genre post - horror - Us

Genre post on horror  

The film I will be reviewing is "us"

Trailer: 

- Genre is horror.

- Released in 2019

- studio Universal Pictures,

- Written by Jordan Peele

- Directed by Jordan Peele.

- The top cast includes Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke and Elisabeth Moss.

The opening title sequence 

The opening scene 

Narrative

From the opening title sequence, at the start, we see a rabbit in a cage and then the camera zooms out where we can see that there are many more rabbits in cages lined up along a wall stacked on top of each other. It can be guessed from this scene that the rabbits are going to have something to do with the narrative. Rabbits are stereotyped as being used for experiments. The narrative might be about a person/ a group of people doing experiments/ a story about the experiments.

From the opening scene we can see a little girl walk into a beach attraction/ ride. It is a hall of mirrors. The little girl walks around the room for a while until the lights cut out and she is in darkness. She starts walking towards the exit whistling until another whistle can be heard. She carries on walking and she backs up to what was originally thought to be a mirror. The little girl then turns around to see that it's not actually a mirror and she has another version of herself/ a doppelganger. The camera then cuts to a close up on her face and she is shocked. The narrative of the rest of the film can be thought to have something to do with her "twin". We can't know but we can assume that the other version of the girl is going to be evil. The darkness of her costume and the room connotes evilness.


These two scenes combined together can suggest the narrative as being that the doppelganger is an experiment done by the people/ person who had locked up all the rabbits, The multiple rabbits can suggest lots of people may have doppelgangers as well.

Target audience

As this movie is in the genre of horror we can expect the movie to be targeted towards people who enjoy watching horror movies. Us is targeted to an audience of 15 years and up. We can see this due to its rating of 15. The target audience is 15+ year old horror enthusiasts. How we know the movie is for this target audience is due to the suspense built and the darkness which connotes evilness which is a big theme in horror. The fact that the scenes have no gore or swearing in them shows them being more "family friendly" than some other horror movies. This also allows the film makers to market the movie as being a 15.

Characters

There are no characters in the opening title sequence apart from all the rabbits in the cages. While in the opening scene we only see the little girl and her doppelganger.

The little girl

We can guess that the little girl is good. We can guess this as she has the longest shot durations out of both of the characters. Longer shot durations connote importance. In movies the main character is always the most important character. This makes it suggested that she is the good guy of the narrative. The fact that she is wearing a black costume can connote her having a darker side. Black is a colour that connotes darkness and evilness. This can suggest that even though she is the main character and most probably the good guy she still is slightly evil.

The little girl's doppelganger

We can guess that she is evil due to the genre that the movie is. In horror movies there is always the bad guy and quite often the good guy. We can expect her to be the bad guy as she is not the one we are following throughout the scene. In the scene she had so little shot duration and all the shots she was in were with the little girl. This connotes unimportance and a lack of authority. Having no/ not much authority and importance suggests her being not the main, good, character. Her costume connotes villainess and evilness. Black is a colour that connotes evilness. The fact that the girl's doppelganger is wearing black clothing connotes her being evil and the bad guy of the movie.

Genre and tone

The genre of horror and tones of darkness, evilness and mystery are explored in the opening scene and opening title sequence. The conventions of the genre of horror are shown in both scenes by having aspects of evilness, shown by the large number of rabbits trapped in cages left with no human interaction in a darkroom. This suggests that the people who have trapped them have no emotion and are ruthless like how the bad guys in horror movies are portrayed. horror is also shown by the dark and suspenseful feeling while the little girl walked through the maze. In horror movies there is always a dark and suspenseful mood throughout the movie. The setting of an abandoned/ isolated ride adds to the conventions of horror.

Camera use

In the opening title sequence a steady and slow zoom out is used to show tone in the scene and also show the audience what is going on. The camera went from a close-up to an extreme-long shot. This camera movement and camera angle shows all the rabbits trapped in cages and makes the audience guess that something ominous is going on and there could be experimentation going on.

In the opening scene a tracking shot with a low angle is used. This camera movement is used as it is like the audience is following the girl like they are there with her. This makes people feel more into the movie making them feel what the characters feel which is what you need for a horror. A low angle is used as it connotes power and importance and a lack of fear. We can see she has no fear as she goes into an abandoned ride alone and at a young age. It also helps to show her being the main character.

sound use

The eerie non diegetic parallel soundtrack used in the opening title sequence builds up the suspense and darkness in the scene and suggests to the audience that there is going to be an eerie and strange feeling throughout the movie and all its scenes.

The pleonastic diegetic sound effect of the little girl breathing heavily, in the opening scene connotes her being scared of her environment and wanting to get out of there. This being pleonastic makes the audience focus on it and think about it. It also helps when you're immersed into the movie feeling the same emotions as the little girl.

Mise-en-scene used

The use of props of the cages in the opening title sequence can connote that there will be an aspect of entrapment in the movie and plot could be about something/ someone being trapped and the movie is about it escaping and reeking havoc or the story of them escaping. The use of the dark lighting puts a tone of darkness and evil over the scene.

The costume used in the opening scene shows the darkness inside both characters. The black clothing which connotes darkness and evilness is worn by both characters which suggest them both having darkness and evilness inside them. The character positioning of the two characters makes them look like it's one person in the mirror which is what it was meant to be but it can also suggest that they are exactly the same, just different attitudes on life/ backgrounds.

Editing used

The use of the one long shot being the scene builds up suspense in the scene. The long shot being used to build suspense is good for horror movies as it makes the audience suspenseful which helps with the experience when watching this scene and feeling like you are there with the characters.

The use of the cut before we see what the little girl is seeing helps to build up suspense in the scene. This makes the audience suspenseful which helps with the experience when watching this scene and feeling like you are there with the characters.

Conclusion

I believe that the scenes were successful in engaging the audience and bringing the right conventions into the scenes to create the right genre (Horror). The scenes gave the audience "information" to imagine the narrative without spoiling the narrative to use. It left the audience in suspense which is good for a horror movie. The use of the technical areas helped to build up the characters we were introduced to and will probably following throughout the movie.