Film Opening Deconstruction - The Conjuring

Film Opening:

Synopsis:

The film is set in the time period of 1971 when a family consisting of seven people, the parents, Carolyn and Roger Perron, and their 5 daughters move into a run down, old farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. In the first day, the family had all moved in smoothly but the dog was refusing to enter the house, sensing an unnatural feeling. That night, as the children were playing a game around the house, one of the daughters had found an entrance to a cellar. The father then goes to inspect the basement and then they all make their way to bed, thinking nothing of it. The mother then expresses concern as she hears the dog barking outside. During the night, one of the daughters had felt someone pulling at her feet. That next morning, Carolyn had woken up with a random bruise and their dog had been found dead.

As they days passed, numerous uncanny events had occurred. Things like, doors opening and closing by themselves and hearing noises throughout the day and night. One night, the youngest daughter had slept walked into her oldest sister’s bedroom and had banged her head constantly against the wardrobe. This concludes with the eldest daughter being attacked by a spirit, having the features of an elderly woman. After this had happened, Carolyn went to seek the help of Ed and Lorraine Warren who were noted paranormal investigators. They had sensed that a specific malicious spirit has latched onto the family. They had concluded that the house may require an exorcism, however, it could not be done without additional evidence and permission from the Catholic Church.

As they try to research the history of the house, they found out that it had belonged to an accused witch with the name of Bathsheba. The story is that when her husband caught her sacrificing their new born child, she climbed to the top of the tree, cursed all those who would take her land while declaring her love for Satan before committing suicide. Occurring events of murders and suicides in the house have happened since it was built on the property.

Ed and Lorraine return to the house with a police officer and another paranormal investigator. They set up thermal cameras and alarm systems throughout the house so they can prove that there is a spirit living there that is trying to make people’s lives hell. If they then got the footage, they would then get authorization from the Catholic Church to do the exorcism. On the first night, nothing happens and as that morning comes, Roger promises that he will do what he can to help the family even though with every exorcism they do, a little piece of his wife is taken.

The events don't start happening until night fall the next night. As one of the daughters, Cindy, starts to sleep walk again, the thermal cameras monitor a temperature drop as she enters into the wardrobe, the door slamming shut behind her. Everyone then rushes into the room and they find a secret passage behind the wardrobe. After Cindy is taken out, Lorraine then goes into the wardrobe and falls through the floor boards and into the cellar where she witnesses the people whom the spirit has possessed and she then realises Bathsheba's purpose of her haunting which is to possess mothers and use them to kill their children.

Lorraine then escapes the cellar and she and Ed take the evidence they have to the Catholic Church to organise an exorcism while the family stay at a hotel. But then Carolyn decides to drive back to the house with two of her daughters. Ed and Lorraine were rushing back to the house to find Roger and the police officer struggling with Carolyn as she tries to stab one of her daughters with some scissors. Ed is suggesting that they should call the priest but as he is too far away, Ed then performs

the exorcism.

As Carolyn stops struggling, it seems as if the exorcism was successful yet a few moments later, her chair had flipped over and she was being held upside down. Ed demands the demon to put her down and after a brief moment, she is released. He rushes over to Carolyn on the ground and again, tells the demon to leave her body. At this moment, Carolyn turns to Ed and says, '' She's already gone''. Many scary events keep on happening after this like Carolyn trying to kill one of her own daughters, April but as she is being calmed down by Lorraine, she calms down and returns back to normal. Her demonic side slowly faded as the spirit had left her body and the exorcism had been successful. It then concluded with the Perron family while she walks outside and embraces her family while walking back into the house. It concludes with a basement of Ed and Lorraine Warren's filled with possessed items with a music box playing in the background turning on by itself.

LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1457767/synopsis

Producers

New Line Cinema

''New Line Film Productions Inc., often simply referred to as New Line Cinema, is an American film studio founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as a film distribution company, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary first of Turner Broadcasting, then Time Warner in 1996, and was merged with larger sister studio Warner Bros. in 2008''.

