The initial shot of the sequence is a long shot looking down on a deserted New York City, (which is shown to be deserted through the Mis En Scene of decrement and abandoned cars.) This deserted landscape and long shot looking down on it serve to isolate the protagonist, making him vulnerable and therein building tension. In pursuit of the deer the protagonist is hunting, the protagonist’s dog enters a dark building following the deer. Immediately, there is a non-diagetic unsettling sound, which therefore suggests that the building and lack of light is dangerous and threatening. As it is soon established afterwards that the protagonist is going to go in after his dog, this creates tension and fear in the audience.
Once the protagonist enters the dark building, the only sound is the diagetic whispers and footsteps of the protagonist, as any sound will alert the dangers of the building to the protagonist’s presence. This therefore leaves audiences tense as they subconsciously try to avoid making a sound, building tension. Additionally, the only lighting used in the building is the natural light coming from the protagonist’s flashlight, meaning that the audience and protagonist only have a limited control and ability to perceive, making the protagonist very vulnerable, building tension.
While the protagonist tersely searches the building for his dog a combination of long shots and over the shoulder tracking shots. The long shots are partly hand held; giving them a voyeuristic quality, i.e. there is something watching the protagonist. This creates tension because that makes increases the peril the protagonist is in. Additionally, the over the shoulder tracking shots show the audience what the protagonist would be seeing, creating a sense of the audience being in the same trouble as the protagonist, creating fear and heightening the tension.
The tense silence is pierced by a single off screen diagetic zombie scream, which is highly unsettling, somewhere in the building. Not only does this scream serve as a surprise to panic the audience, but it also suggests that zombies are now aware to the protagonist’s presence, both of which create tension, as further surprise could occur at any moment.
Surprise is used once again as he protagonist in his search for the dog turns his flashlight on over a part of a room, which the audience is now used to nothing being there, and there is a huddle of zombies all together right where the flashlight was shined. This therefore panics the audience as the protagonist is now in extreme proximity to danger and could’ve woken the zombies up very easily. This therefore heightens the tension.
0 comments: