Se7en Deconstruction

Mise en scene

  Se7en (1995) is a psychological horror film following the investigations into the crimes of a psychopath who murders people according to which of the seven deadly sins they have committed (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride).

  The two detectives manage to find the flat in which the murderer has been living.

  The murderer's living space gives the audience a clear view into his mind.

• Low key lighting is used throughout the sequence.
• The dim lighting suggests to the audience that the killer has not been living comfortably:
• This makes it clear that he is not in a healthy state of mind: a sane human being would not be content with such a living space.
• The low key lighting also adds to the depth of each room, as the audience cannot see past the shadows and the actual size of the room is not clear.  Therefore the audience cannot see to what extent the obsessive collection extends, but it appears to be large.

• Many close up shots are used to show different objects and areas of the room.
• Each close up tells the audience something about the killer.
• The view into some drawers shows objects that people would normally throw away: this indicated obsession.
• The many locks on the door have the same effect of showing obsession.
• The cabinets full of 'trophies' from each of his murders represent his psychopathic, insane nature.
• Another drawer is full of empty pill bottles which is a clear sign of mental illness.
• Also in the drawer, a bible can be seen.  Other religious references include a glowing cross above his bed.  These tell the audience what the killers motivations were.

• A close up shot of a notebook that one of the detectives found shows pages and pages of writing.
• This is another feature that shows the audience how obsessive the killer is, and further highlights his insanity.
• It also shows how much planning and dedication has been put towards the murders.

Genre Investigation: Shutter Island

'Shutter Island' is a psychological horror directed by Martin Scorsese which is based around an U.S Marshal investigating a psychiatric facility in Boston Harbour. 

There are numerous ways in which the film 'Shutter Island' conforms to the common conventions of psychological horror, such as:

• The main character often being an detective as well battling with their own personal issues. 

Here in the film the main character, Edward 'Teddy' Daniels is a U.S Marshal who is investigating Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane for a woman who murdered her own children had gone missing. The protagonist, Daniels, also is struggling with the lose of his wife, Dolores.

• The struggle between illusory and reality

The protagonist struggles to differentiate between whether he is dreaming/hallucinating or whether it is real life. Within in the film he sees his deceased wife and 'children' in real life situations.

• Plot Twists and Deceptive Games 

Within 'Shutter Island' there are several plot twists and deceptive games from the woman who went missing suddenly appearing to the antagonist trying to convince Daniels that he is a patient in the psychiatric facility telling him how he is the most dangerous patient of them all for killing his wife after she killed their children by drowning them in the lake.

Setting

• The film 'Shutter Island' is set in Boston Harbour
• Severe storm giving pathetic fallacy
• Dark, dull grey skies gives an negative outlook to the plot
• Typical of psychological horror films to be secluded from outside world

Typography 

Sound

Editting

'the Woman in Black' Deconstruction

The sequence that I will be deconstructing is the trailer for the film 'the Woman in Black.'

Setting

• The old fashioned train, visible at the very beginning of the sequence, immediately tells the audience that the film is not set in modern day.

•  The fact that these two characters are wearing period clothing has the same effect of setting the scene.

• The main character's clothing is smart and neat, which reflects upon his strict work ethic and perhaps considerable wealth or high social standing.
• In comparison with the other man, the main character's clothing is a lot darker.  This could be a reference to his gloomy personality and troubled past.

• A wide shot of the building in which the majority of the movie is going to be set reveals it to be old and neglected.
• Unwanted, abandoned, large houses are very common in the horror genres, as they create dangerous settings that the characters cannot escape. 
• Furthermore, it is surrounded by trees, which creates a negative scene outside the house as well, adding to the idea of inescapable danger.

•  A series of establishing shots show the long distance required to travel to the house.
• Another common trope in all horror genres is the separation from society.
• This is because it doesn't allow for the characters to find help easily.

• They are alone in their situation: trapped.

• A grave marking on the journey to the house is an image of death and an omen for what is to occur in the movie.

•  Inside the house is dusty and old, suggesting that it is abandoned and unwanted.
• This causes the audience to wonder why the house is unwanted.

Lighting

•  Low key lighting is used: the only light comes from cracks in shutters and the main character's lamp.
• This is important in thriller films, as the large shadowed areas create unknown areas which in turn creates fear within the audience.

• (Fear of the unknown.)

•  A wide shot of the main character surrounded by fog has a similar effect to the low key lighting that is used:
• It creates large spaces in which the audience cannot see everything.

• The audience is left in suspense, fearing what will come out of the fog.

• The rainy weather is a pathetic fallacy technique, reflecting the negative tone of the film.