Productions Include:

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Directed by Peter Jackson, Gross - $315,544,750
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Directed by Peter Jackson, Gross - $ 342,551,365
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Directed by Peter Jackson, Gross - $377,845,905
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), Directed by Peter Jackson, Gross - $303,003,568
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), Directed by Peter Jackson, Gross - $258,366,855
The Conjuring (2013), Directed by James Wan, Gross - $137,400,141

LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Line_Cinema

The Safran Company

''The Safran Company is a film production company that was founded by Peter Safran. The film company had produced the horror film, ATM. His company has produced many films including The Conjuring, Chef, Annabelle, Vehicle 19 and Over Her Dead Body. Peter Safran has founded his film company that it would produce many films, but he had made his own films with it''.

Productions Include:

Over Her Dead Body (2008), Directed by Jeff Lowell, Gross - $7,563,670
New in Town (2009), Directed by Jonas Elmer, Gross - $16,734,283
Buried (2010), Directed by Rodrigo Cortes , Gross - $1,044,143
Vehicle 19 (2013), Directed by Mukunda Michael Dewil, Gross - $
Hours (2013), Directed by Eric Heisserer, Gross - $52,853,219
The Conjuring (2013), Directed by James Wan, Budget - $20 million, Gross - $137,400,141

LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Safran_Company

           www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=newintown.htm

Distributors:

Warner Bros

'Warner Bros. Pictures International is a leader in the marketing and distribution of feature films to markets outside of North America, operating offices in more than 30 countries and releasing films in over 120 international territories, either directly to theaters or in conjunction with partner companies and co-ventures. The international division has developed and led a number of initiatives and strategies to take full advantage of the tremendous growth, change and opportunity in the global entertainment marketplace. Anchored by its extensive network of regional offices, Warner Bros. Pictures was an early adopter of day-and-date “event” releases (seeing huge success with key franchises, including The Matrix starting in 1999, Harry Potter launching in 2001 and The Dark Knight in 2005) and strategic rollouts structured around consumer behaviors in each key territory, as well as regionally nuanced campaigns.

Additionally, as part of Warner Bros.’ initiative to support and nurture local-language film production worldwide, the Studio is deeply involved in production, acquisition and distribution of local-language films for their countries of origin, releasing over 400 such films to date in a number of countries, including the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Mexico and India.

Warner Bros. Pictures Domestic Distribution is responsible for setting the release schedule and all exhibition operations to more than 39,000 screens in North America. Through its non-theatrical sales operation, it distributes to non-theatrical markets including airlines, cruise ships, the Armed Forces, the Veterans Administration, colleges, hospitals and other smaller markets.’

