Analysing Short Horror Film – ‘Porcelain Rising’

At the start of the extract when the title appears to a non diagetic soundtrack of lullaby music which connotes that this film will include children as the key convention of horror. There is a cracked black backdrop as the title ‘Porcelain Rising’ appears letter by letter in white. The white across the black background could be representing the innocence of children against evil as white connotes purity and black shows darkness. This instantly creates a binary opposition and indicates a potential narrative code. The cracks on the black background could be referring to the cracks on the porcelain face of the doll from the movie. This conforms to Propp’s 8 stock character theory that says there is always the good character and bad character in a horror movie.

 
 Near the beginning of the film as the man looks at the doll, a non – diagetic sound is used to connotes danger. Eerie music is played when the camera pans to a close up on the doll’s face at a low angle. The scary music indicates to the audience that there is something wrong with the doll and the camera pans to a close up of the doll’s face to show the cracks on the it’s porcelain skin and at this point the audience also sees that the doll has a missing eye. This is vital in horror films as it places audience in unfamiliar territory therefore applying the uses and gratification theory. This conforms to the horror film convention of using dolls to scare the audience which is evident in many real media texts such as ‘Child’s Play’ where a dummy is used as the paranormal object in the movie. The camera is also at a lower angle when the doll is shown which could connote the dolls superiority against the other characters in the film and that the audience should be afraid of the doll as it has more power over them due to it’s unnatural abilities. 

After the father returns from the little girl’s room to the kitchen he is constantly pacing around the room. A jump cut is used to shorten the time during this, which suggests that he has been pacing for a long time. This connotes that the father is worried about his daughter’s condition and his reaction also makes the audience anxious about what is to happen as they also start to worry for the child. Lighting is also used to create tension, as the house is very dark since it is the night-time and the lights are off, the darkness connotes danger and on top of that there is constant lightning shining through the window. This conforms to the horror convention of using dark gloomy settings because in most horror films, the terror usually  starts when darkness falls and this is what is happening in this film and the lightning also alerts the audience of the unpleasantness still to come. This nature reference relates refers back to 1920 horror films.

In the middle of the clip as the little girl walks  towards the doll, it is a close up tracking shot to follow her feet as she walks. This creates a sense of anxiousness for the audience as they want to know what she will do while they closely follow her steps. Since the lightning is shining through the window, the audience starts to get agitated because the lightning connotes a threat because lightning is used a lot in horror movies when the characters are in a sense of panic. The same thing is happening in this clip, as the girl wants to get rid of the doll since she is feeling insecure with it being there. The fact that the girl is treading very slowly builds up pace for the audience as they start to feel uneasy.

When the girl goes under her bed the camera also follows her in there at eye-level  which could be used to make the audience feel as if they are in the same position as the character because they cannot see the doll and feel the same fear the little girl may be feeling as she also does not know where the doll is or what it’s doing. This also makes the audience sympathise with the character because they are mentally put in the same position as her. At this point in the film the non – diagetic incidental music returns and we hear the doll speak for the first time. The music starts to worry the audience as they are still left unaware of the character’s surroundings but as the doll starts to speak the audience may also start to panic as the effects used to portray the doll’s voice is quite intimidating as it is very croaky and the fact that it is calling out for the girl creates even more terror.

Near the end of the clip the doll appears to be fully alive and starts to attack the child. A match cut is used to heighten the actions of the doll to create fear and it zooms in to the doll’s hand. This makes obvious that the doll is holding a knife in it’s hand. The sharp knife automatically connotes danger.