Clothing

•  the 'Woman in Black' (the supernatural threat) wears all black clothing, as her title suggests.
• Overall, this acts as a clear indicator of the fact that she is not a positive character.
• It also alludes to her past, as black clothing can be an expression of being in mourning.
• Furthermore, her black veil hides her face, also adding to the audience's fear of the unknown.

• The three young girls act as a juxtaposition between youth + innocence and death.
• Furthermore, they are wearing white as well as other pale shades.
• This contrasts with the 'Woman in Black,' as they represent innocence and the Woman represents death.

'Ghost Ship' Deconstruction

The sequence I will be deconstructing for typography and sound is the opening of 'Ghost Ship'.

Typography

The font is bright pink in colour and looks kitsch and retro as font like this was used in many films circa the 60's and 70's. This is synchronous with the film opening as the opening scene is set in 1962. The bright colour and swooping font conveys a sense of fun, which lulls the audience into a false sense of security as 'Ghost Ship' is a horror film and the tense atmosphere is not made apparent in the first couple of minutes of the opening, making the impending horror even more impactful on the audience.

Sound

The sequence begins with off-screen diegetic music compromised of high strings and piano that is synchronous with a panning shot of a cruise ship. In the next scene the diegetic sound of a woman singing a slow love song is onscreen and synchronous with shots of the singer and people dancing to the music on the ship's deck,creating a relaxed and romantic atmosphere. The singing is overlapped with the diegetic sound of people's general chatter in one scene, reinforcing the relaxed social atmosphere and keeping the audience unprepared for the horror soon to come. Later on in the sequence the now off-screen singing is overlapped with eerie non diegetic music and diegetic sounds of levers cranking and whirring and metal wire grating against more metal. These harsh sounds juxtapose the calm singing and interrupt the previously happy atmosphere while the background music creates a sinister undertone to the singing, foreshadowing the impending horror. The background music intensifies, gradually getting louder than the singing and comprising of tense high string instruments and echoing wind instruments, creating tension and dissipating the previous atmosphere as it's made clear to the audience that something terrible is about to happen. The diegetic sound of metal wire unravelling, snapping and slicing through the air, furniture, and eventually the bodies of the people dancing on the deck overlaps the non diegetic music, followed by the wire vibrating with tension which is synchronous to the sinister background music that has now completely drowned out the previous singing. As a result, the mood from the beginning of the sequence has now changed into a tense, frightening one synchronous with the gory action happening onscreen. The non diegetic background music quietens to a high synthesised note that is overlapped by the grating diegetic sound of the wire swinging back and forth, followed by blood splattering on the floor and people's bodies hitting the floor from where the wire has cut them in half. The last notable sound is of a young girl (the only survivor of the incident) screaming shrilly; the sound of the scream is edited so it sounds slightly echoed which has sinister, supernatural connotations and so is appropriate for the film genre.

'Bedlam' Deconstruction

Mise-en Scene.

The sequence that I deconstructed around the section of mise en scene was one from an advertisement displaying the new series of Bedlam which will be aired. At a first viewing I could tell that all of the people shown in the sequence were seemingly normal but as the clips carried on there was a definite undertone of mystery and darkness within all of the characters.

The girl in this photo wears a pure white dress and is very pale in skin colour. This leads us to believe that she is young and normal, maybe even very innocent. But towards the end of the sequence the camera reveals her face and eyes to show us that her irises are extremely dark maybe even black in colour, therefore this shows us that she isn't all what she seems to the eye at first and is hiding something very different to what she looks like.

The woman who looks in the mirror is also similar to the other girl, but whereas the girl wears whiter clothing (precisely a dress) this woman wears a long black dress, this can display her to us as maybe powerful as she is smartly dressed. But also as the sequence progresses, she looks into the mirror and when she looks away her reflection does not follow her as it should but continues to look at the real her. This portrays to us that she is someone different to what others may see her as first, it also can tell us that since she looks away she may be looking to see if someone is coming into the room so that she can still keep this a secret.

The first man to appear in the Bedlam sequence looks very intellectual, with black glasses and a grey suit and shirt, he appears at first to be of a businessman figure. But further into the sequence a black liquid, which could be ink falls from the ceiling and onto the walls and also onto the man himself. This therefore ruins his clothes and eventually covers him, it can be seen as he is letting go of what he really is and maybe that is ruining his life or career, either the secret he is keeping is ruining himself or the actual process of keeping it is eating away at him.

