Film Research- Exam

Camera

Extreme close ups- these seem to be used throughout the film extensively, but it seems that during the initial scenes they are used primarily to focus the movements and actions of the 9 candidates, it allows us within the first minutes of the film, to gather a knowledge of the different personalities featured in this film, by doing this it then makes the events that take place within the room all the more powerful, as to see how these personalities change under the pressure of the situation is one of the most interesting thing about this films basic idea.

Pan- due to the fact that this film is set in a single room, the use of pans across the room as situations unfold are extremely important as they exaggerate the changes that take place between the ‘candidates’.

Gradual zoom- also used often throughout this film, this mainly seems to have been done because of to the large number of characters in the small space, the zoom forces the audience to follow what each character is saying and of what importance this has upon the other characters as the situation continually unfolds.

Sound

The sound in this film is quite simple for the most part, it seems that the diegetic speech has more impact than the music altogether as this film is not about the action or the emotion but rather how personalities change and adapt under pressure. The non-diegetic music that is used however, is mainly quite orchestral, the jumps of violins and gradual beats of drums build up the tension along side the camera angles and editing used.

Often in this film the tension is created through the silence as opposed the sound, this is done as it seems to exaggerate the choices the characters take and let it pan out in such a way that we are not distracted by fancy editing or non-diegetic sound.

            Editing

The use of security cameras to film in a way that creates a real sense of a figure above the ones in the room is very interesting to me as it really sets apart these type of physiological horrors for the very mundane horrors you often see, this film in particular uses this method very well as we are at no moment unaware of the omniscient character that is watching all these candidates.

Black and white filming is used during one point towards the end of this film as a way of showing a flashback, this method seems to work effectively as the audience are not allowed to consider the situation that is taking place, somehow by removing the colour for the image the emotion is removed too, we are simply being reminded what has happened and why that is effecting what is not taking place.

            Mise En Scene

This film has some very prominent features that really seem to exaggerate the overall style of this film. For example the use of very bland, basic colours within the square room used for the near entirety of this film is very interesting because it conveys a tone that seems to purposely juxtapose what this film shows about different personalities, yet it seems that this purposeful juxtaposition makes for a very powerful message.

In all I think the techniques used in this film have been placed in such a way that they only add to what this film shows about the different sides to people and how they react and crack under pressure.