Nicole's essay - independent research on camera work and sound in the thriller 'What Lies Beneath'

I have conducted some individual research on the thriller genre for preparation into our own thriller opening. I have analysed the first two minutes of the thriller film ‘What lies beneath’ (Zemeckis, 2000), focusing on the camera work and sound used to establish the situation and character/s and how it intrigues the audience to watch further.
In this particularly clip of the opening through you tube, it doesn’t begin the sequence until about 55 seconds into it. It begins in a shadow of darkness, with a slight hint of a mist/water effect above the surface, along with a monotonous repetitive background composition, with a constant use of about three low keys. The title ‘What lies beneath’ then appears centred in the camera frame at a angled birds eye view, this reminded me of as if your staring down at a grave. The title is a misty but bold font and fades away after a couple of seconds. So far it has obviously been established as some sort of dark mysterious production even through just the first ten seconds through the music and range of dark events. Yet on the other hand not a lot has been given away about film and nothing has represented any significance yet.
The camera now dolly’s through the misty atmosphere, almost as if it’s picking up a faster pace, similar to as if someone is running through a dark woodened area. At about 1:32 this is emphasised as some high pitched violin produced sounds are added to the music to add to the increasing pace. I noticed the camera frame now looks like its looking up towards some huge trees shimmering darkly from moonlight or something. In addition you can hear a soft ’humming’ noise too. A light evolves from the top right of the frame and as this occurs the music appears to get faster and more clustered notes; the tone changes slightly to a little more stressed appearance. These changes all interlock with the modification of the speed of camera’s movement and amount of apparent substances within the shot. A eerie whispering noise - muttering indistinct sentences - arises and causes the light to increase along the width of the shot in a submarine type manner, as you can recognize it is now water. The loud violin stress noises come to a sudden halt as a sudden climax of the first shot comes together, as a deathly looking women’s face appears from beneath the water in a close up shot from a birds eye (but zoomed up) view. This goes back to what I thought about the coffin resemblance, as the women surfaces up from the water and opens her eyes abruptly and she takes a series of large gasps for air. This whole shot of her appearing from the water fits in nicely with the titles of ’What lies beneath’. Just from the first minute you are drawn in by the effective jumpy occurrences.
Shot two is a long shot from a doorway, establishing the surroundings. It shows it is a bathroom, and is mainly centred around the fact she is in the bath, as that’s the central focus in the frame. It is at a slight low angle and very slowly zooms in, as if someone/something is creeping up on her. The camera framing set up shows the room as pretty large compared to the women, with the overall colour theme being a ghostly white to fit in with the suspenseful atmosphere. There is no noise or music except the stressful echo of her gasping. The gasping explains something unusual had just occurred, but it is strange how she hasn’t reacted too badly to how bad the situation seems through just her gasps. This may show she has encountered these circumstances beforehand.
Shot three is a medium shot of her holding a hairdryer and a pan to the left as she switches it on and progresses it to the fogged out mirror, there is no sound except the hairdryer. I think this reinforces the fact she is on her own and creates a slight tense atmosphere. Furthermore it makes it more subtle when the hairdryer suddenly stops. As it shows her confused expression and her mutter of complaint, you can see in the shot that her eyes look towards the wall, which then cuts to the next shot as a point of view frame of the switch on the wall, this is man on action.
Shot four is a medium shot from a left sided angle of the cable and switch, showing clearly the danger label on the hairdryer. With the sudden electric shock and sparks as a consequent of her action of trying to tamper with it, the hand moves away quickly and returns to the setup of shot three. There is still no sound except her squeal of panic.
Shot five is the same set up as shot three and shows her panicked state, she looks down and is surprised to see the hairdryer is functioning again. It then pans slightly to the left and the hairdryers movement is shown as she clears the mirror, the state of the clouded up mirror resembles and connects to the atmosphere and misted features of the opening so far. The shot ends with a symmetrical line up of seeing her reflection in the mirror.
Over all with the lack of and when any sinister based music/sound, it creates a sense of anxiety and tension within the thriller. It becomes obvious that the female character is on edge and apprehensive. Any noises that did occur e.g. the deep breathing/the alarming panting/scream suggests the thriller is going to entail some scary events. The occurrences that took place also emphasises this, for example her sudden rise from the water gasping, the hair dryer stopping, the electric shock etc. The camera work was clever in many ways, for example most of the movement was slow and sly, I think this was deliberate to create a sense of something watching/creeping up on her. The beginning imagery of being underwater in darkness was connected with the bathroom settings and set the tone for the rest of the opening. Over all I think through analysing this opening, it will help me and my group take into consideration ideas and styles of thriller openings when considering camera work and sound effect.
This is the link to the youtube clip I used: : http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tpvaGoT0tPU

