Crimson Peak Analysis

Crimson Peak

Ghost on the floor movie clip analysis.

At the beginning of the clip, we get a medium shot of a girl waking up I her bed with the sound of her dog barking in the background, the use of these techniques starts to create suspenseful atmosphere. The medium shot of the girl in bed shows us her reaction, she seems to be holding her stomach which leads us to believe she is in pain or discomfort this creates a sense of sympathy towards the girl. When she hears the dog bark we get a reaction shot, which is used to show the characters emotion to they’re situation.

The main character picks up a candle stick, this shows a direct contrast to the use of lowkey lighting within this scene, the light coming off the candle stick could represent hope or safety because we assume lights will always save us from ghosts/monsters. The light could be a symbol of the girl’s guardian angel which is there to keep anything bad away from her also the candle stick could imply that the main focus of the scene should be on the girl because she is the one carrying the light.

In this shot there is a window with a glass pane inside, the glass pane looks to be in the shape of a demon or a monster, this could foreshadow for when we see the red face behind the door and the demon come out of the floor. The face is also red which contrasts with the green of the walls, this is so the face could stand out. The use of red could symbolise evil, hell or danger and the green could portray greed or illness.

In this clip of the film, it uses a reverse dolly zoom from the girl to the dog, this is to show the audience that the dog isn’t making the noise in the room he is in fact behind the girl, this is used to create suspense and to add a hint of mystery to the scene. After this happens we get another reaction shot which shows us the characters reaction to the dog being behind her.

We then get an immediate two shot of the main character and what we can assume is some sort of demon or ghost, the demon has a bright glowing red face, the use of red in this scene suggests that the demon is dangerous and should not be in contact with, this also links to my previous point of the glass pane looking like a demon and the use of red.

We then get a long shot in which the demon, we previously saw starts coming up out of the ground to chase after our main character, the fact the demon is coming out of the floor signifies that the demon is coming from hell. The fact that the demon is burnt and skinless further implies that it from some sort of underworld.

Later on in the clip the main character finds a safe, the safe could possibly symbolise that the safe holds all the secrets to why she keeps seeing these demons and we could learn a secrets about past life in the house.

Prisoners Clip-Cinematography Analysis

Prisoners clip- Cinematography Analysis

In the beginning of the clip instantly we get a contrast between lights, we get a nice bright light in the background whist we get low key lighting in the foreground, this implies that the background is a safe place where nobody could possibly get hurt or injured on the other hand the outside/ in the background is a dangerous place and someone could be in danger. The use of rain further amplifies that the outside is an unsafe place.

In the next shot we get a medium long shot of a man eating inside a building, the use of three-point lighting in this scene creates the impression that the character we are looking at is the main good guy/ the hero of this film. His clothes also suggest that he is just an ordinary working-class middle-aged man which could be important because he could be hiding his true identity. The use of diegetic sound in this scene such as the rain and the dialogue between the main character and the waitress, adds a sense of realism into the scene and shows the audience that this movie should be taken seriously.

In the clip we get a cut just after the main characters phone goes off then he goes straight into his car, the use of this cut symbolises that whatever was on his phone was really important and needed to be brought to attention quickly, this creates a mysterious atmosphere to the clip.

Later on, in the clip we get a shot of a man in a car that fades out its field of depth and it contains low key lighting the use of this implies that this is the main bad guy/villain. The fact he is waiting in the car creates the suspicion he is waiting on someone or something and he is up to no good.

After the clip of the guy waiting in the car, we get a shot of the main character pulling up to the suspected criminals car/van this creates an atmosphere of sympathy/distress for the main character because he is putting himself to experience the unknown.

The entire sequence of shots uses either low-key lighting or one source of light, this gives the effect that something bad is about to happen or something is about to occur which is unusual and not anything the main character has experienced.

After this we get a POV (point of view) shot of both the suspects wing mirrors, the fact he keeps looking at the wing mirrors show that he is scared/nervous of the situation he is in and shows us he’s about to make an important decision.

In the shot after this we get the suspects decision which showed by the use of a tracking shot, the criminal’s decision is to try and drive away from the police, he then crashes his car into a tree trying to end his life, this shows the audience that he has something to hide and that he is being a coward.

We then get a shot of the van smashed up against a tree, the van seems to be smoking a lot which could symbolises death and a passing of a person in different genres of films.

The next shot is the main character checking out the van to see that the suspect has gone and is not in the driver’s seat anymore, he then searches the van to see if the suspect is in there, this could be described as the solution to this scene of events. The main character finally says what the suspect has done when he says, “where are the girls”. This is when the action starts to decline, and the drama has been resolved.

There was a lot of uses of mise-en-scene and cinematography throughout the clip the uses of these techniques created a creepy/sinister setting to the clip and added the emotion of suspense because it waited right to the end of the clip, also the clip showed the emotion of the bad person. In the clip and it shows us how they react to situations which is not what a lot of these types of films do also the director made you waited to the end to tell you what the suspect had actually done. the end of the clip kind of left us at a cliff-hanger because we don’t know if the guy they took was the right guy after all.

My Personal Response on Hereditary

A-Level Film - Tate Glover:

Hereditary:

Hereditary a film directed by Ari Aster, takes place in a suburban house in America, Hereditary tells the tale of the Graham family who are grieving the recent death of the family’s grandmother, the film takes an unexpected turn because strange occurrences  that happen to each family member, the film shows the consequences tragedy can have on a family, tragedy is a key theme and reoccurs a lot later on into the film.

I really enjoyed the film as it leads the audience to places other horror films never take you. This is due to its dark and twisted cinematography. The film tells an interesting narrative and has a very detailed ending which is ties up the film nicely.

Another reason I enjoyed the film is because of the actress Toni Collette, who plays Annie Graham - the mother of the family. She emphasises a character that is trying to keep her family stable but slowly becomes the main problem of her family falling apart because of all of the rituals that she executes to stay in contact with her mother. Later on, in the film Charlie Graham (Annie’s Daughter) dies after getting decapitated by a street lamp. This causes Annie to start going insane and then starts to disconnect herself from the rest of her family. In one scene she snaps at her son Peter and delivers a monologue about how you should treat your mother; this scene is powerful because it shows that Annie has lost all of her sanity.

I left this film with scared and confused feelings as the ending was unexpected and wrapped up what was going on throughout the film. During the film there was only little hints to what the story was about, the director makes you swap between who to blame until you find out the true culprit (Grandma) was behind the whole thing.

This film has been compared to many famous horror films. Hereditary is described as this generations ‘The Exorcist’ as it features mysterious and dark themes. The film has also been compared to Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ because of Aster’s use of death and gore.

The soundtrack for the film is incredible it was written by Dustin Musser and Dylan Lewman, the soundtrack adds horror and fear to the film and creates an unknown and mysterious atmosphere in scenes of the film. Sound effects have also been used to further amplify fear of the audience.

Overall, I really enjoyed Hereditary because it felt different to any other horror film I have watched. It is evident that a lot of effort was imported to this film from the sinister cinematography to the mesmerising sound track. Hereditary understands that fear is subjective and that everyone enjoys horror differently. The director appeals to has attempted to appeal to everyone. This is done as not everyone gets scared by jump scares or loud noises. This attempt was clear and highly successful, as the film achieved a 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.4 on IMDB.