1. The purpose
The purposeof the film is to earn money and makea profit for the
company. Itachieves this by usingall the importantaspects of what a
horror film should include. Things like jump scares, monstersand
isolation to intriguethe audienceand make them want to spend their
money on the film. It wasalso madeto further the popularity of the
company, so they can carry on makingfilms and peoplewill
recognise the company and watch that movieif they thought their
other movies weregood. The also advertised other companies
productslike Land rover and coores. The advertisingis used to
further all companiesand also to gain fundingfor the production of
the film.
Genre
The genreof the film is horror, but to go into a sub-genreit’s a horror
survivalfilm as the characters find themselves stuck in a cave on the
run from monsters. It differsfrom other mainstream horror film, as
at the start, it seems the monster is the cave itself, but s the movie
continues, the monstersare introduced to them and the viewer. Butit
also twists the plot, as it isn’t just one monster, there are lots of them.
Form
The Todorov theory is when occasions in the film cycles through
differenthappeningsand get back to being okay. The initial stage of
the film is equilibrium, which is where the society is okay and is an
okay state. The next eventis the disruption of the equilibrium and is
where something happensto go wrong. Recognition of the disruption
is what happensafter that where identifieswhat has gone wrong.
Seeking to counteractsomething that has gone. After that is their
reaction to what has gone wrongand how they set to counter it. After
their reaction they start the restoration of society. You can apply the
theory to the film because with Sarah being locked in the cave, the
humanoidsareunable to get out and society is restored and the
humanoidsaren’ta danger to the real world.
This would notwork as a TV series as TV series are supposed to last
and not have a number of characters killed within a few minutes. It
could be adapted and altered so the story fits into a novelusingplot
twists and turns. The film form is supported by the dramaand the
twist of genre from where it twists from a thriller to a survival-
2. horror. At the start of the film the moviestarts off as a dramafilm as
we learn that her husband and daughter were killed in a car crash.
Then it becomes a thriller when the audienceand the characters find
out that they’re stuck in the cave. It then turnsinto a horror film
when the monstersstart to kill of the cast.
Style and Content
The film uses things like isolation and the last girl to because it’s a
horror film.
The narrativestructureof The Descent goes in a beginning, middle
and end structure. The film used editing to build suspensefor the
audience. They useslow camera shots when they are buildingup to a
jump scare and they usequick cuts when the monstersare fighting
with the survivors.
Meaning
The meaningof colour in this movie emphasises and representsthe
lack of visibility and light that the cave had. Also the language they
used was very informaland they were usinglanguage to show that
they are all friendsand used to each other, it shows the audiencethat
they are all a group. In the film the women are shown as a different
typeof woman and notstereotypically targeted as being weak and
will die almost immediately. The character Juno is shown as a more
action lady, and is moreof an independentperson who isdetermined
to get out rather than a typical woman who would break down in a
cave. Also another character is constantly shown and filmed in a red
tint on the screen to representand emphasise that she is covered in
blood. The musicin the film is usually used to representthat
something is about to happen. Musicin all horror films is used to
build up tension and makethe viewerssuspect something. It’s the
same with this film. The lighting in the film is used to make some of
the characters barely visible in the film. It’s used to keep the
surroundingin the set dark but make the characters visible in the
film. The actors in the film are used as an attraction to pullmore
peopletowardsthe film to make them watch it. The meaningof the
propsall individually mean something. For example the birthday
cakes in the flashbacks tells the audiencethat the scene of her
family’sdeath is still lingeringin her head. Also the pickaxe for Juno
is her strongest pointand is the strongest usingit. Also it linkswith
the costumes. All of their costumes are similar. They all have rock
3. climbing and caving gear on as they are all enteringthe cave. Their
costumes show that it was their intention to go down their but not
expect to be stuck or in danger, which creates, tension.
ProductionProcess
The preproduction of the descent is all of the things that are going to
happen in the descent. The storyboards, the cast, location, propsetc.
it is the thought and plan of whatever happensbefore that actual
production. For the storyboards, the script is broken down into
scenes onto storyboards.
