Horror movie analysis- Drag me to hell

CLIP IS AT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xPYHygck6o

I chose to analyse the opening sequence for 'Drag me to hell' because the film is a successful  blockbuster that grossed over $90 million worldwide as well as winning the award for best horror movie in 2009 at the scream awards and the 2010 Saturn awards. This reinforced the success of the movie and made it evident that i should use this particular horror as inspiration for my own, as i want to make my horror movie opening engrossing and successful. The directors, The Raimi brothers wrote and directed the movie and Ivan Raimi also worked on the spider man films- i thought this showed a prominent interrelation between action and horror. 

The movie opens with an establishing shot of the location. Horror movies typically don't begin by jumping straight into the action or plot- instead we meet our protagonist or begin to relate to characters. Typically 'normal' home environments, relationships and friendships are depicted. however, here although the audience may presume we are to be entering the internal environment of a picturesque looking mansion building with palm trees flaunting the exotic location and the broad daylight suggesting nothing can scare the audience as of yet......the audience are wrong. The establishing shot of this seemingly pleasant and quiet residence creates a huge contrast with what actually is about to happen there- and the plot starts rolling straight away without any distractions or even getting to know characters. The establishing shot is effective to have right at the beginning much like many movies to show where the action is about to take place...other movies i have researched either use this same technique or completely contrasting- use the technique of a close up or extreme close up to begin a movie so the audience either learn and appreciate the location, or are led to uncover what and where the movie begins. The daylight usage in this movie is effective because usually artificial lighting is brighter than outside at this time of day- however here, the outside seems more pleasant, naturally lit and light, than the darkness of the internal house where the dark happenings proceed. The way the house is framed in the shot by trees possibly suggests the area is more rural, and nobody is near or able to help with anything that goes on. This rural setting of a horror movie is a common convention of the genre- in movies like scream, the hills have eyes, the strangers and many more- the going-ons that proceed in the house are so far from anyone else or any urban areas so nobody is able to help, rescue or 'hear the screams'. The establishing shot remains still for a few seconds and then the camera moves downwards. the soundtrack accompanying the shot is a soft melodic theme, sounding almost like woodwind instruments. this reinforces the weather conditions at the location, because the leaves rustling slightly suggest it is windy too. The Rendition could possibly be seen as a ghostly sound, and it is quite quiet in comparison with the sounds in forthcoming scenes. The Drag Me To Hell soundtrack was actually composed by an artist named Christopher Young- who has worked with the directors of the film previously so had a close relationship and understanding of his composition. Young said that emphasis was on 'using the soundtrack to create a world that didn't exist', a world of the supernatural. this means the score contains lots of un-natural, not in sync slow high pitched sounds to create an uneasy feeling. There is a particular usage in the movie of childlike soprano vocals that have a prominent part in the soundtrack...i thought this was an effective idea to inspire my own movie soundtrack as often children's ghostly voices can create a chilling feel. In the first few seconds, as well as the audience being aware of the location, the caption in the right handed bottom third of the screen tells us the film is set in California 1969. This creates a relevant contextual meaning to the film, and the audience may bring in their own knowledge of the witch hunts and conspiracy in old-time america which have a relevance in the film. also, the date makes it evident that this is either a flash back that will have a further meaning to the rest of the film-or that simply the film has a historical basis- much like films like the woman in black. Once again- i was inspired by this idea of setting movies in the past, because the past is not always 100% factual and known....events can be interpreted in many alternative ways and it is easier to create a plot based in old times and support it with roughly relevant history to make the entire plot seem more belivable and withholding some aspect of truth.

when we are deflected away from the initial establishing shot, we meet a small family who are pictured to be panicking and scared and immediately attention from the audience is grabbed from the start as we want to know what has happened to the boy. The soundtrack seems to differentiate slightly from a quiet woodwind rendition to the voices of child sopranos (as previously mentioned) which obtains more of a link with our young child character. A tracking shot follows the mother as she runs to the door, in a fast paced motion and we focus on her old fashioned clothing which appears poor and peasant like- immediately feeling slight sympathy for her. the dull colors of her clothing makes her seem un-necessary; possibly foreshadowing the fact we don't actually see her character again after the opening two minutes. The fact that the characters speak in another language shows how times have changed, because although this is set in america- there is an alternative native language to simply 'American'. The different language with sub titles creates suspense and mystery because we do not understand straight away what they are saying. In the shot that i have pictured above, i thought it was effective how the shot is from a eye level angle, however the levels in the scene enable the witchcraft character to be seen as more important and higher up than the family. She therefore, has prevalence in the scene. Shot reverse shots are used to rebound from the Witchcraft woman to the family and back and forth. this allows the audience to feel involved in the conversation. After this shot- we receive an extreme close up of the silver necklace the boy stole, that is the potential cause of the curse he has. such a close up shot reinforces the possible importance of the necklace, and even minor details like the fly that was near the necklace are noticed. The usage of this particular prop means that although there is no antagonist- we see the necklace as a thing of evil- meaning there is possibly a antagonistic character yet to meet. It is often hard for evil to be portrayed through the usage of an actor because sometimes people in horror movies alone cannot be scary without any supernatural appearances or abilities...so it is easier to create an enigma or the idea of an unknown presence using props like relics and antiques that define evil until we finally meet the root of it.

