The movie we chose to focus on for our preliminary project is the 2016 horror Hush which throws the viewer into a story about the home invasion of Maddie Young, a young deaf woman who lives in an isolated environment as she strives to stay alive and defeat a masked killer who is armed with a crossbow. The specific scene we chose to remake is the first interaction between the two characters as she comes to the realization that she has been targeted.
(Scene begins at 17:20 and ends at 19:54 in the clip above)
SCREENCAP ANALYSIS
Mise-en-scene aids the viewer to understand Maddie's life. Her tied-back hair and clothing of a simple tank, jeans and trainers indicates her character as a very ordinary person, one that the audience could automatically relate to. As Maddie walks towards her home's door, slides it open and patiently waits for her cat to respond to her call for it, we can see her body language is very natural and slow-paced which proves that she feels comfortable in the environment of her isolated home in the woods; however the viewer may see this much differently as we are more aware of her surroundings since we are the ones who can hear of her whereabouts with the help of the diegetic sounds of her atmosphere: trees rustlings, wind whistling and crickets chirping, leaving them feeling anxious at the uncomfortable silence filling the atmosphere. The long shot of Maddie standing by the open door also forces the audience to stare at her in possible danger, this causes us to feel uneasy as if we are waiting for something to suddenly jump out before we see her slowly walk away from the door; the further she gets from the door the lower our panic is.
After Maddie gives up the search for her cat and sits to work on her laptop, the notification from 'Maddie's iPhone' creates the emotion of confusion in the viewer, relating them with Maddie's feelings. As she opens the message to reveal a photo of her previously in the night working, we are left with the question of who has taken this photo and why; the fear of the unknown and uncertainty is built up through the use of shot-reverse-shot between the photo messages and Maddie's reactions getting more and more intense and unsettling through her facial expression, breathing and fidgeting, almost showing the viewer how they should be reacting also.
As Maddie continues to recieve the sender's photos, we can spot the time differences between each photo as we have been lead through the series of events the photos show (Maddie working, searching for her cat and then sitting down looking at the photos of herself) through Maddie's jacket. In the first photo, she is shown without the green jacket she had just put on which is why the jacket is significant, as it shows the difference and progression of time and tells the audience of the lengthy time span that this stalker has been spying Maddie for.
Silhouettes of the home's blinds and window frames in the pictures show that they have bee taken from different spots around her house as if the stalker can see her no matter where she is, leaving her feeling vulnerable, surrounded and as if she has nowhere to run and hide from this anonymous watcher.
Once again the viewer is forced to watch Maddie in the petrified expression above for an uncomfortably long period of time as she realizes she is being watched, building panic and tension in the viewer as they wonder who the anonymous person is; the reminder that Maddie is deaf & mute emphasises the worry the viewer feels about her safety as if she is in danger, she is left helpless with the killer to have a huge advantage.
As the shot-reverse-shots continue ever so slowly to brace the viewer for the shock of the invader's appearance, we see the two finally meet with the door wide open in between them. The camera's use of the Rule of Thirds, with Maddie on the left and the invader on the right, show a clear opposition of good & evil between the two characters to let us know that they are against each other. With the anxiety and fear already built up in the viewer, the invader lifts his hand to show Maddie's phone in his possession as the final straw of panic; Maddie is left even more vulnerable and powerless without a device where she would call for help in this situation, we know she has come to this realisation through her hard breathing and unsteadiness just before the running scene.
The Rule of Thirds continues throughout the quick shots of the short running scene including in the screencap above, however the situation between the two characters is now much more extreme. With them right in front of each other yet separated by the locked door the stare the two share is haunting, deadly and marks such a significant moment even with it being no longer than a few seconds. Even with the emotionless mask on, the viewer can tell the invader is full of rage. As the invader has grown anger because he was not able to get to the door fast enough, Maddie and the audience are left terrified with what he plans to do next to get to Maddie, and what he would do when he finally captures her.
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