FILM ANALYSIS: HORROR- The Exorcist

FILM TITLE: The Exorcist 

Film Synopsis:

Lankester Merrin is a veteran Catholic priest who is on an archaeological dig in Iraq. There he finds an amulet that resembles the statue of Pazuzu, a demon whom Merrin had defeated years before. Merrin then realizes the demon has returned to seek revenge.

Meanwhile, in Georgetown, actress Chris MacNeil is living on location with her pre-teen daughter Regan, where Chris has just wrapped the final scene of a film about student activism directed by her friend and associate Burke Dennings. After playing with a Ouija board and contacting a supposedly imaginary friend named Captain Howdy, Regan begins acting strangely, including making mysterious noises, stealing, constantly using obscene language, and exhibiting abnormal strength. Chris hosts a party, only for Regan to come downstairs unannounced, telling one of the guests, who is an astronaut, "You're gonna die up there", and then urinating on the floor. Regan also causes her bed to shake violently, much to her and the mother's horror. Chris consults physicians, but Dr. Klein and his associates find nothing medically wrong with her daughter, despite Regan undergoing a battery of diagnostic tests.

One night when Chris is out, Burke Dennings is babysitting Regan, only for Chris to come home to hear he has died falling out the window. Although this is assumed to have been an accident, given Burke's history of heavy drinking, his death is investigated by Lieutenant William Kinderman, who interviews Chris, as well as priest and psychiatrist Father Damien Karras, who has lost faith in God after his frail mother died. The doctors, thinking that Regan only believes she is possessed, recommend an exorcism be performed. Chris arranges a meeting with Karras. After recording Regan speaking backwards and witnessing the etching of the words "Help Me" on her stomach, Karras is convinced Regan is possessed. Believing her soul is in danger, he decides to perform an exorcism. The experienced Merrin is selected to do so instead, with Karras present to assist.

Both priests witness Regan perform a series of bizarre, vulgar acts, and confine her to her bedroom. They attempt to exorcise the demon, but a stubborn Pazuzu toys with them, especially Karras. Karras shows weakness, and is dismissed by Merrin, who attempts the exorcism alone. Karras enters the room and discovers Merrin has died of a heart attack. After failing to revive Merrin, Karras confronts the mocking, laughing spirit of Pazuzu, tackling the demon to the ground. At Karras's plea, Pazuzu then possesses Karras, leaving Regan's body. In a moment of self-sacrifice, the priest throws himself out of the window before Pazuzu can compel him to harm Regan, and is mortally injured. Father Dyer, an old friend of Karras, happens upon the scene and administers the last rites to his friend. A few days later Regan, who is now back to \her normal self, prepares to leave for Los Angeles with her mother. Although Regan has no recollection of her possession, she gives Father Dyer a kiss, a likely hint at posthumous thanks to Father Merrin and Father Karras. Kinderman, who narrowly misses their departure, befriends Father Dyer as he investigates Karras' death.

Referenced from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist_(film)#Production 11/11/16

Production:

William Peter Blatty:

“William Peter Blatty (born January 7, 1928) is an American writer and filmmaker The Exorcist, written in 1971, is his most well-known novel; he also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation, for which he won an Academy Award, and wrote and directed the sequel The Exorcist III.

His most recent works include the novels Elsewhere (2009), Dimiter (2010), and Crazy (2010). In 2013, Demons Five, Exorcist Nothing: A Fable (1996) and Dimiter (2010) were re-released as revised editions with new covers and interior artwork. Each were limited to 250 signed copies. The former had its subtitle changed from A Fable to A Hollywood Christmas Carol.

Blatty's upcoming publications include The Exorcist For The 21st Century featuring "an original and never before published adaptation for a new miniseries of Blatty's classic novel,” and a non-fiction book that is "part funny memoir and part proof of life after death," titled Finding Peter: A True Story Of The Hand Of Providence And Evidence Of Life After Death

He is also featured in the 2014 Smoke And Mirrors anthology, featuring the teleplay "Hell Hospital" and the treatment "Faith.”

