Today I am going to explain The Possession film/trailer with four titles:
Story, Representation, Genre and Media language.
Story:
The overall story is from the families point of view and the problems that happen to them. The youngest child (Emily/ Em) finds a wooden box at a car boot sale and instantly wants to buy it. The box has inscriptions and rattles like there is something inside it but the father can't open it. Em is able to open the box out of curiosity and bad things start to happen, supernatural things..... Her dad wants to help her so finds someone that can understand the inscriptions on the box. Emily starts hurting her family by stabbing her father with a fork in his hand. The parents are very concerned about Em so they get an MRI scan to see what's going on but they see something else.... Something is inside her with glowing eyes.... Emily looks down her throat and two fingers are trying to crawl their way out.
Representation:
The hero of the film is the father as he is the one who tries to fix everything that he feels is his fault as he aloud her to buy the box at the car boot sale.
The villain in this is Emily/ the demon inside her. Emily is also the victim as she can't control what she is doing to others around her.
The other people in the film are the Mother and other daughter who are smaller parts but show that this is a family trying to help their daughter.
Genre:
The genre of the film is horror as it is based around supernatural occurrences that terrify the family. The two production companies are Ghost House Pictures (very LARGE company) and North Box Productions (very SMALL company). North Box have only done one large blockbuster which was this film (The Possession) they normally do smaller Indie films. Where as Ghost House has many large horror films to its name, like: Messenger 2, Poltergeist and many more.
Media language:
Mise-en-scene:
To name all of the props, costumes and lighting would take forever as it is a full film and there are so many to name, so I am going to name the important aspects and items in the film.
The film trailer starts off at the mothers house where the father is coming to pick the children up to go to his. The two parents are obviously separated as the father says he will bring the two girls back on Sunday. The first trailer scene is of the children going with their father to his house in a car wearing comfortable clothing and homely props around them.
The next scene is of the father and the two girls at a car boot sale and Emily (the youngest) is attracted to a wooden box that has inscriptions on it. This scene is in natural light as it is outside.
The next couple of scenes are either in the dark (bad things start to happen) with street lights outside to eliminate the families faces or uses natural light to indicate that it is the day time. The costumes of all the family are causal clothes indicating they are having a relaxing weekend together.
When Emily's personality starts to change her father finds help from a Synagogue. The Jewish men are in Jewish entire with is long black robes and a Kippah (small circular hat).
The family get worried about Emily so take her to a hospital to have an MRI scan. The costumes and props are typical for a hospital. The lighting is from incident lighting which is from the halogen lights in the hospital.
The last main costume is Emily's white night dress. This is featured regally when she is possessed, this usually happens at night.
Sound:
The music of the trailer starts off light and sees like there is nothing wrong when in the long opening sequences. There are ambient noises throughout the trailer e.g. closing of doors, pizza van wheel screech and the rattle of the box. In a couple of scenes before we see Emily eating her pancakes, we hear the non-diegetic sound of the fork picking up the pieces of pancake. This constant slow rhythm of sound gives the sense that something is coming and as the noise gets faster we realise that the 'thing' whatever it is, is about to happen. Vocal dialogue is used throughout by the family and other characters. The music turns dark and scary when bad things happen. The faster the editing the more dramatic the music. To increase the horror aspect whispered singing with piano chords and an electric guitar riff (same notes played over and over again) in the bass is used to create tension.
Shots:
The trailer uses a wide range of shots to show different aspects of the film and draws attention to certain objects. The close up shots are to show someones emotions or to show something important e.g. the box. An establishing shot is used to show the audience where the film is set right at the start. Point of view shots are used to see from Emily's POV to the box and how entranced she is the box.
Editing:
The editing used in the trailer are: shot, reaction shot <-- this is when the characters are having a convocation so the audience can see the reaction of both people. Fading in and out are used a lot in this trailer and used the colour black whether fading in or out. Fast editing is used for the majority of the film to increase the tension.
All these aspects of the film add to the acting from the actors, as they intensify the tension and the sense of the unknown.
Phoebe
An excellent post
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