1. The Village Case study
The Village is a thriller film in the
psychological horror sub genre, and was
written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
This was his 6th
film, although it was not nearly
as well rated as his previous films. Despite this,
The Village won two film awards, and was
nominated for nine others. It was produced by
Touchstone Pictures, Blinding Edge Pictures and
Scott Rudin Productions. It was released in the
USA on the 20th
July and in the UK on the 20th
August, 2004. The film was made primarily in
Pennsylvania, USA, where the director actually
grew up, and now films most of his productions
around that area. The Box office returns
grossed at $256 million, with a production cost
of $71.6 million. The Film stars Bryce Dallas
Howard and Joaquin Pheonix.
Because of the historical setting, lack of action at certain parts of the film,
and a hard to follow storyline with several plot twists and a lack of action at quite a
lot of points during the film, The Village seems to be aimed at a mainly adult
audience. Despite this, The Village was nominated for two Teen Movie Awards, and
has a PG rating of 12. Audience reception is mainly negative to mixed, with
differentiating opinions, with IMDb user ratings giving it a score of 6.6 stars out of
10, and Rotten Tomatoes rating it ‘Rotten’ with a score of 5.4 out of 10. Virgin
media Movies gave the review ‘’The Village might look the part, but right from the
off you're looking for Shyamalan's twist, and when it arrives, it's sorely
underwhelming. A big disappointment." Channel 4 Films said the film is ‘Not as
clever as it thinks it is…’ and that Shyamalan is ‘getting predictable.’ However,
Empire magazine gave it 4/5 stars and said ‘The denouement will infuriate and
enthral in equal measure, but Shyamalan’s latest is made with such elegance,
atmosphere and wonderfully mannered performances it will nestle deep inside your
head, refusing to budge. The more you ponder it, the better it becomes.’
New technology seems to be at a disadvantage for this film, with so many
people giving it bad internet reviews, even though it was very successful in cinemas
in the first week of being released. Internet sites such as IMBd and Rotten Tomatoes
with features allowing people and critics to rate the film would have discouraged
many people from going to see the film, with the majority of people giving it bad
reviews, as well as discouraging newspaper and magazine reviews.

2. The narrative is mostly linear; however, in the last part of the film, when Ivy goes
into the woods, Shyamalan introduces his plot twist gradually using flashbacks. So as
Ivy is walking through the woods, we see back to a few hours previous, when her
father reveals that the creatures that the whole village fear do not actually exist. This
flash back technique works really well as it does not point out the truth to viewer,
instead it lets them work it out for themselves, making the film more entertaining
and interesting once you work it out.
Low camera angle. To be able to
see the flower in the foreground,
and the characters in the
background, and their reaction to
the flower. We are able to see the
character’s actions from ground
level, which is where actions
following in this sequence
happen, as the camera follows the
feet of the girls, and as they bury
the flower. At this level we can
see the significance of the flower
and we wonder what it means.
Background view. So the audience can
get an idea of where these people live
and possibly what their life is like. This
view takes up half of the shot scene,
which signifies the importance of the
houses to these people, as we see later
in the film when they hide inside the
house away from the creature.
The lighting in this
scene is weak, to give a
very outdoorsy, cloudy
slightly cold feel, and
idea of climate. It
makes the scene seem
quite dull as the colours
are not enhanced
much.
The colour red is a symbol throughout
the rest of the film, and the strong
contrast in use of colours in this scene
portrays this. As the red stands out from
everything else, we notice its importance.
The character costumes are old fashioned and
simple. The dresses define the gap between
women and men, a way that has disappeared
now as many women wear trousers nowadays.
This, as well as the surrounds and props such as
brooms, gas lamps outside the door, wooden
houses and shutters on single-glazed windows all
contribute to the impression that this film is set
around 100 years ago.
As the scene begins, the camera is
level with the characters, but when
one of them notice something on the
floor below the camera level, it
descends vertically so we can see what
they are looking at. The movement of
the camera seems to sweep along the
floor line, following the girls’ feet and
their actions as they bury the flower.
In this scene there is
only non-diegetic sound
of slow violins. This
creates an eerie,
mysterious and slightly
sad impression of these
people’s lives.