The Grudge : Review of the first 2 minutes

The Grudge is the first film of 3 in a series of Japanese Horrors; the target audience is 15-30 year olds as the rating is a 15, allowing the main Horror fan audience to see the film. The storyline is about a American nurse living in Tokyo is exposed to a curse which locks onto a person in a powerful rage before claiming there life in a painful way and then moving onto the next victim. It was directed by Takashi Shimizu and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr and Clea DuVall.

The first 2 minutes stars with the Columbia statute panning into the shot, with some slow eerie music in the background. This then fades to black, a door then fades in, it looks old and rusty. The sort you would expect to see in a Horror film. It then shuts by itself, you know this as you can see both handles due to the angle it the zooms in on the keyhole for a skeletons head to be visible on the other side and the title Ghost House Pictures appears, this allows the audience to know that they are watching a Horror film, as Ghost House production does specialize in Horror films. This then fades to black again the music is still audible but it is quiet. A line comes onto the screen, it helps explain about the curse which features in the film. This then fades out but the word curse stays there and turns red then fades out. This is very symbolic, without even seeing the film the audience already know that the film is going to be about a curse, and the red color suggests that it is going to be the killer in the film. Another line then comes onto screen, explaining about how the curse will gather in the place of death of the person who was killed by hatred. This time instead of the word Curse staying on screen, the word Death does, this suggests to the reader that people are going to die in the film. A third line appears on the screen after this one, this one talks about how the fury will overcome its victim. And the word fury stays this time. This strengthens the fact that the curse is born of anger. 

At 01:05 the first actual footage fades in. It fades in on a civilized area, which is quite populated  suggesting that it is the suburbs. It helps set the scene by, letting the audience it is set in Japan as an oriental boat is seen on the river and it gives the audience a basic knowledge of where the film is going to take place. A character then pans into shot. A white ginger male, with probable British ethnicity. The creepy music is no longer playing; all you can hear is the sound of the cars driving, which is visible in the background. The man is on a balcony and his facial expression shows some distress. The camera then cuts to another shot of his face, and a woman in the bed is visible behind him, and she calls the name Peter. She asks if he is okay but he does not reply this suggests to the audience that Peter is not all right and he is distressed in some way. She try’s to have a conversation with him by saying how he is up early. He turns round to look at her but doesn’t say anything. This is weird and is there to Creep out the audience. He then turns back out and swings himself over the balcony. The way he does it shows resistance but he is the only person by the balcony. Suggesting to the audience that the Curse is at work. The camera then goes to his perspective and you fall to the ground to hear a splatting sort of noise. You then see the shock on the woman’s face in the next shot. You see her peer over the balcony at  the body. Which is on the floor with the limbs spread out to each side. Creepy piano music then begins. The first to 2 minutes of the film then ends.

The Ring - First 2 minute analysis

The Ring is a 2002 American psychological horror film directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson. It is a remake of the 1998 Japanese horror film Ring. The first 2 minutes starts with the Dreamworks logo, and the man fishing from the moon. There is a variantion from the oirginal version of this though, when it is on the man, the moon flashes into a full moon, but the middle is empty. This is the logo of the film.

The First scene then fades in 26 seconds into the scene, the shot is of a Creepy looking house in the dark, the sound is like a staticy sound that the audinece assumes is rain. You then hear someone talking about televisions, it is a girl and has a slightly american accent. It then flicks to a wide shot of 2 girls, one is on a bed and the other is sitting on the floor. You then realise that the girl on the bed is the girl you heard talking about televisions. The lighting is quite dim, and you can see they are staring at something and the way the light on them changes very often suggests that they are watching a television. The camera slowly zooms in on the 2 girls allowing you to see there faces very clearly. This suggests to the audience that these 2 are the main charcters, or they are about to get killed. Then the other girl gives the girl on the bed the remote and asks her to choose something to watch. It flicks to the television and you see it get turned off. It then flicks back to the girls. Up until this point in the film if you didnt know that the film was a horror, you wouldn't be able to tell that the film is a Horror as not much fits into the horror cliches or conventions. But the black haired girl starts to set the scene and tell the other girl a spooky story. It then uses the 180 rule to flick from one girl to the other while the story is being told. This tells the audience that the film is definantly a Horror film. The camera slowly zooms in on the girls as they speak. You can clearly see that the girl on the left seems very scared by the story, it looks as if tears have come to her eyes. She then asks her ffriend where she heard the story from and the friend replies that she doesnt know and asks why. Then the girl says that she has seen the tape. The audience then realises that the girl will die. The other girl tries to tell her its just a story but she doesnt belive her. This is the end of the 2 minutes. There is no music while this is happening just the rain in the background, the television when it is on and the voices of teh two girls. The lighting stays the same throughout the scene, dark to help give off a spooky vibe but light enough so the audience can clearly see the girls faces and expresions. This is quite a good start of a Horror film, as it builds tension within the scene and also hooks the viewer, making them want to stay and watch more.

Freddy vs Jason - First 2 minute and Titles Analysis

Titles
The first titles you see are the New Line Cinema titles, there is nothing different about the usual New Line Cinema title they usually show. This title is from 0 - 6 seconds. The next title you see is a piece of skin covering the whole of the screen, a cut across the middle appears, with blood dripping out of it. Then in quick succession many other cuts all over the screen appear. And then soon after that the skin falls in chunks into the background. Some of  which fall into the middle to create a blood red New Line cinema, this then starts to liquidize and it looks like it turns into blood. It falls towards the screen, covering it and turing it black. It then cleverly wipes off to reveal another layer of skin which blood is thrown on from the left. Once the blood has settled on the wall of skin, the title of the film then raises forward. A large cut appears down the middle and the two sides fold out respectively. This is quite a good title scene as it involves many clever effects and gives the audience all the relevant information and also clearly lets them know that the film is a Horror.

