Red Dragon (2003)
Analysing pre title sequence
When the titles fades in ant out of the screen, we can see that the juxtaposition for it is in the middle of the screen. There is also a black background, scary violin music, and the letter are written in white and red.
All this indicates that it is a horror film that is starting.
- The black background may indicate darkness and hate.
- The text is positioned in the middle of the screen so we immediately focus on that. They are also written in red and white colours, where the red takes over. The red may stand stand for blood, hate, hurt and murder. However there is also some white letters, that may indicate that there is still something good and pure in the movie.
- The fact that the music is playing like it does, scary, also helps us thinking that it is a horror movies that is about to start.
Scene 1, opera house.
The scene opens with a wide shot off a street, whgere the house which the action is going to take place in, is in the middle. This makes us immediately focus on that house.
From the wide shot, we get to know that it is a very posh street. We can see expensive cars, flower, and big houses.
The next shot is filmed from a crane shot, where we get to see a big hall, where people are playing violin. The crane shot firstly film the people who play the violins, and then turns around to film the audience. When it films the audience we can immediately see that it is a very posh consert, this because the whole audience is dressed in very nice suits and dresses. However, when the camera turns around, there is especially one man that stands out. This is because he is in the middle of the picture. We also focus on him easier because he is a quite famous actor, and he, in contrast to all the other people sitting around him, have almost no hair.
We get a close up shot at Hannibal, where we can see that he is annoyed, this because of the facial expression he makes. He is also blinking his eye, a connotation to this can be that he is embarrest on someone else's behalf, in this case the man who playes the flute wrong in the orchestra. After a while there comes a shot reverse shot on Hannibal and the man who plays the flute wrong, and we know by this that Hannibal is focusing on that man. Hannibal slightly lean his head to on side, while still looking at the man, this is a universal expression, and it usually means that a person/animal is looking at his victim. In this Case Hannibal is looking at his victim which is the flute player.
Scene 2, dinner at Hannibals house.
We get a wide shot of the room they are sitting in. From this shot we can see that Hannibal is very rich. He have nice silver candels on the table, posh wallpaper, flowers, very pretty curtains, overall a very posh room.
The poeple visiting Hannibal, including Hannibal, wear suits and dresses, the women also wear jewellery. This indicates that they all are very wealthy people.When the scene continues there is almost always a low angle when they are filming Hannibal, and a high angle when they are filming the guests. The fact that they filmed Hannibal with a low angle, gives him dominance over the other guests. He look bigger from this position, and the guests look more helpless in the highangle they are filmed from.
Hannibal gives his guests red wine. This is a very nice thing to do, however in this scene the connotation to it is far more serious than it looks like. Some connotations to red wine is blood and danger, and it is exactly this the red wine symbolise in this scene.
Scene 3, visit of special agent Graham.
When the door bell rings, Hannibal opens, and he immediately says "Special agent Graham". This is being filmed from a over shoulder shot, so we only see Hannibal's face. However, that simple sentence that Hannibal says shows us that the man who is by the door is a special agent, probably FBI, and by the way Hannibal is saying it, it shows us that they know each other from before, in fact, it seems like they are quite good friends.
In this scene special agent Graham wears white clothes, and the connotation for that is purity and godness. The special thing here is that Hannibal also wear white clothes. This usually never happen. The person who plays the bad guy usually wears dark clothes even before he has been exposed for what he really is.
There is some shot reverse shot between special agent Graham and Hannibal while they are sitting in Hannibal's office. They are discussing how a murderer have killed his victims on a mysterious way. Special agent Graham's theory about how it has happened is correct, and Hannibal now ask him if he have told anybody about his theory. This shows that Hannibl might be afraid that Graham is going to find out that it is him that have killed everyone. When Graham says no, Hannibal lean his head slightly to one side again. just like a predator would to towards his victim.
We get a close up on Graham's face and we can see that he is thinking that it might be Hannibal that have done all the murderes, but he shakes his head, which indicates that he have put that thought away. He do not think Hannibal could do anything like that.
Hannibal find an exuse to get out of the room. When Graham is alone he starts looking around in the room, we can see what he is looking at trough a subjective point of view shot. After a while he pick up a book, where it stands something interesting, there is many shot reverse shots on him and the book, and for every shot between them there is a zoom at the book and at Grahams eyes. While this is happening, there is also a rise in the music. The music goes faster and faster, and more and more scary. At the end he finds out, based on what which is written in the book, that it is hannibal that have killed all the people. Hannibal comes back and stabs Graham in the stomach, Graham stabs Hannibal as well with some arrows. Graham fall down to the floor, while Hannibal keeps going, which is typicall for a predator. He have to kill his victims. We can see both Hannibal and Graham lying, very hard damaged, this is how the scene ends.
