Micro Analysis The Grudge

Micro Analysis – The Grudge

After been given a chance to analyse a films method for the creation of suspense, we were then given the chance to select our own film based on the genre of thriller and analyse and explain the purpose of these methods. The film I had chosen, was The Grudge (Apartment Haunting Scene).

The scene is about three minutes long, however during the first two minute and 30 seconds of the film there is no use of the non-diegetic sound, being soundtrack. Which means that the character within the, scene is surrounded, by silence which we as an audience are able to experience. Now the method in which the film used to create suspense was that the only sounds we could hear were the projections of diegetic sound, created, by the character which created tension, because of her slowly breaking the silence.

Moreover the use of a tracking shot is used, so we are able to follow the character towards and away from danger. Also the tracking shot allow us to engage with what he character is reacting to, for example the phone rings and she sighs in relief, because she discovers that it is a friend of hers. Which calm not only the character but we as an audience as well, because we believes we’ve escaped from the unknown danger. However the creation of suspense in this horror, begins to take place. The ringing of the doorbell, to find out that no one is there, the use of dialogue for the character to express how she feels in the situation she is in, finally the chromatic sound of a cat growling on the phone and still continues once the power supply is removed.

This causes the audience to hold onto their seats, because of them being unaware of what’s causing these, unexplained scenarios. We begin to zoom into the traumatized characters face, leading into a close up shot of the characters reaction. At the same time the use of a soundtrack, getting louder follows and the sound of the growling cat follows.

The camera angle then changes into a low angled shot to experience the characters vulnerability of this thing crawling towards her from the end of her bed, under the covers. We as the audience get to see what the female character sees with the use of a POV shot, while simultaneously projecting the character soundtrack to scare us, even more, as if the sighting of the creature doesn’t scare us.

Now the use of the mise en scene structure and concludes the suspense made within this scene. The room is quiet again and the surroundings low key. This pull s off the feeling that there is no escape from the creature even if you were to hide from such things as you would do as a kid, being a blanket, turning on lights. Childlike acts will not help or save you.

In conclusion with the use of all these methods, the creation of suspense is strong within the scene with its late build up to suspense, which is why the grudge will always catch me off guard. 

Micro Analysis Inception

Micro Analysis - Inception.

I’ve chosen the three-minute inception scene ‘ Inception Hallway fight ‘, because I found its use of the creation of suspense the most entertaining and frustrating scene out of the 5 films we had to analyse.

Immediately at the start of the scene the use of a soundtrack, being of a mixture of a piano and cello creates the suspense. As a member of the audience, we begin to pay attention to the situation, the character Arthur (Joseph Gordon – Levitt). Now with the use of the soundtrack, scene has been structured, this also symbolises that once the soundtrack is over there will be final conclusion to whether the characters survive or not, during the chase scene.

Interesting, piece of editing for the scene to present suspense even further is the use of cross cuts. Every fifteen to twenty seconds, we as an audience are presented scenes of action of a car chase in the real world and a fighting brawl between Arthur (Joseph Gordon – Levitt) within the dream world. The build up of suspense continues to grow, with the use of constant cross cuts, this is because the audience is visually looking into two different worlds with different scenarios that are happening simultaneously and that danger surrounds the characters, leading to a possible unexpected disaster.

In terms of the mise en scene within the film there is a use of low-key lighting within both worlds. In the dream world the only source of light are from lamps on the wall . While in the real world the colour is dull and grey. With the lack of colours in both worlds, represent a possible chance of death, which continues to hold suspense upon the audience. Furthermore with the main prop, being guns in both worlds increase the chances of death for either characters and continues to maintains the suspense within the action sequence.

Also, there is very little dialogue within the scene, which mean that the audience has very little verbal information to take in, but mainly to concentrate on the visual aspects. The most amazing technique used within the scene is the mixture of both tracking and tilt/rotation, when the scene takes place in the dream worlds. Portrays the fight scene to be more exciting and gripping. This is, because when given a cross cut, half way within the scene the van that holds the main characters crash and flips. Now, because of the situation happening in the real world. Causes effect within the dream world. The dream world begins to spin while the fight continues. This engages with the audience further, as if they were actually there.

Finally the scene ends with humour and the soundtrack fading away with the man driving the van yelling while laughing, ‘WWWWWOOOOOOH, DID YOU SEE THAT’. Now, because the characters in the van are asleep  they were unable to witness and congratulate the driver on his success of escape. This give time for the audience to take in what has just happened and slowly accept the conclusion of the character’s safety.

In conclusion with the use of the micro feature used, along with others the scene ‘Hallway FIGHT’ in Inception maintains its projection of suspense and entertainment for the audience. Without the correct use of editing, sound, camera angles/shots and Mise en Scene then the same reaction and affect may not have occurred as the scene had done


Image of the real world on the (left) and image of the dream world on the (right):

Class you have a mission:

Preliminary task:

Recently after being given a tutorial on how to use the media/film equipment (Camera. Tripod, Editing software). all the group in the class were given a task to create a small film sequence having any theme of genre. The class was split into groups of three, which our teacher had organised. Everyone in the group had to take part and have a particular role when filming.

With two actors chosen for the task 'Stephan' and 'Anthony', i took on the role, being the cameraman for the task. This gave me the opportunity to give my final thoughts on what was just recorded and what should be recorded. With me being the cameraman, this allowed me to be a team leader during the task. however when filming, there was a lack of consistency to getting the right shot, whether being P.O.V, Longshot, Medium shot etc. For example one minute I'd capture a great medium shot, but struggle to get an effect shot reverse shot. Also, because of the lack of communication I had at the start, less work was made, causing us to create a short sequence with very little footage.

Overall there were more preferred shots, then there were of disapproved shots, for example the use of the close up shot of our character opening the door, followed by a cut into a medium shot of him entering the new location. However when reaching the editing process of our short sequence a problem occurred when, our character would teleport on the screen for a second, then carrying on walking. This was due to the lack of effort put into our editing time. The problem hadn't been resolved, because we didn't have enough time to. To avoid these future problems instead of recording the entire scene in one take, we shall pause at certain points to record at desired shot types. Another problem is the interference involving the micro phone when filming, because the microphone wasn't attachable with the filming camera. When recording there were moments of the microphone appearing at either the left or right hand side of the screen, causing further interference to capture diegetic sound.

Even though there were issues, being in charge of capturing the right shots, allowed me to experiment onto how certain shots, could be captured more effectively. Also when proceeding with the editing process this also allowed the group and I to discuss what we like and didn't like for future reference when recording our actual opening sequenceImprovement is well needed for a better impact for our opening sequence. This will requirement immediate communication when filming. Then the use of repeated checks of what was captured to provide satisfactory results from all members of the group.


If we were giving the chance to repeat the exact same task, a better success rate to satisfaction with our audience would be gained, because of the further practice we have had with teachers and observations of online tutorials on YouTube, for professional techniques. Our task would definitely be more successful then what is displayed to you below.

Preliminary Task Below: