How does neil Marshall use cinematography and lighting to demonstrate symbolism and intertextual references in The Descent?
How does neil Marshall use cinematography and lighting to demonstrate symbolism and intertextual references in The Descent?
In this essay I'm going to write about how elements of lighting and cinematography are used to build suspense throughout the film. The Descent is about six women who embark on a caving expedition, only to find that they become trapped inside of the cave and must defend themselves against a strange breed of monsters that lurk in the dark shadows of the cave. The scene I am going to explore shows the one woman left standing, Sarah, and her escape out of the caves.
The scene starts with Sarah led on the ground of the caves, initially disabling Juno and leaving her with the creatures to die. Sarah has been through a lot at this point and she is covered in blood and exhausted. Hell is a place in various religions known as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering, or sometimes known as the pool of fire. After everything that had just happened in the film having a flickering flame as the only light source in this shot, audiences will directly associate the cave system as being similar to hell. The cave is a scary, horrifying place and using hell to describe it is going to make audiences feel fearful. Throughout the whole film the lighting used is mostly always red or very warm, for examples the red flares, giving the cave these connections to hell for a long period of time. As Sarah is just led there and the only movement is the flickering light it makes audiences feel fed up and exhausted also. The tint on the whole film is very bleak and cold not giving the film much bright colours, leaving it looking very sad. The plot of the film isn't exactly fun and happy so it really ads to the mood of the film very well.
In contrast to this, the red light changes to a very white light that is very obviously from the daylight. Our eyes are not used to the brighter light and it is very obviously shown. The change from red to white can be associated
In this essay I'm going to write about how elements of lighting and cinematography are used to build suspense throughout the film. The Descent is about six women who embark on a caving expedition, only to find that they become trapped inside of the cave and must defend themselves against a strange breed of monsters that lurk in the dark shadows of the cave. The scene I am going to explore shows the one woman left standing, Sarah, and her escape out of the caves.
The scene starts with Sarah led on the ground of the caves, initially disabling Juno and leaving her with the creatures to die. Sarah has been through a lot at this point and she is covered in blood and exhausted. Hell is a place in various religions known as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering, or sometimes known as the pool of fire. After everything that had just happened in the film having a flickering flame as the only light source in this shot, audiences will directly associate the cave system as being similar to hell. The cave is a scary, horrifying place and using hell to describe it is going to make audiences feel fearful. Throughout the whole film the lighting used is mostly always red or very warm, for examples the red flares, giving the cave these connections to hell for a long period of time. As Sarah is just led there and the only movement is the flickering light it makes audiences feel fed up and exhausted also. The tint on the whole film is very bleak and cold not giving the film much bright colours, leaving it looking very sad. The plot of the film isn't exactly fun and happy so it really ads to the mood of the film very well.
In contrast to this, the red light changes to a very white light that is very obviously from the daylight. Our eyes are not used to the brighter light and it is very obviously shown. The change from red to white can be associated