Rida Imaan's Media Studies Blog

Directed by Ti West, 'Pearl' is a horror movie released in 2022 about a girl with the titular name who lives on a farm with her stern mother and disabled father while her husband-Howard-is away, serving in the war. She dreams of stardom, fame and to escape the monotony of her life on the farm. The film begins with light music and two doors opening to show the image of a beautiful farmland with birds chirping in the background, pastel skies, chickens pecking on the ground as a mud filled path reaches a creamy yellow colored house with four windows and a gray roof, a red barn in seen off in the distance and a windmill near it. The scene transitions as the camera pans to show rows of framed photographs of what we can assume are Pearls parents, her and her husband, and baby pictures. As the camera pans further, we see old dolls and more Polaroid pictures hanging from a thread above them. The wallpaper is a dull blue with flower patterns printed on it. As it pans further, we're ...

The movie 'Beau Is Afraid', directed by Ari Aster is a 'horror' film (the term is used very loosely as the genre isn't really clear) about a man named Beau who embarks on an odyssey to go home to his mothers funeral. The film begins with the faint voice of a woman screaming being heard, almost as if it's being heard from under water, and the sound of something slowly ripping apart. We see a blurry red light peeking in as screaming continues, realizing that it's a scene of Beau being born, and that the voice sounded faint because of the amniotic fluid, not water. Right off the bat, it's an incredibly unorthodox way to start a film and is sure to make several viewers uneasy. What follows after Beau has left the womb is a serious of blurry doctors in a white room while the first dialogue is:    Did he just hit his head?  Bringing a sense of urgency and alarm, followed by:   He should be crying, why isn't he crying?   From the perspective of Beau it'...

Following is the opening sequence from the movie 'The Conjuring'. The dialogue begins on a black screen. Debbie: "It scares us just thinking about it. When you hear it, you're gonna think we're insane." To which Ed, one of the paranormal investigators responds: Ed: "Try us. Please, from the start." (recorder clicks) The close-up shot of Annabelle, the haunted doll, is shown while Debbie recounts her experience. "It started out small, like a hand or a leg was in a different position." This shot shows a doll with cracks in her cheek and eye, the almost monochrome and grayish color scheme sets the tone for the film, showing it's a horror movie. This close up also shows the doll is incredibly old and 'worn', which adds more to the creepy aspect of it, giving it more mystery and depth. The scene shows three people sitting together, Debbie is still speaking about Annabelle and how they thought that maybe someone had possibly broken in...