Intent: to examine how mood is communicated in visual narrative, particularly from one extreme to another, i.e. Depression/Elation
Reference point: The Haunting - Directed by Robert Wise (1963) from the book, The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson
The main visual languages employed in this film, to induce feelings of fear and anxiety in an haunted house are the lighting, distortion of filming; cunning use of mirrors and dramatic perspective shots, and the actors facial expressions. The information given through the script is also at play in some scenes; one in particular, the scene mostly in the dark with the main protagonist's face only lit where she describes her hand being held to tight, only to realise that there is, in fact, no one beside her! Very simple, extremely effective. The power of one's own imagination is left to complete the pictures.
Throughout the film, the scenes alternate moods, between the dark and scary parts and the light relief scenes, these extremes of contrast also contribute to the disturbing sensations of the more frightening moments.
I have selected two scenes to explore these theories. This first scene is particularly interesting to me, as the entire thing is shot with full lighting, and it is just the actors showing their terror and fear of banging sounds deep within the walls of the house which is portrayed, then seconds later they are laughing at themselves and relieved.
The second scene I selected is from towards the end of the film as it climaxes and uses distortion by use of a convex mirror, the hallway is dark and the protagonist, Nell, runs distressed towards the camera/mirror to terminate as a close up. It is shot in one take with the camera panning out a little at the end to reveal the mirror.
Facial expression
First night bedroom scene
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Originals
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Facial expression, lighting and shadow experiment
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Close ups
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| Original |
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| Original |
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| Original |
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| Original |
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| Original |
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| Facial expression experiment |
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| Facial expression experiment |
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| Lighting experiment |
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| Shadow experiment |
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| Facial expression experiment |
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| Facial expression experiment |
Immediately after the haunting incident, same bedroom
The mood changes completely, it is light hearted and the protagonist are laughing at themselves for being foolish. Let's see what happens when I change all their facial expressions.
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| Original |
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| Facial expressions of the women changed |
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| Original |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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| New facial expressions for all characters - various combinations can then be made |
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Subsidiary conclusion
Evidently I could have gone on and on, the possible combinations are abundant. And it was very interesting to see how the interaction of the characters was altered sometimes dramatically and sometimes subtly. Even the direction that they are facing, body language, interaction between themselves.
Distortion
Nell's hall run
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| Originals |
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| Distortion and lighting experiments to top left two frames |
Close ups
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| Original |
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| Distortion correction experiment |
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| Original |
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| Lighting experiment |
Facial expression
Nell's hall run termination point at mirror
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| Originals |
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| Facial expression experiments |
Close ups
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| Original |
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| Original |
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| Original |
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| Original |
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| Facial expression experiment |
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| Facial expression experiment |
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| Facial expression experiment |
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| Facial expression experiment |
Subsidiary conclusion
I experimented with the lighting too, to see if this contributed to the mood as it does in so much of the film. I think it did not on this occasion, as the distortion was the main disturbance, and even with the well lit hallway the distorted view is still most unsettling. Nell's facial expressions were also certainly a major contributing factor in the mood set during this scene.
Response
From Birdwoman by Kitty Skye
Exploring the use of distortion and facial expression
Subsidiary conclusion
In this experiment I wanted to convey how frightened the Birdwoman feels. I have portrayed her in her basic form, a bird, to represent fragility, and although in my analyses of The Haunting, I established that the lighting was not significant in its contributing to the discombobulation in these selected scenes, I was aware from watching the film (several times), that the lighting and shadows had their roles to play. And as such I used this with my test content along with facial expression and distortion.
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