The Descent Notes.

The film begins with, a group of women laughing and screaming with excitement rafting in a strong current in the river. When we hear the girl shout 'mummy' we feel this is a fun family affair and then we are shown the husband as well, to show a family. As the girls vacate the boat, we see how one woman (Sarah) joins her daughter, showing that the man is also her husband. As another woman from the group then gives the man a flirty look, we sense that there is something going on between the two and that they were having an affair, and Sarah is totally oblivious to this. As the rest of the group let Sarah go, knowing she needs to spend some time with her husband, we are shown the family on a country drive.

Suddenly there is a crash, and pole goes immediately through the car from the lorry killing Sarah's husband and her daughter, this is unexpected as it happens so fast. We see everything in a crane shot, allowing the audience to see what is happening. It then switches a hallucination of her daughters birthday and the goes to Sarah in hospital. She doesn't know what is happening, and as the hospital seems deserted we are then shown back to a normal hospital scene. Her friend hugs her and takes her away to reality. Now there is a overhead shot of trees, allowing us to see countryside. We see bullet holes in sign - danger. Country music shows set in south America. Isolated cabin - girls - alone, no help. We see a shot of a skull - death. Misty shot of trees show its early morning. The horseshoe on door, upside down is unlucky. Photograph turns to black and white, this shows maybe the end.

The Descent As A Hybrid Genre.

The Descent is a hybrid genre, because we see the horror conventions of blood, death and the villain against the hero. We can also see the elements of thriller through the crawlers jumping out from behind things and that sense that something is always hiding to make you jump. Another genre that could be seen in the film is adventure, we see this from the girls experiences of rafting and caving, and from the sense that we can see how they are up for any adventure or task thrown towards them.

Binary Oppositions In the Descent.

Real vs Surreal: We see how there is this boundary between life in the caves for the crawlers which we see as an unknown situation, and then the real and normal life of the humans.

Hero vs Villain: Again the Crawlers against the humans.

Good vs Evil: We could again include the crawlers here, but as well, we could use this to show how Juno sends them to the wrong cave, wanting to first discover it, and then the rest of the group for trying their best to get out alive.

Levi Strauss and Binary Oppositions.

He came up with this 'theory' for us to understand the way in which we look at words. We shouldn't just think of the direct meaning that it has, but to also look at the difference between the word and its opposite - (it's binary opposite).

An example could be young/old, male/female.

Levi-Strauss noticed another important feature of these 'binary opposites': that one side of the binary pair is always seen by a particular society or culture as more valued over the other. For example older people are seen more valued that the younger generation, (the young/old binary opposites).

Guy Ritchie.

Guy Ritchie is a popular director who has produced many well-known films, his achievements include several films from Sherlock Holmes to Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. All of Guy Ritchie’s films are usually a strong success in the world of film and production. Guy Ritchie has won eight awards and been nominated for a further six.

Guy Ritchie shows no signs of slowing down, as he has just revealed his new film, which is in the pipeline. “Gamekeeper”, is due to be released within in the year 2010 and is sure to fly in the film stakes. “Guy Ritchie’s Gamekeeper”, is originally a comic book series from Virgin comics, and will sure be made well-known from this production.

From talking about getting into the film industry, Guy Ritchie says, “I got into film-making because I was interested in making entertaining movies, which I felt there was a lack of.” We see how Guy Ritchie is a man who makes his work for a purpose and his audience is a strong component in his production.

Genre Of The Descent.

I think the genre of the descent is a horror/ thriller film. I think this because there are a lot of moments that make you jump throughout the film. I also think it is a horror film, as they are caving in an isolated area and are not out in the open in sight of help. The film also includes a lot of blood and death which is always a main aspect you think of in horror films.

Applying Vladimir Propp's Character Actions To The Descent.

The Hero - Sarah - She tries to protect her friends from the crawlers, and get them out safely. She defends her friends from the other girl's actions.

The False Hero/ dispatcher - Juno - She tries to lead the group's expedition, but ends up leading them to the wrong cave, and tries to shift the blame.

The Princess and her father - Sarah's daughter and husband who died in car accident earlier in the film.

The Villain - Crawlers - They fight against the group of girls and especially Sarah (The Hero).

It was quite hard to apply this structure to The Descent, as this film doesn’t follow the traditional equilibrium. I found this also quite difficult as the majority of the group of girls play the same type of role and don’t really stand out to fit a certain role.

Vladimir Propp's 7 Character Actions.

Vladimir Propp's 7 Character Actions Were:

1) The Villain - Struggles against the hero.

2) The donor - Prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.

3) The (magical) helper - Helps the hero in the quest.

4) The princess and her father - Gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.

5) The dispatcher - Character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

6)The hero or victim/seeker hero - reacts to the donor, weds the princess.

7)[False hero] - Takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess.

Difference Between Narrative And Story.

The story is the beginning, middle and end, and is split into these three sections to show us the story.

The narrative is the telling of the story and telling us what is happening within the story, describing it for the audience.

Horror Conventions.

There are many elements which make up the production of a horror film.

Setting: The area for a horror film would usually be a typically isolated house, with no-one to help nearby, or any help available. This is used as there would be no second choice for the characters and their fate is concealed in this one isolated area.

Characters: In all horror films there is always a villan in some shape or form. This could be from a knife-weilding maniac or in the form of something that is not human. the killer also has certain weapon used throughout the film.

A blonde female character is always killed near the beginning and is seen to be dirty and to have slept with multiple partners. There is also a young brunette woman who usually plays a part and lives to the end, she is seen as quite clean and a virgin and the innocent one, and most probably the sole survivor.

Themes: There is also usually a theme of death and murder or someone seeking revenge on their victims.

Iconography: Sometimes there is a symbol such as a phone or weapon which is significant throughout the film.