Group 15 - Foundation portfolio - Jonathan Wigham: January 2010

Analysis:

My analysis is on ‘A Nightmare in Elm Street 3’ the opening. The clip start’s of with a quote from Edgar Allan Poe, who is a famous poet, “Sleep, those little slices of Death. How I loathe them”. The clip then goes on to display the film institution and then the film title, which is in red, which suggests it is a horror and there will be blood in this clip.

What happens:

The clip starts with a pair of hands that are mixing ingredients together, which then turns out to be a young girl trying to cover some sort of glass with newspapers, she is creating a house of paper, we then find out that she is doing this to try and stay awake, she also eats coffee beans and drink pop. We then hear that she has a shrink, and she is having “awful dreams”, which suggests some sort of sort of past and a possible storyline. She then falls asleep looking at the paper house were she ends up in a creepy dream world that is based around her paper house, in the dream world she in confronted by several children singing a unusual song, there is then a small girl who rides into the house and the girl chases her to save her, after she catches up the little girl says “Freddy’s home”, they then try to escape as she ends up believing she has woke up when she is really still asleep, ‘Freddy’ then takes control of her body and tries to slit her wrists, she then feints which is the end of the opening sequence.

Elements:

First of all there is two close up’s used right at the beginning of the clip. It show’s us ingredients being mixed together, this is linked with horror because as you can only see hands and the black in the background you believe they are some sort of murderer placing there victims news articles on the wall. Next there is a bird’s eye view of the hands sticking glue or some sort of solvent onto the paper, which could also suggest horror because of the same reason as my first point, the sticking victim’s articles to the wall. The next shot that suggests horror is an over the shoulder shot of the girl’s mom looking down on the girl listening to her not wanting to go to sleep; this suggests a horror genre because there is some reason she doesn’t want to go to sleep. The camera next slowly zooms into the creepy dollhouse; this suggests the horror genre because the house is dark and half covered by shadows, which looks quite creepy. The next shot is an tilt up plus a zoom out of a house that looks creepily like the doll house she made, this links into horror because the shot is framed by dead tree’s and small children playing in old styled clothes. We then go to a tracking shot following the girl who is running through the nightmare house; this shot suggests horror because dark and messy hallways also frame it. We later view the girl and little girl in a long shot, which is framed by bodies, this links into horror because of the dead hanging bodies you would not have in a normal dream.

The next element I will look at is editing in the clip. The first piece of editing we see is of the quote of the poet, this piece of editing suggests horror because it is of a quote of dreams and is in red, which suggests something of the storyline. Next editing used is music, which is also classed as postproduction; the music is creepy and builds the tension. The next editing used is a cross cut which is used frequently within the first minute cutting from different activities, from using scissors to using glue, working on newspaper articles which makes us believe there is horror in this because he way the camera is framing these edits and that serial killers usually do this to paper’s. Next piece of edit used is a cut away, used at 1:25 to 1:27 showing the hand gluing at different angle, it cuts from the first shot to a different angle then back. A shot revere shot is used next during the conversation between mother and daughter; this shows us the genre of horror because within the conversation “nightmares” are mentioned. There is a match on action when the girl runs into the dollhouse through the main door, this edit shows horror because of the creepy settings and as she slightly pauses worrying about running into the house. There is a continuous zoom which cuts within the scene during the period the girl is falling asleep, this displays horror because she is looking at the dark spooky house as she falls asleep which may show there is going to be a dream of some sort there. There is next a match on action used when the young girl is running through the tar, from her face to her feet to her face again, showing her actions, this displays horror because it shows us the emotion of her. The next piece of editing is a cross cut which is used from the end of the dream to the girl waking up in her bedroom screaming, this displays the horror genre because it is usually what happens after a nightmare, waking up in the bedroom screaming. The next piece of editing I noticed was elliptical editing were it cut from the girl’s bathroom to the mental hospital. In the clip there is also slow motion used when she firsts enters her dreams of the young children.

The next element I will look at is sound. First of all there is silence at the beginning of the clip were the quote is shown, this shows the genre because it is a silent and tense moment. The music then gets louder when the title comes up on the screen, showing that it is a horror from the tone of the music. Through the first few minutes there is orchestral music used as the young girl creates the dollhouse, this music will be used because it builds up tension of the clip. There is then diegetic sound of the girl mixing the ingredients together. There is then a loud blast of music played in the girls bedroom, showing that she doesn’t want to go to sleep, this may display horror because she is trying to avoid something in her dreams. There is then dialogue heard for the first time in the clip and it is a conversation between the mother and daughter, the mother speaks like she doesn’t care much and the daughter speaks with a low tone, creepy and disturbed voice which is typical in horror victims. There is next the non-synchronous sound of a man shouting from downstairs, which shocks us slightly because we didn’t expect to hear him. As the girl is falling asleep there is a sound bridge used from when it goes low music to her falling asleep to slightly higher again when she wakes up, perhaps it goes low because it relieves the tension of the viewer however as soon as it gets louder the tension increases. There is singing next of small children that is low toned and creepy singing of an old song, this shows the horror young children can bring. There is then low tension building orchestral music used as the girl walks down to the basement of the house, this is used to of course build the tension of the viewer. There is then the synchronous sound of the fire setting a light and the heaters starting to blow hot air used to scare the viewer and making us wonder what will happen next. There is next a sound perspective, which is loud music being played however we can still hear the girl screaming, this is to still show us she is scared. There is then a sound bridge used from the girl at the end of her nightmare to her waking up, this is to show us that she has just had a nightmare and to shock us.

The final element I am looking at is the mise en scene of the opening sequence. First of we are greeted by a dark room and some ingredients, which shows us that something is being made, the dark room shows horror because you cant see anything in the room. We next see a pair of scissors used to cut out articles; this could show us horror because it could be a murderer cutting our victims articles. We then see some sort of article-covered wall, which could even more suggest the murderer and article type of beginning. We then see that the actress is dressed in pyjamas and half asleep from her face expression, this could show that she doesn’t want to sleep for some reason. The tone of the mother’s voice is strict when she tells of the daughter; this shows her emotion towards her daughter being awake this long. The décor of the big scary house is rotten, broken and dark, which suggests horror because it is a typical scene in a horror film. In the house here is blank expressions used on the children, which suggests they don’t really know what to do. There is a scared expression used on the girls face as she runs from Freddy, which shows us her emotion at the time. The children at the house are dressed in like pre-war clothing, which suggests they died at that time. Shadows and low-key lighting is used throughout the hallways of the house, which shows horror because of the dark and spooky circumstances.

So overall I would say that the beginning of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 3’ is a typical beginning for a horror throughout it’s use of cinematography, sound, editing and mise en scene. It uses the camera to display the emotions of the victims, which is typical. The editing uses various cuts to show situations and movement. The mise en scene shows us the décor, sets and clothing of the horror, which is important. The sound is the most important aspect of a horror, because if there was no sound there would be no tension building and no one would be scared or shocked.

TITLE ORDER-

It starts off with the name of the company, New Line cinema, and Smart Egg pictures. – Then the name of the movie is displayed next – Then the major star’s to the minor stars. (most to least known) – then the co-stars. – Then special star appearances. – Then the cast is displayed, art directors, production manage, first assistant director, second assistant director, special effects, makeup artists, effects, editing, associate producer, photography director, exec producer, music by, exec in charge of production, co-producer, screen play, story by, producer, director.