LINK: http://www.warnerbros.com/studio/divisions/warner-bros-pictures

Analysis

Timeline

• 0:00 - 0:08 – The video begins with a black screen. There is no music in the background but you can hear people talking in the background, which is non-diegetic sound, about their supernatural experience.
• 0:09 - 0:28 – A doll then flashes onto the screen with the sound of a ‘click’. This shot is an extreme close up shot and the detail of the makeup on the doll is clearly focused. The camera then slowly zooms out of the screen to showing half of the dolls face on the left hand side of the screen. There dialogue still carry’s on into this shot.
• 0:29 - 0:33 – The camera faces the three people who were talking which was an establishing shot. There were two females and a male. At the bottom of the screen, it was titled 'Annabelle Case - Year 1968' in ‘mustard’ yellow font. The male character was looking down while not saying much while the woman on the left was doing most of the talking, obviously to someone who was behind the camera. The woman in the middle was supporting what she's saying by doing little actions like nodding her head. There was very low lighting and the setting was a very dull and dark colour.
• 0:34 - 0:38 - The camera was slightly shaking from left to right then there was a close up shot of all the three characters sitting on the sofa. It started with an extreme close up of one of the women sitting on the left hand side of the side of her face and the man on the right hand side was a close up shot. There was very low key lighting and it was quite dim.
• 0:39 - 1:01 – Next, there was a mid-shot of all three characters while they were talking and it slowly zooms out while they are still talking.
• 1:02 - 1:03 – After that, there is a close up shot of the woman in the middle talking who then points towards something while speaking at the end of that shot.
• 1:04 - 1:09 - The camera flashes abruptly to the doll sitting on the armchair in Victorian like clothing as it zooms in slowly becoming a mid-close up shot.
• 1:10 - 1:15 – This shot starts with a mid close up shot of a closed door. There is very dim lighting and the door is pushed open as two girls enter laughing; some light comes in from the other side of the door. The laughing then stops as they look down and one of them crouches down to pick up something from the floor then gets back up again holding the note in her hand. At this bit there is still no music and the non-diegetic sound has stopped.
• 1:16 - 1:17 – The music slowly starts to come in and starts quietly and then gets a bit louder. There is a mid-close up shot of the note which then turns to an over the shoulder shot. The words 'miss me' are written on the crumpled and ripped paper in childlike handwriting.
• 1:18 - 1:20 – There is then a mid-long shot of the two girls who then look towards each other while the synchronous eerie music is still playing.
• 1:21 - 1:22 – It turns to a long shot of the doll sitting far in the hallway with their head facing towards the girls which then becomes an over the shoulder shot while the music still playing constantly.
• 1:23 - 1:26 – As the two girls walk together towards the doll, the music gets deeper and faster. This is then a two-shot.
• 1:27 - 1:29 – The camera was moving slighting as if it was from someone's point of view as the girls are walking towards the doll. The music is still playing but then dialogue comes in the background from the beginning scene which tells us that this particular scene is a flashback.
• 1:30 - 1:31 – The girls were walking slowly while stopping towards the doll with dialogue and music still playing in background. This, again, was a two shot.
• 1:32 - 1:35 – Then there was a high angle shot of the doll and as the camera moved down, it went to a mid-shot of the doll while it was on the floor showing her clothes. There was then a close up shot of the material of her dress and the doll's hand and there were, what looked like red crayons in her hand.
• 1:36 - 1:40 – After that scene, there was a mid-close up shot of new woman character. There was very dim, low key lighting. She then turns around, towards the camera and bright lighting hits her some places on her face. She is about to push open the door and while this is happening there is disturbing music playing which is getting louder with each step.
• 1:41 - 1:42 – There is then a tracking shot of her hand pushing the door open and some of the room in front of her is shown and there are props like a mirror in the corner of the room.
• 1:43 - 1:44 – A low angle shot is then taken and there are red marks, most likely from the crayon the doll was holding, smeared on the wall next to her and everywhere else.
• 1:45 - 1:47 – The camera pans around the room which also seems like a point of view shot. Lights were flashing from the lamp on the floor and all sorts of props were used in that room which were scattered all over the floor to give it a ‘horrifying’ effect. There were 2 shots in this scene which were both shots of the room.
• 1:48 - 1:50 – There were then 3 shots of shattered picture frames and it flashed quickly to each shot. At each shot, the music got sharper and louder each time and lighting got brighter in some places as if it was lightening.
• 1:51 - 1:54 – There was bright lighting flashing across the room and another man turned up in the room. There was a high angle shot up towards the ceiling which shown red smeared everywhere.
• 1:55 - 1:57 – As the camera looks up towards the ceiling, there were words spelt in blood saying 'miss me?', just like it said on the note. The music gets louder and sharper at this shot, like violin music playing.
• 1:58 - 2:00 – The camera then turns to a low angle shot of two characters looking towards the floor with a horrified look as the music gets high pitched.
• 2:01 - 2:08 – The sound of a pen is heard rolling on the wooden floor and the camera then zooms into the pen as it stops which ends with a close up shot.
• 2:09 - 2:14 – In this scene, there is 'train' like music and the shot goes back to the two girls before.  One girl grabs the doll and rushes to throw her outside while the other is repetitively saying her name, trying to grab her attention.
• 2:15 - 2:20 – There is then a bird’s eye shot of her throwing the doll in the dustbin outside in a dark alleyway. A bit of the left side wall was lit up from a street light while everything else was ‘shadowed’. The music suddenly stops as she slams the lid of the bin shut with the doll laying in there and then turns quickly to a black screen.

