Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Analysis of an opening title: Scary movies 2

Scary movies 2. Analysis

In opening title sequence of this video the names of the characters are not shown. The title starts with the name of the production house. Then there is an establishing shot of a house looking like an all time horror villa usually in old horror movies. The name Hell House also appears at the bottom of the screen. In the next scene we see a group of people gathered around a piano singing and clapping in time to the music. The scene shows a small casual social gathering. The mise-en-scene is constructed so as to give the scene a very old period look with the dressing and the mannerisms of the people. In the first establishing shot in the background we hear a sound bridge of piano and people singing which takes us to the next scene. Then there is a wide shot of people standing around the piano and enjoying the music. 
Also the mid shot of a female character who leads the singing and of the Priest who is playing the piano is used here as well. We hear him using slang dialoguesThe songs played by him also seem to be too colloquial and modern for the time period shown in the movie. The fusion of slang language with the formal and dated attire shown was comical here. We hear the diegetic sound of all the people laughing and clapping. No sound effect or asynchronous sound is yet used. The mid shots of  other people standing over on the other side of the piano is also shown. The rule of thirds is followed in this shot with all the people filling the frame. We can tell that the film is set in a bygone age as because of the way the lady curtsies after she finishes the song and in response to everyone’s complements. However it canot be set later than 1990. The makeup and the costumes matches the mise-en-scene as  the men are dressed in suits besides the Priest and the women are dressed in skirts.

Then we see a long shot of the girl as she enters. She seemingly looks like the daughter of the lady who had been leading up the party up till now.  Everyone sobers up and the priest looks scared. The girl wears a haunted look but her slang diagogues,  “you suck” is very out of place and odd. Then there is a shot of her feet and we see that she is peeing right there in front of everyone. We see a close-up of amused and horrified expressions on the other guests’ faces the embarrassed expression of the lady who is the girl’s mother (this scene is a parody of Exorcist). the peeing continues for a long time and on that one guest even remarks “she is good!”. The expression of the priest shows a casual sympathy here. Then the girl’s mother walks up to her daughter and politely tells the guests that the daughter is very sick and then suddenly pushes her daughter on the floor facedown and starts beating her which was an unexpected action on the part of the mother and so in a way is hilarious. There is also a cutway shot of the guests who are shown wearing a pompous look. In the background we can see the carpeted and old style staircase.

Next is the outdoor scene where a taxi arrives and stops outside a house. Than there is a two shot of the cab driver in the front seat and the Reverend sitting in the backseat. Here while the cab driver tells the passenger how much he has to pay, Reverend runs out of the tazt and then we see a wide shot of a car and the father running away from it and the driver shouting  fot his money. In this scene  non diegetic music starts playing and the tone of the music indcates that something significant is taking place.  than there is a mid and a long shot of the mother opening the door for the father and he enters the house.

The conversation between the Mother, Reverend and another priest who later enters the scene is shown using mid shots and over the shoulder shots. Mother looks obviously distressed and the priest sober but the Reverend looks relaxed and also speaks in an urban slang language. We also hear that girls scream in the background. 


Reverse shots, long shots, are used when the father enters the bathroom. At first he is shown seated and opening a book. Here the audience is unaware that he is actually seated inside a bathroom and they think that he is in an empty room reading a prayer. there are shots of flies accumulating on the window and the buzzing gets louder thus creating more anticipation. Fast paced editing of the shots of the priest who within seconds appears in pain while chanting prayers. Some flies also stick to his face. Then we are shown a side shot where the father is shown seated on the commode and his taut expressions visibly relax. Focus pulls are used here when showing the flies on the window and we also hear a Nightingale chirping in the background.

In the next scene when the Father and the Priest enter the room to take the evil possession out of the girl, We are shown a wide shot of the girl tied to the bed post and also an outdoor shot of a part of the house with an eerie blue light coming out of the girls bedroom window. To make it appear more horrifying the girl’s make up is done accordingly with visible and unreal cracks on her face which become visible to us when we are shown a close up of her face. Her face is obviously angrier and more menacing as compared to the earlier face when she had entered the living room. We hear and see loud lightening on the screen. Here we see a punch line where instead of both priests enter the room gulping but nevertheless bravely, the Father utters an expletive and tries to run away. After they both start their ritual, the girl interrupts and says something more urban and foul which is again very unexpected and again a source of hilarity. The girl then sticks out her tongue which is longer and more pointed than normal and the father in turn starts showing her his tongue. they both carry this on for some time which distracts the Priest and he seems annoyed as he reminds the father that this is not part of the ritual. The proceedings start again and are interrupted again by the girl’s dialogue which should appear menacing but the priest interprets that his mother is also hidden under the cover on the bed and is playing games with him. Than we see his mother coming out of the covers and walks out grumbling , and after she gets off the bed, the girl politely says goodbye to her.

As they try to carry on the ritual again and the priest throws holy water on the girl, the girl throws up and the vomit is so big and fast, it hits the priest on the face as if it was coming out of a hose pipe. The girl starts laughing at the priest and then the priest returns the manner in the same fashion and before long, all three people start throwing up on each other. All these scene are shown without any camera movement and static reverse shots are used here. Then we see a two shot of the father and the priest cleaning up and again for the last time starting the the ritual again and this time more seriously. As they start off the girl again interrupts saying something obscene about the Reverend’s mother. Here the reverend's expressions are more like a normal contemporary man's who is on his last thread of patience. In a dramatic way the reverend raises his gun and shoots the girl in the head and then we see the screen go black. The name of the movie appears on the screen. Here in this video we are shown a close-up of the girl's serious expression when she realizes that she has gone too far and the Reverend now intends to kill her. The object of comedy was when they try and interrupt the ritual and the attitude of the priest which was far from serious. Even with  a scary mise en scene, the video turned out to be more laughable.

















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