analysis of the ring(Nicole Davidson)

Analysis of ‘The Ring’

I choose to analyse ‘The Ring’ due to the fact that it is similar to the opening sequence that we are going to make.

Director: Gore Verbinski

When watching a clip from the opening to ‘The Ring’ it is evident that many different effects are used in order to intise and interest the audience. When viewing the beginning of the film I used a 2 minute 38 second clip to analyse that is used to create a tense atmosphere and prepares the audience for the following events.

Camera shots

Main features that are used to create a sense of unknown and tension, such as specific use of camera shots. This is evident when there is a long shot of the character walking up the stairs. This creates tension within the scene due to the fact that the character is far enough away from the camera that her identity is unknown, the audience therefore do not know who the character is and this results in suspense. During this part of the scene the character slowly rises up the stairs which also reinforces the tension and suggests to the audience that something is going to happen. Adding to the idea of unknown and confusion there is water on the floor directly in front on the camera and the audience have no knowledge to why it is there, creating curiosity.

The next camera shot that is used is a close up on the girls face. This is used to emphasis her emotion and makes the audience relate to the character as they are close enough to be in her personal space. Adding to this, her facial expression portrays to the audience that she is experiencing confusion and is scared, reinforcing a feeling that the director intends for them to feel. The specific use of camera shots during this opening sequence portrays a message to the audience and it helps them to understand and interpret the clip being shown. When doing our opening sequence we must take into consideration the use of camera shots and how they have an impact on our audience, we will use similar shot to that used in ‘The Ring’ due to the fact that we want a similar response in the audience to that in which this clip creates.

Codes and conventions
When watching the opening sequence of ‘The Ring’ many stereotypical codes and conventions are used in order to convey to the audience the genre of the movie. Colours such as blacks and greys are used as a code to illustrate that it is a horror movie. Conventions are what you expect to find when watching a film and dependent on the genre it varies from each film, when watching this opening sequence conventions such as dark colours are used. When watching this horror dark and shadowed colour is used to create suspense within in the audience and an eerie atmosphere which is expected when viewing this genre. Other conventions used within the opening sequence is the fact that a young blonde female is used, reinforcing this is the fact that she is in the house on her own therefore is vulnerable. This is stereotypical of conventions used within a horror movie as when using a young female it conveys innocence and a sense of insecurity. Adding to this, the fact that she is blonde also shows the audience that she is going to be the victim as blonde haired girls are stereotypically viewed as ‘ditzy’ therefore more likely to be a target in a horror movie.