Setting

 

The dull white colour connotes that someone may have lost a close family member in that house due to unforeseen events happened in there to the last family or the problems that may come for the new family moving in there. The fallen autumn leaves on the ground could signify a change. As the leaves change colour for the new season, this means that the families lives could change as soon as they walked into that door. The trees without any leaves on it may represent emptiness which could mean to us that that house is full of nothing for a family due to the supernatural problems which have happened in there and that it is no place for a family.

Costume/Make-Up

The doll wears a lot of red makeup on her face, red on her clothes and red ribbons in her hair and that colour mainly connotes to danger, fire and blood. This colour links to what the doll is like and how she can cause a lot of harm to anyone that passes her territory, which in this case was the new house. The dolls eyes are quite immense and hypnotising and quite daunting to look into. Her large, motionless eyes may show that she can easily torture you in a second. The family in this film are dressed normally in ‘everyday’ clothing. As it was set in the 1970’s, the clothing they wore was normal for that time period, but in the 21^st century, it is quite outdated. The characters only wore very simple make-up in the film and would’ve been seen as a very ‘normal’ family.

Motifs/Reoccurring Imagery

          

           

The piano was a wood brown colour and brown gives an earthy vibe which links as to where he piano was placed, the basement, so in a way, it's underground. The piano starts to play by itself in a couple scenes with the keys moving which tells us that the spirit mainly lies in the basement as most of the supernatural activities goes on down there.

Effective Shots

       

In my opinion, this shot is effective as the characters are all facing towards the camera and telling the viewers their story. Their faces also show a lot on how they're feeling so they all look scared and frightened because of the lighting which is quite low key but makes them look very 'ghostly' and pale.

Credits/Typography

       

The font is all in yellow and the background is in black which can be kind of confusing as yellow is deemed as such a bright, joyful colour but then the background is black which is known as a dark, murderous colour. The yellow could symbolise the family before they moved into the new house and how they had no problems or worries but then as soon as they moved in, the black symbolises the evils ahead.

Transitions/Camera Movements

I think that this transition in particular in the opening scene was effective as the viewers then know exactly, what all the three characters were talking about and what was causing all of the events to occur. It is also effective as it slowly zooms in while the dialogue is still in the background until every single detail on the doll is taken in until a close-up shot is taken of the doll at the end and it's almost as if her eyes were hypnotising because it was so motionless as it zoomed in and the eyes just kept staring straight into the camera, so the viewer’s eyes. This also creates a scary effect for the viewer as it makes disturbing eye contact with them.

Music/Sounds

For a long while, no music is coming in and all you can hear is the dialogue. It then comes in and starts off as quiet and then gets louder and louder. It then starts to get much deeper and faster before getting sharper and louder. It then abruptly stops as the end as the bin is shut with a bang.

Focus Group Responses

Orla Fletcher-Dowd: ''The screen was blank so it gave an eerie effect and I like how tense the flickering lights and the screechy music sounds were''.

Sahar Khan: ''I like how there's dialogue in the back about their past and then the camera focuses on the doll which I find effective because it makes the story seem true. I also like how the camera zooms out to show the whole picture of the three people so it's like an interview''.

Clara Bowater: ''I like the music that was used in the opening as the camera shots and angles they created were very effective''.

Yuli Moore: ''Nothing that scary has actually happened in the opening scene which was good as it built up suspense as it goes further on into the film''.

What I have learnt from this analysis and how it might influence me in my production:

From this film analysis, I have learnt that detail is always effective so close-up shots are always good to include and that even with no music, it can still be effective and create tension. When filming close-up shots, you can see mostly every little detail which is good for the audience so they can see everything clearly. When there is no music at all playing in a scene, it still creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere as there is nothing but dead silence so this could leave the audience wondering what's going to happen and it could trick them into thinking that's the end of the scene and they may not be expecting anything frightening to come up.