Saturday, 10 October 2015

Micro-Analysis

The Stepfather 2009


Camera:

  • low angle shot at the very beginning of the house, to hint to the audience something is wrong
  • canted angle shot; when we see something is wrong. In this case the camera tilts it's position so we can see the dead body
  • blood foreshadows later key events
  • quality close ups of the serial killer, it reveals his mysterious character  
  • panorama shot over the props. We can see that the character organises his tools, which suggests he holds an obsession 
Editing:

  • fading effect at the begging to introduce the setting
  • match cuts
  • fluid camera movements; we follow the main character (the stepfather) around to give see from his perspective
  • flashbacks to reflect what had happened previously and suggest what's going to happen
  • speed changes; we see it starts of at a steady paste, then as tension builds the speed increases rapidly
Mise-en-scene:
  • traditional American house 
  • suburgatory neighbourhood 
  • tools - knife, scissors, shaving set, hammers 
  • bathroom - shower, sink, mirror
  • photo display
  • Christmas festive setting with daytime lighting in contract with negative atmosphere
  • dead bodies
  • blood
  • white pale make-up to give a deathly effect
Sound:
  • bass drone (low pitch noise)
  • Christmas carol song; Silent Night
  • ambient sound, atmosphere
  • 'glass down' sound
  • minor key
  • contrapuntal sound
  • sound is played from the very start to gradually build tension
  • sound bridge: children screaming, which foreshadows later events
  • dog barking sound effect, which always implies there is something wrong as dogs are known to be ditectives

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