Some Films I watched
Shutter
I really enjoyed this Japanese horror movie Shutter written and directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun in 2004. There is now a 2008 American remake directed by Masayuki Ochia.
What was impressive about this film is the use of cinematography. Firstly, the mise en scene of this movie was very conventional to yurei horror. The device through which the Yurei girl contacted the victims was straight forward, the victims were portrayed effectively but the best part of the film was how the Yurei girl was connected to the man victim.
All Yurei films use a "device" through which the Yurei comes out, and at this point, what scares the audience the most is the fact that they use these popular devices everyday in their life, therefore they are afraid that they Yurei can come out from their own devices as well.
However, in Shutter, the context of the movie is based on the facts and opinions people think about horror. Firstly, when the couple see the white marks on the pictures and don't know what it is and then go to the photography store to show them. Later on we meet a man that tells them that people especially make these white patches on pictures in order to have the society intrigued to the 'real life' stories, therefore they buy more newspapers and the company gets more profit.
"Thats the business" he tells them. This gives the audience not only the idea that they want to scare us, but also that they want us to learn and by giving and telling the truth, as in in the film, the audience sits back and thinks that yes, we can also relate to that, that we all once found a ghostly picture in the news or had some white patch in one of our pictures and then we sat there thinking if its the dead or just the quality of the picture or camera.
This technique of telling the truth to the characters in the film, enables the audience watching the film much easier to relate to, therefore this film attracts a larger amount of the audience.
Lastly, what I would like to point out, as I said before, how close the Yurei is to the man. The director built it on the truth and facts again. That when someone loses a close friend or family member, they will always be connected to them and stick with them through life no matter what. But in the film, the way they choose to show how the Yurei girl is connected with the man is very effective. The fact that the audience sees her only when he himself sees her is even more effective, as we get to see the surrounding with the characters point of view.
By the end of the film, the guy calls the Yurei girl, saying how she always said that she would never leave him and always be with him. He then takes a picture of himself and sees her sitting on his neck. The signals shown before like when he went to the doctor and told them that his neck hurts a lot. The audience doesn't take notice of this and thinks that its because of the accident that happened earlier in the film but only later do we understand that its because that girl sits on his neck all the time. This very effective build up to the moment stood out from the film and I was very impressed. The use of cinematography at the end of the film was remarkable. The way that even after the man fell out of his home window and now is all bruised in the hospital, when his girlfriend enters his room in the hospital, the camera focuses on the door through which the girlfriend enters and we see the silhouette of that Yurei girl still sitting on his neck. The door doesn't stay in position as it swings forward and back, and all the time the door swings closer to the audience, the audience could see the man and the girl on his shoulders, and then the door would swing the other direction and the reflection of both of them was lost.
This scene ends with the Yurei girl still sitting on the shoulders of the man, and it emphasises everything said earlier in the film, when she told him that she loves him a lot and would never ever leave him and the facts stated by the other character when he said that sometimes the dead love you so much, they want to stick to you forever and all this realisation in the end kept me thrilled not only throughout the whole movie but also after it finished.
What was impressive about this film is the use of cinematography. Firstly, the mise en scene of this movie was very conventional to yurei horror. The device through which the Yurei girl contacted the victims was straight forward, the victims were portrayed effectively but the best part of the film was how the Yurei girl was connected to the man victim.
All Yurei films use a "device" through which the Yurei comes out, and at this point, what scares the audience the most is the fact that they use these popular devices everyday in their life, therefore they are afraid that they Yurei can come out from their own devices as well.
However, in Shutter, the context of the movie is based on the facts and opinions people think about horror. Firstly, when the couple see the white marks on the pictures and don't know what it is and then go to the photography store to show them. Later on we meet a man that tells them that people especially make these white patches on pictures in order to have the society intrigued to the 'real life' stories, therefore they buy more newspapers and the company gets more profit.
"Thats the business" he tells them. This gives the audience not only the idea that they want to scare us, but also that they want us to learn and by giving and telling the truth, as in in the film, the audience sits back and thinks that yes, we can also relate to that, that we all once found a ghostly picture in the news or had some white patch in one of our pictures and then we sat there thinking if its the dead or just the quality of the picture or camera.
This technique of telling the truth to the characters in the film, enables the audience watching the film much easier to relate to, therefore this film attracts a larger amount of the audience.
Lastly, what I would like to point out, as I said before, how close the Yurei is to the man. The director built it on the truth and facts again. That when someone loses a close friend or family member, they will always be connected to them and stick with them through life no matter what. But in the film, the way they choose to show how the Yurei girl is connected with the man is very effective. The fact that the audience sees her only when he himself sees her is even more effective, as we get to see the surrounding with the characters point of view.
By the end of the film, the guy calls the Yurei girl, saying how she always said that she would never leave him and always be with him. He then takes a picture of himself and sees her sitting on his neck. The signals shown before like when he went to the doctor and told them that his neck hurts a lot. The audience doesn't take notice of this and thinks that its because of the accident that happened earlier in the film but only later do we understand that its because that girl sits on his neck all the time. This very effective build up to the moment stood out from the film and I was very impressed. The use of cinematography at the end of the film was remarkable. The way that even after the man fell out of his home window and now is all bruised in the hospital, when his girlfriend enters his room in the hospital, the camera focuses on the door through which the girlfriend enters and we see the silhouette of that Yurei girl still sitting on his neck. The door doesn't stay in position as it swings forward and back, and all the time the door swings closer to the audience, the audience could see the man and the girl on his shoulders, and then the door would swing the other direction and the reflection of both of them was lost.
This scene ends with the Yurei girl still sitting on the shoulders of the man, and it emphasises everything said earlier in the film, when she told him that she loves him a lot and would never ever leave him and the facts stated by the other character when he said that sometimes the dead love you so much, they want to stick to you forever and all this realisation in the end kept me thrilled not only throughout the whole movie but also after it finished.
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