"The Crazies": Personal Film Review 1

Dawn of the Dead 2004 Scene Analysis 4

 

 

 

 

 

This still shows Steve just after he was turned into a zombie. About 20 minutes before this happened; he was shown having sexual intercourse with Monica, who died moments before he was turned. A typical trait of male and female victims is to be quite promiscuous; this is because horror films like to tap into the nightmares of regular people. Common nightmares are: death, being trapped, torture, and sex. When horror films include any kind of sexual activity, they do it to represent the good and the evil, for example, a male or female hero is never normally shown to be partaking in sexual activity, this is to get the audience on their side as they’re not being arrogant or big headed. Whereas the victims/villains are often shown to be sexualised so the audience don’t take their sides.

"Hostel 2": Personal Film Review 2

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Scene Analysis 3

This still is from one of the last scenes in the film, where most of the characters get to escape from the zombies on a boat. Most of the shots in this scene involve this American flag, and this is all due to context. The flag on the boat represents all of America, and the zombies represent people from eastern countries. We see the characters escaping on the boat, connoting that although eastern countries can terrorise the west, America will always stick together, fight back and eventually win. This is a very socially sensitive subject and could come across as racism, but like all George Romero films, he likes to include hidden meanings that he feels very strongly about and clearly he found the need to include this, maybe to scare off terrorists, to make Americans feel safe or just to show off his beliefs.

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Scene Analysis 2

This shot shows the moment Monica was killed. In the film, Monica is the typical female victim as she wears very girly clothes, she has long blonde hair and she has a very feminine attitude, unlike Ana. Before she is slaughtered to death, she has sexual intercourse which is another typical thing that the female victim does just before she gets killed. The body horror in this scene is a lot quicker and violent than it was in the original Dawn of the Dead as after nearly 30 years, it’s a lot harder to make the audience shudder as they’ve seen it all before so directors are constantly having to push boundaries to make the audience feel scared and uneasy.

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Scene Analysis 1

This still is one of the images we see in the opening credits, showing a mosque with people praying. The song played along with the opening credits is man comes around by Johnny Cash which represents a biblical apocalypse. The song along with this image connotes that the Americans have a suspicion that it was religion that caused the outbreak of the zombie virus. At the time this film was made in 2004, America was very wary about terrorism as of the recent 9/11 attacks and you can see this in the context of the film. This film also has a close link with swine flu, as swine flu was still a high concern in the early 2000’s and many viewers found this film scarier as, even though it is completely fictional, it had a realistic element about it.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Scene Analysis 4

This still shows Stephen dead as a zombie. Just by looking at Stephen, he seems to contradict the stereotype of being the male victim as he fits into the category of male hero better due to the colour of his hair, his relationship with Francine and his good health. But after watching the film, there are a few different times when Stephen is shown to be the weakest character. For example when the gang stop to get fuel for the helicopter, Stephen tries to shoot an attacking zombie with a rifle but misses a few times. This is where Roger has to push him out of the way with his rifle and shoot the zombie himself. Both of the rifles are shown to be phallic symbols and Roger’s phallic symbol is a lot stronger than Stephen’s showing him to be the weaker character.

 

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Scene Analysis 3

This still shows an establishing shot of the mall that the characters choose to live in. Along with this shot, there is contrapuntal music that gives this scene a bit of a humorous but eerie side to it. Romero chose to use a shopping mall as the main location for this film as he tries to tackle the issue of consumerism and capitalism. Romero’s auteur style shows that in his film he brings aware different issues in the time the film was made e.g. Racism, Capitalism, and the Vietnam War. In this film he used the shops and the mall as a ‘safe base’ for the characters which eventually gets invaded, connoting that shops and shopping malls seem to be a good idea, but really they’re just a up and coming problem in America.

 

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Scene Analysis 2

This high angle expressionist shot of Francine and Stephen and their gloomy facial expressions shows the lack of power they have with not only the whole zombie situation but with their relationship. This still shows Francine and Stephen after just having sex. This is a stereotypical trait of a female victim as it shows their girly side which connotes weakness. Francine also has blonde hair which backs this point up but George Romero often goes against stereotypes and makes Francine the final girl, who would normally have dark hair. Romero’s auteur style often goes against stereotypes a lot, for example he made a black man the male hero and at the time the film was made, that was seen as outrageous.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Scene Analysis 1

This medium shot shows Peter holding a gun whilst shooting zombies to protect Roger. The low angle expressionist shot and the representation of the gun being a phallic symbol shows the audience the power Roger has and his strength that he uses to protect Peter. I chose to use this shot because I wanted to talk about Peter being a black male hero. Dawn of the Dead (DOTD) was made in 1978, when America had a lot of problems such as the Vietnam War, Watergate scandal and racism. Romero hates racism and sexism, which is why he chose to go against normal conventions and have a black male hero, and a female victim as the final girl. He uses political satire to attack American Cultural Dominant Ideologies and in this film, he attacks racism and capitalism. One way Romero challenges racism is when Peter is shown shooting a racist person which shows the audience his views in a less direct way.

Psycho Scene Analysis 4

This still captures Hitchcock's auteur style really well. Hitchcock was a bit of an unusual auteur who liked young, blonde woman and in this you can see he victimizes Marion by having her stabbed to death whilst naked in the shower. This conforms to the stereotype of ditsy blonde females being a victim. In a lot of films, the stereotypical female victim is shown to have a sexual side (by having sexual relations with another character or acting in a provocative way). Hitchcock had Marion murdered whilst naked which backs up this stereotype.

Psycho Scene Analysis 3

This shot of Norman Bates is another low expressionist angle showing his dominating power of Marion. He has just discovered that his ‘mother’ has killed Marion as he had sexual thoughts towards her and his ‘mother’ got jealous. The most obvious thing in this still is the photo of the bird on the wall, this connotes Marion’s life as shortly after this shot, the photo of the bird is knocked off the wall which suggests death. Marion’s last name is also Crane which connotes that she is a representation of the photo on the wall. This is a slow montage after a very long tracking shot. Marion’s death and then this scene put together shows collision cutting which creates suspense for the audience.

Psycho Scene Analysis 2

This low expressionist angle of Norman shows the power he has over Marion without her even being in the shot. The owls in the shot are birds of prey which are faced towards Marion connoting that she is the next prey for Norman. Marion is also referred to as a bird throughout the film, especially towards the end when we see the car coming out of the tar pit and the license plate says ‘phoenix’ which connotes the ‘phoenix rising from the ashes. The phoenix is Marion. The painting on the right is a famous painting ‘Rape of Lucretia’. This connotes that he has a lot of sexual feelings towards Marion as the peephole he uses to spy on her is hidden behind the painting. This is known as ‘The Male Gaze’ written by Laura Mulvey and shows the result of appeasing male-dominated cultural dominant ideology. This photo again shows Hitchcock’s auteur style as he was obsessed with young, blonde woman.

Psycho Scene Analysis 1

This still image shows the car, motel and the house all in one shot. There is a low expressionist angle looking up to the house showing the power it has over Marion and her car. The dark night-time atmosphere with low key lighting makes the audience feel uneasy and gives the shot an eerie feel. The rain falling down in the shot connotes misery and gloom through the use of pathetic fallacy. This scene shows how Hitchcock uses cinematography to show the audience something isn’t quite right before we even find out about Norman Bates’ life. This scene is a slow montage to build tension before the shower scene, which reflects Hitchcock’s auteur style showing his love of montages. Andrew Sarris’ ‘Notes on the Auteur Theory’ in 1962 shows how all of Hitchcock’s films have the same style and he likes the audience to know they’re watching one of his films without necessarily being told it was made by him.