For my final textual analysis, I will look at the Hitchhiker sequence from the 1974 version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In this scene the group of teenagers have been driving along a country a lane and pick up a hitchhiker on roadside, covered in blood and seeming to have a mental problem. The group soon discover he is deranged and throw him out of the van after he cuts one member with a shaving blade. In the scene I will look at how the stylistics (Mise-en-scene, Cinematography, Sound and Editing.) are put together to tension and uneasiness for the characters as well as the audience, I will also look at the conventions of a horror sequence to see how it is created.
The mise-en-scene within the sequence, is mainly focused on the use of the Van the group are in, this follows a convention of horror as they are in a confined space with the hitchhiker therefore creating tension for the audience to pick up on, this is something I want to adopt that I can install in my own creative project. Secondly we have the appearance of the van, for example were the group are placed in the van we have a large amount of windows giving open space and light, however where the hitchhiker is placed we have a enclosed area with less space and light. This in turn gives character recognition for the audience we automatically know that the hitchhiker is only there as a negative force for the group. Furthermore with the presence of costume and make up in the scene we also get a sense of who we see as the bad character with the use of the blood on the hitchhikers face showing obvious danger, even down to his dark costume. This along with the use of the enclosed space of the van gives a claustrophobic feeling as they are trapped with this character. Further into the scene we see the hitchhiker bring out a camera and taking photos, this makes the group feel uneasy as well as the audience, again we get the feeling of entrapment with this character and see the group being put in danger. I want to try and recreate this effect within my own work, to give a sense of danger that will allow the audience to identify the genre.
The main use of cinematography comes from the use of low angle shots and medium close ups in the sequence. We get the use of low angle shots when we have a shot of the group, this shows the solidarity of the group and their number, compared to the hitchhiker, on the other hand the use of the medium shot of the hitchhiker shows his mental state through the use of a fixed shot, we can tell with the use of the low angle shots of the group that they have more power than the hitchhiker as a group, however the shot of his shows hen really has no sense or acknowledgement of the groups established power, he is just focused in this one shot we get know sense of emotion of the character through the use of shots. We only really get a close up when we see the hitchhiker burn the photo, this it to emphasis the danger the characters are in, however it also emphasises the metal state of the hitchhiker as we as the audience wonder what he is doing with the photo. After the close up we again move to the use of a medium shot, showing the lack of emotion of the character of the hitchhiker again he has no emotion and things what he is doing is normal. However the other characters see this as not normal and start getting scared, it is emphasised with the use of the camera shots in the sequence it changes from medium shots, to close-ups to extreme close-ups giving the, impression that they are frightened, however when the shot changes back to the hitchhiker it remains a medium shot as he sits clapping to himself. We see this effect again as the hitchhiker cuts one of the group in the van with a razor blade, we get the same type of shots. I want to apply this type of techniques to my film to over-exaggerate the emotion of the characters and the use of amateur camera work.
The final stylistics I will look at is the use of sound and editing in the scene, the main use of sound comes from the use of diegetic dialogue and the use of the radio in the background. This gives a sense of realism with the characters interacting and the radio playing in the background. Secondly the main use of editing comes from the use of basic cuts from one shot to another, alongside the use of shot reverse shot during character interaction. The use of the cuts matches the pace of sequence as the events unfold in the van. Giving a sense of quick fast paced movement taken from the horror genre.
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