Textual Analysis on The Host [Horror Genre]

The Host
The beginning of The Host is black background with white text, there is no music so the silence already begins to make the audience uneasy and confused. The wide angled establishing shot allows the audience to see where the opening sequence is taking place it uses diagetic sound which you would expect in the science lab setting. Within the conversation over shoulder MCU shots are used, to allow flow it then gives and ECU of the bottle of poison which shows the relevance of this for the rest of the film as the two characters disagree in the disposure of the harmful substance and ECU is used to show the emotion in their faces and the concern in one character. As it then fades into later on in the night due to darker lighting used showing the intenseness, there is an element of danger because of the character wearing safety clothes, the sound is enhanced as the liquid is poured into the sink, it then zooms in onto the empty bottles the slow pan movement express the importance of what is happening which will impact the rest of the film the audience want to know the consequences of these actions as the music begins to build tension it fades into a new scene. From watching the opening of this Korean film we can see that as music is important so is the use of silence, lighting can create a tense atmosphere and that beginning the film with the problem e.g. the harmful bottles can create curiosity within the audience.