 After the witchcraft woman says 'bring him inside' we immediately  cut to the boy on a floor inside the house with the filming of how he got inside and to be laying on the floor completely omitted through the use of ellipsis so that the film cuts straight to relevant information that the audience will actually be interested in enabling the plot to follow on and flow freely with only the most relevant of shots and information included. the close up that we receive here of the boys face is close up and framing his expression as he appears terrified and distressed...we can see from the use of makeup in the movie that he is sweating and quite possibly ill and in a bad state. Without having the inclusion of dialogue- this sweat already suggests there is a sense of panic and fear, and sweating in negative situations is something most people can relate to. The way that half the boys face is covered by a blanket- shadowed, whilst the other half reflects the light off his face may possibly suggest a split persona....he stole a silver necklace and is therefore a thief, however he is sorry and youthful suggesting he should not be punished.Alongside the prior soundtrack, there is sounds of heavy breaths and groans alongside the music, as well as the short sharp panicked diegetic sound of the boys breathing. we do not know yet if the harsh heavy breathing the boy hears is a diegetic sound or not- or merely just in his head....however it is still a chilling sound for the audience. The camera cuts to an eye-line match of
what the boy can see above him- a light window with the shadows of many hands overlaying it. The camera films this in a particular way to make it seem even more uneasy so canted angles are used as the camera tilts and slowly spins almost as if the boy is drifting off to another darker place- hell, or that he is caught among a cyclic daze- causing him to almost hallucinate. The spinning in the scene suggests dizziness and the way that the light is used so we can only see the window highlighting the dark shadow hands makes the audience unaware and scared about what else lingers outside and even near the window. Shot reverse shots of the boy then the window, then the boy again create a prominent link between both shots...whether this is relational editing and both are unsettling sights or both breathing heavily, or just editing to show us exactly what the young boy is seeing. A Foley artist most probably created the non diegetic screeching sounds used in the scene and it almost sounds as if a door is opening- foreshadowing the under world opening up to take the boy in the next minute of the scene. the sounds are almost painful to listeners and create an experience that involves the audience more.The surroundings around the boy are dark, as if he is in a night-time shadowed, dark environment, however lighting still enabled the audience to see the sweat and panic reflecting off his face. For my own movie, being a horror- i wanted to use darkness and night-time environments, so i need to focus on using effective lighting just like this so that it still appeared realistic and dark.....this is why to the right- i have included a video tutorial i watched to help with lighting techniques and filming methods for shooting in the darkness.

It is effective that at 1;22 there is a shot of the mothers hands embracing her sons as there is a clear contrast here between the shadowy, almost fantasy hands highlighted in ceiling window, and the real raw hands of the mother. The hand imagery creates an important relationship and link and hands can be connoted with grabbing, taking, holding, grasping and hanging onto...and we can see that the boy is hanging onto life whilst hell is attempting to take him. The close up that frames this loving body language enforces this effect...however we see the hands of hell from a low angle, looking up on them showing their domineering power, however the mothers hands are looked down on from a high angle- reinforcing how feeble and powerless they are. A few seconds later, the woman displays an expression of recognition and we see her look to the side as an eye line match shot confirms what she is looking at-the witchcraft woman. At 1;34 the doors blast open from an invisible force, and the effect of this plays a role in scaring the actual external audience more than the characters, who have worse to come. At this point, camera editing techniques have played a role in almost warping the appearance of the strewn doors as if the force from hell has the power to do anything. Doors typically break and splinter if hit hardly, not bend- so this reinforces the supernatural basis of the film and rather unreal scenes. At this point- a loud definite sound effect accompanies one of the loudest and lowest pitched droning parts of the opening scene, making its prominence more noticeable. The loud pitched diegetic scream the boy makes is a typical convention of horror movies having such a high pitched chilling scream, especially being from a child makes the audience feel pity for the state of the young child even more. The close up shot used here frames his terrified expression as he screams. The long shots of the havoc in the room where the family are shows the adverse external effect of the boys curse, and the wind in the inside homely environment is almost showing how nature has power, and plays on pathetic fallacy with the wind almost being like the breaths from the creatures of hell- exceptionally powerful. The usage of props such as windows and shutters being blown shows how this entire scene is completely un natural and atypical as usually the wind comes from outside not inside. Also, the shutters show how something that should be kept out and and not seen is completely playing against that idea.

