IRREVERSIBLE

The majority of the camera shots in this scene are long shots and unusual shots, where we see

the victim/protagonist travelling the red hallway. The image of a the protagonist walking

down the hall in this medium/long shot, makes her look extremely vulnerable and small when compared with her surroundings and the lack of people. Her

attire of a tight-fitted silk slip also creates an immense amount of weakness and vulnerability,

not to mention the colour contrast of the sensual red walls, which reinforces the sexual act and

the danger that she’s faced with; this is directly compared with the white dress connoting

purity and innocence. The long shots of the corridors also display a level of uncertainty as

you never know who/what is going to come round the corner, allowing the audience to get emotionally attached to our protagonist.

CAMERA WORK

Mid shots were used regularly throughout the feature film to establish a close relationship

between the protagonist and the audience. the use of the camera following her as she walks down the corridor, and just showing

her back to the audience, firstly gives the effect that someone is following her (although no eerie music was used to indicate this)

but also to place the audience in the protagonists shoes and to see

what she sees. This creates a realistic experience for the

audience.

The lighting in the scene is very low key and dingy, however at the same time, when compared with other horror films,

this gory scene is considered relatively bright and challenges most horror lighting conventions. Other camera

movements consist of slowing down when the protagonist slows down/speeding up

when she does and generally follows her, not having a shot where she’s not in it.

Interestingly there isn’t any cuts in this scene therefore the action isn’t

dissected and it is even more horrific as it makes it even more realistic. The way that the camera moves is clear to

see that it is on a tripod. I feel that this is very useful as it allows the

audience to be completely focused on the sexual assault rather than be distracted

by a shaky-cam.

In this scene in Irreversible, there is nothing but diegetic sound. There was no music added in for emotional

effect/response. This therefore challenges the typical eerie music

commonly heard in a horror film. You can hear certain creaks as she

travels down the corridor, as well as her footsteps, which is a common

trait in horrors. What makes this scene worse than most other horror

scenes is that for over five minutes, all that is heard is a

woman’s cries as she is being raped. There is virtually no

speech/dialogue in this scene, just the panting of the victim as she is violently raped, by the antagonist.

This si extremely unsettling for the audience, as even if you

SOUND

EDITINGThe editing of this scene is quite naturalistic, and from

what I could see didn’t contain that many (if not any) cuts, to try and show

the flowing scene. I assume that with the minimal cuts,

it allows the audience to not be distracted with close ups etc and can be fully focused on the rape act. I feel that this was extremely effective.