Product Analysis Severance (Christopher Smith, 2006)

Severance Opening Analysis


Genre
Severance (Christopher Smith, 2006) is classified a horror film, the audiences generic expectations are fulfilled by the text, the director uses conventions that are typical to all horror films such as blood, gore and violence however the text could be interpreted differently to what the director wanted, the comic is not obvious in the scene without knowing the rest of the film. The text does not use the typical characteristics of horror it uses them playfully and ironically the text could be considered a comedy/horror, this is not shown very well at the start of the film, we only see this irony in the music at the start of the film. This shows how the text uses the conventions playfully.
Film language
The mise-en-scene conveys the meaning by using dark lighting, conventional props such as the knife and rope, the black shots between shots, the costumes are generic to the genre they are tattered, dirty and some clothes missing. The director has used dark lighting to convey the sense of fear.
The use of camera angles are greatly used to convey the meaning, the dark shots are a great way to show a typical convention of horror, the 1st person shot is used twice in the sequence this shot is great because it creates suspense. The director uses different angles as well, in the shot when the man is hanging from his feet we see a shot from what he would be seeing this shows suspense and fear of the character. We later see a bus full of the main characters we see close ups of all the characters and meet them all and the audience is introduced to all the characters at the beginning the man is running and the camera is tracking along side the character and we then hear a thud and he disappears from shot the camera tracks back to find him getting up after hitting a tree this shows the irony of the scene.
The beginning sequence shows two women running and with a man from behind them, the girls fall in to a hole and the man is taken by a noose round the foot and hung upside down but all the while this is happening we hear the relaxing music. There is both non-diagetic and diagetic sounds such as the atmospheric music when the man is stabbed and the gargling sounds when the man is pumping out blood. When the man gets stabbed the music changes to an even happier theme song this shows the irony of the scene, the music then changes to another happy song when we meet the main characters. We then see behind another man with a knife that approaches the hanging man he then stabs the man in the stomach and we see a lot of blood.
Narrative
The killer is alienated within the text; we do not see his face or much of his body. The two women are also alienated by the language barrier so we do not understand there cries and dialogue together when they are trapped down the hole. They are also alienated by there clothing and then the lack of it in the last thirty seconds of the scene.
The characters posture is very retreated and closed; this is clear when the man is running from what we think is the killer and then when he stops and speaks to the girls he is hunched this closes off the audience from him and we see him apologise and keep running.
Representation & Ideology
In the first scene we see the women running and when they fall in to the hole they are screaming at the man to help them but we can not understand them as they are speaking in a foreign language and the man does not help so we presume that he said no.
We only meet three characters in the opening sequence two Russian strippers and a large English 35 year old man and we briefly see the killer. The Russian girls are panicked and look behind them running from someone they are then showed as proactive when they try to climb there way out and the man is showed as a coward and selfish. The scene does not have enough in it to show any semiotics.

Media audiences
The film is targeted at 15 – 30 year olds as the characters are of this age, and the certificate is 15. The film is targeted at males as the text conforms to themes that interest males however this does not mean that females will not like the film. The probable audience reading will be intended reading as the audience is looking to be entertained by horror movies rather than informed with factual evidence. However there maybe representation in the props or costumes used to show the time or place of the scene.
I do not have the experience of films to comment or criticise the text I purely watch films for entertainment and for amusement which this film provides. I can not relate to this situation as I have never been to Russia or been chased by a murderous villain.

Institutional Context
The film has big stars such as Andy Nyman and Tim McInnerny big stars help the film sell as when the audience see that the film has big stars starring in the film they want to see it as they like the actor or they think he/she is good. It is an independent film. They used posters trailers and tag lines to advertise the film.