The Orphanage Deconstruction

Deconstruction - The Orphanage (2007)

• This short sequence from the film "The Orphanage" (Spanish) uses several techniques in order to convey the conventions of a supernatural horror.
• One way in which it does this is through the use of lighting. Here, the lighting is low key and this helps to create a mysterious atmosphere as well as create the illusion of night time. This is effective as in a supernatural horror, most things happen in the dark and this is what will make the audience nervous. Furthermore, it casts shadows over the furniture and faces which will therefore add to the creepiness of the sequence, as the audience is unaware of how the children look.

• It also makes use of a panning shot several times during this sequence. After the woman says “1, 2, 3 Knock on the wall”, it always pans round to the space and then back. This camera movement helps to build tension and fear within the audience as they do not know what to expect each time the camera pans around. Furthermore, the first few times nothing happens and so the audience is expecting something very dramatic to happen which is heightened by the use of the slow pan.
• Non-diegetic sound is also used during this sequence. After the first few times that she turns around, there is a faint and low murmuring sound, which sounds a bit like an electronic bass sound. This makes the audience feel anxious as it signals that something is about to happen, which is effective for the genre. There is also use of diegetic sound. For example, the knocking on the wall and doors creaking. The off-screen diegetic noises help put fear into the audience as they are unaware of what or who is making them, but the fact that they are diegetic and really happening means that a ghost or demon is with the woman in the room.
• The mise en scene of the scene is useful as well, for example, the children are dressed all the same in what looks like an old-fashioned uniform. This adds to the supernatural horror genre as they appear to be ghosts and also relates back to the story line about it being a haunted orphanage. The fact that they are all dressed the same might also freak the audience out as they all look rather creepy and as if they are from the Victorian era.

• The final time the woman says “1, 2, 3 Knock on the wall” the camera changes to a close up of the woman’s head and shoulders and all of a sudden a hand touches her shoulder. At this moment there is also a sudden loud non-diegetic sound which sounds orchestral but deep. This is effective as the loud noise will make the audience jump and also concludes the sequence.

• The editing in this sequence is not as important as the whole sequence appears to be in one long shot, as it pans back and forth between the children and the woman. This gives the sequence a realistic look, also the shakey-ness of the camera can be seen as adding a realistic twist to the sequence. For the audience, this will make them feel more scared as it seems like something that could really happen in real life.

Mise en Scene in Slasher

We decided to look at slasher films and I looked at Mise en Scene in particular. I thought about how I wanted the killer in our slasher to come across. Firstly, I thought back to conventions of slasher films and about how the killers often are masked, due to disfigurement or wanting to hide their identity. I looked into the different killers from many slashers, including Jason Voorhees from ‘Friday the 13^th’ and Ghostface from ‘Scream’, as well as some less well-known faces such as those from ‘The Strangers’ and the killer from ‘The Collector’.

We also saw that killers are often wearing masks that resemble clowns or dolls and also seem to be Halloween themed – like Michael Myers in ‘Halloween’.

I went to Asda and looked in the Halloween section for clown masks and came across a doll-faced plastic mask at a low cost. I thought the mask already looked creepy and was perfect for our killer. I also purchased fake blood to splatter across the mask to add to the slasher theme.

Here are the finished results, with use of under lighting to cast shadows on the face in order to add more mystery and suspense to the character.

Another important aspect of a killer in a slasher film is the killer’s choice of weapon. During research, I found many different types of weapon. For example, Leatherface usually uses a chainsaw (hence the Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Freddy Krueger has a glove which has knives for fingers and Michael Myers from Halloween often uses a butchers knife.

We had to think of something original but easy to make at a low cost. We wanted it to be something that hadn’t been previously used but that would also do a lot of damage to a victim. We firstly thought of a trap-like construction, like in the Saw films. But after trying to develop this idea we abandoned it as it would cost too much and we don’t have the tools or skills to make such contraptions.

Instead, we wanted something signature like a knife or machete. We then considered something normal like a golf-club or bat, to make the killer seem more realistic. After all, if you make something normal seem petrifying, it’s going to affect the audience more and make them feel terrified. We then thought of a weapon like the one pictured below, a bat with nails sticking out the end, with bits of meat and blood splattered across it. Unfortunately, we couldn't source a bat at a low enough cost and so we decided to think of another weapon. Whilst searching through a toolbox I came across a rusty old hand-saw. Immediately I thought of 'The Strangers' and how they used normal every-day items to torment their victims.

 

Here are the finished results:

I think the saw and the mask work well together, for me it makes the character seem simply mad, perhaps just killing for the fun of it, much like the characters in 'The Strangers'