At 1;42 a match action shot that tracks the boy as he sprints away is used. the action is matched because we see the boy get off the floor and begin to run from a side view and a relatively long shot which then changes with a clean cut to a mid shot from behind him. The sound effects to accompany this are very clear and defined with no background or non diegetic noises and even the sound of the boys shouts are slightly muffled. We can hear, defined, as if right next to the camera- the sound of growling and grunting and the camera films as if it is handheld-filming from the perspective of another person or source. This could be considered a point of view shot as the boy repels the camera as if it is a force of person he has to resist. This shot could be considered ineffective because it is almost dissociating the audience from the boy because he wants to be away from the camera/point of view and therefore runs from it. At 1;47 another match action shot is used to film the boy as he is picked up and strewn onto the floor, we first see this action from a frontal view-eye-level- which then dis orientates the audience by filming from a behind and low angle view as we see the boy fall to the ground. This low angle is effective as it shows the height the boy has fallen from. effectively, the sound of growling that seemed close to the camera dissipates when the boy is filmed from another angle. The source of the noise- the antagonistic force- was what picked the boy up...and when the deed is done, we can no longer hear the noise. This shows the importance of sound usage in movies because we don't get to see the source of evil we only hear it so without sound we would have no idea what was there as the audience have no hints at the appearance of the creatures of hell until later on in the movie. By keeping the visuals of the horror characters secretive, an ongoing enigma has been created.

The camera tracks the woman as she leans over the balcony to look at the bottom floor and this tracking shot is fast paced to represent her panic, the camera tilts to a canted angle to show her leaning which is reinforced by the diegetic sound of fast paced breathing. breathing pays a prominent role in the opening two minutes of the film because although we would associate breathing with life-it can also be associated with the invisible antagonistic force and with panic and disorientation. we see an eye-line match as the woman sees the boy  below her and there is almost a plot twist as we see that this boy appears dead from his twisted body posture however seconds later it appears that he isn't. The camera without any prominent editing cuts straight back to the reaction of the parents when they see their son, and the mid shot frames the the reactions even more especially with the wind blowing back their hair so all that is framed is the emotion change. Having all three of them in the shot shows a difference in emotion-not just the cliche sadness....there is also confusion shown by the father and disorientation by the witchcraft female. The high pitched diegetic scream of the mother is not distorted or distracted by any other external diegetic or non diegetic sound.

As the boy awakens a shot looking down on him from a high angle, possibly belittling him or showing his small amount of power in the power that is to come is used which cuts to an eye level view shot closer up of him attempting to get up. alongside this, a score that builds in volume and pace begins to play- sounding almost synthetic as a backing soundtrack to the movie. When the woman shouts above him we see that the boy is almost confused at what is going on, and just as we do not fully understand her language, he does not fully understand his situation. The soundtrack is completely inaudible when  the floor cracks open and diegetic sound of it opening up is prominent.The camera at this point stays in a similar position, as if it cannot escape just as there is no way out for the boy. the use of lighting is interesting here because although the boy is to be taken to the dark hell ridden underworld, there is a fiery warm light seeping through. the light is warm because it looks like fire flares and it engulfs the area around the boy. we know this would not literally happen, so begin to recognize at this point that the film has a more supernatural mythical basis.

in the finale or climax of the ending part of the first scene, the boy gets dragged almost into the pits of hell. I thought it was clever how shadows were used to show the action, which would be a technique we could incorporate into our own movie as this would be easy to accomplish and special effects editing software wouldn't be required. Many of the other special effects in the movie were created using green screen, puppets, prosthetic's and CGI. The camera tracked up to see the woman's reaction, and the light from below illuminated her scared expression. Peter Deeming, one of the directors tried to use realistic lighting in the film...he said 'normally you'd put all color corrected bulbs in but we went with what was there including shots in the street as well as interior lighting' to in this way make the film itself seem even more realistic. The musical score for this part of the opening scene began to be more like the sound of an organ and was loud, a very low pitch and the sounds of childish screams or childish operatic noises accompanied the synchronous soundtrack. when the film ends with dialogue of 'we will meet again' in an archaic language, the audience is left in anticipation of when the woman returns in vengeance. there is a immediate cut from this to the title scene of the film with 'drag me to hell' in a chilling almost 'boney' looking font. this particular font inspired me for my own film because it seemed almost old and like a calligraphy font which fits more with the horror genre and how things that occur in the past have a higher potential to be scary.