Case Study 3: SAW II

Micro Features

It firsty begins with the production titles. The scene begins with a close up on a light bulb hanging from a ceiling with a green filter, this adds a very isolated and gloomy atmosphere to the scene. It then pans across a dark space, which acts as a swipe transition, towards a close up on a vent; this could anticipate something is behind the vent like a camera. It then pans across the room to focus on a green filtered light on the wall; evoking a enclosed gloomy atmosphere then to a medium shot of a televison; emplying that a film will shown through that. It then hows a box with is door half broken off; hinting theres something in there which is significant to the scene. It then pans to a over the shoulder shot of a man pulling a small mirror toward him to reveal his eye been mutilated and he has a metal device on his neck; the blood and gore is a typical iconography of the horror genre, whilst the device represents torture. This sequence is like an establishing sequence showing the viewer the key things to focus on during the scene, they do not show a way of escape like a door only a vent.

It dwells on the monster fodders reactions in the mirror to evoke panic. The musci is diagetic and experimental to maintain the portrayal of panic. It then zooms out in a distorted way into an establishing shot of the room; showing him in the centre. It then pans to an overhead shot of the victim, this shows the viewer another view of the metal device, showing it is a mask filled with spikes. The victim is also looking up at this point showing more reaction shots of panic. It then shows a montage of quick, match on action shots from an overhead camera view. In each one it shows him screaming help or looking round for help; the montage shows that hes lost track of time and it also shows how helpless he is. At the end of the montage there is a extreme close up on the mask and its spikes. It then cuts to a hand held camera as he begins to stand up and walk around, the cuts remain quick to portray panic.

There is then a transition of a televisions white noise with a really quick shot of the puppet in a red filter, red representing blood and death. It then cuts to the televison which is now on, it then does shot/reverse shot between the monster fodder and the puppet on the television. The puppet tells him the 'game' he has to play to stay alive. On the television, it cuts to a medium shot of a man leaning over a man on a table and the voice of the antagonist tells him it's him. He tells him he needs a key to escape the trap and that he will give him a hint, the pace of his voice quickens to build more tension. The hint is a really quick shot of an x-ray with a key behind the eye; it is almost like a flash. This is done to evoke panic. It then goes onto to show a montage of distorted close up shots of him attempting to retrieve the key from his eye to continue the panic. The scene ends with the mask closing and killing him; with the main "SAW II" title proceeding afterward.

Macro Features

The genre is introduced in this scene as a gore/splatter horror, this is judged by the blood, the mutated eye and the climax where the mask closes on him. The antagonist Jigsaw is re-introduced as well as his phrase "i wanna play a game" continuing the franchise as a sequel to the original. The iconography used in this scene include;

• Green filter- evoking a gloomy atmosphere
• The scalpel- a device for cutting as well as a possible weapon
• "help" - commonly used in horror to evoke the sense of helplessness

Case Study 2: Creep

Micro Features

Firstly the production titles go on screen so the audience knows who made the film. The start of Creep consists of a lot of distorted close up images and credits; the writing shaking with a light going across as if they are windows on a train. The opening titles are heavily influenced by the subway as most of the movie consists in the London subway. The images feature a sepia filter making them very yellow, they are disturbing images of knives, blood and crime scenes; iconography of horror. The music throughout this sequence remains very contrapuntal and experiemental; mixing with subway sounds. The sequence features a lot of wipes and this mixed with the distortion creates an effective represention of a train passing. As it approaches the end of the title sequence it begins to feature images of a girl being chased with a hand held camera; as if the audience has a point of view of the antagonist. The music gradually becomes more screechy as it comes to the main title which features a trains breaks screeching in the background.

It then cuts to long shot of two men at the end of a sewer tunnel, it only reveals the two lights from their torches in the darkness at first. The darkness creates a sense of paranoia, also the tunnel is very claustrophobic and isolated; these are iconography of the horror genre. The diagetic discussion of human excrement creates a feeling of disgust and almost prepares the audience for scenes of a disturbing nature. In the same shot as they get closer to the camera one of them steps into a overhead light and the camera pans upward to reveal a sewer pipe with sewage hanging from it; as the 'new guy' picks the sewage from it, a load comes through as it cuts to a medium shot and this is done in a way to scare the audience. As the older man laughs there is a scream at the end of the tunnel, this is a contrast between comedy and horror, this also acts as a hook to get the audience interested in the scene.
They discover a new tunnel and they split up as one man explores the cave, this creates a sense of isolation. He is followed by a hand held camera to create a sense of realism, as he stumbles it switches to a point of view shot as he torch goes past and introduces the antagonist very briefly. The music then begins to play parallel, not very textured music as they is a sense of the unknown. The other man follows, the camera remains at the end of the tunnel watching him approach, as if the camera is a point of view of the antagonist. There is then another scream, and as the man walks past the tunnel in search of the source of the scream, a shadow quickly passes the camera and there is a high pitched, non-diagetic train bell sound; used to hook the audience and as a reference to trains. The man then finds the other one either injured or petrified looking at something which isnt revealed, it then cuts to a point of view shot with the mans headlamp guiding his vision. All sound cuts of for a few seconds as the camera stares into the darkness, then a women suddenly comes out of the wall screaming and covered in blood before being pulled away; this is the main hook in the scene. The scream then mixes into a dance song as it cuts to the next scene.

Macro Features
The genre is introduced immediately as a horror through the title sequence as it is very distorted and the images are very graphic. The non-diagetic music is lacks dynamics and experimental; it also mixes with screams and trains. The train influenced font animation acts as a hook as it represents a train passing. In the next scene the iconography is displayed through the darkness, blood, screaming, the unpleasantness of the sewage and the hooks throughout. It also introduces the monster fodder convention.