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The opening sequence portrays some common
conventions of a horror genre. The first being that the
scene has very low key lighting to represent a dark
mood, highlighting the fact there is darkness and
something sinister to come, which instantly entices an
audience who enjoys horror. Furthermore, the
establishing shot shows an apartment building, which is a
common setting for horror films, as well as hotels,
houses etc, which once again suggests to the audience
that there is horror to come.
There was intense music to accompany the title
coming onto the screen, which is something
commonly associated with the horror genre. This will
make the audience recognise the genre easily to
interest them in the short film, so they continue
watching. This title is in red aswell, a colour which
connotes the idea of blood and gore, which is a
common convention of the horror genre, which once
again entices an audience who enjoys horror - most
likely teenagers/young adults.
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For the first few minutes, the camera follows the girl
entirely, without any cuts in the shots. This
demonstrates how she is the main character and how the
story is focused primarily on her, something which is
common for the horror genre (having a main character
who experiences the fear). Furthermore, these shots are
able to show her actions and what she is doing (laundry
which is a normal thing to do in everyday life), so an
equilibrium is shown, which follows Todorov's Narrative
Theory.
The camera continues to follow her actions up until
this point, which is accompanied by very intense and
rising dramatic music which signals the idea of fear
in the characters personality, and also signals to the
audiences that horror is about to come. The intense
music gives a sense of suspense, which the target
audience of horror will enjoy due to their thrill
seeking nature, allowing them to be enticed.
4. All of a sudden, the intense music drops and the camera shows what
the woman can see through the hole. The intense drop represents a
theme of sudden fear and panic, which the target audience will love
seeing. Also, the girl shown is symbolised as a ghost girl, due to her
long hair, ragged white clothes, and basic standing stance. All those
conventions are what an audience would expect to see from a ghost
girl, so this idea once again signals the horror portrayed by
Apartment 41, which will intrigue the audience more. Furthermore,
this demonstrates the disequilibrium of the short film, which once
again follows Todorov's Narrative Theory. This is joined by the fact
she realises the problem, as the next scene shows her gasping as if
she is shocked and scared - an emotion which will reflect on the
audience. This stage is the third stage or Todorov's Theory and shows
a realisation.
This camera shot signals horror and fear in many ways.
The first is the intense stare demonstrated by the ghost
girl, which has a direct impact on the audience, which
will scare them even more. Also, the cupboards behind
the girl flew open without the girl touching them, which
represents the idea of a supernatural presence. The
lights in the scene also went out without anyone turning
them off, and this form of low key lighting will give
further fear for the target audience. All of this features
combined will inject a level of anxiety in the audience,
which a thrill seeking person will be enticed by greatly.
5. This next shot is very common of a horror film. It shows the
girl being dragged away on the floor by the ghost, which is an
action used in many horror films globally. It is recognised as
being supernatural, indicating how there is a ghost or demon
present, which will scare the audience - something they
should enjoy. Once again, the lighting is very moody, which
further demonstrates the darkness which is being represented
by the short film. It includes a few pieces of lighting, however,
just to highlight the woman and what is happening to her.
This medium shot shows the girl crying due to the
presence of the supernatural. This emotion will
reflect on the audience, which will also give them
a sense of fear, which will get their heart pumping
- something the target audience will enjoy. This
shot is also accompanied by dramatic music which
rises, by getting faster and faster indicating a
level of suspense, which will signify the theme of
fear once again.
6. This shot shows the ghost girl talking to the woman, but the voice used is changed in editing to be dark and
gloomy, with a tone which will give fear to the audience. Also, very low key lighting is identified here, which
corresponds with the rest of the scenes. Overall, this signifies a possibility of the supernatural which will panic
the audience, something the target audience will want to see, causing further interest. This shot is known as a
two shot, which is a camera technique used to show two characters in one scene. This can demonstrate a
variety of things, but in this example, it is used to show how the paranormal being is promoting fear in the girl
shown on the right.
