Film noir analysis 2

The Spiral Staircase Analysis:

This first scene is from film noir The Spiral Staircase which was published in 1945. The woman is wearing a good quality looking coat and hat which indicates that she is from an upper class background. The scene only shows her in a forest, giving a sense of isolation from other characters as well as in location. She is holding a stick which implies that she senses danger. There is a minor high angle of the woman, which implies that she is a vulnerable character. The music is quiet in the background, with strings and organ which expresses sense of the unknown.

Here is a long shot of the woman in the forest. It looks very eerie with the shadows and darkness. The woman walks towards the camera which could suggest she is walking towards danger. You can hear the diegetic sound of her footsteps and the wind. This creates realism within the clip which makes it more likely for the audience to believe the rest of what they see in the film.

As the woman rushes home, in the wind and rain, she passes a tree which reveals a large figure standing behind it. This builds tension and panic for the audience as they know that the woman does not know the man is there. This is also very gripping as you want to know whether the man is going to be a ‘good guy’ or a ‘bad guy’. As the man is revealed, there is a large thud of thunder which emphasises the anxiety. The scene is extremely dark, with everything blending into one. This makes it hard to establish what is happening which builds suspense.

This shows an over the shoulder shot of the man watching the woman. She is struggling to find her keys to her house which makes the audience worry about her because we do not know what the man is planning. The way the camera is placed, the man is much larger than the woman, suggesting that in society, men have the higher status but also that he has the power over the woman, as she is just a small, vulnerable lady who is oblivious to somebody watching over her. The sound of the wind continues. However, it is accompanied by a sci-fi sounding noise which bring confusion. The light flickers, emphasising the bad weather with lightning.

Here is a bird’s eye view of the lady running across the muddy forest. This helps to further set the scene as it really shows how isolated the area this woman is in. The bad weather is used as pathetic fallacy, the wind, rain, thunder and lightning reflect how this woman will be feeling, being alone in the middle of nowhere. There is also dramatic irony, where the audience know that the man is following her but she does not.

The lady then returns to her house and soon after, the camera reveals some legs at the top of the stairs. This raises various questions for the audience like whether this is the same man, how he got there and what is he going to do. As the legs were revealed, there was a very loud crash of thunder. This shows there should be panic and an uneasy feeling from the unknown. The man is wearing all dark colours/black which connotes death. This could be foreshadowing death of characters that is to come in the film.

This is an extreme close up of a mans eye. We assume that is is the same man that has broken into the woman’s house. If so, it emphasises how he is watching her every move. The man looks very angry, perhaps at the woman or at himself because he has not yet got what he wants. The way the eye is in focus shows how he is looking through a small gap to see the woman. The cut from the previous screenshot is quite harsh compared to the close up. This makes the audience really focus on the image and try to work out what is happening.

The camera then zooms into the eye and shows the image of a woman. This is presumably the woman that the man has been watching throughout the previous parts of the film. I think this shows that he is still thinking about her or wherever he looks, she is there. The woman’s mouth is blurred out which suggests that she has no say in what is happening or a wider message that women in society are not listened to. The dramtic music becomes louder as the eye is zoomed into. This implies it could be a type of dream. We hear the sound of thunder againa and the girl fades away.

This shows that in film noirs, there can be uses of extreme close ups to represent how the characters see things, showing the audience what it looks like from their perspective. It shows how different characters are presented in different ways, giving the audience a different perspective.