The Background Story
•The Haunting in Connecticut is a modern film, released in 2009, telling the story of events that occurred in 1987. It is based on the allegedly true story of a paranormal event in Connecticut, a state in the northeast of the USA. The events were produced into a book “In a dark place” written by Ray Garton who had interviewed people involved in the events.
•The book explains paranormal activities experienced by the Snedeker family in the 1980s. The family say that the house they moved into, in Connecticut, was possessed by a demonic presence. The family gave statements about what the saw, describing the demons themselves as “very thin, with very high cheekbones, long black hair and pitch black eyes.” The house was later examined by two investigators, who confirmed the families tales. The house was exorcised in 1988 and the investigators are satisfied that the exorcism was a success.
•Doubt has been thrown over the statements by the author of the book saying that the families accounts didn't quite match up. Also the land lady of the house was not convinced by the families story.
•The issue of supernatural powers is a much debated and split topic among the human race, fascinating many people into independent research. This is why the events of what might and might not have happened in that house, will attract a lot of attention. The background to the film makes it more and more attractive to audiences as they may want to form more of an opinion once they have seen the evidence behind the claims.
•The fact that there maybe some truth behind the story, makes the film more terrifying but, interesting and the curiousness of the audience, can attract more viewers. A film like this differentiates itself from other standard horror films because of these reasons. That is why the film has its uniqueness.
Opening Sequence
•The opening sequence of The Haunting In Connecticut has been done very effectively as if produces a lot of tension and suspense upon the audience. It does this using a number of devices, camera angles and sound effects.
•The first thing the viewer sees is a black screen with soft, calming, classical, orchestral music in the background played in a quiet way, non-digetically. This puts the audience into a false sense of security. The next two minutes are split up by a sequence of images and shots that have a big impact and set a tense atmosphere straight away. The tense atmosphere is helped by a definite, however gradual change in non-digetic sound.
•The sequence begins with the soft music I described. Flashed images of black and white photographs are presented. We get the feeling that they are old photographs because of the black and white tone and the clothes that the people are wearing. They are old fashioned but very formal confirming the audiences suspicions of the photograph being very old. The camera begins far away from the photographs, despite them taking up the whole screen, however the camera slowly begins to zoom in and attracts itself to a specific person in the photograph and eventually an extreme close up of that persons emotion.
•A number of photographs are presented in this way, and it becomes apparent to the viewer that the people featured are stood over dead or unconscious people and have stern and unhappy emotions. This denotates death and connotates horror, mystery and possible murder. An underlying feeling that the audience may get is that the people in mourning are of the same family, in each picture. This leads us to believe that the photographs are displaying a sequence of mysterious deaths in one particular family, in a short space of time. The people that are dead are of all ages from child to adult, and all this makes for a tense atmosphere and confusion in the viewers mind.
•This is not all that is shown. In conjunction with the photographs, a sequence of footage is entwined within the photographs. The footage is in colour, indicating it is modern and not connected with the photographs. It is also easy to spot the change in tone because of the big difference in colour. The photographs create a Physcological effect on the audience, however the colour images throw physical violence and horror into the concoction, creating a very tense atmosphere for the audience.
•The footage depicts an operating theatre, with operating equipment, presented by using very close up camera angles. The main theme is the striking image of blood dripping and flowing onto the floor from an open wound, carved by a person penetrating the skin. This is a very definite and physical action, which presents a whole new side of horror to the audience. The sound of the blood dripping to the floor occurs digetically.
•The blend of the two vast changes in colour, mood, atmosphere and effect on the audience creates a whole new atmosphere of its own. The audience can also work out that the two halves are connected and linked. The images of death and pain makes the audience think that death and pain are going to be prominent throughout the film, which increases the tension and suspense because they don't know how and when it will occur.
Sound
•The sound plays a huge part in the effectiveness of the opening sequence. It does this by a massive change in atmosphere by the sharpness of the music.
•soft, calming, classical, orchestral music is played in the background in a quiet way, non-digetically. The impact on the viewer is that it makes them feel calm and the images of blood have more of an impact. The calm music lulls them into a false sense of security. As the scene progresses and the audience begins to work out what is happening, the music becomes distorted and echoed. This gradually gets louder and clearer until it overwhelms the now unrecognisable calm music. This occurs while the pace of the imaging occurs. The sounds become harsh on the audience’s ears and screams/scratching is introduced. All of these sounds are non-digetic.
•As this all happens, the low dripping sound of the blood occurs digetically. All of the sounds during the opening create an era and uncomfortable atmosphere for the audience.
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