The document analyzes the film Identity through its camera shots/angles/movements, editing, lighting, sound, and mise-en-scene. It discusses how close-ups are used to depict emotions and build trust in characters. Parallel editing links the motel scenes to Malcolm Rivers' case. Shifting perspectives and jump cuts reveal Ed's dissociative identity disorder. Lighting and sound convey mystery, tension, and insanity. The motel setting and sexually objectified female characters comply with horror conventions.

1. FILM ANALYSIS
IDENTITY (2003)

2. CAMERA SHOTS/ANGLES/MOVEMENTS

There is use of close ups on different characters faces during the beginning of the film,
depicting their emotions, but with a sense of mystery. There are also pans and over
shoulder shots used in this way, as we feel a sense of tension because we know there is
going to be trouble (also because of the parallel editing and the conventions we already
associate with horror films). We try to work out the villain even before something
happens, and the close up shots can influence this desire in the audience, because we
question their emotions, thoughts and motives.

There are also low angles used to look up at the main character, Ed, as well as close ups
and al;mfea and this makes the audience begin to trust him, especially when we find the
story is through his perspective, using POV shots and

Long/mid distance tracking shots of the first victims high heels through the fence show
her vulnerability and the fact she is being watched, and the tracking mid shot from behind
shows she is being followed. This creates enigma and again makes the audience question
the identity of the killer. The flash of her face as she screams and is killed, is followed by a
shot of Ed asleep in his room, and then wakes up, confirming the audiences trust in him as
we can assume he is not the killer, as well as the fact he wants to investigate and find
more. This is further influenced by the tracking over the shoulder shots and POV shots,
seeing things from his view and as if we are along with him.

3. 
(continued) 2 shots and depth of field let us see the relationships between the
characters, who has tension with each other, and allows the audience to establish who
they trust and who they don't, and who they sympathise with.

There is another cut to the parallel scene of the case, where it is established that the
killer has dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality) and he is unaware of his
crimes. As the killer is brought in, close up tracking shots and pans are used on areas of
the wheelchair, not his face, creating suspense as we expect to see one of the
characters in the motel situation. When it cuts to his face, we see someone completely
new, creating confusing for the audience.

Close ups on the door keys show the importance of them, being counted down and
each dead body has one on them. Long 2+ shots show the characters unsure of what
to do as the situation gets more and more impossible. 3 and 4 shots with the
remaining survivors as they look at each spot of the bodies which have disappeared
shows confusion and the impossibility, as the situation links more and more to
insanity.

Close up – zooms on the survivors faces as they all realise they have the same birthday
is showing more links between them and the “strangers” have met in the same place
all had the same birthday. Extreme close up on Ed's face when he looks through each
character's ID, and reads out the names, which are all states of America. He becomes
detached and worried, unlike the Ed the audience had previously trusted.

4. 
Close ups are used with the repeated edit and cutaways with jump cuts, creating a sense
of unease as we see Ed's character turn from the confident, trusted man to the insane
and confused patient. This twists our perspective on the film, and we feel as if we are
along with him, as we trusted him when he was investigating and we find out the fact he
is insane at the same time as him.

An over the shoulder shot/behind shot shows Ed in the centre of the shot, with the
people from the trail scene looking at him from the table. We can see he is in the
wheelchair, and we make the link as he is Malcolm Rivers, the man we hadn't recognized
from the motel scene. There is then a POV shot as the psychiatrist shows him the
mirror, and the face of Malcolm Rivers is in it, and again when he looks in the window. A
close up is used when we go back to Ed's face, it is Malcolm. This use of jump cuts and
switch between POV and close up allows us to see how he is insane and is a fractured
personality.

5. EDITING

Still pauses are used just before a flashback, like when the father finds a shoe in his tire,
and it goes on to show the girl throw her shoe out of the car. This is used to link the
characters together and give a little emphasis on the flashback, showing there are
important factors that are bringing them all together in some way.

There are cutaways used to give us a sense of each character, as well as how they run
into each other. There is also use of repeat editing, where a particular event in the
scene is shown from multiple perspectives. This is key to the beginning of the film
because we feel the characters have met by chance and all ended up together, and we
are unclear on who the “good” and “bad” people are.

Throughout the film, parallel editing is used where a scene is playing out, where we can
begin to piece together that “Malcolm Rivers” is being killed by death penalty the
following day, but efforts to re-evaluate his case are being carried out, due to insanity.
This makes the audience question the link between the two and question who Malcolm
Rivers is, and whether he actually is in the character group at the motel.

Parallel editing is also used to show what each character is doing before anything
happens, which shows something suspicious about each of them. This again creates
suspicion in the audiences mind as they try to link the scene of Malcolm Rivers with the
motel scenes and work out who and what is wrong.

