to make out the shape of the figure which connotes mystery and some fear and evil. Another part of this is due to the scenery shown behind the figure. A wide expanse of mountain scenery is shown in a red-purple hue with a blue filter and in a wide panning shot. This may connote evil or mystery again and sets the audience up for some horror and mystery aspects. This is also shown when the sign for the village, talking about Halloween. This gives a sense of foreboding, and clues the audience in for this to be a significant date. This is a good use of mise-en-scene as it stimulates the audience, further enticing them into the film. When the teenager gets on his bike and cycles through the town he sees a mixture of people, this is how the director introduces some of the main characters of the film. He then later shows close ups of 4 characters, showing that these are the more important of the main characters, Kelly exaggerates this by going into slow motion when focusing on these characters. The town is shown with a bright filter, connoting happiness. The houses are shown with bright green grass outside, trees, large houses, grey pathways outside the houses and joggers seen jogging past. This connotes a small American village. This helps to show the contrast between the lyrics of the song playing, what was shown before this, and alienates the teenager from these people and location. The costumes of the people convey that it is early morning, e.g. the woman wearing a dressing gown, the jogger’s outfits and the teenager’s pyjamas. The bike also signifies that he is a teenager, as it is a kind of motif for teenage transport. Just as the tracksuits are a stereotypical outfit for joggers. The lighting also conveys meaning, as the blue filter and early morning darkness convey darkness and mystery, whereas later there is bright lighting to show happiness and gives the feeling of friendliness to the town, which is contrasted by how the teenager acts.
At the very beginning there is an LS of a figure lying on the floor. The camera then tracks in as a steadicam giving the audience the feeling of being there and so enhancing the mystery. The steadicam slowly tracking in also gives a feeling of suspense as the audience tries to figure out what the figure is and understand why it is there. After this the audience is shown the teenager standing up, looking at the landscape, the camera then does a wide panning shot, this shows the audience the setting of the film, as a suburb, but still introduces this character as secluded. Kelly also shows the teenager standing in front of the landscape in a MCU with a low shot, this establishes the character as the protagonist. When the teenager is cycling, the audience sees a fast tracking and crabbing shot, but when he cycles past a sign, it cuts to a still shot, and lets the teenager cycle past the shot. This makes the audience, instead of focusing on the character, focus on the sign, and understand that the sign is significant.
There is not much to say about the language of the film as the opening has nearly no diegetic sound. The only sound the audience can really hear, is the song “Killing Moon” by “Echo and the Bunnymen” which has a dark meaning to it, giving more of an ominous feeling to the film. One example of the lyrics are ‘killing time’ which has a definite sinister meaning to it and suggests that the film is going to be a horror film. Especially as the lyrics are betraying what the director is showing the audience. This gives a great contrast and adds mystery, stimulating the audience.
From the teenager’s body language when he is cycling the audience see that he is alienated from the rest of the characters. This is shown by the camera cutting to each set of characters, none of the characters the camera cuts to is alone, except for the teenager. This introduces the character as alone. This is shown again when he gets off his bike, he simply discards the bike signifying maybe a teen rebel, and casually walks into the house despite the four other people outside of the house, he chooses not to socialise with them, ignnoring the girl on the trampoline.
The teenager then gets up, looks around then smiles, again, unexplained more adding to a feeling of mystery, and the way of which he smiles and laughs, giving a slightly creepy feel to it, and shows that perhaps the film is going to take the route of a psycological thriller. When the teenager gets up he is then established as the protagonist in the film by showing a close-up of his face. He then walks out of camera shot and text fades in, reading Donnie Darko. The size and style of the text connotes that this is in fact the name of the film, and perhaps the name of this character. In the opening a steadicam is used to slowly approach the figure in the dark, giving an ominous feeling, fortifying the kind of film it is likely to be. The camera later follows the teenager on his bike with flowing shots, which again was using a steadicam. The camera later shows the way he is seeing the world in a POV shot. This shows the audience the protagonist of the film further and introduces all stock characters to the audience, the audience see two joggers, a woman, with a young girl jumping on a trampoline, as the woman reads next to her. This signifies that they are mother and daughter. We also see an older man and an older girl, maybe adult talking to each other, and the man playfully blowing her with the leaf blower, in slow motion. The playful nature connotes that they are father and daughter.
