Main actors: Emma Johnson, Blair Vaux-Nobes
Year of production: 2012
Company: Redland Pictures
Produced by: Kirk Redgate
This short film is about a young couple whose peace is disrupted when her husband suddenly loses his mind and becomes determined to end her life.
This film fits under the horror film category because it conforms to many conventions of horror films, for example there is a lot of emphasis placed on the fact that the girl is alone at home with her husband and there is nobody to help her. Diegetic sound is used to support this at the very start of the film when everything is silent and all we can hear is the clock ticking away, giving the impression that the main girl is alone at home and leaving the audience to wonder where her partner has gone or what might have happened to him. Isolation is a common element used in horror films to make the characters seem helpless and generate sympathy from the audience who hope that somebody might show up.
Another effective use of diegetic sound is during the fight scene, where we can hear the sound of the bottle breaking on his heard and her head banging on the door. In this scene its interesting how they chose not to use non diegetic sound to build up tension and instead left only the synchronous sounds. This was very effective since the sound of them fighting were quite loud and could be heard clearly, again showing the complete silence around them.
Another horror film convention present in the film is the asynchronous sound of a heavy rain storm outside the house. Stormy weather is very commonly used in horror films since lightening can be an effect use of lighting where the room is quickly lit up and we see where the threat is but the main character doesn’t. However in this film this convention has caused a continuity problem, this is because when the characters went outside, the garden wasn’t wet like it should have been.
Mise-en scene also contributed to the scariness of the film by adding normal everyday objects we usually wouldn’t find scary and placing them in a different context such as the black cat circling the main character. Black cats are often seen as a symbol of bad look so this could have been a code indicating that something unfortunate was about to happen. There was also the use a Christmas tree where the villain was sitting under, usually we would associate a Christmas tree with colourful lights and gifts but the black and white effect made the treat look creepy by casting shadows, making it more suitable for a horror movie. The fact that the villain was under the tree where presents would usually be placed could symbolise the fact that the main girl will receive an unexpected gift which in this case is her husband’s sudden personality change.
Slated camera angles are effectively used to illustrate how disoriented the villain is. The scene where the camera is following him and imitating his movements as he wobbles towards her, gives the impression that he is not himself that something is causing him to act that way, possibly the omniscient behind the camera. This is reinforced by the non-diegetic music that plays while he is walking which is repetitive and gives off the impression of being hypnotized.
The antagonist’s unnatural situation is further supported by a low angle shot which reveals his face for the first time to the audience and allows us to see that he seems to be in a trance as his eyes have become fully white.
Superimposing was also used appropriately to show a transition from one scene (her getting out of bed) to her another (her opening the door). It gave the impression of her coming out of her safety zone and entering the danger zone.
The narrative structure of this film is Linear with a close structure because it has a clear beginning where non-diegetic material is used which is a note introducing to the audience what the problem is and what has or will happen, the middle is a constant rise and fall of action where the victim escapes but then is suddenly cornered or caught by their attacker, at the end of the film it is clear to the audience that the girl did not survive since at the start of the film the note stated that they both died.
The Body conforms to two theories. The first is Levi strauss’s binary opposites theory because there is a clear clash between two opposing forces in this film which is the women who is the victim trying to safe herself and the man who is the villain who is trying to kill the girl. The second theory is the The enigma code since in the beginning of the film the audience is presented with text which describes an event that has taken place, this hooks the audience because they become eager to find out what happens next or how the event took place.
The female lead supports the representation that women are weak and emotional. This is shown through the fact that she is the helpless female victim in the horror film, which again conforms to conventions. The cutaway used to show her panicking and struggling to open the gate while he is calmly limping after her shows that women are emotional since she is letting her emotions get in the way of her successfully opening the gate.
The male lead conforms to the representation that man are aggressive. This is clearly supported by the fact that he is made the villain who is trying to kill the girl and does not hesitate to act violently towards her, for example the scene where he bangs her head on the wall. However depending on whether he was being controlled or was possessed by some kind of supernatural force could suggest that he was weak or vulnerable, which goes against the stereotype that man or powerful.
I believe that this film should be rated 12 because it contains moderate violence which isn’t shown in great detail. Despite giving references to easily accessible weapons the scenes do not show the characters using them against each other such as the hammer, wood block.
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