Scene 4, scrapbook.
This scene is made up off many shots of a scrapbook. While this is showing the names of the actors, among other names, comes up. The man who plays Hannibal comes up first, since he is the most famous actor. The titles are fading in and out, and they're written in red and white colours, which once again have the connotation to blood, danger, murders, but also some purity and godness.
There is used pans shot while filming the scrapbook. It tells us what happened to special agent Grahem and Hannibal after they tried to kill each other. They have used seamless editing and incidental music to this scene. The music goes faster and faster while we are watching the scrapbook, and everytime there is a shot about an article about Graham, the music is slightly 'happier', and when they are filming an article about Hannibal, the music gets 'darker'. The sunshine is also going over the book, a bit fast, this may indicate that the book has been laying there for quite a while.
'Halloween' (1978) Directed by John Carpenter.
Mise en Scene:
Halloween is an independent American horror movie, directed by John Carpenter. The plot take place in a fictional surburban town called Haddonfield in Illinos, USA.
The plot is happening on the night of Halloween.
The opnening titles of the film fade in with the colour yellow, and then they fade into orange. The connotation to these colours is fire. Whilst the titles are on screen, there is flicker of the pumkin candle, then the titles fades out with the colour red. Connotations for red are blood, horror, violence and aggression. Just the fact that the titles are in these colours are foreshaddowing that this is a horror film that is about to start.
The titles are in the center of the screen, with a black background. The connotation to black being fright, horror and death, is helping foreshaddowing what kind of genre this film belongs to; horror!
Whilst the titles of the film is comming and disapearing, a pumpkin is placed in the left hand side of the shot. This pumpkin gets gradually bigger and bigger, and therefore more in focus. The fact that the pumkin is growing bigger and bigger might foreshaddow some of the plot in the film. As the pumkin has a scary face, it might indicate that something horrible in the film is comming closer and closer, like the pumkin is getting bigger and bigger.
Michael, which is playing the little brother in Halloween, wears a clown costume. The connotations of a clown costume is usually childrens birthday parties, happines and laugher. In Halloween however, Michael wears it when he kills his own sister, with one of the props used in the opening scenes; a knife. The whole idea of using the costume on a way like this, gives us an extra spooky feeling about the film, as it crosses all of our expectations of a clown costume and a little boy.
Camera angles
Forward zoom on the pumkin in the opening titles
Forward tracking (pov) filmed up to the front of the house.
When Michael kills his sister, its filmed in a subjective point of view, this camera angle gives a sense of unieasiness.
Last shot is filmed in a crane shot, where the camera is sweaping back, reverse tracking, we can now see Michael and the situation he is in.
Throughout the scenes up to Michael's sisters death, there has been used a subjective point of view shot from Michaels eyes.These shots are most likely to be hand held, or been filmed with a steadicam.
When Michael is standing outside the house and his parents remove his mask, the subjective point of view shot is replaced by a medium long shot. Furthermore, reversed tracking has been used, to show Michael, his parents and the rest of the surroudings. This shot has most likely been made thoughout the use of a crane.
When we see through Michaels point of view, the other characters are filmed in a silght high angle, this makes the audience believe that it is a grown up character we look through, because of the height of the shots. When Michaels parents remove the mask however, and the audience see that it is only a child, they get confused, something that helps making the film even more scary.
Sound
During the opening titles in the film, there is used parallel sound, though the use of incidental music. The music is a high-pitched eerie haunting sound, wich makes the audience feel uneasy. This is a good choice of music as it fits perfectly in to the genre 'horror'.
The theme tune is a diegetic sound, which means that it has been edited onto the scene, it can therefore not be heard within the scene.
We can hear children's happy voices, as the opening titles ends. These voices overlap the scary hauting high-pitched sound, and gradually replaces it. The audiences feelings are now changing as the connotation to children's happy voices are innocence and safety.
When Michael is walking around the house however, there is a high pitch sound, this gives a sense of uneasiness, and frighten the audience, as we immediately associate the high-pitched sound with something scary and frightful.
Editing
When the opening titles appears on screen, there is added a fade effect, so they slowly fade in and out, with the three different colours, yellow, orange and red.
When the titles are finished and the different action shots starts, it has been edited on a way that is called seamless editing. This means that the cuts between the differents shots are fluid and barely noticeable.