We see the daughter jumping on the trampoline, and the camera showing a birds eye view of her, in slow motion without any form of diegetic sound, (the creaking of the springs) almost forcing the audience to focus on the song being played over throughout the opening which is “Killing Moon” by “Echo and the Bunnymen”. The song then gives the audience a glimpse at the teenager’s psyche. The song again may show that its is a psychological thriller, and the lyrics provide some evidence that the film may be apocalyptic.
The camera then goes out of the teenagers viewpoint again in a POV shot which allows the audience to identify with the teenager and further shows that he is the protagonist, and follows him off his bike, walking into the house of which the audience connotes, belongs to the mother/daughter and father/daughter as that is where they were outside of. We then see the teenager opening a fridge, the fridge door having a whiteboard on it which reads “Where is Donnie ?” this connotes that the teenager is Donnie, that this is also his house, and that the people outside are his parents and sisters.
The narrative is organised chronologically as all events happen after one another, however the audience are not shown why Donnie was on the floor in the dark at the start of the opening and can leave the audience to think that the rest of the film is a-synchronous in order to explain this, however this is not the prefered reading. The audience mainly stays with Donnie for the opening sequence as the audience are shown an establishing shot of him near the beginning of the opening. The camera then follows him on his bike and cuts to POV shots of what he is seeing from his bike to suggest to the audience that the narrative is going to be from his side. Some shots cut to other characters to show that these are also main characters and that we are shown some narrative from those characters sides. The audience identify Donnie as a teenage rebel as the way he discards his bike and ignores his family choosing not to socialise, wearing pyjamas connoting teenage rebellion, show the character as a teenage rebel. This alienates him from the rest of the people in the town. The audience are also shown a small girl jumping on the trampoline, this connotes a carefree stereotypical American girl, also from the clothes she is wearing. The audience are also shown the relationship between the mother and daughter, and father and daughter from the body language, the mother is sitting by reading, almost like she is supervising the girl. The dad and daughter have a more playful body language and so the audience are shown both sides of a stereotypical family and can identify with the characters easily. The major theme in the narrative are mystery as the audience are not shown why the figure in the road is there, or why he laughs when he wakes up, or why the audience is being shown these slow motion shots and the sign. These all cause an enigma and stimulate the audience into trying to figure out why they are being shown these images. Another theme is the horror aspect, this is shown as a sinister laugh, and the darkness, with the ominous lyrics from the backing soundtrack and lack of diegetic sound. Tension is created by the darkness at the start and sustained by the slow tracking into a darkened figure, with the suspenseful music as the audience try to interpret what the figure is and why it is there. Another time this happens is when the teenager is on his bike, there is a sense of tension as the audience try to determine where his destination is. The darkness from this connotes evil and mystery, when combined with tension inducing music this forces the audience to anticipate something important happening or about to happen and entices the audience causing tension.
Teenagers and parents are represented in this sequence as the audience is shown Donnie. He is depicted as a rebel, and an independent person, as he is shown alone at the start of the morning, and also alone, cycling home which signifies independence, he is also shown as someone who doesn’t care much for others, as the sign signifies he did not tell his parents where he was going, and the way he ignored the people outside his house connotes he does not care to speak to them. The parents are depicted as caring people, as they are depicted as looking after the younger daughter, and playing with the older daughter in a friendly way. And so are not shown as most parents are in teen films, as they seem to the audience to get on well with their children, apart from Donnie. The semiotics of this are Donnie in pyjamas cycling around the town, clearly not caring about his appearance to others. The parents are represented this way as the mother is reading next to the trampoline, connoting that she cares for her daughter’s safety, but not overly controlling. Also, the dad is shown with a leaf blower, which is extremely stereotypical for an American father, and blows his daughter with it in a playful manner, with both people smiling, signifying that both father and daughter are enjoying themselves and are friendly with each other. Whereas Donnie disregards these people and chooses instead to go inside.
