Within the first minute of the clip there are many
conventions of the horror genre shown, an example of this is the low-key
lighting. The only source of light seems to be the candle that the main
character Edith holds, this makes the darkness around her seem suffocating and
eerie, and plays to the sense of “fear of the unknown” that everyone has inside
them. This would manipulate the audience into fearing what isn’t there
resulting in a build-up of suspense. The connotations of darkness also create
this fear; being how it is evil and mysterious, and how the clip emphasises
that she is alone. This is conveyed by how the camera pans around Edith
revealing to the audience that there is no one around her who could help her;
that she is completely isolated.
In contrast to darkness of the house however Edith herself
is much more brightly coloured, intentionally done as mise-en-scѐne.
In the clip Edith’s colour scheme consists of yellow, or more so blonde, for
her hair and a white which is used for her dress; this combination of bright
colours shows her to be some sort of light within the house, and, compared to
how the house appears to be decaying and is coloured black and red – the connotations
of these colours being death and danger or perhaps even representing blood –
Edith is a source of hopefulness and life, which is what the film is about; the
fight between life and death.
The colour red appears several times throughout the clip,
most noticeably how it is the colour scheme of the ghosts. The use of red here
can represent violence and ill-intent since we can assume every ghost was
murdered, however is can also represent the anger each ghost feels as they have
been trapped in this house for eternity or symbolise the ghosts blood and
brutal death which then links to the title of the film being “Crimson Peak”, or
more so the “peak” of death.
Sound is also used throughout the clip to build up a sense
of suspense, whether this be through diegetic or non-diegetic sound. This is
proven when Edith hears a creaking or scratching noise from behind the hallway
door, mistaking it for the dog before we hear the dog barking from beside her,
the camera then tilting downwards to show where he is, whilst the focus is
still on Edith. The diegetic sound of the dog barking immediately tells the
audience that something is wrong as dogs barking at something is usually because
they are uncomfortable or unsettled, the few seconds we spend listening to the
dog then builds suspense as we wait for something to disturb us, the thought
now dawning on us that something is hiding behind the door. Shortly after this
when Edith goes to open the door again they use non-diegetic loud fast pace music
to quickly build suspense as we wait for her to open the door and reveal the
ghost within. Diegetic sound is also used to convey the ghost’s emotions, an
example of this when ghost crawls towards Edith. The ghost sounds as if she’s
wailing which may symbolise that instead of being angry towards Edith and trying
to kill her she is crying out to her perhaps for help as Edith is the only one
who can see the ghosts. Her crying might also be perceived as her being upset
perhaps because of how she was killed if she was killed violently.
The clip also uses edits such as the technique of zooming to
emphasise the horror of the situation and to disturb the viewer more. This is
evident with how the camera zooms in on the ghost crawling towards her, this
shows the gruesome details of her face and decaying body, including the rope
around her neck which then gives us exposition of how she died. After this a
tracking shot is used whilst the camera is in front of the ghost to give the
audience a sense that the ghost is crawling towards them.
At the very end of the clip Edith flees downstairs to
basement where she finds a trunk with the name “Enola” on it. This creates a
sense of mystery as we are yet to find out who this Enola is, however this also
links back to the beginning of the clip as Enola spelt backwards is alone, so
this once again creates a sense of alienation of which Edith is the victim of.