Keira's Essay

Camera Work and Mise-En-Scene for ‘What Lies Beneath’

The opening to a film can reveal a lot about the genre, style and storyline. It is imperative, therefore, that strong meaning is communicated and the audience are clear about what they’re watching. Some thrillers may be exceptions to this as the intention of the opening may be to confuse and intrigue the audience rather than to make everything clear. Either way, there is a distinct difference in the camera work and mis-en-scene of the opening of a thriller and, for example, a romantic comedy. Some of these techniques are clearly demonstrated in ‘What Lies Beneath’, a supernatural thriller involving spirits.

The very first shot immediately pulls us into the action of the film - an extreme close up of a woman’s eyes as they snap open. The camera then dollies out extremely quickly to a close up on the woman’s face so we can see that she has emerged from some water, and the shot is close enough that we can assess her reaction and realise that she has woken from a nightmare. She is breathing heavily and looks very shocked, and is placed in the middle of the frame so it’s impossible for the audience to look anywhere else at this point. This is an effective first shot for a thriller opening as it is sudden and grabs attention, drawing us in to the film.

The following shot establishes the setting and is match-on-action from the previous as the woman sits up in the bath. It starts at a long shot on the bathroom, slowly moving further in to allow the audience to recover from the shock of the first shot and to allow us to take in the scene. The room is not well lit and is coloured greys and dim yellows to set a bleak atmosphere right from the start of the film. It is almost obsessively clean and tidy, suggesting a lack of homeliness and fun; it is also nicely decorated which may connote wealth/a middle-class family. The woman is still in the centre of the frame, drawing most of our attention to her (still in a clearly shocked state) and the camera is placed slightly below eye level which, combined with the slow movement of the camera, gives the impression of creeping up on her.

There is then a sequence involving a hairdryer, one of the shots in which the woman is electrically shocked. Here the camera is close enough to the plug socket that the sudden electricity may startle some people and the short length makes a difference from the other longer, more relaxed shots that surround it. This kind of sudden shot is typical of a thriller film. For the mis-en-scene of this shot there is a label on the plug lead warning not to touch when wet. This is a very small detail but is also important as it tells the audience, in case they were confused, why she was electrocuted. The woman’s costume/makeup reflects the fact she’s just been in water in that she looks quite pale-faced, her hair is wet and she’s wearing a bath robe.

The match-on-action shot to follow this shows the audience the woman’s reaction by being at medium close up as she changes from scared to more calm yet slightly annoyed. The camera then pans round so we can see both the woman’s arm with the hairdryer and her reflection in the mirror. A double shot like this is another typical thriller technique and creates an uncomfortable atmosphere, as though we should expect to see someone/something else appear behind her suddenly. Moreover, the misted affect of the mirror adds to the mysterious/unpredictable atmosphere that a thriller introduction often aims to create.

The scene then completely changes, and we are introduced to a new room in the house as the woman opens curtains (presumably in a bedroom). This is a medium long shot so that we can recognise that the woman is now fully dressed and so this is a little later on in the day, however the camera then swiftly moves in to a medium shot as the curtains bring more light into the scene. This sudden change in cinematography indicates the change in atmosphere and the woman seems more at ease in this sequence than the previous, though still looks pale and almost unwell standing next to the sunny outside of the window. There is a single white boat on the water outside, which could symbolise the freedom that the woman wishes she had in comparison to how trapped she currently feels.

