THE RING (2002)Film Analysis

CAMERA SHOTS/ANGLES/MOVEMENTS Firstly, the first scene begins with teenagers, with a low shot of the house in the rain

creates a conventional scary atmosphere. An eye level shot is used to introduce the girls, while they tell a scary story and one tricks the other, various close up shots are used to show the variety of emotions from fear to laughing. This is when the audience feels they are joking around and are typical teenage girls having a sleepover.

The shots become more important when the element of the tape becomes more apparent. The fast zoom into the clock which says 10pm shows significance in that time. The shallow depth of field is used on the phone when it rings, to again show importance of the object and it's crucial to the storyline. It then changes focus to them, to show their fear of the phone call after the stories they have been telling. Close ups and slow camera movements are used here to create suspense in the audience and show the fear of the characters in the film.

Fast movements with zoom are used on the TV in general, whenever the tape flashes up, in particular when the viewer hasn't put the tape in themselves, like at the beginning. Often the viewer is close to the television and shots are eye level. Shot reverse shots are used to show both the screen and the reaction of the viewer, as well as over the shoulder shots for the audience to feel as if they are watching it with them.

Close ups of newspapers, clippings, documents, pictures, and magazines help during the plot of the film as it unravels, the mystery becomes more clear. Close up shots of information help the viewer find out information at exactly the same time as Rachel does, as she investigates Anna Morgan, her daughter and more. Other object close ups are also important, such as the horses eye.

Repeated shots help reinforce the significance of certain elements to the story, for example the shot of the tree on the hill is uncovered as an important element later in the film when it is uncovered under the wallpaper of Samara's room. Also, the actual image of the ring, where it is shown multiple times and is also the shot on the DVD cover, is actually what Samara sees when she is in the well.

Long establishing shots from birds eye view are used when she is driving through the forest, conveying that she is on a journey and the music paired with the shots create a suspenseful atmosphere, making the audience question what she will find. There are also shots from the trees as the car passes by, creating a sinister, suspenseful feel.

There are a lot of tracking shots and over the shoulder shots, following where Rachel is walking, as if we are going along with her. Because we know just as much as we do, there is no sense of the audience knowing what will happen at the next moment. Tracking shots help us follow every movement and create suspense in the storyline so we are in the same place as her, as she is who we most identify as the audience.

EDITING There is a few important parts of fast paced editing used in The Ring, where in which the

audience only gets to see very sharp and quick flashes, for example when Katie dies, Jump cuts are used – in a second flash, we see the ring shot, a few shots from the tape and Katie's extremely shocked face. This creates shock for the audience, as well as slight confusion because we cannot tell what exactly she dies from or what she sees.

Quick editing is used for another reason, urgency and fear. The shots and cuts are kept short so it switches between views of an event quickly, so we can see something happen from multiple views in a short space of time. This for example is used near the end when Noah sees the tape by accident again, and Samara comes out of the TV screen. Quick cuts are used to flicker from the screen, her face, her eyes, his face to create fear.

Cutaways are used in The Ring to add to the psychological element to the film, and are used to make links between the images that are seen in the tape and the images that are seen by Rachel in real life. For example, when she is in Richard Morgan's house and she sees the mirror and other things in the house which are the same that were in the tape. This is when cutaways are used, and a flash of the matching image from the tape is quickly flashed up with the shot of the actual view either side of the flicker. This paired with a distortion effect creates a very psychological effect.

Distortion effects are also used throughout, and on the “Dreamworks” title to convey the theme and create suspense from the beginning.

SOUND The most important sound in this film is the diegetic sound of the phone ringing and the

white noise created by the tape. It is repeatedly used throughout, as it is key to the storyline and is used to scare the viewer as well as the actual character, although the audience know the phone will ring it still creates fear.

The non-diegetic sound in the film is mainly in two different sections – slow paced and piano themed, and fast paced and drum themed. The slow piano music is used when there is more mystery involved, such as Rachel is uncovering a link or a clue towards the storyline. The fast paced music is used when there is urgency, such as when Rachel is trying to get to Noah before he dies, or Noah is trying to save Rachel from the well. These music types are important to how the viewer reacts, and a fast pace creates more adrenaline and fear in the audience.

There is also very quiet and small amount of sound used when the audience is made to feel very suspenseful. For example when The girl is walking towards the room with the water coming out, there is little sound used to cause the audience to feel the tension for something to happen.

Other sounds important to the film are diegetic sounds such as foot steps, scribbling sounds from drawing, both from the child and from Rachel. Distortion sounds are important to create a sense of creepiness and unusualness to the tape.

MISE EN SCENE The locations in the film are important, Rachel lives in a city, urban place, and ends up

investigating in more rural areas, one being an island. The island is significant because it's a closed off environment and the doctor says she's “The only doctor on the island” so she must know about Anna, and that “this island is better of without her”. The location of the island has to be tracked down by Rachel from studying the tape and then books to try and find out about the tape. The cabin is important because it was first visited by Katie, then by Rachel to investigate and in the end she has to return because it is where the tree was, giving them the clue to find where the well is. Cabins and rural areas are also common conventions of horror films.

Psychiatric hospital was also featured in the ring, a very common convention in psychological horrors. This creates a feeling of mental instability, and is often quite a strange place to the viewer as most people have not visited one. This creates an uneasy feeling for the audience, like something is wrong there.