Film Analysis - By Melissa Erwin

Analysis of the first 10 minutes of a Horror film - Stephen Kings “It”.

Stephen Kings “It”, is a horror film that was made in 1990 and is a 15 certificate. It is about a clown who preys on, and murders young children.

The titles for this film appear at the very beginning and are in black and white, with the information of director, editor and actors, appearing one by one. Music is played in the background at the same time. We have also used this quality in our film “Welcome to the Circus”, as the music adds effect and a more dramatic tone.

At the beginning of the film, there is an establishing shot of a house and a street, to show the audience where it is set which then changes into a medium long shot of a little girl riding her bike and innocently singing a nursery rhyme. This is followed by a high-angle shot looking down on the young girl. I think this is really effective as it shows her looking vulnerable, which is quite common of the victim in horror films. There is then a close-up of a children’s doll, followed closely by sound effects of children laughing and music beginning to build up. When the stalker/clown first appears in our film, we also added sound effects and loud music to add a dramatic effect. When the clown “Pennywise” first appears in this film, it is very quick glimpses of him, however they are normally close up shots to show vivid detail used to shock or scare the audience. The clown is in a traditional colourful costume, which we associate with clowns/circus and his face is mainly red and white, with a hint of black and purple. The mask that we had designed was similar to this, as we also wanted it to look traditional, although with an eerie touch to it.

After the murder of the young girl, there is a fade to a different scene and the cuts seem to slow down. I think this is to show the audience that people are reacting slowly to the news and don’t quite know what to do or think. There is then a medium close-up of one of the main characters picking up the same doll featured earlier in the film, which links back to the fact that a young, innocent girl has been murdered. There is then a close-up of a picture of a boy, (who we later find out was also murdered some time ago), and quiet, dramatic music is played over this. This is then closely followed by a voiceover of one of the main characters and this is used to tell the audience how he is feeling – “something that makes my skin crawl”. These are both qualities of our film, as we thought they would be very effective in describing what has happened, to the audience.

Whenever the clown appears, the lighting seems to be bright, or set in a darker place and the clown, “Pennywise”, lights up so he is the main focus. This is not a typical feature of horror film, however cleverly links to the theme of clowns. He also seems very friendly however has a low, croaky voice and seems quite intimidating, which he uses to his advantage as he preys on young children. He also never blinks which shows him to be weird/abnormal and might make the audience feel uneasy.

In the first 10/15 minutes of this film, there is a flashback used which also tells the story to the audience, without being too obvious. The film also cross-cuts back and forth between both of the main characters lives; to show how they have recovered from the murder.

Eye line matches are used in the beginning of this film, to show the audience what the character is looking at, and how they’re reacting to it. For example the young boy looks at an object in a dark, creepy cellar. Here, you see a close-up of the object, and then a cut back to the boy looking quite scared and nervous; however leaving the audience feeling suspicious as to why.

In contrast with our film, before the clown appears for the second time, the music that is playing seems quite jolly and fantasy-like, although it gets louder before slowing down and stopping completely just before the clown arrives. Fast-paced editing is used to complement this music and shows a continuous pace.

A dungeon bell sound effect is used when the character “Bill”, looks on the floor and sees blood. We have used a dungeon-like sound effect in our film as well, because it creates a dramatic shock for the audience.

Coming up to the end of the first 15 minutes of this film, a graphic match is used between the young Bill, and the older Bill. This is very effective as their face and hands are in the same place and this creates a sense that the older Bill, is feeling/thinking the same things as when he was a young boy.