Analysis of Chakushin Ari Film - Essay Example

Analysis of “Chakushin Ari” Film “Chakushin Ari”, directed by Takashi Miike is a Japanese horror movie that has remained hit for quite a long time.In the movie, people receive voicemail messages in a mysterious manner, for themselves as they will be in the future. This is a foreshadow of each one’s brutal death. This movie presents a revengeful spirit. It is surprising how voice mail message came from the future of the day and time one’s death was scheduled. Surprisingly, on the exact day, the characters start to see weird things. The manner in which these messages are sent the the coincidence that later happens create tension and fear among the viewers. Horror cinema in Asia presents an interesting case study of national issues and international legibility. The concepts associated with horror films may not have the capacity to explain how filmmakers produce it. This does not necessarily mean that horror films are more than the other categories (Chou 71). The focus here is what makes a good film, regardless of its genre, but within the nature of the ways in which they are incorporated. Since people consider the horror films as B-movies, they think of them as entertainment due to certain directors, actors, or producer’s skills. In fact, horror films have claimed the biggest market share over the decade due to its entertainment content and quality. The linking of horror and art dates back to the Greek tragedy. The term horror is found in Aristotle’s poetics meaning fear and pity. Even without seeing, he who hears a story of horror and its contents develops fear and pity for the characters. These are examples of devices used so often and have come to define the genre of the horror films. Analyzing these films requires one to examine them in terms of the effects, cause, and the links that exists between them. Supernaturalism, monsters, cults, mad scientist, old castles, graveyards, and uncharted islands are some of the features of a horror film. Films not dealing with those particulars are to be classified as something else. The test of a film should be the film itself not the broad terms used to describe it. When a film is judged in terms of its photography, direction, acting or in terms of its relevance contemporary nature of its contents, the horror film is worse than the ordinary drama or comedy. Scholars have asserted that the aforementioned features are not the only measures to categorize a horror movie. Arguably, the external appearance of films can fail to indicate the right direction hence necessary to incorporate emotional factors. Ignoring the emotions in the horror film may easily make one to point in the wrong direction. A film gains popularity if it can provoke emotions of the viewers and therefore, the more the provocative emotions in a film the more quality it becomes, as in the case of “Chakushin Ari”” film. In this context, horror films are more provocative than others making the genre become famous hence gaining more viewers (Chou 71). Any filmmaker should turn a script or a concept into a series of sounds and images that express the essence and the surface of the source. Making a successful horror film, the filmmaker should decide the primary of the production of horror. Why, for instance, a film like “Chakushin Ari” is labeled a work of horror and not a murder thriller or a detective? Anyone who has ever watched this film would admit that it inspires dread and fear and therefore deserves the name horror film. The structure of horror film “Chakushin Ari” is an example of films that employ much the same devices and method, as does the horror film. The form in which the film is presented and the content within the same film determine if they a contain a feature of horror films. Therefore, from the features, it is possible to verdict if such a film is an exclusive work of horror. The films of this genre are not just a sequence of events but also unity of a certain kind of actions. Horror, like comedy, drama, or suspense should not be an obvious element in a film’s composition to be the major consideration behind that composition (Choi, 89). This films genre is particularly fond of bizarre love and violent death and because we all fear death, and try to avoid it, even the clinical presentation of murder is apt to interest the viewers. However, the arousing of fear of death by the film is not enough to create horror. It requires a certain kind of manipulation to create the anticipated fear. It is interesting how people enjoy “Chakushin Ari” despite the fact that throughout the movie, viewers remain terrified. Despite the inspiration of dread and fear, individuals still consider horror film best to watch. Conversely, the films can inform something about who enjoys them. Behind the creatures, the castles and the supernatural components of successful horror films are not obvious, but equally prevalent themes. Generally, the art in a horror film is to frighten and cause fear of the unknown and that of being unable to manage the environment. Art has shown that the destructive nature of man’s life is as much a part from his personality as it is in the world he lives in (Choi, 97). Horror films tend to dismiss the chance of making simple judgment of morals on their characterization or the content, the outcome being that they are left with more profound themes of responsibility and being guilty of life and death. Even a simple-minded horror film asks the same questions as do the greatest works of art. The fact that many people find horror films so intriguing may show that they also provide answers of some sort. The fear of being cut off from others and being rejected by people around us is the least obvious fear to be found in horror films. For instance, the fear of death, which centers much attention on things that destroy life and the fear of alienation draws people’s attention to those things around them (Choi, 99). Notably, the fear of horror film goes from sociological to psychological themes. This happens for films that employ a simple plot, limited range of themes, few characters and techniques that enable a filmmaker to construct references, parallels, and a structure that completely utilizes all the components available in works conception. Horror should not be taken as an exotic emotion, but rather be based on common fears in everyday life. The more contemporary and realistic horror films have the same contents that the traditional horror films possess and therefore achieve something more. They can help people control such fears, help those who make films and encourage people who experience the same. Not all horror films possess an element of fear - some contain humor to keep the viewers entertained. Mise-en-scene Element in “Chakushin Ari” film An image of fantasy is an environment in which any nonfactual and