Analysis of Underworld 

Centre Number: 31190 

Candidate Name: Rhys Griffiths 
Candidate Number:

Chosen sequence:35 minutes- 40 minutes 

Word count: 1421 words (excluding question and information above)  

How does the use of Cinematography and lighting create suspense and tension in this five minute sequence from the film 'Underworld'? 

Underworld is about the secret history of vampires and werewolves (an abbreviated form of lycanthrope) Underworld is primarily about Selene slaying lycans. The opening scene is a close up on a males face, this is a regular convention of the horror genre, and this draws the attention of the reader to the expression of the males face. During this scene, the whole room is surrounded in low key lighting which is a regular convention of the horror genre to show the darkness of the atmosphere. Followed by this is a jump scare to a montage of scenes with loud non diegetic music, this is a regular convention of the horror genre because it scares the audience which is a large purpose of the horror genre. Within this montage there is a close up on a statue with a religious symbolism, this also is a regular convention of the horror genre, the cross would symbolise purity and peace which is a complete contrast to the film with death and ghosts, ghouls and monsters. Also, within this montage, two knights open a door, this could symbolise opening the doors to hell which is also religious symbolism. The camera then cuts straight back into the scene where Selene and Michael are both on a chair and Selene is caring for Michael, during this time, within the conversation there is a shot reverse shot with shallow focus on the character speaking to draw the attention of the audience to the character speaking to acknowledge what they are saying to gain an understanding.

 

When Erika enters the room, the camera focuses on Selene on a shallow depth of view, the focus then dissolves onto Erika, and this draws the attention off Selene and onto Erika while she speaks, it then straight cuts to Michael on the furniture. This is to remind the audience of his position and his condition. The lighting at this point is low key, this would show struggle of his position as it is dark and difficult. This is followed by a straight cut to Selene looking down on Michael with Erika blurred in the background, this could be to show she is not important in this scene, it could also be to show that she is important but she is not as important as Selene to Michael. The focus is then drawn onto Erika, to show her importance, at this stage, half of here face is high key, half of her face is low key, this could symbolise her split personality, one side being at a level of normality, one maybe to represent a level of insanity. In this shot, the scene establishes the importance of Erika with a shallow depth of field. 

 

Soon after, a straight cut is used to enter the next scene of the film, this is introduced alongside a long-mid shot of Kraven, and this has been done to show his non-verbal communication, this is all talking with his body language. The fact his hands are curled up may show he is stressed, angry or negatively emotional, this puts the audience at unease, and this is because we do not know how Kraven will react or what his actions will be. During the conversation, a shot reverse shot is established, this is to allow the audience to focus on the character speaking, and this is backed with a shallow depth of field so that Selene and Kraven are both the centre of attention. 

 

Next, a tracking shot of Erika lurking towards Michael as he lays there hopelessly, this is coupled with the high angle shot on Michael to show he is, at this point, inferior to the power of Erika, this would make the audience uncomfortable because they might be thinking different ideas; Ericka is going to attack Michael, Michael is going to wake up to find Erika leaning over him and panic, Erika is going to drain the blood of Michael, a typical convention of the horror genre, the camera has deliberately been positioned this way to receive that attention. 

 

During the time Erika reveals Michaels wound on his neck, the camera focuses on the wound with a close up and a shallow depth of view. This is so the audience acknowledge the injury, Michael suddenly wakes up and the camera prioritizes Michael by placing a close up on Michaels face. When this occurs, Erika realizes that Michael has woken up and jumps off and dashes to the ceiling, this is shown via the use of a long shot to show she moved away at sudden speed, it could also be used to show her on the ceiling from Michaels point of view, also, it may have been shot this way to show the sudden isolation of her position, the fact she is different to Michael.  

 

Followed by that scene, is a shot reverse shot between Michael and Erika, this is so the audience can view the different reaction and the emotions running through each of their bodies. Then, there is a high angle of the floor showing a point of view shot for the height that Michael is willing to jump from, when he jumps out of the window, there is a low angle on Michael, this is filmed this way to show that Michael is in power of the situation, that he will escape from Erika, after, when Michael hits the floor, there is a neutral angle with a natural high key spotlight where he falls, with a natural low key area encircling the spotlight to show exactly where Michael will fall, this is done this way because low key lighting is a regular convention of the horror genre and it creates a feeling of suspense and tension within the scene, this is similar to the film Halloween (1978) when Jamie Lee Cutis was being attacked by Nick Castle, the environment was very dark and the scene very distressing

 

Immediately after that scene between Erika and Michael, there is a jump cut to another montage, this is done because within the montage there is a beast cuffed up like it is trying to break out, this could symbolize the beast within Erika or maybe even the beast within Michael and he is trying to break out. Also within the montage there is a lot of high key lighting, this could represent the idea that if he breaks out he will be in heaven, or it is a deliberate contrast to show the depth of hell that Michael will encounter, foreshadowing his future, the shot then cuts straight back to a low key mid shot of Michael, this has been done because the low key lighting matches the intensity and stress of the situation, the lighting is showing that Michael is in a dark place, where he is blinded by what he saw, how he doesn’t know where he is heading because it is dark. Suddenly, a pack of aggressive dogs attack Michael and he has to climb over the fence, during this period, the camera shows the low angle of the dogs to show superiority and then the long shot to show Michael scaling the gate and the dogs jumping, hoping to get a bite of Michael so he cannot escape. This was backed with a mid-shot of the dogs jumping to show how high they were jumping and Michael escaping.

 

Meanwhile, whilst the dogs are chasing Michael, Kraven enters the room that Michael has just escaped, glared at Erika and shouts at Selene, during this time, a mid-shot is established to focus on upper body non-verbal communication and the dialogue between Selene and Kraven. During dialogue, there is a shot reverse shot to focus on the characters dialogue, this is attached with the shallow focus and the close up, which is a regular convention of the horror genre as it is used in the film SAW II when Addison Corday is stuck in the ‘razor box’ a close up is used to show the disturbance on her face and to show the pain and stress on her face, of the two individuals, each shown individually so that the audience focus on the particular character speaking. 

 

After the aggressive scene of Selene and Karven arguing, there is a straight jump cut to Selene at a firing range shooting at a statue, this could symbolise that she hates Karven so she is shooting at the statue because she is imagining that Karven is the statue, although it could be just that she needed to release some steam, while she shoots the statue, the camera performs a shot reverse shot so that we know not only who is shooting but what are they specifically shooting at, shortly after, Khan enters the scene, there is a low angle at this point, this is to show that Khan is in control or that Selene is in control or maybe even that they both feel in control of what they are doing. During conversation, there is high key lighting which would show normality of a situation, however, due to the fact they are shooting at a statue, I believe that the camera has been positioned this way because it is a deliberate contrast between a normal environment and this environment.