The film ‘The Devil Inside’ is about Paranormal Activity and was inspired by the release of Paranormal Activity 3 the film which was released in October 21st 2011 the comparison between both films is that they both contain a supernatural factor used to scare the targeted audience with religion, demons and ghosts which the film Paranormal Activity 3 also has.
A summary of the plot is in 1989, emergency responders received a 9-1-1 call from Maria Rossi confessing that she had brutally killed three people. 20 years later, her daughter Isabella seeks to understand the truth about what happened that night. She travels to the Centrino Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Italy where her mother has been locked away to determine if her mother is mentally ill or demonically possessed. When she recruits two young exorcists to cure her mother using unconventional methods combining both science and religion, they come face-to-face with pure evil in the form of four powerful demons possessing Maria.
The trailer opens with an unconventional opening having text displayed on the screen showing the information recorded by the police of a 9-1-1 call made by a woman saying she has killed 3 people and also saying that the phone call was real, showing a brief but disturbing scene, telling the audience that this film is a record of real events scaring them to believe that supernatural beings are real. The use of sound in the beginning scene connotes a disturbing and unnatural feel. The diegetic sound in the scene where the characters are speaking creates a realistic feel which helps the film seem more realistic. When the woman speaks, her voice sounds like she is possessed which ties in with the films theme of paranormal activity. Then at the end the phone call hangs up, the use of diegetic sound helps the audience realise that something strange is occuring.
As soon as the scene ends there is some footage of women on the floor in an unnatural position in black and white and from this it can put the audience in a uneasy position as the camera shot was a quick flash making only visible for less than a second and also adding that the clip could have been an extract from real footage leaving the audiences minds to wander. As soon as the fade begins non- diegetic sound play e.g. eerie music plays through the shots. The music played suits the horror genre as it creates an uneasy atmosphere by playing music that’s at a slow pace which is also very eerie. Allowing the audience to wander when something will happen and also allowing the music to speed up when something happens in a rush or something terrifying happens.
Then the next shot is introduced with a fade in with diegetic sound of the main character narrating about her mother while being shot in a noddy shot with 3 characters listening to the women explain her story creating an intense atmosphere. Then cuts quickly to a close up of the female main character introducing her and showing how she relates to the story. Then quick cuts to a medium shot of a male priest, representing good over evil showing the priest religious authority in the film by the way he is posing in the shot.
Following a news broadcast of the women’s mum who killed 3 people being taken away in a police car. This is showing that the events did happen allowing the audience to thing what was wrong with her? And why did she do it? To question the film making the audience more scared of what is to come.
Then the next two following shots are of the priest and one of the other characters in a close up shot showing the expressions on their faces showing how worried they actually are after the women says the word “exorcism”, reflecting on how the audience should be feeling as well the director has done this to show how serious the subject is and wants the audience to feel the same way the characters feel in the film as they don’t know what will happen either. After the shots a picture of the women appears showing the audience who she is and what she looks like and then the camera zooms in to the picture which could have meaning, by zooming in to the picture it could mean that the director is trying to get the audience to raise questions about this women creating more of a mystery.
The scene in the trailer is of the women traveling to the mental hospital within Rome. The director demonstrates this is through a number of shots like establishing shot showing the buildings where the hospital is. Also showing the environment on a dull day with white cloudy day was done on purpose by the director because he wanting to show that something bad could happen as not many people were out. The next shot was a medium shot of the women walking to the hospital and the expression on her face showed that she was worried and scared and this means that she doesn’t know what she is to expect and if she goes she don’t know what will happen.
The next following shots are of the women within the cell where her mother is contained and this where her mother screams in the daughters face randomly. The first shot is of the women and the doctor in a white hall way and the reason why the colour white is repetitive is because of colour connotation because the colour white would connote madness that’s why all films use white rooms in mental hospitals. The next shot is shown through the security camera as soon as the women enters the cell showing that her mother can be potentially dangerous so they need to watch what happens. The next shot is a close up of the women’s mums arm showing the cuts, showing the audience that there is something wrong with women’s mum and that there is a reason why she is in a mental unit. Then a quick cut to a close up of the women’s lip is shown where a cross has been carved into her lip showing that the problem she has, has to be with religion and this ties in with the theme of the film. Then the next two shots show the mum calling her daughter towards her then with a close up of the mum and partly the women’s face the mum screams unnaturally in her face showing that the mum has been possessed by demons. Then the through the use of editing quick cuts have been used and sound effects are used in the next shots through the use of the security camera so it allows you to see everything in the room , how everyone is panicking and the abnormal behaviour of the mother. Through all of these shots put together you see that the director wants you to believe that it’s not an illness she has but something possessing her by the use of makeup and props like the cuts of crosses meaning that it has something to do with religion which then could lead on to her trying to protect herself from demons and also through the random drawings on her wall as well.
The next scene they decide to take the women to see a real exorcism looks like. The first shot is a wide shot allowing to capture most of the footage in the room showing the people revealing what is under the covers showing that have something that is so disturbing that had to hide it. The next shot is of a girl with a body in a unnatural and impossible position to be in and the reason she is like this to show that this girl is not normal and is possessed by some spiritual being and the idea was taken from the film ‘The Last Exorcism’ because in the film the girl who possessed is able to bend and break her body parts to be in weird positions.
The lighting in this room is low key the reason why the director would need low key lighting is so he can have a main focus point and also to hide things within the dark to have things pop out creating a more scarier experience for the audience. The next shots are close ups of movement of body parts and put together using quick cuts in the editing to create a fast pace to make the scene more horrifying for the audience.
Then the following shot is of the girl levitating and being bent by some supernatural force shot at a low angle to show it from a better angle so you the pain that is being caused but as this happens the screen starts to fuzz and this is through the editing used and used so the audience can see something else is in the room causing the problem e.g. demons/ ghosts. The next 5 shots are close ups of each characters face to obtain the emotion of what the characters are feeling while the priest spoke through the 5 shots using a voice over. Having the priest say ‘I am sorry Isabella’ suggests to the audience that there is nothing they can do to help her.
Then follows a series of shots showing the people being attacked by a spiritual being and by having the shots editing so they are quick cuts it creates a more effective and dramatic scare effect to scare the audience as it loud sounds to make the audience jump. Also during the series of shots the mother sings the children’s song the ‘itsy bitys spider’ and one shot zooms straight to a close up of the daughters face showing that it has meaning to her as the expressions on her face was shocked. The reason why I think he chose a that child song is to show that there still may be a connection with the mother but the demon is singing it to trick the people but ends up hurting them anyway.
In the final shot of the trailer it’s a close up of the daughter holding her mother close to her face saying ‘Let my mother go’ and the mother says ‘you’ll die’. The meaning of this shot is to show the affection she has for her mother and wants the demon to leave her but when the mother says ‘you’ll die’ this says that in the end she will die meaning that death is inevitable. Before the end one final medium shot is shown with the mum eyes closed then quickly cuts to a shot firing one other characters to the wall and the reason for this is so it ties in with the horror genre as the use of the sound effects and good editing will make the audience jump . The mother face in the trailer was really pale the use of make-up to do this was done because they wanted her to been seen as sick, unhealthy and not clean.
Overall the trailer was shot with a hand held camera to give a more rugged and documentary feel to the film since it was inspired by paranormal activity 3. The reason why is because I think the idea was to make the film look like a documentary of real life moments trying to prove that demons and spiritual beings are real.
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