Research - Antagonist

Antagonists

There is a whole variety of 'villains' that are known in the horror genre. They could be from the villains you see to the paranormal ones. For example:

 - Dracula 

 - Leather face 

- Frankenstein's Monster 

- Norman Bates

- Saw 

- Paranormal ones such the The Conjuring and Paranormal activity  

The Conjuring

The Conjuring is about to investigators Ed and Lorraine going to help a family who are being possessed by something in their farm house. In the conjuring you could say there is two monsters. One is the 'thing' possessing the family and then the other is the Annabel doll who is possessing the investigators daughter.  

Annabel Doll:

Mise En Scene:

Scruffy appearance 

Costume - Ripped, old, dirty dress to signify left alone with no care and danger, dark

Props - Possessed -  makes her bad and scary to the audience 

Make up - Messed up make up again to show loneliness, scary, crying, messy and dirty hair and face - doesn't fit into society  

Lighting - She is always shown in dark lighting to signify the danger of her, something isn't right 

Paranormal 'monster':

In the clip above there are the main sections in the film that show the paranormal 'monster'. 

Camera:

Investigators go into the basement with sound detector - In this clip there is a hand held camera to show the normality of the clip and to make the audience feel it can happen to them. It stays in a long shot to show the emptiness of the room, but also how old items are in there. The camera also pans around the room to reinforce the dark and empty room, but it also makes you feel that when the camera does pan that something will jump onto the screen (jump-scare). 

There is also a track in this clip, that follows Ed up the stairs, this creates the feeling that they are escaping the monster even though the audience haven't seen a typically horror genre monster yet. It also shows how deep into ground they where. 

Establishing shot / wide shot to establish the isolation of the house, loneliness and darkness and the location of the film  - farm house 

Zoom into the clock - telling the audience that this is a key factor of the film and that the 'monster' comes back at 3:07 am 

Close up / zoom into family photo - This could be there to scare the audience as they are just a typical family

Medium long shot - girls feet getting pulled, to connote that there is the presence of the 'monster'. 

 Low angle / long shot of farm house - This is to show the farm house is like any typical house however the low angle suggests that the house is dominant compared to everything else around 

Medium long of the girls in the family - to show they are scared and that the room behind them is dark, old and dirty looking. This is the same as their clothes as they are dressed much older, this could connote that they don't fit in with society as they are now part of the 'monster'. 

Camera tracks 360 degrees around the investigator - This shows the empty dark room and that she is trying to find the 'monster'. 

Over the shoulder shot / point of view shot of  Lorraine looking at the dead girl hanging from the true, which is over the shoulder of Ed. This shows the death that the 'monster' has caused. 

Editing:

The director uses a variety of editing techniques to show the antagonist increases the realism of the antagonist to the audience, this is because in the Conjuring you never actually see the monster so its about helping the audience to believe there is one. 

Jump cut - There is a jump cut between the Ed and Lorraine going into the basement and when they are talking at a presentation. This shows the audience that this could occur in the film. 

Fast pace editing - photos of old cases from the investigators - This is to show how many investigations they have had over the years and how the worst has came back to life 

Match on action - This is used to show the reaction of the characters when the seem some kind of paranormal activity in the film. 

Lightening:

Low key lighting - This is used for the majority of the film as it shows the danger and the fact that the audience can't see everything so leaves them in suspense of what could be there. 

The house is always in darkness this could be to show that it is the home of the monster as its dark and lonely

Natural lightening  - The natural lighting is very dim to show the overall scariness of the location

Sound:

Silence - Silence is used mostly throughout this film and in most horror genre films. In the Conjuring it is there to build tension, the silence is often used before a jump scare. This is because it helps create the scream from the audience. 

Ambient sound - This is there within the location and to reinforce the isolation of the location - for example there isn't any birds singing in the background which is strange for a farm house. 

Non diegetic sound - In the film there are a few tracks used to again help build tension, usually before a jump scare. 

Individual sounds with silence - There is a game played by the girls in the house called hide and seak claps which they play with their mum. However these claps reaper when the girl are at school. This again reinforces the fact that there is a monster in the house. It also helps build the fear and tension from the audience to again help the scream scare bigger. This is also done with the close ticking when it hits 3:07 - this helps build the tension in the film.