6. 
Repeat editing is used where Ed turns his head with quick shots from many angles.
This quick jumping edit shows choppiness and makes him seem troubled and shows
insanity creeping in. This is then used as he turns his head with continuity editing
between the parallel scenes as they come together; as Ed turns his head, he goes from
the motel to the trail room, with the psychiatrist speaking to him. This breaks the gap
between the two separate edits we have been watching and makes the link, and the
audiences realises Ed is the one with the multiple personality disorder, shifting the
perspective of the audience.

The overlay and quick jump cuts are used when the murderer personality (the child,
Timothy) is killing the last personality, the prostitute. The image of Timothy killing her
is used with an action match of Malcolm Rivers killing the psychiatrist as they take him
to the mental ward. Action matches are used for the car in the parallel scenes to show
the link between the characters in his mind and him.

7. LIGHTING

Throughout the film, there is lightning striking, in both the motel scene and the trail
scene, linking that both are going on at the same time. The lightning often flashes
across the characters faces in the dark, creating a quick flash of light and dark
contrast. This creates a sense of trouble and something going wrong, as well as
insanity later in the film, when things start to seem impossible. Lighting is also a
convention in Psychological horrors, as the pattern of quick flashing bright light
mimics the editing of quick cuts used when people are being depicted as insane, as
well as lights flickering, another convention and a link to insanity. It is also
reminiscent of the ring's flashing bright light of the actual ring symbol, and the TV.

A lot of the film is set in the dark, during a storm, making it gloomy and sometimes
difficult to see. This adds to the enigma, as we do now know what exactly is
happening at all times like you would in day light. It is also a horror convention to be
set in the night time, especially for murders. The parallel scene, the trail room, is lit
warmly. This creates a binary opposite of the dark motel scenes and the warm lit trail
room, creating a contrast and again, a binary opposite between fiction and reality.
This finally pulls together the two scenes and why they were being shown together,
because one is not real.

8. SOUND

The sound used in the film's intro is important, as it is Ed's voice, saying a rhyme and
repeating phrases and talking about him mum. The other voice is that of the
psychiatrist, and implies he is mental. He talks about the murders and the phrases
seem strange and slightly insane. This is being played over a mysterious piano music,
and shows there will be some sign of mystery and enigma in the film. This is along
with the images on screen, mug shot of Malcolm Rivers, and news
clippings/photographs of the murders, foreshadowing the character we will find out
about later in the film.

There is a constant rain and storm sound in the film, with heavy rain in many of the
scenes, along with some thunder. This creates a sense of anticipation, as there is
often rain and storms when something bad will happen. It also creates a sense of
unease.

Another use of non-diegetic sound is the dramatic drumming/high pitched violin
music used when the story is unravelling more and there is more urgency in the
events. This creates tension and adrenaline in the audience as they respond to the
music to see what the events are on screen.

There are echoing voices and whispers and distortion sounds as Ed begins to go into
the body of Malcolm Rivers in the trail room, and the music becomes high pitched
with distortion. This conveys the fact he is insane.

9. MISE EN SCENE

The setting of the film, the motel, is a very common convention for horror films. It is
a place for people in trouble to stay, for example, when someone has broken down,
and often trouble lurks there. In this case, it is the meeting place for all 10 strangers,
as they all need somewhere to stay. It could be a representation of the mind of
Malcolm Rivers, because they are all fictional personalities and are temporary, and
not living there.

The girls in the film are often wearing slightly skimpy clothing, for example the
actress who is killed first has a very low cut top and is concerned by her appearance
(often a convention for the first victim). The prostitute character also wears short and
low cut clothing, and is also looked at by multiple male characters. Although she is
confident and the last girl standing, she is still sexually objectified. This complies with
Laura Mulvey's theory on the Male Gaze.

There is iconography of weapons in the film, with guns, baseball bats, knives and
other weapons used in the killings. They are almost always held by men, implying
they can be a phallic symbol, especially the knife and baseball bat.

There is also iconography of the insane, with handcuffs, wheelchairs and psychiatric
tapes. This creates a sense of unease because of the man, as he has created all the 10
people in his head.

10. MISE EN SCENE

The setting of the film, the motel, is a very common convention for horror films. It is
a place for people in trouble to stay, for example, when someone has broken down,
and often trouble lurks there. In this case, it is the meeting place for all 10 strangers,
as they all need somewhere to stay. It could be a representation of the mind of
Malcolm Rivers, because they are all fictional personalities and are temporary, and
not living there.

The girls in the film are often wearing slightly skimpy clothing, for example the
actress who is killed first has a very low cut top and is concerned by her appearance
(often a convention for the first victim). The prostitute character also wears short and
low cut clothing, and is also looked at by multiple male characters. Although she is
confident and the last girl standing, she is still sexually objectified. This complies with
Laura Mulvey's theory on the Male Gaze.

There is iconography of weapons in the film, with guns, baseball bats, knives and
other weapons used in the killings. They are almost always held by men, implying
they can be a phallic symbol, especially the knife and baseball bat.

There is also iconography of the insane, with handcuffs, wheelchairs and psychiatric
tapes. This creates a sense of unease because of the man, as he has created all the 10
people in his head.