The light hits a girl asleep in a bed in the next shot (matching on action from the previous by having the woman’s hand pulling the curtains open in the corner of the frame); the girl is placed off-centre in the bed to sustain realism. As the camera pans round the bed and the woman sits down, we are not shown either of their faces which is slightly unsettling as the woman begins to talk, but is quickly rectified when the shot suddenly changes to a stand-still shot of the sleeping girl and the woman as she wakes her up. This shot shows more of the room and, although there are still no particularly bright colours, there is more variation (blue lamp, orange curtains, green t-shirt) than in any of the previous shots. This connotes a warmer atmosphere to the audience – probably because it involves a child. It seems the woman is far more relaxed when with this girl rather than by herself, and this is a typical thriller convention in that the protagonist usually has some form of important attachment that they are in threat of losing.

The following shot shows the corridor which is, again, steeped in dim grey light. The window at the back lets in some natural light but it serves the purpose of putting the woman’s face in shadow as she walks towards the camera. There are pictures on the walls but these are not clearly visible and the mirror also adds an uncomfortable atmosphere. The camera tilts up and pans right to follow the woman as she walks into a new room. This seems to be much more full of life as there is greenery and a dog which the woman briefly pets. This shows the audience that the family lead a fairly normal life and it is not an immediately thriller-prone house which sustains the realistic nature of the film – it could happen to anyone. There is that sense of creeping up again due to the slow inward movement of the camera and it is fair to assume that this will be a recurring technique throughout the film. This movement makes us follow the woman and eventually stop at an over the shoulder shot of outside the house as the woman looks out a window. In extreme long shot there is a silent exchange going on (what we are intended to focus on) and this was included to suggest the storyline may include those people or indeed the house across the road outside which they are standing. The woman is kept in the very left of the frame out of focus as a reminder of who we are currently identifying with. This intrigues the audience and makes us want to learn what is happening and why the woman is so interested.

There is a straight cut here to another ‘shocking’ moment when the camera has swapped angles in order to show the audience the woman’s facial expression as she looks out the window. A man’s arm reaches into the frame and wraps around the woman’s neck, taking both the character and us by surprise. This happens immediately so we are not ready for it and increases the tension of the scene. However, the camera then pans left and dollies out slightly to reveal that the arm belongs to a man who is clearly the woman’s partner – introducing another attachment she has which may be threatened at some point in the story. Both the man and the woman are wearing reasonably neutral colours, suggesting a sensible attitude. However, this leaves much to be revealed about their personalities deep down – something which it is likely the director will play with more later in the film.

An entirely different set of iconography, colours and shot types may have been used for a different genre of film, and no matter how subtle the changes they all combine to subconsciously ensure the audience are aware of what to expect - more jumpy moments, possible threats to loved ones and a generally bleak atmosphere. This will help me when it comes to storyboarding/filming our own thriller opening in that I am now more aware of the kinds of typical techniques we will need to employ.

Here is the video from YouTube I used for my notes:

Hannahs essay

Explain how sound and editing is used to establish the situation and the character/s in the opening two minutes of what lies beneath. Explain how the film intrigues its audience.

