RESEARCH-Analysis of Terrified

Analysis of Terrified


The first film, specifically from the horror genre, that I analysed was Terrified.


Micro analysis.


The first shot of the film opening is a wide shot of the setting of the town. The lighting of the shot is very dark and dingy with a little singular light that reveals the buildings. There is the sound of crickets and a rustling sound which increases the tension. The camera then pans from right to left revealing more of the street. About halfway through the pan we hear a distance screams of what seemed to be a woman or a very high pitched man. The first shot slowly panning of the street comes to and end when it fades to black into the next shot. The next shot is a wide shot again in a graveyard the lighting is still dark within this shot. In the graveyard shot there are howls and more predominate. The camera again pans so we see the entirety of the graveyard. The next shot is still within the graveyard but is a high angle long shot of an open grave. The open grave has a person within in it that is still alive and is struggling. There is then a laugh and we move in to the next shot with a simple normal jump cut of a dark figure. The dark figure is unidentifiable but it looks like a man. The next shot is then a new angle of the same open grave shot this time a masked figure is seen filling the grave with some sort of mixture from a cement mixer so it’s implied to be cement. During the filling of the grave we hear some dialogue between the two characters. The character in the grave asked the masked man who he is and he replies with you know who I am and continues to laugh as the grave is being filled.


Macro analysis.


The key plot introduced by the title sequence is the man we see in the grave being buried alive by the masked man which we suspect is some sort of revenge due to the context of the dialogue exchange between the two characters. We are first introduced to the street which sets the setting but probably more importantly the mood of the opening which instantly and effectively establishes the genre of the film. We are introduced to two characters in the opening the masked man and the man in the grave not much is revealed by these two characters about their significance within the film though it is clear that it seems like the masked man is going to be the character creating the horror within this film.