Research Into Similar Products - 2010's

Film: Bereavement

Genre: Horror

Date Released: March 4th 2011 (USA)

Director & Writer: Stevan Mena

 

 

Opening two minutes

The film I am going to be deconstructing is Bereavement, which was released in 2011. This film genre is a horror. The MPAA gave this film a rating R.

The establishing shot of this film is an extreme shot of electricity pylon, as this is happening there is a light non diagetic humming sound, also a crow calling out can be heard above the humming. Then jump cuts to shot of field, then pans left to right to reveal an old beaten building with smashed windows, then to a house, the humming becomes deeper. Then again it jump cuts to the door of the house shown before, we an see that the garden is overgrown, but all the bushes and plants are nearly dead, there is a sound of the door unlocking and a loud creaking from the ivy covered door. The shot of the man is a mid shot he is wearing gloves which makes him seem mysterious and dark. The camera work used is tracking, the man's lower legs are tracked down the pathway to the van, this is shot in one continuous shot, as he walks the sound of the non diagetic humming becomes louder and the noise of crunching twigs can be heard from the floor, this builds the tension. The camera continues to track the man as he gets in his dirty, old, muddy, definitely unkempt van, as he opens the door the metal vibrates when he slams it shut again. The noise of the engine is loud, this sound is diagetic. Then it jump cuts again to an eye level shot of the man's van driving off. Then it shows a shot of a road, then the car drives past, as the car is driving the camera starts to crane back out. As it is zooming out if pans from the left to the right to look back at the old factory and again the sound of the crow calling out can be heard, there is also the sound of wind blowing through the old building.

The establishing shot of the new scene is another extreme shot of the van driving through an empty countryside as it is quiet and all that can be heard is the roaring of the old tatted van. There is also a low sound of drum being banged as the film title appears. As the van drives over the bridge there are bangs and shakes of the metal, then it is tracked down the bridge, then to reveal an old wearing structure. It then jump cuts to an eye level shot of the car continuing to travel across the bridge, showing the man driving over a wide river. We can notice how quiet it is and how there are no other cars travelling down the long country road.

The next scene's establishing shot is a high angled shot tilting down, following the loud car down an empty silent street. As he is driving in his van down the road there is a faint diagetic sound of bells ringing. Then it jump cuts to a shot that is angled down to the floor and raises when a young boy walks past on an over grown side walk, we may assume that he is on his way to or from school as he has a large backpack on. The camera is still when the old car drives past. It then jumps into a shot from the car looking through the front window, suggesting that he is stalking or following the little boy.