Film Analysis Part 2

The beginning of Oculus (2014) takes place in a hallway, using low-key lighting to obscure parts of it as to make the characters look small, as if they are trapped. This makes the atmosphere immediately feel tense and mysterious. The very first shot of the film is a close up of a child peering through a door. The scene then cuts to a man holding a gun as he crosses the hallway, the only audio coming from his footsteps and the child taking a breath when the camera focuses in on the gun. This creates a feeling of imminent danger, because it makes the child appear as if they are just narrowly escaping the man's view, and if they breathe louder or make any other sound, they could easily be caught. The sound of the door creaking being amplified also adds to this feeling. 

There are actually two children in this scene, the girl being the one that was visible through the door, and her brother who follows behind her. This makes the stakes of the scene feel higher, with not just one child being in danger, but both. Once they exit the room they were hiding in, the camera tracks them as they run through the hallway, a shot that only lasts for about three seconds. The short duration of it contributes to the urgent, fast-paced nature of the scene, with no time for the audience to feel any sense of relief before the next moment. A mid-shot is used as the sister frantically tries to open a door that is locked, which is not visible to the audience because of how dim the lighting is. The fact that only her and her brother are visible, and the only sound comes from her attempting to open the door, shows how helpless and desperate they both are. The close-up of just the brother and the cut to the shadowy figure in the hallway implies that there is another significant element to this film besides the obvious threat posed by the man the children are running from. This element may present itself in different ways to the siblings, perhaps even serve as a way of isolating them, considering how only the brother saw the figure standing there. 

The opening to Oculus (2014) has more action and camera movement than ours, the mood feeling intense straight away, leaving the audience wondering what exactly is happening and what has led up to those events taking place. Ours takes time to establish the narrative, being more linear in terms of storytelling, and never gets to the point of being that quick paced. While both Oculus's opening and ours feature quite a bit of tracking shots, there is a lot more movement happening on screen with the former. Additionally, it utilizes mainly mid-shots, allowing the audience to have a better view of the character's terrified expressions, which helps further establish feelings of urgency and danger. Ours features more long shots, focusing more on showing what is happening around the main character rather than her reaction to it.