The Haunting a chilling film Essay Example For Students

The Haunting a chilling film Essay What technique does Robert Wise use, particularly in the opening sequence to make The Haunting (1963) a chilling film? What other features strike you as important to the films success?  There have been two major versions of The Haunting: one in 1963 (the original) and another in 1999.  The first version was an amazing hit and claimed almost cult status, while the second was a flop on its opening day. It had nowhere near the same impact on the public as the original did thirty-six years before. The 1999 production of the film had all the modern benefits of a big budget, famous Hollywood actors and actresses and special effects created using computers. We will write a custom essay on The Haunting a chilling film specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Even at the time of the release of the original film other very well known and popular horror films such as Psycho used some quite advanced special effects and some even used colour film (which The Haunting is not filmed in). The Haunting used obscure actors and actresses and the entire film cost very little to make and yet still seemed to do better than the multi-million dollar production some years later.  The film had help in its success as horror films came into main stream cinema at that time and so this could have helped the film, as it was something new on the horror scene. It had a new twist to horror and even a love theme all the way through added to the excitement and anticipation of the film. The whole story was new to the public this film was popular later on. The film was proof that the horror does not need to be obvious or even visible to be scary. The film used this technique so well that it has had a few films imitate this unseen horror in their horror productions, such as The Blair Witch Project which was a very big hit at the cinemas recently. It is also proof that special effects and big actors dont make the film good or particularly special. This is clear from the remake, which failed, and used much more obvious horror and special effects, perhaps to try to get a wider audience and update the film. I feel this need not be done as the film will last in peoples minds as a classic film and has not been remade convincingly or improved on. The special effects in this film are very primitive; there were no big explosions and definitely no computer effects used to try to create a monster. In fact not a single monster or ghost was seen in the film which makes it far more chilling to watch and also to think about after watching it because of the mystery haunt the house pushes on its guests. Robert Shaw used camera angles and special lighting to achieve the eerie parts of his film. One very special shot used is of an object falling close up and from above falling into shot. In the very first scene the original tenants are on their way to the house and there is a small riff of chilling music (which is also very important). The cart the lady of the house is in is turned over and crashes into a tree and then a close up on the cart sees her fall from above the frame and this technique is used other times too. When another lady of the house hangs herself you see her climb the library stair and then a shot focusing on the floor is intruded on by her body falling and then hanging from above. At the end of the film one of the main characters is driving away from the house and dies in an almost exact reconstruction of the crash and hits the same tree, and is followed by a close up and falling hand as before. This was very deliberate as Shaw was trying to show that with the haunted house nothing changes and probably never will. .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 , .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 .postImageUrl , .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 , .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40:hover , .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40:visited , .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40:active { border:0!important; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40:active , .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40 .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uaeccc161dbb2202c273729c735482c40:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: A comparison of the animated films EssayThe camera angles have a very voyeuristic look to them as if each person in the house is being watched from above or from a doorway and as the lighting is so dark they could be watching from anywhere. The main examples of this are as if the occupants are being watched from a window in the house and from a balcony inside. Close up shots play an important part to the film as they give a scale to the house during the film and as mentioned above, are a good way to scare an audience. The lighting is very important. The house is very dimly lit and the dark almost seems to envelop the visitors to the house. It always seems to be nighttime in the house, making a very timeless environment. The house from the outside has a gloomy sky and dark windows that just adds to the menacing look to the building.  The very beginning of the film gives you a clue to what is to come, mostly through the music. It uses deep bass and high pitch violins to represent the horror of the house and the music is muddled and sounds almost chaotic with its jumpy and sudden jolts of high screams from violins backed by low fearful tones from bass sounding instruments. In between these bars of fearful music are tender tones, which are reminiscent of an old love song giving an insight to a possible love affair in the house, which strongly emerges through the horror surrounding the house. The main effects in the film are the hauntings, which are mostly down to  good acting as the reactions of the actors to a loud boom and slow turning door handles really are the chill behind the noise, their reactions are so fearful to watch they make the watcher feel scared. The actors use feelings of fear to scare and its the scream of the women and not the scratching at the door which causes the shock, as the haunt is not always visible, it is usually a feeling of pure fear to the occupants. The physical haunts are also very horrific, as the noise from them can be very disturbing. A childs crying is chilling in the dark and being alone in a room where the door handles are being turned slowly is worse when you cant see or even know whats behind it. Shaw uses the mystery to scare, although it is more subtle than some ways of scaring people, it works just as well if not better. The scenery plays an important part in the film, using very dominant statues and ancient ornaments adds an overwhelming feeling of being watched (along with the camera work).  The film has a very unique structure and uses love relations and hate relations between the characters to help the story line.  The way Shaw uses the thoughts of one of the characters is a very important and good way of getting across the point of view of this one character. She is very important in the film and she feels the house has singled her out as she has physic powers and is deeply scared by the death of her mother. She is sent into madness by the house, giving the viewer an insight into how the house affects the people in it. This was an original twist to the film and gave it an edge. The characters chosen were an asset to the film, the atmosphere between them gave hints to their pasts and their feelings, as the group spend more time together the atmosphere becomes almost sexually charged as the script begins to suggest a love triangle with attractions between the group.  These things all add to the film to make it original and excellent film, its new and groundbreaking filming and writing make this film a once in a lifetime film which can never be reproduced in such a way as has been proved by its recent remake.