What lies beneath is a supernatural thriller. It is about a woman who thinks that a visitor from another dimension is trying to guide her into a mystery. The woman feels that a spirit is trying to contact her, when she tells her husband he does not believe her and thinks she is having a nervous breakdown. I am going to look at the opening two minutes and how sound and editing is used to establish the character/s and the situation.
A quite eerie sounding soundtrack is used at the start of the film. It then starts to get louder and slightly faster within the first twenty five or slow seconds. More instruments are introduced to help make it sound more distressing and eerie. Voices are then heard and the music suddenly stops and the sound of water and a woman coughing to catch a breath like she has been drowning has replaced it. The sound of the woman moving around in the bath can then be heard and her still trying to catch her breath. This puts across that the character is worried about something or something has happened to her because of the sound of her breathing. It’s harsh and fast which could indicate that she is scared or worried. The sound of a plug being pulled can then be heard and the sound of water being drained. The audience then will automatically assume the woman has pulled the plug in her bath and that the water is being drained from her bath. Next is the sound of a hairdryer being switched on. This indicates that the character is most likely about to dry her hair. The hairdryer noise then stops and the clicking of the switch and a sigh follows. This indicates that the character is annoyed because something that was working perfectly seconds before has now stopped working. the audience could take from this that the character may have bad luck or she is having a bad day. The sound of sparks is then heard and a slight jumpy scream and the sound of the hairdryer can be heard again, this again could indicate that the character is having some bad luck or that she is just overreacting about a faulty plug socket.
The use of sound in the opening two minutes of what lies beneath makes us to see the character as slightly on edge and worried about something. Not much sound is used but the use of eerie music and heavy breathing is used which makes the character seem on edge. the fact that the hair dryer stops working but starts working again after the sound of sparks suggests that maybe some thing bad has happened or is going to happen, it also suggests that the character doesn’t find things like hairdryers stopping working. The eerie music at the beginning suggests that the situation is going to be quite intense and scary. The heavy breathing and failing hair dryer sounds add to the intense effects especially as no speech is used in the opening two minutes apart from the sounds of voices which are quite scary and add to the intense situation, putting the audience on edge before the film has even started. the sounds like the water, hairdryer and sparks from the plug socket were probably added in after the piece was filmed to give them a more dramatic sound and also meant the sound levels of each individual thing could easily be changed.
Not much editing has been used in the opening two minutes of this film. At the start a slow montage is used with different images appearing below water until a face appears. A cut is then used as the camera appears higher above the woman’s face than it originally started. There is then a cut to an establishing shot. This is used so that the audience can easily see where the character is and her surroundings. In this case it is a bathroom. The fact that the character starts in a bathroom could mean anything to an audience but films with slight horror content usually begin in places like this. After the establishing shot the next piece of editing is a cut to a close up of the woman holding a hairdryer. This is a change of setting and could confuse the audience but also helps to keep the opening sequence interesting as it is not all set in exactly the same place.
The next sequence of shots there is a cut from the woman to the plug socket then back to the woman’s face again. Continuity editing is used here. match on action is used when she puts her hand towards the plug socket there is then a cut to her touching the socket and a cut back to her bringing her hand away, here the editing has to be perfect to make sure her hand going towards the socket and coming away are all the same and the movements are the same in each different shot which follow each other. The 180 degree rule is also used here. The camera stays on one side of the woman if it switched to the other side it could get confusing and the setting would change the audience then might think that she is in different place. Continuity editing is used here to help keep the situation the same for the character and not to confuse the audience. Continuity editing is also used to help the film look well made and to also look good.
The opening two minutes of this film intrigues its audience with both mystery and making people jump. The sound of voices and sudden appearing from the water along with the heavy breathing could easily scare the audience but also add an air of mystery. It could pose questions like why is she breathing so heavy, what she is scared of, is she hearing the voices or are they coming from some where else. The fact that her hairdryer stops working but then is fine after a couple of sparks could also intrigue the audience is she imagining that these things are not working. Because she of the voices and the heavy breathing it make you want to watch more and find out what it is that is going to happen or has happened.

hannah sell

Eighth Blog

We spent the last lesson watching and evaluating everyone's preliminary exercises.
Our comments were generally good, with our best comments and marks in areas to do with continuity: match on action, 180 degree rule and shot/reverse shot. Other good marks were given to us for camera framing and lighting.
From the evaluation it is clear we need to work on production elements such as costume/makeup and location/setting.

Signed, Keira, Hannah and Nicole (Group E)

Eit

Seventh Blog

It is our first TV drama media studies lesson after the end of term break, and we have now finished the editing of our production and burned it onto disc.

As we'd hoped, the shots were alot clearer on screen than our previous ones and edited together much more smoothly, showing the three techniques for continuity clearly.

We have now been given our evaluation task and will be starting putting together a powerpoint presentation.

Signed, Keira and Nicole (Group E)