10th August 2018

Sleepy Hollow Analysis

Opening scene 

  • The color red dripping, we would suspect it is blood but it is wax
  • Sinister music, foreshadowing the film 
  • Close up shots 
  • Monochromatic shades of color
  • Same building and gothic architecture 
  • Animation with the names as they drip 

Arriving in Sleepy Hollow 

  • Isolation of the village is established
  • Invented settings, not reality 
  • Scary music 
  • as he is in the carriage we are expecting him to die as it did with one of the men in the village, builds suspense and tension as we are expecting a lot of blood and horror. 

Setting

  • Mist 
  • Big building
  • Statues 
  • Graveyards
  • Trees are all dead 
  • A town that has had 4 murders 

Walking into the bar 

  • Lots of colors 
  • artificial, Fake sense of safety, while outside is dangerous and dark but inside they are all happy and singing and dancing 
  • The witches voice doesn’t match the setting, creating a juxtaposition, the creepy voice in a happy environment. She looks all pretty and we don’t expect her to be a dark character, her voice isn’t gentle and happy while everything else is 
  • She is chanting about a witch, a supernatural symbol
  • A town with 4 murders should not be a happy place which is what is created in this scene 
  • The witches actual voice doesn’t match her chant 

Flashbacks 

  • Lots of bright colors, vibrant setting, not contrasting with the rest of the movie
  • The juxtaposition is the music and some of the imagery, the music is heavenly and nice but some imagery around the fireplace and the dad and the storm. 
  • The bird in the cage, the mum and him are the bird in the cage and is passed onto the witch daughter 
  • The red door of the white room 
  • An illusion to witch hunting

The bird in the cage 

  • The daughter is trapped by her stepmother 
  • The bird in the cage, the mum and him are the bird in the cage and is passed onto the witch daughter
  • The daughter has the same things as his mum, the witch symbols.
  • The mother is trapped behind the father
  • He plays with the symbol when he feels trapped

 The forest

  • The camera shot gives us the feeling that they are being watched and builds tension for us
  • Flashing between the cave and Crain and the boy
  • The tree is where more blood is introduced
  • The blood splashes onto his face 
  • Building suspense, the music is like haunted, the blood splashing and he just keeps hacking makes us feel like he is hacking into a person and the sound of the axe, close up shots and the tree. 
  • The scene builds up, part of the mystery is solved.

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Writing