The other man in the sequence also portrays the same as the one before but is slightly old making him of a higher authority and maybe having more power. He also sits behind a desk which give the impression to the audience that he may be of a high status compared the other characters in the sequence. He too seems to be hiding something as the use of the paper and books falling from shelves and being scattered on the floor show a mix or confusion in his life that may be affecting him in some way. The use of fire in his scenes also show that maybe he is destroying things or the things he is keeping secret are damaging or destroying him, similar to the other male character.

One particular scene which stood out was the one with the man in a straight jacket who is in an extremely run down room which looks like a hospital room or a mental patients room given his clothing. His clothing is very simple consisting of only a straight jacket and simple jean trousers, this portrays to the audience that there is something wrong with him and this is different from the other characters as he is obviously being shown to the audience as some with a problem or a secret and is quite straightforward. The use of a single light hanging from the ceiling also gives the effect that he is by himself and this also draw the audiences' attention towards him and his situation. The use of writing on the wall in this section, mailing of consisting of the words 'SAVE KATE' gives us some information, very little though, to what may be his problem which points towards another character that may be real or just inside his head.

Throughout the whole sequence the setting are very dark, consisting of colours like black, white, grey and shades of brown which contribute to the appearance of the rooms which are extremely run down and gloomy. These scene also contribute to the characters appearances as where the first male is in what looks like a work space or a big office and the 'mental' patient seems to be in a hospital room and the young girl is just in a bedroom, but because these scenes look run down and old it gives us the impression that the secrets the characters have been keeping have been kept for a long time.

Evaluation of footage

Inconsistencies

• When reviewing the footage from the shoot I notice inconsistencies within the clips. 
• Our stalker/killer in some of the shots were wearing a black backpack and in others not.
• With these inconsistencies along with several over factors I don't think we should use the footage that was taken in the shoot.

Blurred

• As well as the inconsistencies, a lot of the shots were blurred
• The reason for the blurred images was that the subject had moved out of focus where the lens had been focused to. An example of this is in the first image.
• In the second image, I had used a macro lens as a standard 15-35mm lens couldn't focus up that close. However I hadn't focused the lens properly due to the awkward position I was in to get the shot. However if I had focused it properly the close up shot would be good as the subject would be in focus and the concrete surroundings blurred.

Poor Lighting

• Due how fast the sun set we weren't left we much light to work with so most of the clips came out with heavy shadows
• The only source of lighting we had was the streetlights which left the footage to have an orange tint due the tungsten light.
• The use of tungsten light is actually quite good for setting the scene however when we are to reshoot I would change the light settings to tungsten lighting instead of the standard lighting setting.
• Below is an example of what the setting will change. It will allow the colours in shot to come through instead of being tinted orange.

Original (Standard)                                                                                    Tungsten Light

Change settings

• In the shoot I didn't alter the settings of the camera to the scene which was dim with a lack of light.
• Before I reshoot the next footage I will go out and experiment with the the different setting to find the optimum one for the final shoot.
• When I do go out I will be changing the aperture and ISO to find which work with the lighting conditions best.
• One of the main issues with the first shoot was that the ISO setting was on automatic which meant it allowed the camera to record in ISOs above 800/1600 and above leading the footage to be grainy and blurred. Examples of the grainy footage are above. 
• When I shoot next time I will use an ISO of 400 or below, which won't be as grainy.
• Next time I film I will shoot in 1920x1080 24fps instead of 1280x720 50fps as this will increase the quality of the footage.

Good Shots

• When reviewing the footage that was filmed there were several shots that were good 
• In the first image, a still, is a tracking shot of the victim walking over the bridge. This was a particularly good shot due to its framing. The frame capture her surroundings yet the blurred surroundings brings the subject further into focus
• The second image, even though the lighting is really poor, is nice as the light catches the victim's hair bringing more definition to the subject. However the problem is that the shot is poorly lit.

Scene Shots

• Besides footage of the Stalker and their Victim I captured some of the surrounding in order to set the scene.
• In the first image I used a tilt to establish the scene as well as another clip in which I pan the top of the bridge.
• In the second image I shot the running stream in which the Stalker and Victim pass over. I particularly like this shot due the streetlight reflecting off the water.

Correcting Light

Before                                                                                                           After

• When reviewing the footage I thought I could try and correct the lighting in the shot.
• I played around with the colour levels and came up with the image above.
• I particulary don't like the outcome as I feel it drains all the colour out of the clip and makes the clip also look sepia.

Conclusion

• Overall I'm disappointed with the outcome of the shoot due to the reasons above.
• I will need to reshoot the scenes.
• Before I do reshoot I must experiment with the different camera settings in the lighting we are to use in our final footage. This means I will go out at roughly 4:00 to 4:30 to try out the different settings.
• However I am glad I did do this first shoot because I now roughly know what kind of angles and shots I should use which will speed up the filming process next.