task 2 - representation

8/3/2019 Task 2 - Representation

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“How Director’s represent claustrophobic spaces to increase menace and suspense within horror

films?”

Claustrophobia is a fear of being in small spaces or having no escape and there are many examples

of these ranging from elevators, to crowds, to small rooms or even tight clothing especially aroundthe neck. In horror films many directors have explored claustrophobia searching for new places and

ways which are claustrophobics but also increase the menace. There are many films in which I will

show illustrating how they create more menace and suspense for the audience.

Firstly, the typical use of claustrophobia is being trapped in small tight spaces and this has been a

great hit with two recent films of Buried and 127 Hours. Buried starring Ryan Reynolds’s a U.S

contractor wakes up in a coffin in Iraq with just a phone, a Zippo lighter, a knife and alcohol. This

instantly plays with suspense as time is against a he is losing oxygen quickly and it gets the audience

wondering how he is going escape with the items he has that have now become the most important

items to him. These two images, with the only light being a Zippo, creates a dark, alone atmosphere

but also gives the audience an idea of the terrible situation he is in. The second image on the rightgives the audience a view of how claustrophobic it is, furthermore the menace is created and

increased by the fact that he has been put into this situation after being captured by someone who

wants payback for something he has done, again increasing the sympathy for him. The entire film

was recorded entirely within the coffin therefore keeping the audience engaged and scared with

what is happening and how enclosed Ryan Reynolds actually is.

127 Hours is another film similar to Buried, where all Aaron Ralston has got is his climbing supplies

and he has the ordeal of being stuck down a ravine as his arm is crushed and stuck. The audience are

purely gripped by his survival and how he copes with being stuck down there. We sympathise with

Aaron as he videos himself making his own fake chat shows and talks to himself. The fact that this

was a true story also adds to the realism of the movie and therefore makes the audience scared and

suspended as we are able to relate to him on how it would feel to be in his situation. As you can seein the pictures, he is in a very tight, dark and remote place which increases the menace of the

situation and how life threatening it could be. Differently to some horror with claustrophobia, Aaron

is not just confined to a small space he is stuck in one spot and therefore has limited movement

increasing the suspense but decreasing the time he has to live. Even though this film is mostly filmed

within this tiny crevice, the film is still a success as it is able to provide suspense to Aaron’s survival.



Another movie, The Descent in 2005, rather than being confined to one place, it relied on the

claustrophobia of caves and the small, pitch black twist and turns within, along with cannibalistic

zombies. Neil Marshall the director focused more on the unknown within dark tight spaces and this

was effective as the audience where kept guessing of what was going to happen next. He also

explored the convention of the final girl as most of the cast were female and it again kept us thinking

of which girl was going to be the last. The picture below illustrates the tight spaces that the climbers

were exploring as well as the contrast of light from bright to dark, giving a sense of freedom todeath. The state in which the women is in is also significant as they are climbers and had only

climbing apparatus, similar to Aaron Ralston, but a lot less. Claustrophobia in this film is one of the

conventions which are explored along with what is around the corner to give the audience the

suspense. This is unlike the previous two films as they focused mainly on the claustrophobia of the

situation.

An extreme example of claustrophobia is Walled In (2009) as well as an effective opening as a girl is

trapped in a small space which is being quickly being filled up by cement, eventually killing her. For

me this is an effective opening because it puts the audience straight into the horror and tension,

especially the effect of using a young child adds more menace as well as sympathy. From the picture

of the opening the lighting is dark and the space is extreme small compared to the others example

where they had much more movement. The girl wearing a white dress gives the representation of purity and innocent therefore giving the audience the ideology that she has done nothing wrong.

The other factor is that the cement is rising hence time comes into play as the audience know that

the girl 4cdoesn’t have long left and therefore these increases the suspense and tension further.



On the other hand, Open Water (2003) is a great example of how claustrophobia is explored through

agoraphobia. This film illustrates claustrophobia in a different way as a couple become stranded in

the middle of the ocean after their scuba diving boat had left off without them. They then face the

cold, waves, sharks and more and this is what makes the audience want to watch on. Claustrophobia

within agoraphobia is just a subliminal fear in this film as the main focus is the couple’s survival

however being alone with no help adds to the suspense of what is going to happen next. As the

ocean in this film is shown as dark blue that is opaque this gives the representation of the ocean

being unknowing and mysterious as you do not know what is in and beneath it, again adding to thehorror of the situation.

Another similar film to Open Water, which explores claustrophobia in agoraphobia, is the slightly

older film of Das Boot from 1981. Containing a submarine stuck at sea full of German soldiers on

board the director has used the tight spaces within the ship to illustrate how difficult life is for them

as they work to the repair it with oxygen running low. In both these images the space is tight as the

soldiers are crammed together, as well as the only light being the lights from above giving dark

edges which makes the situation look much worse adding to the horror. The sweating and dirt on

the men in the second picture also illustrates how hard life is for them but ultimately it s the fact

that they are stuck down on the ocean floor is what is creating the suspense.



The penultimate film that contains claustrophobia is Phone Booth (2003), which again explores

another variation of claustrophobia in a film. As it is shown in the pictures a man is trapped in a

phone booth on the phone to a killer who is watching him through a sniper, therefore he cannot

move away from the telephone. being inside the phone booth can be felt as very claustrophobic

however which the situation that he finds himself in also adds to the suspense throughout the

movie. Looking at the misé en scene, the lighting is quite bright, almost giving the impression of aneveryday scenario, a typical convention which Directors use to give a sense of normality. Phone

Booth is not necessarily a horror but I have brought it up as it shows another way in which

claustrophobia is explored to add suspense, but more importantly, menace as this victim is stuck in

the booth.

Finally, the last film that contains claustrophobia in a more open space is REC (2007), where a

reporter and fire fighters become trapped in a house containing many horrors. Similar to The Blair

Witch Project and Paranormal Activity handheld cameras are used as well as an unknown cast to add

realism and more menace to what is happening. Claustrophobia in this film only adds to the

suspense and disaster as they are not able to escape from the house thus being trapped. The lighting

is all natural as only the night camera light as well as torches are used giving more tension as it

creates fear of the dark and the unknown. Using this lighting effect as well as the claustrophobic idea

is something that we could take into consideration when creating our opening sequence.

In conclusion, I have discovered many ways in which directors use claustrophobia to create more

suspense and menace, whether this is in tight, confined spaces or to the more open spaces, where

claustrophobia is explored within agoraphobia. There have also been some interesting lighting and

camera shots which along with the idea of claustrophobia, could be taken into consideration when

creating our horror opening sequence. For our production I would prefer to use shaky handheld

cameras as well as natural lighting as this adds more realism to the situation, thus making the

audience believe that it is true.

Bibliography:

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/09/claustrophobic_movies.html#photo=2x63786




task 2 - representation

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