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.