Produced:

• The Man From the Diner's Club (1963)
• A Shot in the Dark (1964; co-screenplay)
• John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965)
• Promise Her Anything (1965)
• What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966)
• Gunn (1967 – co-screenplay)
• The Great Bank Robbery (1969)
• Darling Lili (1970 – co-screenplay)
• The Exorcist (1973)
• Mastermind (1976 as "Terence Clyne")
• The Ninth Configuration (1980)
• The Exorcist III (1990)

Referenced from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Peter_Blatty

11/11/16

Distributer:

WARNER BROS.

“Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (often referred to as Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. and also shortened to WB) is an American entertainment company owned by Time Warner, headquartered in Burbank, California. Warner Bros. is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America.”

Distributed:

Gold Diggers	1923–1938
Sherlock Holmes	2009–Present
Dirty Harry	1971–1988
Superman	1978–2006
Mad Max	1979–present	co-production with Kennedy Miller Mitchell.
National Lampoon's Vacation	1983–2015
Police Academy	1984–1994
A Nightmare on Elm Street	1984–2010	co-production with Smart Egg Pictures.
Lethal Weapon	1987–1998	co-production with Silver Pictures.
Batman	1989–1997	co-production with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	1990–2007	Golden Harvest, Mirage Studios and Imagi Animation Studios.
Free Willy	1993–2010	co-production with Regency Enterprises and Warner Premiere.
Dumb and Dumber	1994–2014	co-production with Conundrum Entertainment.
Mortal Kombat	1995–present	co-production with New Line Cinema.
Rush Hour	1998–present	co-production with New Line Cinema
The Matrix	1999–2003	co-production with Roadshow Entertainment, Village Roadshow Pictures, Silver Pictures and Fuse Global.
Ocean's	2001–2007	co-production with Jerry Weintraub Productions, Section Eight Productions and Village Roadshow Pictures.
Harry Potter	2001–2011; 2016–present	co-production with Heyday Films.
Scooby-Doo	2002–present	co-production with Mosaic Media Group.
The Dark Knight Trilogy	2005–2012	co-production with DC Entertainment, Legendary Pictures and Syncopy Inc.
The Hangover Trilogy	2009–2013	co-production with Legendary Pictures and Green Hat Films
The Hobbit Trilogy	2012–2014	co-production with New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and WingNut Films.
DC Extended Universe	2013–present	co-production with DC Films, RatPac Entertainment, Atlas Entertainment and Cruel and Unusual Films.
The Lego Movie	2014–present	co-production with Village Roadshow Pictures, Lego System A/S, Vertigo Entertainment, Lin Pictures, Animal Logic and Warner Animation Group
Godzilla-Kong cinematic universe	2014–present	co-production with Legendary Pictures and Toho.

 Referenced from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros.#Film_series

11/11/16

Production Budget:

$12,000,000, Profit: $193,000,000

Referenced from: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist_(film_series)#Box_office

09/11/16

Timeline:

00:00-00:10: The production sequence is shown with background non-diegetic, suspenseful music. 
00:10-00:20: Then there is a black screen and when the music has a sting within it, a credit screen comes up " A William Friedkin Film".
00:20-00:30: Another fade out to a black screen, along with new credit screens and when the music starts playing the lyrics the title "EXORCIST" appears, red in colouring. 
00:30-00:40: Then the music plays on a black screen for the next 10 seconds after a fade out from the title screen. 
00:40-01:00: After the black screen begins to fade in from a low saturated clip of a sun rise on a skyline, to a highly saturated clip, music still playing. 
01:00-01:10: Then there is a cut to a desert with people and animals walking around, after there is another cut to a medium-long shot of men working within the desert on a site. People directing a large group of sheep. Music still playing throughout. 
01:10-01:20: There is then a cut and a zoom into someone with a pick knife carving into the desert structure, then a cut to a fade out of a building with a fast fade in of the words "Northern Iraq".
01:20-01:30: After this there is a fast fade out of these words and a zoom out from the building, exposing the working men again on this work site, music slowly fades out to the ambient sounds of the people working. 
01:30-01:40: There is a cut to a clip of a left-to-right pan showing the people working, no dialogue, just the ambient sounds of working. 
01:40-01:50: The clip just follows on a sequence of shots of the men working alone, in groups and walking around.
01:50-02:00: Then there is focus on a young looking boy running around the site, jumping in the ditches and a tracking shot of him running up a slim path. 

