Written Analysis Second Draft

The film that I have chosen to analyse is The Thing directed by John Carpenter, 1982. The basic plot of The Thing is that a body-snatcher-esque alien parasite is assimilating (consuming and taking over) members of an Antarctic research facility.  The basic theme of the film, being a sci-fi horror, is fear; which leads to the main stand-out theme of paranoia which causes uncertainty in both the narrative and in the audience. A brief summary of the extract I have chosen is; MacReady (Kurt Russell) who was thrown out into the tundra returns with a flare and dynamite which causes Norris to have a heart attack, the group take him to the doctor who tries to resuscitate him using a defibrillator but Norris has assimilated and his chest cavity opens up and bites off the doctors hands, Norris' body mutates and MacReady takes charge and kills it with a flamethrower; throughout the whole extract there is an underlying sense of paranoia throughout the characters due to the parasite being able to manifest in whatever body it chooses.

The Mise-En-Scene in the film is used to create a sense of isolation and paranoia for the characters that reaches out to the audience. This is partly due to the harshness of the setting as the research facility is in the middle of the nowhere, this makes the audience see that even if escape becomes possible the character wouldn't have anywhere to go and would more than likely die of exposure. A way that the setting constructs paranoia is that it's an unfamiliar setting for audiences as Antarctic research facilities aren't exactly a common film setting, this allows the film makers to manipulate the setting as at that time the audience didn't really know what to expect from the setting. This is opposed to if it was set in some backwater town in the middle of America in which the audience would have some expectations of the movie prior to watching and wouldn't be watching it with the same uncertainty as they would in the Antarctic setting. The lighting in the scene is used to give a sense of dread, specifically the lighting from the flare as it causes a large part of the mise-en-scene to get flooded with red lighting which provokes a worried response from audiences as it's almost as if it is signalling an impending doom or being used to represent blood. Aside from those connotations it also reflects MacReady's anger as it causes his face to be lit from below which is commonly used in horror films (specifically older horror films) to reveal the monster or evil character as the audience associates the connotations with the person being lit. Another aspect of the mise-en-scene that provokes a feeling of isolation is the positioning of the characters in the frame, specifically at the beginning of the extract as MacReady is on the very edge of the frame in the bottom right whilst the others are close to the centre and at the top left corner of the frame but as the scene progresses they go through a door in the centre of the frame and MacReady edges towards the centre of the frame. A way that this framing shows paranoia is that in the extract at 0:31 there are 3 men in frame who are shown to be "allied" as they don't outright suspect each other but the framing of the shot shows that they are paranoid which constructs a level of doubt within the group due to the man on the left who throughout the shots edges away from the group without saying a word. This also shows use of space because that shot is being used to give a backdrop of a new location as a transition from the tight storage room that the extract begins in. The use of props in this extract greatly constructs a sense of paranoia, particularly within MacReady as he doesn't trust any of the others and would be willing to kill with the flare and dynamite. This provokes a response from the audience that he is likely not assimilated as if he were 'the thing' he wouldn't be threatening them with dynamite, he would just transform and start killing them. The use of props further shows paranoia with MacReady and also his isolation in the surgery room when he has the flamethrower. He stands isolated in the corner of the room whilst aiming the flamethrower around in all directions due to paranoia and his distrust of the other people. MacReady isn't the only character however that shows paranoia through the use of a prop, at 1:41 in the extract you see a character pick up a scalpel in case MacReady gets close but then 'the thing' transforms on the table and the character keeps the scalpel due to his paranoia and distrust.

The setting is used to provoke a response in the extract again when they are in the operating room as it looks like a standard blank room that has been turned into a makeshift clinic with the help of some medical equipment and what appears to be a lot of shiny, sterile-looking metal furniture which, whilst giving it the look of a clinic/surgery, also makes it look like a cold and unwelcoming place, provoking the audience to feel like something important is going to happen in that room. The use of costumes and make-up is also done well to construct meaning and provoke an audience response; the costumes are a big part of making the Antarctic climate a believable setting (despite the filming location in Canada) as the characters are wearing actual clothing that an Antarctic Researcher would wear, such as the huge winter coats; the make-up in the beginning of this extract (the ice frozen onto MacReady's face) is also used to reinforce the idea of the Antarctic climate whilst also constructing isolation by showing the effects of exposure which were caused by him being isolated from the group, almost killing him and causing him to feel a large amount of paranoia and anger towards the group of people that isolated him and threw him out into the tundra. The final aspect of mise-en-scene in this extract that I am going to be writing about is the use of special effects. Specifically the work of Rob Bottin the designer/creator of the animatronics and effects. In this extract specifically the special effects are used to provoke many different responses from the audience as they get to see a glimpse or a scene featuring the grotesque creations that are causing the whole trouble; it also allows audiences to understand the assimilation concept easier as 'the thing' unique and different each time, often manipulating parts of its host during the transformation which provokes the audience to respond with intrigue, fear, and possibly even disgust which puts them in the position of the characters, allowing audiences to empathise with the characters and further develop them. The special effects create a sense of paranoia as they show the audience what the assimilated characters could turn into at any moment without indication which helps convey that the characters don't know who they can trust but it also makes it so that the audience doesn't know who to trust either as any of them may have assimilated.

The cinematography of the film constructs meaning and provokes a response through the use of camera, a key example of this from the extract I chose is at 1:41 when the character picks up the scalpel, the camera has both the scalpel in someones hand, and MacReady in the same shot which shows the characters paranoia towards MacReady and also that he intends to use the scalpel on MacReady. Another large part of the cinematography is the colour, John Carpenter generally is using warm colours in the cold, frozen environment to make the base look more homely which helps to amplify the sense of horror as it makes the environment seem like less of a typical horror movie scene. Carpenter also uses colour as poetic fallacy with the use of cool blues to show isolation and loneliness with the flare then being lit to create a harsh bright red that cuts through the blues and which almost foreshadows the danger of the following scenes.