Main influences - Gothika

I have been influenced mostly by 'Gothika'. It is an intelligent psychological horror that involves a range of 'jumpy' moments, by making use of sound, lighting and unpredictable moments. The opening titles to the movie has frightened members of the target audience who gave me feedback. A dark castle, with erie music and a camera shot providing a close up of a gargoyle- surprised the target audience, they had only expected to be afraid once the movie had actually began. Using a traditionally frightening universal object -such as a gargoyle- audiences around the world will have a united fear and understanding of the object, therefore making the movie more relatable and marketable?

Miranda, a criminal psychologist- is the main character and interviews her patient, Chloe, who makes references to the devil as well as being raped. Miranda however does not know that Chloe, is in fact being raped by a prison guard. Miranda is dressed suitably regarding her position, and later the audience notice that most of the actors/extras (people on screen) are wearing grey clothing. The colour grey is associated with sadness but can also suggest that the person wearing the colour is in a sort of limbo, they are not wearing white clothing (which is associated with innocence and purity) nor black (which is linked to darkness or evil). The colour grey suggests that the mentally ill patients are neither good people nor bad people, they are inbetween and confused as if they have lost their identity and sense of self. Miranda's make-up is natural and her hair style is fairly simple and plain- thus suggesting that she is innocent or child-like, yet she still knows what is right and what is wrong. Miranda speaks to her husband about Chloe's recent interview, he calls her over to face a mirror, hands her a class of water and instructs her to throw it onto the mirror. She does this and he provides an explanation that the reflection she sees- which is distorted and blurred by the water- is what her patient Chloe sees, a blurred and distorted version of herself and reality.

Later on Miranda is working in her office which conventionally is dimly lit, with mis-en-sene pictures or artwork- when the audience looks closer they find the artwork is dark and demonic. It is raining heavily and the electricity cuts out, implying that there is a thunder storm- a convention found in many horror movies. She walks through an isolated corridor, the only sounds we hear are her footsteps and the rain, which should be calming but being a horror movie the audience suspect that something  Miranda goes for a swim and precisely counts her laps, telling one of the security guards how many she completed. As Miranda leaves, the camera closes up on the guards face and he gives out a creepy or what the audience presume creepy laugh. This leads the audience to assume that this guard may be the villain and later on hurt Miranda. 

A slight comedic moment is captured when Miranda is leaving the institution and her colleague sneaks up on her and opens the umbrella. It is still raining hard and the audience assume that her colleague is in love with her, while walking her to her car. 

While driving her route is blocked as a large sink hole has appeared in middle of the road. The rain is continuous and just as hard as previously, we link this scene to the earlier one of that where her husband talks about how reality is blurred. Her route home is diverted as a result of the sink hole- which the audience later relate to Chloe talking about the devil, and hell being below the ground. As she continues her journey home, she suddenly sees a girl in front of her car, the girl looks as if she has been in an accident of sorts. Miranda then crashes her car near by and later offers the girl her jacket and tells her that she is a doctor and will take care of her. The girl appears to emit fire and Miranda seems to swallow some of it. The audience later realise that Miranda is possessed by the girl and murders her husband.

Miranda wakes up as a patient in the mental hospital she worked at and loses her temper. While with the other prisoners, Chloe speaks to Miranda and says 'Are you scared.. you should be..' The character of Chloe has a light, but husky voice that could be compared to that of a creature of some sorts. All of the props and mis-en-sene as well as costume of all of the patients/prisoners are all grey. Grey is neither associated with good and evil, as good is associated with the colour white and black associated with evil. So it adds to the confusion that Miranda is feeling within.

Miranda has another 'episode' or 'mini mental breakdown' and is paranoid that she is being watched. Lights flickering add to the tense scene. The words 'NOT ALONE' appear on her window, as if someone breathed against it and wrote the words with their fingers. This aspect could be labelled as supernatural or paranormal as it seems to be occurring by itself- or a ghost is writing it.

A shower scene- which involves water again- is reminiscent of the Holocaust, and the gassing chambers implying that a bad event is going to occur soon. The water can once again be linked to the confusion and distorted view that Miranda has at the moment. Miranda has another 'mini breakdown' and thinks she sees the girl that she crashed her car to avoid hitting, she tries to hide behind other patients/prisoners. A birds eye camera shot is used and shows Miranda curled up in a foetus position with her arm bleeding. The words 'NOT ALONE' appear to have been scratched into her arm and left a scab that won't heal and bleeds almost continuously. 

Light flickering regularly is a sign that the girls presence is near by- which is also something i would like to use in my trailer. More supernatural elements are incorporated as footprints made of steam appear on the floor, and Miranda notices a 'presence' of some sorts and speaks to it, asking it to let her out of the room she is in and in fact it does. She ends up in her colleagues office where an online article appears on the computer and information about the girl is printed out. I would like to employ some of these techniques to my horror movie trailer. 

Miranda figures out that Chloe is being raped by a prison guard and makes peace with Chloe, implying that everything will turn out well in the end. Miranda later on escapes the prison/hospital after hiding in the swimming pool and the guard that the audience perceived as creepy when he laughed- helps her by giving her his car keys. 

Miranda ends up at her house, which has mouldy fruit- implying that death is around- and sees her self killing her husband and of course is distraught. She also sees herself in a bath full of what we presume to be blood, but as she stands up we see it is coloured water. Miranda ends up in a barn and discovers her husband tortured and murdered girls, footsteps above are visible and the audience get tense as they think that her husbands accomplice has come to kill her. However a police officer appears and shouts at Miranda to drop the knife she is holding, while she shouts back telling him to drop his gun- this repeats a few times and lures the audience into a false sense of security as it is a slightly comedic moment. Two hands suddenly appear from behind Miranda and it is another girl that begs for her help. 

Nearer the end of the movie Miranda discovers her husbands a-compliance and he tries to kill her un-surprisingly. He tries to shoot her and she hides under a desk- in the end of the chase a red gas fills the room and he is engulfed in flames. So the movie has a happy ending and Chloe her ex-patient is walking with her down the road and says thank you for everything Miranda has done. Miranda walks down the road and sees a boy standing in the middle of the road and a car about to hit him, the camera pans to the right and the audience see a poster of the missing boy. This ending suggests that this is her calling and what she will do from now on, reveal the truth.

The water and devil imagery is constant throughout the movie and can be linked to each other. Water is seen as clean, pure and related to baptisms, while the sink hole is linked to hell and the devil. The almost constant rain could be representative of God trying to wash away the evilness in the world. However it can also be perceived as just blurring Miranda's mind as when she arrives at the barn it is not raining which suggests that everything has become clear to her and the audience now.

I aim to have an actress that will be able to match Miranda's acting skills and will not be afraid to let go and cry and scream. The supernatural/paranormal events such as the door opening by itself and the footsteps, computer turning on and printing off a page by itself are elements that are easy to replicate and won't need special affects. The lighting being consistent through-out and signalling that the girl was close by when they flickered is something i am considering to do with my horror trailer.

I did not think that the trailer did the movie justice as after watching the trailer I was not that interested in it. However after having a recommendation to watch it, I did and it has influenced me in a very large way. The poster showed the vulnerability and confusion that Miranda felt, as well as including the rain which does play a large part in the movie- however it was not very enticing as just looking at the poster i wouldn't be persuaded to go and see the movie.