Textual Analysis of a clip from The Ring

The scene in which  Rachel watches the video

23.42 to 26.38 http://www.alluc.org/movies/watch-ring-2002-the-online/109400.html 

In this clip of The Ring, through montage and fast editing a sense of unawareness is created, leading to the horror genre being represented.

There is an establishing shot of the picture taking up the entire screen. This is lowered and we see a cabin. The MES contributes to a horror film because we see mid-shots of a lone cabin, and the weather is miserable which could be use of pathetic fallacy. There are many examples of symbolism of death in the scene due to the colour red being used. The interior of the cabin is decorated with red and black furniture making the whole scene scary because bright colours usually allude to a sense of happiness but in this scene it is quite the opposite. This same feeling is represented through ominous, low-key lighting which creates shadows and through the MES of the curtains being drawn suggesting that this video should not be viewed by the public: it is off limits.

A mid-shot of a tree, centrally-framed, is sometimes displayed as one of the images in series of montage shots. This is another symbol for death because the red leaves symbolise blood and therefore death. The tree being in centre-frame is significant because it suggests that it is the most important image and represents the main theme in the film: death. Later in the clip, a long shot of the same tree is shown. Again, the colour red symbolises death but the distance gained could represent how the woman in the clip has moved away from life (tree with leaves) and towards death. In the video, a mid-shot of a burning tree represents the death of nature, and could foreshadow what is going to happen to the viewer.

The sound in the scene matches the eeriness of this horror film because it becomes quieter as the scene goes on. This is to draw the audience into the scene, but then slowly quietens to heighten the sense of loneliness. Non-diegetic music in horror films usually lulls the viewer into a false sense of security; it does that here because we believe we aren’t alone when the music is playing but as t quietens, we realise that the woman is alone in this shack and she has no-one to call on if something happens to her.

The music that plays in the tape is a series of asynchronous sounds which confuse the audience because we do not know how we should be feeling or what is going to happen next. One of the sounds is shrill noises which are effective because they are enigmatic and scare the audience. We know that this video should not be watched but we can not stop. This links to what we see on the screen: a montage of different clips. The most constant image is of a woman who combs her hair and goes on to jump off a cliff in the course of the video.

The rest of the montage consists of various images which do not make sense to the viewer. This is done so that, again, the audience do not know what to feel. The TV screen that the video is playing on, takes up the entire camera shot. However, we often see reaction shots of the woman looking horrified. Reaction shots are shown to remind the audience of the woman’s presence in the scene and to show us what she thinks about the tape.

There is no dialogue in the clip, and therefore there are no shot reverse shots in the clip. After the video ends, the telephone rings. The ringing of the telephone is abrupt because there is no sound after the video ends. We see a high angle POV shot of the telephone which zooms in as the phone rings. This is done to bring the audience into the scene because we think that the telephone call story could be a myth. The diegetic sound of the “seven days” is said in a creepy voice which reinforces the idea of this being a horror film. The video is a montage of images therefore the pace of the clip is fast, however, there is a slow pace of editing at the beginning of the clip because the audience is being eased into the scene.