Distortion
In terms of the plot the opening scene follows an innocent looking girl walking down an alley as she is followed by an intimidating man whose face we cannot see, as what we expect the climax to be (the girl being killed by the man) there is a twist in the plot and the girl turns out to have lured the man into her trap.
The mise en scene used is effective in regard to the conventions of horror. The girls lack of clothes makes her seem vulnerable and forces the idea of her being the victim upon the viewer. Furthermore, she is wearing a white top, white has connotations with purity and childhood reinforcing the idea of the victim and contrasting explicitly with what we think is the murderers black atire. Furthermore, the believed antagonist has his hood up throughout before we see his face after he has been killed, the hood makes him ominous and unrecognisable which does not allow us to empathise with him therefore at this time we align ourselves with what we think is the victim making the twist all the more shocking.
Furthermore, the use of sound, the majority of the time, ties in with the conventions of horror. The background music used at the beginning gives an eerie feel to the piece and puts the viewer on edge which is then contrasted with the use of silence when she hits her victim with the bottle. Furthermore, when the protaganist hits her victim with the glass it is too slow and little sound is used. incidental music would have been extremely effective here followed by the use of silence as the lack of incidental music makes what should be the climax to the whole piece lack any shock or suprise as to the huge twist. Despite this an effective use of sound is the non diagetic sound of the short crackling at the beginning as we see the news flash which is then repeated as the girl walks awsy from her victim. This ties the newsflash and the girl together, bringing the entire piece together as we see they are infact linked. As the newsflash told us that there had been murders it makes an otherwise confusing plot turn more easily understood.
The camera shots used also tie in with conventions of horror. The opening shot which is a slow track which is seemingly hand held is a regular convenion of horror as it gives the idea that the girl is being watched. The way it slowly moves out from obstructed view and the hand held element gives the impression of a point of view shot. This therefore makes her seem extremely vulnerable as we see at this time she does not know where the person she is running away from. This idea is enforced further by the low angle point of view shot used when she has fallen over and is lying on the ground. It makes the hooded figure seem extremely intimidating and the use of dramatic irony is effective as we are led to believe by him standing up he has all the power when in fact she has simply lured him into her trap. Lastly, a weakness in the camera shots was the shot of the poster near to the end, an extreme close up of the picture or certain words may have been more effective as it would have made the plot twist more explicit, this would have also been an effective final shot as it leaves the viewer in shock.
The lighting used throughout is also a strength of the piece as it follows conventions. The darkness of the alley makes the piece seem scarier as it obstructs how much we can see. Furthermore, the way she walks into the alley from the light of the streetlamps into the pitch blackness symbolises what we think is her walking from safety to danger. This once again reinforces the idea of her being a victim and therefore shocks the viewer even more when we find out she is in fact the murderer.
To conclude, the piece itself follows the conventions of horror to a point and then somewhat succesfully subverts them at the end. To become a stronger piece i feel plot twist needed to be more explicit and the fact there is no incidental music makes the piece lack any real shock for the viewer. Despite this, the use of cross cutting and jump cutting throughout is at times effective and the beginning with the newsflash is one of the strongest parts.
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