FILM ANALYSIS: 

SETTING ANALYSIS: 

The setting of the opening scene to The Exorcist is set in Northern Iraq, on what seems to be a building site, as there are shots of men using building equipment on broken buildings and on piles of rubble. 

From the Iraq scenes of the opening, the film doesn’t seem to appear as a horror, this is to confuse the audience into believing this. 

LIGHTING ANALYSIS: 

After five seconds of a black background, a sun and horizon dissolve in. The light of the sun progressively gets brighter to a point where the sun is orange and the sky is red. This, again, can present danger, blood and fire which are essential elements to the genre. 

COSTUME ANALYSIS:

The costume used in the opening scene to the Exorcist is a cultural clothing for Northern Iraq: flowing, thin and covering clothes with a headscarf. This use of costumes doesn't indicate any real development of mise-en-scene, however for the start the audience are able to make assumptions on what the movie will be about, although through this opening scene they are led astray, this technique is used to confuse the audience into a false sense of security as this opening scene doesn't introduce any form of primary character.

SHOT ANALYSIS:

A majority of the opening scene is a long-shot, also acts as a temporary establishing shot for the audience to give the overall effect of the film being in a desert. There are also a number of medium-long shots to focus on a certain aspect of the location: for example the medium-long shot of the rising sun in the sky is used to indicate to the audience warmth.

MOTIF ANALYSIS: 

There is no clear motif within this film opening, however there are specific striking shots, for example:

This shot is particularly striking as it is the shot within this entire opening scene which has such a high vibrance and saturation to it, the other shots all have neutral colouring, therefore this is particularly memorable to the audience as it is different.

Another particularly striking shot is: 

this is striking shot because its the only shot that states the location of the setting, this is why the audience remember this shot as they're told something that they can make assumptions from.

TRANSITION ANALYSIS: 

The transitions through this entire movie opening there is only one video transition, other than a cut. This is the fade from no saturation to a saturated clip of a rising sun in the sky, the beginning clip. Apart from that the other transitions are all cuts. These both create suspense through slow reveal and through a sudden change, these both create the genre. 

MUSIC ANALYSIS:

non-diegetic violin music playing.

The non-diegetic music then fades out and leaves the diegetic sound of all the people working, the effect of this makes the scene seem more realistic but also removes the horror and makes the scene feel safe and not scary. This is effective as it can lure the audience into a false sense of security.

CREDIT/TYPOGRAPHY ANALYSIS:

The words "THE EXORCIST" go from pink to red, this could connote to the audience that this is a gore film and can be a potential foreshadow for the primary characters. 

The use of font colour can also be used to connote a specific gender, for example the pink may communicate to the audience that the movie is about: a female as there is a colour change from pink to red, this can show emotion changes which is a stereotypical female roll in film. However it could also symbolise danger and therefore potentially a male overrepresentation as they are stereotypically more dangerous and violent. 

 FOCUS GROUP ANALYSIS: 

Amy Murphy: 
She found the music and clips together to match well although she didn't really understand the relevance to the rest of the movie with this. Amy would watch the rest of it as she was curious to see how the opening links with the rest of the movie. 

Rebecca Bateson: 
"Very spiritual" while talking about the music used. She was interested in what was going on and what the purpose of the people in it, and furthermore why where it was, was important. However, she was not entirely 'reeled' in to watching the rest of the movie, as there seemed to be no living plot during this opening scene however the themes shown are intriguing.

Isabella May: 
She thought that the movie opening was some what bland and uninteresting as there was no indication of horror, and as this is a horror movie she was not drawn into the themes presented. Although she claimed that she understood the techniques used (i.e. colour choices), she was just overall not interested in watching the rest of the film.

Fran Aghoghovbia:
She liked the beginning and thought that the use of close ups were effective as she was never entirely sure of where she was looking and what was happening. She also liked the use of the suns saturation fade in as it was clear to her that the day was starting and that therefore something else was, although she was not sure what. She would probably watch the rest of the film as she was curious as to why the characters were building, and what relevance that had to the themes and actions within the rest of the film. 

What have I learnt from this film?
From this film I they have used the convention of music to really eventuate the suspense being built, therefore within the process of my film, I would like to have an effective use of music to capture the scene and grab the audiences attention, like this film opening has done. 

As well as music, the use of establishing shots in this opening give the audience a sense of where they are and therefore whether they are safe in their surroundings.