NW: Deconstruction of opening scene- Saw (Wan,2004)

Genre

• Saw (Wan,2004) belongs in the psychological horror sub-genre, however it does contain elements of other sub-genres such as Splatter and Torture Porn due to its use of graphic torture and gore. It fits the conventions of psychological horror because it makes you think what would I do in this situation, so it pulls you into the narrative by imagining yourself in the characters position and therefore affects you psychologically.
• During the first part of the opening, audiences generic expectations of the text would be fulfilled as they would be questioning their actions of they were in the situation, also the use of a domestic prop like the bath tub will relate to all audiences and will scare them just within the first few minutes of the film. The second part of the opening is not completely conventional of psychological horror as we see the gun as a weapon and normally weapons don't appear much in psychological films as it's normally based on mind games, so this will challenge the audiences expectations of the text.
• On the whole the text conforms to the characteristics of the genre, as the audience we see the fear of the characters and their desperation and so its presents the text as being serious, it doesn't treat the characteristics in a comical or playful way, which allows the audience to know how they should react to the film.
  

Film Language

• Camera: The scene begins with an  extreme close up shot of the man submerged in water, we see the struggle and sudden panic in his facial expressions which automatically connotes that he was not aware that he was underwater and perhaps was forced there by someone/something. Further into the scene a high angle is used when the bright lights are turned on and we see the mans reaction, it puts the audience above the man and makes him look vulnerable, weak and scared. After showing the two men in the bathroom and their blurry POV shots which suggest they are trying to adjust their eyes to the light as the shots are out of focus and shaky, the camera pans around to reveal the dead body in the centre of the room followed by the camera spinning above the body in a birds eye view shot and then extreme close ups of the body parts and props that the dead man is holding. These shots connote danger and tension as it really involves the audience by seeing the body really close up, also the spinning shot suggests a sense of loss of control and madness.
• Editing: In the beginning of the scene there is a fairly slow cutting rate which challenges the horror genre as we expect a quick rate which causes tension, this makes the audience wary of what is going to happen. Towards the end of the scene however the cutting rate speeds up a lot after the two men have seen the dead body, this connotes their panic and fear after seeing the horrific tortured corpse in front of them. Jump cutting is used when the first man is trying to break himself free from the chain, this suggests his desperation to be free and perhaps his disbelief that he is actually in this situation.
• Mise-en-scene: The location of the old, dirty, rusty bathroom creates a sense of eeriness as it looks as if no ones been there for a long time. Considering its a bathroom the room is very big which makes the characters seem smaller and more vulnerable, it also creates a sense of loneliness. Their costume is fairly casual and plain, which suggests they are just normal people, the second man has sweat and dirt on his shirt which connotes that he's stressed and perhaps has been there for a long time. Also the use of pale makeup and cuts on his face makes him look unwell and rough, all the colour has drained from his lips, this could suggest that he hasn't had food for a while and is undernourished. The lighting is not conventional of a horror movie but its so bright and has a blue tinge to it which connotes a cold surrounding and could be used as an effect to disconcert the audience.

• Sound: There is selective sound of the lights being turned on, the sound is amplified and it sounds like electric shocks every time a new light turns on in the shot so the sound links with the images. There is diegetic sound throughout the scene, the sound of water moving through pipes, the pipes creaking and there's also non-diegetic sound, a dull drone in the background which links to the images of the confused men and when the corpse is revealed a high pitched sound occurs which sounds like a rocket firework. These sounds create tension for the audience as they have visceral effect as they are determining the emotions of the audience by building up their anticipation through the use of sounds.
• Visual Techniques: In post production a blue filter may have been used to create a cold surrounding. Post production techniques may have also been used to blur the POV shots to create a dizziness effect so the audience are put in the position of the man effectively.
• Titles: All title credits come before the scene properly starts, the text is blue in quite a traditional font and all names are centred in the middle of the frame. When the words leave the shot they dissolve away like waves on the water, which is linking to both the sound in the background and the first shot we see which is the man in the bath. The title of the film is revealed after we see the mans face in the water with the mysterious blue light showing parts of his face, the title is written and positioned in the same way as the opening credits and dissolves away in the same way.
  

