Case 39 Film Deconstruction

Case 39 

Camera Angles:

• High angle looking down on the social worker, usually she’d have more dominance in a situation but from this camera angle looking down on her she is looking as if she’s smaller/insignificant and the others are more in control
• Close up of the young girl’s emotions looking scared and uncomfortable
• Camera shots cut between the tired mum showing her pale face, dark sunken eyes, the angry dad and little girl looking scared
• Medium shot to show both characters in the frame, whole the mother is hiding behind the door acting as a barrier between her and the social worker it’s evident she doesn’t want to let her into their lives

Mise En Scene:

• When the social worker arrives children are playing together in the background, dogs are barking normal diegetic sounds from a community
• When it shows the house, the atmosphere shifts; eerie music starts to play in the background things are more echoed and dark
• When the mum is shown looking out of window the curtains are protecting her by covering up her face could symbolise what they are covering from authorities. She looks worried, the house looks run down not looked after by the use of dull colours
• Her face very pale red tired eyes, girl looks scared, they sit away from the mother maybe emphasising that they don’t have a good relationship
• He kicks her under the table doesn’t speak for himself
• Contrast to when they come in to the police station looking smart with the suits make-up and hair done, they try to make a good impression on the authorities by dressing smartly

Sound:

• When the social worker arrives children are playing together in the background, dogs are barking normal diegetic sounds from a community
• When the camera turns to show the house, the atmosphere shifts, eerie music starts to play in the background things are more echoed and dark
• When she sees child music starts to sound as if it’s a wind up doll thing type of music typical of child nursery rhymes but sounds quite sinister creepy music box, footsteps are loud 

Camera Angles:

• Close up angle of the eye is effective in making the viewer uncomfortable and awkward watching it as it’s such a disturbing image
• They use an overhead  shot of him when he is going crazy ripping his head backwards, you can see the blood dripping down and the clothes on the floor

Mise En Scene:

• He wears a white shirt unbuttoned at the top showing maybe he’s stressed or now relaxing at home
• He is in a white room which has connotations of something clinical or a mental hospital which adds to the dramatic action of him turning mad before he dies
• Everything looks clean and clinical, this shows a stark contrast to then when the blood goes everywhere around the room

Sound:

• They use high pitch screeching noises then sharply stops repeatedly
• The continual noise of bugs flying around
• The noise that was building up the suspense stops when he flushes the bug away, as he thinks he has got away with it
• When the bugs come back the noise comes back again but more deep sounds as opposed to the high pitch sound
• Noises speed up builds up the pace
• Then fades out when he’s dead on the floor

Editing:

• Camera spinning around the room 360 degrees making him seems crazy, anxiously looking around quickly
• Uses unsteady looking like hand-held camera moving it in different angles to make him look more unbalanced

Camera angles:

• Close up of locks and bolts to prevent little girl from getting in
• Close up of her face, showing Emily’s fear
• They focused on the markings on the floor just as the parents had showing the full cycle which can’t be broken

Mise En Scene:

• Conforms to the conventional bedroom nothing subverting this to indicate a difference in what will happen
• Role reversal the woman is hiding under the bed while the girl tries to coax her out
• She shows fear as opposed to the little girl who shows authority

         Sound:

• The moving of furniture and the little girl breaking through the bedroom are all emphasised and louder than usual, this is done to symbolise how destructive she can be and the effect she has on people
• When the girl bursts through the room and then stabs the floor with the knife the music is all dramatic but suddenly changes when she shows her face to almost nursery rhyme, innocent music which seems quite creepy and evil reflecting her character. 

Cemetry Scenes

Graveyards have always been a huge tradition in horror movies, and are very popular these days. They generally bring back terrible, sad, and lonely feelings from their visitors, but they are also a fabulous setting for certain horror films, mostly because of its religious imagery. The gravestones and internal feelings create a creepy atmosphere that is almost universal, but you still have hundreds of dead bodies buried ceremoniously below the surface which makes it more scary.  It’s not hard to see why horror films so often put a focus on cemeteries; it’s a location that everyone automatically associates with dread and terror. Many films have used graveyards as their main location, ours was only one scene in the trailer. Below i will discuss some films that use graveyards.

I Sell the Dead (2008):  A grave robber named Arthur  reflects back on his life right before his hanging to a priest about how he used to go to random cemeteries and dig up bodies to sell for medical experimentation.  I sell the dead is a low budget horror comedy with a very dark type of humor.  It uses the cemetry through the film, especialy in the plot where it is used as a metaphore for new beginnings.

Cemetery Man (1994): Francesco’s main occupation is to live at the cemetery and re-kill the dead that come to life after they have been buried for 7 days in his cemetery. The setting makes the story not very clear and everything you may have thought about it is questioned in subsequent viewings.  It is confusing to watch and the setting in a cemetry makes it scarier.

Pet Sematary (1989): Pet Sematary is about a family who goes through a terrible tragedy when their young child is struck by a truck and is killed. They bury him in the pet cemetery behind their home to resurrect him.  Only catch is that he doesn’t come back to life exactly the same way that he left. The cemetry is the main location and some of the scenes are pretty shocking. (see picture)





Lovely Bones Film Deconstruction

The lovely bones deconstruction 

Camera angles:
·         In one of the first scenes when we are introduced to the murderer, suzie and her family
·         The camera angles however don’t actually show him as face on, so doesn't reveal his identity
·         At first he is out of focus, in the background so we can’t see his face properly only a figure
·         They then use a close up on him yet you still don’t see his face straight on as his hand is covering his face
·         They show a medium shot of outside his house and him shutting the curtains as if to close off the camera from looking into his house

Mise en scene:
·         Mainly everything in this scene that is focused around the man  is very dark, connotes feelings of mystery and fear
·         The house looks very clean and everything is in its place, shows a weird contrast someone who is a murderer but keeps their house tidy everything in the right place
·         It shows him drawing sketches where he is planning his den in the field, this gives us an indication of where the plot is heading
·         He dresses in very dark formal clothes, this contrasts what suzie wears
·         Suzie is shown riding around on her bike outside laughing with her parents, showing an everyday normal life
·         She is wearing bright coloured clothes which reflects her bubbly personality and provides a stark contrast between her and the man

Editing:
·         They use cross cuts between the man in the house and suzie with her family inside and outside the house
·         Builds up the tension
·         Shows the obvious difference between them, everything around the man is dark and gloomy but with suzie its more bright and happy
 
Sound:
·        Music sounds sinister around the house to create a suspense  for the audience
·        Echoing of her voice every so often to heighten the atmosphere
·        The music used is quiet
·        You can still hear loud footsteps contrasted to the quiet music, enhancing the dramatic effect

 

Camera angles:

·         They have used a high angle shot when she is first in the den to make her look inferior, she looks even more younger and smaller and therefore more vulnerable to what he is going to do with her
·         Close up is used of her face to highlight how scared she looks, audience feel sorry for her
·         Another close up is used when he grabs the bottle opener, this is done to show how intimidating he is to her
·         A medium shot is used to show the struggle of when she tries to escape but of the den but he grabs her to pull her back down
 
Mise en scene:
·         Suzie is wearing young basic clothes to reflect how young she is, she doesn't try to look older than her age
·         In the den its obviously very dark so there is limited lighting  the only lighting is candles, it creates an unsettling atmosphere, makes us feel uncomfortable
·         He wears the same clothes
·         They show lots of little figurines in the den. We associate young girls having figurers such as dolls to play with which could make the audience question why he has them
 
Editing:
·         They use lots of shot reverse shot to show the conversation between them
·         They keep the camera on one of the actors for an extended amount of time to show the awkwardness between them 

Camera angles:

•  In the final scenes they use a  lot of close up shots, to focus on main points such as the clock telling the time, suggesting she will run out of time before the man finds her creating an unnerving atmosphere to the scene
• The close up of the opening of the floorboards is emphasising a critical moment in the film

 
Editing:

•  In the scene towards the end when the sister is searching through his house they use also fast pace cross cutting between the man coming back in his car approaching the house and the girl in the house, this creates a tension and the audience feel scared for the girl in case she gets caught
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       Sound:

•       They don’t use much backing sound when they are both in the house, it's dead silent but every movement and creek is emphasised to be a lot louder to show how every momvement is critical to not be found
•           When he is chasing her out the house the music builds up again to enact the fast paced chase and builds up the atmosphere of her trying to get away from him quickly