A Selection of Quotes From The Picture of Dorian Gray

A Selection of Quotes From The Picture of Dorian Gray The Picture of Dorian Gray  is the only known novel by Oscar Wilde. It first appeared in Lippincotts Monthly Magazine in 1890 and was revised and published as a book the following year. Wilde, who was famous for his wit, used the controversial work to explore his ideas about art, beauty, morality, and love. The Purpose of Art Throughout the novel, Wilde explores the role of art by examining the relationship between a work of art and its viewer. The book opens with the artist Basil Hallward painting a large portrait of Dorian Gray. Over the course of the novel, the painting becomes a reminder that Gray will age and lose his beauty. This relationship between Gray and his portrait is a way of exploring the relationship between the outside world and the self. The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul. [Chapter 1] I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself.[Chapter 1] An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them.[Chapter 1] For there would be a real pleasure in watching it. He would be able to follow his mind into its secret places. This portrait would be to him the most magical of mirrors. As it had revealed to him his own body, so it would reveal to him his own soul. [Chapter 8] Beauty While exploring the role of art, Wilde also delves into a related theme: beauty. Dorian Gray, the novels protagonist, values youth and beauty above all else, which is part of what makes his self-portrait so important to him. The worship of beauty also shows up in other places throughout the book, such as during Grays discussions with Lord Henry. But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. [Chapter 1] The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. [Chapter 1] How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June... If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always  young,  and the picture that was to grow old! For that-for that-I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that! [Chapter 2] There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could  realise  his conception of the beautiful. [Chapter 11] The world is changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curves of your lips rewrite history. [Chapter 20] Morality In his pursuit of pleasure, Dorian Gray indulges in all number of vices, giving Wilde the opportunity to reflect on questions of morality and sin. These were questions that Wilde, as an artist writing in the Victorian era, struggled with his whole life. A few years after the publication of Dorian Gray, Wilde was arrested for gross indecency (a legal euphemism for homosexual acts). The highly-publicized trial led to his conviction and two-year imprisonment. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful. [Chapter 2] I know what conscience is, to begin with. It is not what you told me it was. It is the  divinest  thing in us. Dont sneer at it, Harry,  any more-at  least not before me. I want to be good. I cant bear the idea of my soul being hideous. [Chapter 8] Innocent blood had been split. What could atone for that? Ah! for that there was no atonement; but though forgiveness was impossible, forgetfulness was possible still, and he was determined to forget, to stamp the thing out, to crush it as one would crush the adder that had stung one. [Chapter 16] What does it profit a man if he  gain  the whole world and  lose-how does the quotation run?-his own soul? [Chapter 19] There was purification in punishment. Not Forgive us our sins, but Smite us for our iniquities should be the prayer of a man to a most just God. [Chapter 20] Love The Picture of Dorian Gray is also a story of love and passion in all of their varieties. It includes some of Wildes most famous words on the subject. The book charts the fluctuation of Grays love for the actress Sibyl Vane, from its inception to its undoing, along with Grays destructive self-love, which gradually drives him to sin. Along the way, Wilde explores the distinctions between selfish love and nobler passion. His sudden mad love for Sibyl Vane was a psychological phenomenon of no small interest. There was no doubt that curiosity had much to do with it, curiosity and the desire for new experiences; yet it was not a simple but rather a very complex passion. [Chapter 4] Thin-lipped Wisdom spoke at her from the worn chair, hinted at prudence, quoted from that book of cowardice whose author apes the name of common sense. She did not listen. She was free in her prison of passion. Her prince, Prince Charming, was with her. She had called on Memory to remake him. She had sent her soul to search for him, and it had brought him back. His kiss burned again upon her mouth. Her eyelids were warm with his breath. [Chapter 5] You have killed my love. You used to stir my imagination. Now you dont even stir my curiosity. You simply produce no effect. I loved you because you were  marvellous, because you had genius and  intellect,  because you  realised  the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and stupid.[Chapter 7] His unreal and selfish love would yield to some higher influence, would be transformed into some nobler passion, and the portrait that Basil Hallward had painted of him would be a guide to him through life, would be to him what holiness is to some, and conscience to others, and the fear of God to us all. There were opiates for remorse, drugs that could lull the moral sense to sleep. But  here  was a visible symbol of the degradation of sin. Here was an ever-present sign of the ruin men brought upon their souls. [Chapter 8]