nonexistent things are made possible. In fantasy, one can be content with his imagination and curiosity and engage himself in a super world for a short period, forgetting the reality. Fantasy is an imagination or a response of the deliberate escape from reality. It is not a mere product of people’s illusion and imagination, but the realization of repressed consciousness. The measure of unconsciousness inside a human being plays an important role for the quality of life as well as basic human desires. In the early 1990s, fantasy literature was fully developed and fantasy films came into being (Choi, 127). In “Chakushin Ari”, Takashi Miike incorporates his literature advantage to make sure that the horror features in the movie are more specific and win the attention of the viewers. As this essay affirms, filmmakers produce horrors employing more advanced literature to capture the interests and attention of viewers. This technique is extensively applied in the Asian countries like Japan, China, Thailand, Hong Kong, which are the greatest horror film producers. Mise-en-scene is not only the medium, which can convey meaning of something, but through it, a unique linguistic method to converge films to the state of art (Choi, 135). Elements of Mise-en-scene include the following: a. Setting of props b. Hair, costume, and makeup c. Body language and facial expressions d. Color and lighting e. Positioning of objects and characters within a frame Setting and props It is determined according to their relationships to characters. Setting and props play important roles of allowing viewers to get the overall situation of the film. It makes the film more clear and understandable to many viewers. Costumes, hair, and make-up They play roles of representing a synergy of effect in shaping the appearance of characters. Professionalism, age, ethnicity, characteristics, epoch, environment, nature, and health of the character are all represented. Costumes represent the films’ artistic nature and the psychological aspect of the characters, introduce the cultural element and the social nature of the film. In the analyzed films, these elements do not represent the exact fantastic images but they harmonize the fantastic pictures. Body language and facial expressions These elements help to get strong expression and the representation of the nature characters as well as reflecting dramatic components of the film. The director extensively used facial expressions and body language to ensure that fantasy is emphasized. Lighting (contrast) Contrast is the component of visual images that contains both the symbolic element and the informative component. Light concretizes the shapes and forms of images and object of the viewer’s focus. It is noted through human sense. The contrast creates the mood of the individual and overall scene. The lighting conveys the dramatic meaning of the film making the audience gloomy and strongly drawing their attention. Color The viewers clearly distinguish colors in the horror films. Moods of conditions are shown according to the meaning of the colors. The Asian horror film makers produce horrors with a variety of colors to convey different meaning to the active audience. They incorporated a mixture of colors to the films for making them unique and frightening the viewers. Positioning of objects and characters within a frame In films, the viewers share a common point of view with the characters due to the cameras involved in the shooting. In “Chakushin Ari”,Takashi comes out as a competent film director from the manner in which he positions the characters and objects. Through the movement of the cameras i.e. the angles of rotation, the viewer may approach, spin around or even view the approach to the objects. Cinematography in “Chakushin Ari” film The unique and scientific motions that are employed in the movie help to impress its viewers. The photographs are also interesting, as they are abstract and purely out of imaginations. The film represents specifically a world that is not real. The horror film is a media reflecting times and culture. They are narratives and seem to represent the culture of a country. The films contain high levels of quality in the motions of the photographs. It provides excellent means of motion in the films employing the best current technology. The frame that grants order to them unifies the objects in a single shot. Here, the art develops the order in a real world, which is somehow chaotic (Choi, 145). Some portions of the frames may represent several meaningful aspects to encourage the viewers continue watching the film. While in this stage of production, the producers incorporate some specific sound to make the film interesting as well as to draw more attention from the film viewers. Editing in the “Chakushin Ari” film The main technique of making a film unique is all about editing. The filmmakers take an initiative step to edit the films in respect of client needs. A research is first conducted to determine the most viewers’ needs and after analyzing them, the editing process then begins to create the anticipated impression. The editing process also involves some aspects of fantasy for making the horror strong in its entertaining capability. Moreover, editing manipulates the actions of the characters to drive a different meaning to the viewers. In conclusion, “Chakushin Ari” brings to light a good picture of Japanese horror movie. To confirm the excellency in this film, the trade mark that was used “ringtone of death” has remained very popular to a point that it was used in Japan’s unofficial haunted house as a background music and a ringtone as well. This is to mean that all the features of a good and successful movie are contained in this film. Some countries in Asia produce horror films with some specific reasons, for example, Japan. The Japanese horror films are not so different from other countries’ films since they share some common cultural practices. The horror film genre in Japan is very common since they produce the kind of films that are mostly entertaining rather than aiming to create much tension and fear to the viewers. The filmmakers do not directly link the contents of the film to the events in Japan’s history (Choi, 158). Some films are modern horror, employing the common and current forms of technology more, than the traditional genre which explores the fear of what lies within people. The popularity of horror films in Japan links to stressful society situations. After the World War II, Japan started to produce horror films in vengeance to the west. They comprise monsters and vengeful ghosts, which to some extent has a certain hidden meaning to the viewers. Work Cited Choi, Jinhee & Wada-Marciano, Mitsuyo. Horror to extreme: Changing Boundaries in Asian Cinema. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009. Print. Read More