Crimson Peak Task

Film Studies: Crimson Peak                                                                                                                           

‘Crimson Peak’ is an American horror film directed by Guillermo del Toro and released in 2015. The story of the film is about Edith Cushing (portrayed by Mia Wasikowska) after marrying the charming and seductive Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom , she finds herself swept away to his remote gothic mansion in the English hills. Also living there is Lady Lucille, Thomas' alluring sister and protector of her family's dark secrets. Able to communicate with the dead, Edith tries to decipher the mystery behind the ghostly visions that haunt her new home. As she comes closer to the truth. Edith may learn that true monsters are made of flesh and blood.

The opening shot- in the clip- shows Edith Cushing from a medium shot, waking form a distressed sleep. This is shown by the sharp breaths she takes as she opens her eyes, frantically turning and adjusting to her surroundings. Due to the medium shot, the audience get information about where about the character is. For example, we receive information that Edith is in a dark bedroom room but also the medium shot picks up the smaller details such as the movement of her eyes because of this. 

From the features demonstrated in this first scene alone, it implies the genre being horror as it shows examples of conventions typically found within a horror film. An example of horror genre conventions are singular or group of characters alone and often in an isolated place with a ‘dark’ history and with no easy escape, a evil or threatening presence. The sense of darkness also has connotations to death. ‘Crimson Peak’, demonstrates this in the clip.  

Further on in the clip, when Edith Cushing is running away from the monster made of flesh and blood, the non- diegetic sound is more obvious. The sound goes from speech where Edith talking to herself and her dog, to non- diegetic sound which has a purpose to make the scenes with the monster scary and to really emphasise the sense of urgency and danger. Using the non- diegetic sound also creates more of an impact on the audience- compared to no sound at all- the monster wouldn’t come across as dangerous and threatening. The non- diegetic sound used in ‘Crimson Peak’ is a very generic type of music added in horror genre films. It is the plucking on strings. This, in my opinion, also creates a sense of speed, tempo and makes the audience on edge. It builds the tension and suspense waiting for something to happen. In this case, a slight jump scare when the monster starts screaming and clawing itself out of the floor towards Edith. 

 As the non- diegetic sound is introduced, the pace starts to increase. With this, the camera shots and techniques start to change too to keep and intensify the atmosphere being created. For example, the camera starts to track Edith as she runs away. It is also quite unstable as it’s filmed free hand. The shots progress to be a mixture of medium and long shots- allowing the audience to view more features of the mise-en-scene in the film within the gothic mansion setting. An example of this is all of the colours of the mansion are grey and have dark undertones and on certain walls are red, representing blood. Both types of colours having connotations to danger and death. Overall the whole clip has low-key lighting. However, the clothes Edith Cushing wears, I believe, to be very significant. She wears a white gown with other details but the colour is important. White is a colour which is known to have connotations of purity and cleanliness. Aesthetically, Edith is made to stand out from the dark and low-key light surroundings so the audience is more focused on her, from the contrast between the dark and light. However, also reading between the lines, Edith is also perceived to be pure and a good person with no secrets or generally anything bad to hide from anybody else. Compared to the mansion he lives in with Sir Thomas Sharpe, and his sister, the building and the other two characters may have dark secrets or information about them which isn’t being told, which is why the colours are darker, creating a contrast between the characters and for what they represent.