Film Analysis: The Cabin In The Woods (2011)

FILM ANALYSIS: the cabin in the woods (2011)

Drew Goddard (2011)

BBFC 15 , MPAA R 

Opening Length: 6 minutes

Budget: $30 million 

Box Office: $70 million

Theatrical Distribution: internationally, 40 territories

Production Company: Mutant Enemy Productions

Distributor: Lionsgate

Synopsis: Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin, where they get more than they bargained for, discovering the truth behind the cabin in the woods. (IMDB) 

LINKS: wikipedia , IMDB , Box Office Mojo, art of the title

Trailer: 

.......

Possible Influences For My Film: The character archetypes and isolated location.               

Companies/Idents: 

This was the only ident shown, as the distributor. The ident lasted 20 seconds, which is conventional for a main ident in a film. The ident was animated, and then faded to black, and was adapted to the style of the film. 

The use of a single ident is unusual, but not for a larger budget production. 

Titles:

The titles before the opening shot show the distribution and production companies first. The font is serif to denote a serious film, and elongated to denote horror. The company names are shown through a larger sized font.

The dark red colour connotes danger or blood and is conventional for a horror film. 

The first name shown is Drew Goddard, the director. It is conventional to highlight the director in the opening, and is repeated twice in the opening. 

The first title that appears is of the actress playing the protagonist, in a thinner but similar font, and in the bottom left hand corner. The rest of the titles appear in the corners of the screen, and highlight the cast before the rest of the production crew. 

The main title of the film, is in uppercase, and appears suddenly 3 minutes into the opening. The title takes up the entire screen and is a jump scare for the audience. The red denotes horror as it connotes blood and danger. 

Opening Shot: 

The first shot is a close-up of blood pouring over a page, and showing ancient Egyptian images. This creates narrative enigma of their meaning, and directly denotes the horror genre. This continues for another 40 seconds. 

Mise-En-Scene/ First Five Shots: 

The previous sequence is sharply interrupted and rapidly pans to a slogan. This contrasts the previous dark and cryptic images. The use of a close-up maintains narrative enigma. 

A hand is seen putting money into the vending machine. This creates a binary opposition (Levi-Strauss) of the ancient opening images, and the modern day ones. 

The camera pulls away, and two men are seen talking by the vending machine, wearing suits and appearing to be in an office. Narrative enigma remains as the faces are not well seen. 

There is a shot-reverse-shot sequence, tightening the focus onto the men and allowing the audience to see their faces. 

There is a cut to an extreme long shot of an office corridor, establishing the setting, but still withholding exposition, as the corridor doesn't have any signifiers that could anchor  the setting.

Sound: 

The beginning ident plays with long-drawn out notes, and an organ and strings playing. There is further sounds of clanking or doors opening, that accompany the animation. This fades and becomes an audio-bridge, adding the sound of strings, and a gradual increase of percussion, creating tension. When the men are introduced, they have a conversation that is heard over elevator music.