First 2 Minute Analysis


The first 2 minutes of Freddy vs Jason starts of with the first title then cuts too a scene set in a basement like area. The camera is slowly panning the scene, it passes a red furnace which is lit, the light coming from this is almost reaching out grabbing the camera, you then see the door be opened very quickly by a hand, and what looks like a doll is thrown into it. The door is then slammed shut. The way the hand comes from beneath the camera almost makes it feel like a Point of View shot. The shot changes to a young girl, clearly scared looking at the camera. It then flicks to a long shot of a man sharpening something metal on a grinder. You hear a deep mans voice talking, he says "My children". This is very weird and is used to help scare the audience. I flicks to a closer shot of the man sharpening something, and it appears to be claws of some kind. It then shows a close up of the doll burning, the doll looks like the girl you saw, making the audience assume that this man is going to do what he did to the doll, but to the girl. It then shows the man turning around with a claw on his finger while the voice says how he is called the "Spring wood Slasher". You see thee girl backed up against the wall, the camera looks down on her, showing how weak she is. Then a tall featureless shadow is seen on the wall. You see the shadows hand move up in an aggressive manner and claws come out of the fingers. All of this suggests to the audience that something is about to happen. The little girl seems to kneel down in front of this man, the camera the flicking to the doll which is completely melted now, suggesting the action is about to start and you hear a girls scream in the background. This makes the audience assume that the man has killed the girl. This is scary as the weapon is something the audience has never seen before and you do not see the killing happen, allowing the audiences imagination to vision it. The camera then shows a man with a cigarette and a picture. He seems to be stroking the picture, when people do this it usually shows there love for the person or object in the picture. He then turns the picture over allowing the audience to see it is a young girl, the audience doesn't assume that this is his daughter due to what just happened with the other girl, but another victim of his. It then shows a close up of the mans face, he looks wantingly at the picture and licks the back. this is very scary as it is something people don't usually do and you assume that he is a sick and twisted killer. He then puts the picture in a book of children's photos, the viewer assumes that the other pictures you can see are other victims, the book itself is about half way open, suggesting that he has killed many. When it shows the photo album you hear him say "My rein of terror, was legendary. Dozens of children would fall by my blade." This is creepy as it is like the killer is telling the audience the story. You then see a extreme close up of the killers face, allowing you to see teh little emotion and then he laughs, as if his killings are a game. You then hear him telling more of the story, he says about how the parents came for him. While he is saying this you see a woman light a molotov cocktail and through it through a window, from what he is saying, you assume that the window is that of his lair. You see many people watching as the building goes up in flames. A news story is seen burning, maybe suggesting the end of the killings. The voice then says about after they killed him, they created something worse. Then a face is panned onto shot, the face itself is disfigured and disgusting. You see the face moving as you hear him talking, suggesting it is him talking. From hear you now assume the killer is talking about his past to you. You then see some bloody hands, strung up like a puppet and then also some feet. You then see a large tower with a scarred man, who you assume is the killer has his claws up as if he's puppeteering then slices this fingers and a boy jumps out of the window, this suggests to the viewer that the killer is no longer in a psychical state but a mental one, this is scary as there is no apparent way to kill or capture him. A girl then wakes up as this happens, suggesting to the viewer that he is in your dreams. You see his face and then it pans to his stomach, you see him rip off his T-shirt and you see tiny mouths suggesting that he either absorbs his kills or feeds off them. You then see a boy get pulled seemingly through his mattress into a hole and lots of blood come flying back up through the whole, making the audience believe he is dead. You then see some skin, like the titles I reviewed earlier this post, is cut in half and his face comes through it towards the camera. It then pans out and you realise the skin was a boys stomach and the killer, walks out of it, killing the boy. You then see the killer jump out of a bath and then drag a girl into it, you guess that he is going to drown her, and then you see a girl being eaten by a slug which has the face of the killer on it. The first two minutes ends here. Overall the first two minutes of this film is very different to normal horror movie starts as it almost seems like a trailer the way it quickly flicks from shot to shot. But it is good as it helps explain to the audience who he is and a basic story line, but it doesn't seem to catch the eye of the viewer and makes them want to watch it as the action is too quick for the viewer to get interested in.

Review of the first 2 minutes of Transformers

After watching the first 2 minutes of Transformers you learn a lot of things, you learn that the film has been produced by Dreamworks as the logo appears, when you see this you generally can tell that the film will be suitable for children as Dreamworks usually onlny build childrens films. As the Dreamworks animation is shown on screen some sort of mechanical noise can be heard, this leads the viewer to know that they are watching some sort of Sci-Fi film, then after this the film is introduced. A unknown voice, unless you have already seen the film, starts to introduce what has happened and set ups the story about 'The Cube' and how a war was fought over it, there are two sides to the war, this sets up a Good versus Evil plot. You can tell that the film is going to be part action film as this is a common cliche of action films. In the first 2 minutes of the movie there is no action whatsoever just the background information. Towards the end of the two minutes you can tell the movie is a Sci-Fi as you look down on the Earth as the Title of the movie is shown. The title is almost transformed together giving the viewer an idea of what is going to happen in the movie. A lot of what is shown is CGI effects and no actors or characters are shown or introduced, even the narrative voice is unknown. Throughout the first 2 minutes of the film the music slowly builds tension making the viewer want to stay and watch the film even more.