Film Analysis - The Wolfman (2010) - By Rachael Whittaker

The Wolfman (2010)

The film starts off with the full moon as the full moon for what everyone knows that it supposedly brings out the worst in people and may give off a creepy vibe that sends a shiver down your spine. The scene moves down from the sky into a dark gloomy forest setting which can refer to our forest scene as there are similarities. Personally I would like our forest setting to be more similar to the Wolfman one as it gives off a nervous vibe of the forest being scary at night with fog floating along the floor which means that things could be hiding in ready to jump out to get you. There is a high angle shot looking down at a man walking into the forest which means that he means little and something could happen to him. In our film we have a similar shot of the him character looking down on Rachael as he is belittling her as he has stronger power although this could also seems very stereotypical but for the Wolfman the man is being looked down on but there is no woman in the shot to do a gender comparison. The man in the Wolfman is walking in the woods with a close up on him to show his fear expression especially when you have a sudden burst of birds flying which could make you jump, such as in our production when there is an extreme close up of Rachael when we suddenly wakens from her nightmare which could make you jump just from it being a sudden movement that the audience weren’t expecting.

Something then strikes the man (in Wolfman) but you don’t see what which makes you wonder what it is then you see the claw. We wanted to show bits of our bad character but our main focal was the mask so we showed it but that’s all you see so that will make the audience think who is this character underneath the mask. The Wolfman title comes up then, for ours we had it at the very beginning in a style of maybe olden fashion letters stuck together as if advertised, where as for Wolfman it is on a gravestone which also looks old fashioned.

Now after the name title came up on Wolfman there is a woman narrator who speaks in fear, it is a plea for help. Rachael narrates at the beginning of Welcome to the Circus in fear it is not quite a plea but a statement. They both talk in a sense of feeling isolated from what has happened in the surroundings. Although in Wolfman her narrator is a letter written to her fiancée’s brother so this is a direct plea for somebody. Rachael has no one to write to, she doesn’t know who she can trust anymore ever since the incident.

The setting house of in Wolfman is very old fashioned big mansion but it looks disserted with dust and cobwebs around, this could give off a dramatic gothic theme. For our production we have kept things modern which made it easier but didn’t really make out film at a disadvantage or anything so it still turned out okay as we planned and we stuck to our plan to get the results we wanted.

There are shot reverse shots with Laurence and his father character with still a very dime and dark setting around then with only light that seems to be coming from the windows, the atmosphere around them seems cold and dead. For our product there are reverse shots with the Therapist and Rachael which seems to have a secure atmosphere around them, a place where Rachael feels safe and comfortable to say what she is truly feeling as when she is having a conversation with her friend Laura she seems to have a front on, that she is also wearing a mask but not in the same sense as the him character.

Laurence in Wolfman goes into town to see his dead brother. Although the scene is in outside daylight it is still dime as though there a sheet of clouds covering the town, it fits in with what has just happened of Laurence’s brother being killed and just been found recently. For our film the only lighting we used was daylight and used it to our advantage, such as for the forest scene we checked to see what time the sun would be setting so we went to film whilst the sun was setting but not too dark for us. As if it was too dark the quality would be bad and look fussy which, is not an effect we wanted.

The next scene cuts that Laurence is sat in a local pub with people theorising about the possibilities with what is behind the attacks of what have been happening around the town. I would imagine that this scenario would be in the full extent of the film if it was made that this would be involved. A modern version of children talking about it in the canteen maybe when Rachael walked past and people judging and coming up with their own remarks. As people always seem to want to be involved, to be in the know of what has happened and a school would be a great one for the Welcome to the Circus as it is an everyday typical scene that children go through. Then usually there is always one person that speaks out from the crowd that people listen to then follow along with their theory as there is the Wolfman with a man talking about a similar incident that happened 25 years ago.

Laurence then returns to house where he introduces himself to his brother’s fiancé, where he gives his word to her that he will find out what happened to his brother which is where I think the main plot begins of him then on a quest to truly know what happened to his brother. For our product I think plot looks like its going to thicken when the jack in the box is placed on Laura’s doorstep because it makes you budge to the edge of your seat to know what is going to happen next, who placed it there? Why?

I analysised the first 10 minutes of Wolfman to show the comparison and how the ideas build together. The thing that got me most about Wolfman is the theme of it, the way it’s always dark from the lightness to the colour of the characters clothing as there is really no colour at all that stands out. Although with our product you can feel the darkness more than see it, our film has more colour due to it being more modern where as Wolfman is set in a older century than what we are in now so it makes it more affective.