8. This is the first shot of the short film and instantly gives
us an idea about a lot of the things. Firstly, the lighting is
low key around the area indicating how this film will be
scary straight away. This is something the audience will
love to see and therefore encouraging the audience to
watch on. Also, the police colours around the edges of
the scene indicates there is a crime gone down, which in
some ways could scare the audience as it indicates there
is a killer or a mysterious crime of some sorts. Also, the
audience can hear muffled police sounds which adds to
the effect of mystery because we can hear what is going
on.
9. This next shot gives us more
of and idea about what is
going on because it shows an
abandoned area with the
door mysteriously opened. It
still has the low key lighting
which indicates the fear
which the shot still tries to
portray to the audience. The
light is shining on the area
that they want to audience
to see aswell which highlights
the abandoned house,
signifying how this will be the
source of the horror.
10. Here, a point of view shot is used which almost puts
the audience in the characters shoes. This almost
makes the audience as scared as the character would
be in the film because the audience will feel like they
are the ones experiencing the fearful moment of
entering the house. Furthermore, we can still see the
colour of the police sirens, which almost reminds the
audience that something dangerous has happened, or
will happen here. This whole shot is accompanied by
tense music and background sound of birds, indicating
how it is in the middle of nowhere. The tense music
also injects a level of fear into the audience.
11. As the man moves around the house
we see more of the location, which in
turn will continue to scare the
audience. On the left we can see
wires coming out of the wall,
signalling its abandoned nature. The
idea of an abandoned house is
commonly associated with horror
anyway, and therefore this will cause
the audience to want to continue to
watch the film. We also begin to hear
a girl crying, which once again will
interest the audience who will want
to know who is crying and why they
are crying. The man holding the gun
proceeds to say 'This is the police!
Come out with yours hands up' -
something which will once again
intrigue the audience who will want
to know who is being arrested.
12. As he turns the corner, we see more of this abandoned
place, such as with the rubbish scattered among the floor
and no furniture there whatsoever. We can also see a white
sheet with some blood on top of it - two things which
commonly connote the idea of fear, which the target
audience will love. The visual aspect of blood is the biggest
indication of fear and has the potential to give the audience
goosebumps, causing interest. The lighting remains low key,
which when associated with these fearful aspects, will
create a feeling for the target audience which will scare
them a lot.
13. The point of view shot of the man
then pans round to the point
where we see a doorway with a
person mysteriously strolling
past, which will leave the
audience with numerous
questions such as who the person
is and why there are there.
Furthermore, the person looks as
though they are in overalls, and
they also look young. Both of
these are common conventions of
a typical horror character - a
ghost girl. This will
instantaneously scare the
audience, which will cause
further interest, since this is
what they will love.
14. As he then turns the corner, the lighting becomes even
darker, to the point of almost blindness, which once
again gives the feeling of darkness and therefore
horror. We can just about make up a girl standing there
in the distance which will scare the audience due to
the mystery of who this person is and why they are not
saying anything. The behaviours and appearance of the
person gives the idea, however, that they are
paranormal rather than human which will be something
the audience enjoys seeing as it promotes the idea of
fear in the short film.
15. Next, we see something which
will definitely scare the
audience, as the girl jumps out
at the camera and grabs the
man. This is accompanied by a
scream of some sort. Both of
these factors combined will
scare the audience, which is
something the target audience
will enjoy, therefore
encouraging them to continue
watching. The lighting remains
low key, once again promoting
fear, and the use of the POV
still makes the audience more
scared than if any other shot
was used.
16. This final shot is at a canted angle, which gives a lot of
different emotions for the audience. Firstly, it will
confuse the audience, by almost making them feel
disorientated by what just happen. This will once again
scare them because they feel more lost in the scene,
which is further accompanied by the fact the ghost girl is
still standing there in the background. These factors will
scare the audience together. We can also see that the
only lighting in the scene is on the area where the girl is,
indicating that she is the focus and also that she is
powerful, which will scare the character and therefore
the audience aswell due to the use of the POV shot.
There is more low key lighting on the right, however,
which was mentioned before as injecting fear into the
audience due to its association with darkness and the
unknown which most people are scared of.