Narrative

• Plot outline: There's and man who awakes in a bath tub with a blue light floating around in the water, he clambers out and falls onto the floor finding himself chained to the wall by his ankle, he struggles to get up and staggers around whilst shouting out for help. He is shocked when a second man speaks to him from the other side of the room in a rough voice, the second man finds the lights and turns them on causing both men straining their eyes and trying to adjust to the bright light. When they can see the room, they are horrified by seeing a dead body in a pool of blood on the floor with half its face completely disfigured, in reaction to this, the first man tries frantically to pull himself free from the chain, with no success. The stock characters are the two men and the stock situation appears to be that they are being held hostage by someone who tortures people.
• The sequences in the opening scene are all in chronological order so it has continuity which tells the audience the story in order and they can follow it along easily.
• The audience is placed in the narrative a lot in this opening sequence, there are POV shots which make the audience feel like they are in the room experiencing the same thing, also the high angle used makes the audience feel like they are there standing above the characters, which not only makes them feel involved but it also makes them feel like they have power and authority.
• Tension is created and maintained through the use of selective sound, types of camera shot and angle, various aspects of mise-en-scene including location, lighting, costume and makeup. Many enigma codes are presented, questions such as Why are they there? How did they get there? Who are they? Who's the dead man? How long have they been there? 

Representation and Ideology

• The two men in the sequence are presented as being mad and out of control, however given the situation this is understandable. The first man is presented as being more ‘normal’ than the second man as he reacts to the situation as any other human being would, panicking and acting in disbelief. However the second man is presented as being more mad as he is relatively calm in the situation and he doesn’t react as you might expect therefore challenging the stereotype in horror films where the protagonists always react dramatically to the situation.
• The ideological discourse for this sequence puts the two men in the scene as the protagonists, we see them as vulnerable and the audience feels sorry for them because they’ve been put in this horrific situation. They generally conform to the stereotype of a protagonist in a horror movie, they are confused and affected emotionally to why they’ve been chained to the walls of an old bathroom with a dead corpse lying in a pool of blood and this leads the audience to believe that they are innocent and have been unfairly targeted. Masculinity is challenged in this scene as both men are vulnerable in the situation as they have no way of getting out, they are helpless and act irrationally in response to this, this is unconventional of the horror genre because normally the men are the heroic characters who aren't scared of anything and they normally are the ones to sort out the situation.

Media Audiences

• The target audience for Saw is males from around age 15, this is because it has lots of gore and torture which tends to attract a more male audience than a female audience, its not for young children to watch however it would appeal to late teenagers because it has a certain amount of excitement and action to attract these audiences.
• The possible audience readings of this text might include confusion to why the two men have been put in this room with a corpse, they might feel vulnerable themselves because they could imagine themselves in the situation, the use of POV shots would especially encourage this. The audience may also feel horrified by the dead body in the room, the mise-en-scene of the blood and makeup effects on his face to create a distorted effect would add to the terror.
• Personally I read the text as being conventional of the horror genre, the blood and gore especially reinforce this as that’s what I would expect in a horror film. However I think the lighting later on in the scene challenges horror stereotype as its very bright and makes me feel quite ‘safe’ when watching the scene as personally I find the dark scenes more scary. Being a female, this film probably wasn’t targeted for me as much as it is for males due to the use of gore and torture, however I do feel like it appeals to my age range as it includes quite a lot of mystery just in the first few minutes.

Institutional Context

• The production companies involved in the making of Saw are Evolution Entertainment and Twisted Pictures, the distributor was Lionsgate Films. Since the first Saw film and its success, there were six more films that make up the seven part Saw franchise.
• There is evidence that this film is independent because it had a very small filming budget of $700,000 and a very short amount of time to film in so Wan was only able to film a couple of takes for each shot, they also found afterwards that there were gaps in the edit so they had to take still photographs to fill the gaps and use video from surveillance cameras to complete the film as they didn't film enough takes when shooting for the first time. 
• There were no major A listers in the film, however since the film came out the actors became more popular as the film did really well. 

After watching this clip I have now collected more ideas to put forward into my concept development, I think that use of sound and lighting in this clip was especially interesting and i hope to take some of the same techniques forward into our concept.