The Happening Analysis

How does Shyamalin create a sense of tension in the mis-en-scene which could be linked to the physiological thriller genre?

I’ve now recently watched the thriller ‘The Happening’ by M.Night Shyamalin that has been around for about two years now. The film is good and some of the techniques Shyamalin uses create an awesome sense of mystery and convention of the thriller genre. The biggest effect is given off in about the first five minutes of the movie, setting the movie and gripping the viewer, yet when the movie progresses it seems to loose its effect, this is why I am going to pick apart and analyse the first opening scene.

  Shyamalin starts off, like every movie, the opening credits, but he has still paid attention to detail in them. He starts it off with very dark clouds moving across the whole screen, you can hear the wind in the background of the music; the music is in a minor key creating tension, this has been placed over the clip therefore being non diagetic. This music creates a field of mystery and sadness due to the violin playing the minor melody. You can also hear the wind in this motion, giving a feel of realism, almost like it’s your own point of view watching the clouds. Carrying on throughout the credits the sky and clouds seem to get darker and travel quicker across the screen. Whilst this is happening the music begins to build and get more aggressive giving a sense of dramatic build, a convention of the psychological thriller genre. This makes your grip the edge of your seat. The whole Mise en scene builds to a final burst and everything goes to a halt, the screen goes black and this leads us on to the actual opening scene of the movie.

     As music underlies this whole scene the scene opens with a generic establishing shot of central park, New York. This is emphasized to the viewer through text underneath the shot. As the camera pans on a certain dog walker walking through the mass amount of citizens in the park, what we view is an average morning scene, with stereotypical citizens, like business men and tourists, this creates a conventional feel to central park. This is also to show the venerability of the citizens around. A convention of the thriller genre. There is another establishing shot, this time from a low angle, of the New York skyscrapers and the tree’s of central park. The low angle enhances the size of the buildings. Your immediate attention is drawn towards the building yet the sight and sound of the trees is an early signifier of the danger throughout the whole movie, but to the view watching this for the first time, this only creates mysterious tension and mysterious thoughts, but this is the first motif of the deadly toxin the trees release. Motifs are in relation to the genre of physiological thrillers too, as it gives a chance for the viewer to create there own picture in the head of what might happen, thrillers to this to play on your mind.

   The frame of the city then cuts to two girls sat on a bench, even though this is such a busy park in the shots previously, they look alone. This gives a sense of venerability. This is a convention of a thriller; the venerability gives of a feel to the view of mystery keeping them on the edge of their seat. The main victims of this scene are the usual stereotype of a victim, blonde woman. This signifies weakness because of tradition, saying men are superior; women appear to be more emotional and weaker to an attack. Quite suspense music builds underneath sounds of the wind/trees and the dialog, which is at a minimum making the viewer create there, own cinematic experience more individual. The frame cuts to a mid shot of the women talking, in a two shot composure. The dialog refers to death therefore signifying and resembling the attack of the trees that will happen. Signifiers are conventions of thriller because they add a sense of mystery. A scream is let out by what sounds like a young girl close by, this is unconventional of what would usually be heard in a park. The scream adds tension to the mise en scene; this is a convention of the thriller genre, making the cinematic experience more gripping and heart racing. The scream also shows weakness because of how young the scream sounds, this adds to the conventional factors. Immediately after the scream a reaction shot one of our main victims is given off, showing the emotional feelings of which she is experiencing, this also shows a sense of venerability and scared feeling, a convention of a thriller. The victim then speaks under breath, showing confusion and how she is scared. A point of view shot is then shown showing her perspective of what is happening, in the mise en scene the ‘general civilians’ are walking backwards, the music is building and the tension rises, making the viewers cinema experience almost to a climax. Another reaction shot is given; you can see the tension on her face. The last shot is the victim trying to talk to her friend but she is a victim in the attack, she has stopped dead, repeating her speech, which is very unconventional. Given off a mysterious feel, making the viewer almost scared. The frame then cuts to the girl under attack from the ‘wind’, she looks almost surprised which confuses the viewer, she tries to pear around the back of her head making the main focal point the back of her hair as she reaches something, this finally cuts into the most brutal part of the scene, there is a big close up of the victim pulling the hair pin from her hair, this is an unconventional weapon and has a chance to have a close up on the hair, blonde, resembling weakness. The hand with the weapon then pans around to her neck of which you can also see the girls reaction as she forces the pin into her neck, to therefore kill herself, the shot is composed on a golden mean with the main focal points being the weapon and reaction, this is a conventional thriller shot as it emphases the tension between the two objects, but this shot is also unconventional as the weapon is held by the victim therefore making the victim the suspect. This is wear everything, including music, and feel of the brutal killing really gives a cinematic climax, adding the final blow of tension and releases it, the screen cuts to black.