The “Where is Donnie ?” text is written in large letters, in black. The style of the text connotes a slight dark side to it, associating Donnie, again with a dark side.
The lighting of the rest of the opening is very bright which contrasts well to the beginning, this may connote that the town just has a darker side to it. The bright lighting and the joggers, and people interacting with one another connotes happiness, and a friendly town. Whereas Donnie’s non-verbal language as he dismounts his bike into the house connotes a kind of anger, arrogance and an uncaring attitude.
While Donnie is cycling he also passes a sign for a halloween within his town, Middlesex, giving the audience a hint at the film containing some elements of horror. The sign also with the style of houses introduces the stock location as an American town through iconography. The style of the writing in which ‘halloween’ is written connotes blood as it is written in red, with a dripping effect, this connotes evil, murder, death and fear again.
The target audience for this opening is a young adult male audience. This is because the majority of people wont identify as well wit the protagonist as much as this audience and so may miss some of the meaning in the narrative and may not be as likely to enjoy the film. Also male audiences are more likely to enjoy a horror film than a female audience and so the dark, ominous music and lighting may not be so good for female audiences. The film would also be more for American culture as this is where the film is set and so other culture may not understand certain references within the film. The probable readings of the text is that Donnie has been sleepwalking the night before and wakes up then cycles home. Another probable reading is that he ‘snuck’ out last night, as signified by the sign on the fridge. Possible readings is that he doesn’t live in the town at all and went in the house to the fridge to steal food, however, this is not the prefered reading. As a British male teenager I read the text as Donnie, having sleepwalked woken up on the mountainside, and laughs at the situation. He then cycles home and avoids his parents as they may be angry at him for not being home in the morning, which is then confirmed by the sign on the fridge. However my age may make me more sympathetic towards Donnie as I have been in similar sitiations to him and are at a closer age to him than the parents. My gender may also make me more sympathetic to him and may have made me identify with him more than I would have if I were female. E.g. A female may have found his laugh more creepy than another male would have and read more into the sinister aspects of the beginning of the opening. My background as British may have also effected this as I may understand more of the connotations of the clothes and the style of lettering, e.g. an Indian person may not understand the connotation of the gothic lettering in the title screens, or some cultures may find it more acceptable to be out all night than I would form my background and culture.

 The ideological discourse created in this opening sequence is challenging capitalism, this is conveyed by the director showing Donnie cycling past each house and showing how similar each house looked. It then shows two joggers going past, not speaking, and acting in a way that connotes a robotic feel, while showing Donnie in front of them and enjoying himself in socially inappropriate clothes on an inexpensive bike. This connotes to the audience that money and conforming to society's ideals, apathetic, and so identify with Donnie further. More ideological discourse is created when the opening challenges family ideals. Kelly does this by suggesting that Donnie's family is a classic American family and are happy and united, but are not actually doing any activities together, for example when the little girl is on the trampoline, the mother is beside her, but reading and ignoring what the girl is doing, giving an impression of apathy towards family life, also the older girl walks up to her father asking a question, but he blows her with the leaf blower and she leaves. The father using a leaf blower is a classic motif of capitalism. This challenges the common ideal of conforming to society. Connoting that the family is only acting on how society has taught them to behave. It then shows that Donnie is further disconnected when the audience is shown the 'Where is Donnie ?' sign on the fridge as it shows that the family has put little effort into finding out where he is and that this is in fact normal. This scene challenges the ideal that a family must be together and and the ideal that a family must perpetuate society.  
“Donnie Darko” begins with a very effective, subtle enigma and introduces the theme to the film very well with the selected song to play through the majority of the opening. It is a complex and mysterious opening sequence, which challenges the audience and provides a great introduction to the film.