KS: The Hole

Unable to find opening sequence but here is the trailer.


'The Hole' is a 2001 psychological thriller film directed by Nick Hamm, based on the novel 'After the Hole' by Guy Burt. The use of flashed imagery and jump cuts is very sucefful here to create a disjointed surreality.


Iconography is very important in this clip with the use of props including the alcohol to represent the rebellious teenagers but also the sharp objects and the blood to create a terrifying setting for the audience. A warehouse and hospital room are two stock locations used in this clip as traditional places for horror sequences to take place.


The digetic scream works very well to create a dramatic setting and create fear for the audience, I think when it comes to creating our film opening we should sound mix the dolls laughter to give the character the fear factor. This also made me think of an idea of non digetic sounds of the winding of the doll with a key to pronounce their speech. I also think we should definitely use a sound bridge to hold the various flashes and lines of action together by tensional punchy music similar to the soundtrack used in 'The Hole'. I also love the last few seconds where the title is screamed and echoed to close the opening to a black background, a technique we should consider using.


The flashes of black at white lighting create an unnatural and horror sense, with lines of action bridged by music, character interaction and screams and flashes of directional light. Also the use of handy cam and a quick flash of video cam shooting are interesting techniques to present an eery yet personal response to a horrific experience.


The birds eye view shot I particularly like as it draws the audience into the film with a direct presentation of a characters feelings and creates a disjointed affect by the setting and movement of his body language whilst laying flat looking at the camera.


When we create the scene of our main character in her psychiatric unit we could base the setting on 'The Hole's' all white hospital room with the use of heavy directional light, where we should use a chair rather than a hospital bed. I believe this will be very successful as it will contrast the dark lighting in the other scenes and the flashes of black lighting; similarly to the structure of 'The Hole'. And lastly with the use of an increased cutting rate and juxaposition of shots the audience feels involved in the dramatic moments by increasing suspense and creating a disjointed horror feel to a psychological thriller.