The Ring opening
sequence
·
The sub-genre of this film is Possession horror.
The conventions that make this evident are the use of a house as the setting
which supports the commonly used idea of terror in the backyard as its
used to juxtapose the idea of safety at
home. As well as this the main character in this scene is a young female who
could be considered as a child, which again is conventional as children are
stereotypically represented as innocent, and vulnerable making them a target.
Other films that share these conventions are Insidious, and the Exorcist.
·
The audience’s generic expectations of the text
are fulfilled to a large extent. This is evident as the scene is set with the
female being alone in the house, and she’s haunted by some sort of supernatural
possession. As well as this other expectations of possession horror are
fulfilled as we see doors opening and televisions switching on by their own
accord, suggesting the girl is not alone after all.
·
This text comfortably conforms to the characteristics
of possession horror, and it does not treat them playfully or ironically. This
is clear to us as the scene builds up throughout creating an enigma for the
audience as to not knowing whom or what is in the house with the girl.
Eventually reaching its climax at the end which is the part that scares people
the most.
Narrative
Mise-en-scene
·
Character blocking is used effectively as the
girl is placed in the next room when the TV supernaturally turns on. This helps
create meaning as it’s clear from where she is that she didn’t turn it on,
providing scares as we don’t know what is in the house
·
The internal setting is also used to create
meaning as we would typically think that the setting of a house is safe,
however this idea is juxtaposed causing the setting to be effective.
·
The prop of TV remote is significant in this
sequence as it helps provide fear through the enigma of not knowing what is
turning the TV on, as the girl turns the TV of with the remote firstly, it then
turns on again without her doing anything.
Sound
·
Diegetic sound of the possession moving
throughout the house is significant as it creates tension, causing the girl to
turn around in fear as she expects something to be behind her, but there is
nothing.
·
A loud screeching sound is used effectively when
the girl opens the door to find the possession on the TV screen. This
immediately will cause the audience to jump in fear as it is sudden and
piercing, making it correct for the horror genre.
·
The non- diegetic sound of the TV screen with no signal ends the
sequence and is important as it connotes the end of the girl, creating a sense
of distortion after the girl has been possessed.
·
The pace of the cutting rate is used to convey
meaning, as it speeds up when she opens the door, connoting the possession
coming at her instantly when she enters the room, this causes scares amongst
the audience as everything happens so suddenly.
·
The scene ends with a short, fast montage edit of
the ending of the video tape that possesses the girl. This is effective as it displays
several black and white images creating the idea of a historical origin to this
possession, which is common of this genre as possession are considered to be
myths from decades or centuries ago, making them more scary when they return to
modern society.
·
A shot reverse shot is also engaged during the
climax as we see the mid shot of the girl opening the door, which is then
followed by a shot of the TV playing the possession tape, and then again a shot
of the girl in quick succession, however this time she is possessed, which is
shown by her face looking extremely different and scary.
Camerawork
·
A close up of the girl is used to create fear as
the audience are able to see the shock on her face and in her eyes as she
notices that the TV has turned on by itself. This helps build suspense as we
can see her expression but aren’t entirely sure what has shocked her so much.
·
An effective POV shot is used in the sequence as
the girl peeks round the door to see what is happening in the TV room. This
shot builds tension as we as the audience are not sure what we are going to see
as the room is slowly revealed to us.
·
Angle is used to create effect as we see a high
angle shot of the girl from the top of the stairs as she slowly approaches
them, this shot is used to display the girl as vulnerable to the ongoing
situation, as she fears for her life.
Narrative
·
The scene begins with the stock character of the
girl in her kitchen making a drink for herself, as she goes to leave the
kitchen she hears the TV switch on in the next room and walks in there with
intrigue as she wonders why and how the TV is on when there is no one in the
room. She believes her sister is playing games with her so she switches the TV
off with the remote and starts to leave the room. However just before she
exits, the TV again turns on. She knows that something weird is going on so in
fear she runs to the TV and pulls the plug from it. Shortly after this she
hears a rush of wind behind her as if there is something lurking in the house,
in dread she slowly walks back into the kitchen to see the fridge door which
she just closed, slowly swinging open. She runs and shuts it immediately.
Worried about what is happening she goes to investigate upstairs as her sister
isn’t answering her yells through the house. When she reaches the top of the
stairs she finds a puddle of water leaking out from one of the rooms, with the
door handle dripping. As she opens the door suddenly, she sees the TV screen
with the image of a stone built well on it (where the possession lurks), and we
instantly see that the girl becomes victim to the possession before the scene
cuts out.
·
The audience is positioned from the perspective
of the girl, who is home alone. This works well as it means the audience is as
clueless as her, creating an enigma as we don’t know what is in the house with
her. This is common of horror as it provides more of a tense build up to the
climax, as it shocks the audience in fear, which is why many other horror
sequences will be organised similarly.
·
The main themes of this sequence are
supernatural possession occurrences, as well as being home alone. Tension is
created through the enigma of not knowing what is causing these actions, which
is supported by the TV that switches on by itself, the fridge door swinging
open, and the puddle of water leaking out of the room.
Representation &
Ideology
·
As we only see one character in the sequence
only one social group is represented and that is teenage girls. The girl is regressively
represented as vulnerable to the situation as she fears being home alone. As
well as this it highlights the idea of femininity through things such as
screaming creating a negatively stereotypical representation of women as it
suggests that the writers have made this character female due to the situation
that occurs, as if the character was male then he would act differently.
·
The sequence goes against the beliefs that being
at home provides safety and security. Also the sequence creates an ideological
discourse about gender, as well as age, representing young females in a negative
way as they are considered weak. This is a residual ideology about girls, which
has been assimilated by a male audience of horror.
Media Audiences
·
The target audience is likely to be people under
the age of 35 as they are more likely to seek thrills. As well as this, it’s
evident from the sequence that it is more of a contemporary horror as the
possession attacks through the TV screen, and watching TV regularly is
something that the youth are more likely to relate to.
·
The audience would read and consider this
sequence very typical of a horror, however they would still result in being
scared as effects such as CGI are used to create the girls possessed face as it
flies at the screen.
·
As a British teenager, I would evaluate a text
based on and in comparison to previous experiences through real life and other
movies. However my age would influence my reading of texts as I lack a lot of
experience to always relate to what is going on. Also in this case of the ring,
my gender would affect the way I interpret the actions of the girl.
Institutional Context
·
The Ring (2002) was produced by Walter Parkes
and Laurie Mcodonald, and distributed by Dreamworks pictureds, who were also
the distributors for films such as
Fright Night (2011) and Paranormal Activity (2009).
·
The Ring is an American industrial remake of a
once independent Japanese film, evidence for this is that the film had a budget
of $48 million, grossing over $249 million, however no A-list stars are in the
film, meaning names of actors clearly weren’t a factor in the films success.
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