18. This first shot starts on the left and pans across to give the audience
some understanding of the location of this short film. We can see it
is some sort of storage place, indicating it is maybe somewhere in a
house, which is supported by the title which includes 'attic'. We can
see the lighting is low key, something which conforms to typical
conventions of horror, and therefore this will indicate to an audience
that some sort of fearful event will come - something which will
entice the target audience. We also get a slight introduction to the
character who we can see in the center of the shot. We can tell she
is female, which will encourage the females watching to continue
because they can identify with the character.
As this character tries to open the door in front of her, she finds it
is locked, indicating how she is almost trapped in here. This in
itself is quite a scary thought, and this fear is shown through her
facial expression here, which is portrayed in a close up shot. The
audience can also hear something being unscrewed in the
background, without anyone actually being there. This is what
causes the character to turn around, and show her fear. These
factors, along with the continuous low key lighting, will inject fear
into the audience, as they will feel something horror related is on
the way, causing them to continue to watch.
19. As she turns around, we see this mysterious figure in the
background. The figure portrays the conventions of a ghost,
such as with the white sheet, and therefore the audience
will recognise this and realise horror is on the way causing
further interest. It is worth mentioning the lighting around
this figure is even more low key, signifying how its presence
brings about darkness more than anything else, showing it
has a bad nature to it.
In this next medium shot, we can clearly see her fear. The shot
reverse shot between the previous shot and this one shows how
her fear is a result of this strange figure in the distance. Her fear
will be reflected in the audience, as viewers will feel nervous for
her, since she is locked in the room with this paranormal being.
As she is looking fearful, we can once again hear the screwing
noise, without anyone even touching anything, which once again
indicates some level of paranormal activity - enticing the
audience even more as a result.
20. The camera then gives a close up shot of the light she is staring at,
which is the one making noises, as this gives the audience more of an
understanding of her situation. In a way, you could argue this is a
point of view shot, because this view is what she would be seeing,
and therefore puts the audience in her shoes. As a result, this would
scare the audience even more because they would feel like the
paranormal activities will have a direct affect on them, rather
than the character. This fear will encourage horror fans to continue
watching, as the fear is rewarding for them.
Lights begin to flash and break on the floor, as well as the paranormal
being walking off into the darkness. From this, a light near the
character begins to flash and make screwing noises, which she hears
and sees and looks up to, which is shown in this shot here. The high
angle represents her weakness in the situation, indicating how the
paranormal figure has power over her and as a result will scare her and
the audience.
21. In this medium shot we can see from the facial expression
that she is very scared, something which will be reflected to
the viewers. The lighting remains low key and intense
dramatic music is introduced. The pace of the non-diagetic
music increases as the short film continues indicating how
there is a build up of fear in the woman, and therefore the
audience as well. It suggests something is coming which will
nerve the viewers, causing them to continue watching.
As she scrambles into the cage, she attempts to lock
herself in, which is difficult due to her shaking hands. Her
hand movements suggests she is scared, which will once
again be reflected in the audience, causing them to
continue watching. It is worth mentioning that the
lighting remains low key and the music remains intense,
while still increasing in pace. We can see from the take
times as well that she is much inferior to this paranormal
being, as most of her time on camera shows her hands or
arms rather than her face compared to the mysterious
figure, which has longer takes on its whole body.
22. Once she is locked in the cage, the mysterious figure reaches
its hand out suggesting how it is after the woman. This will
scare both her and the audience, because once again, a point
of view shot is used to show her perspective which will make
us feel like we are experiencing the horror. The dramatic
music continues to increase in pace, signifying how something
is on the way, which will nerve both her and the audience
once again.
As she drags the cloth away from the figure, the tense music
stops, which actually suggests she will be alright, rather than in
danger. This is not what the audience would be expecting, but
then as the shot cuts back to her in a close up shot, we can see
the figure is now standing behind her once again. The music
picks up in intensity once again as this happens, which actually
rejects the audiences previous thoughts about her finally being
safe. She then turns around, and then all of a sudden the lights
cut out and we hear a smashing sound (presumably the lights
falling on the floor). Overall, this indicates how she is in danger,
but the audience is unaware of what will happen next. This is
scary to most people as the unknown is one of peoples biggest
fears.
