The Happening- A quick Review

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The basic idea of The Happening is nature fighting back on humans and this is demonstrated with the trees releasing something in the air that causes the human beings to kill themselves. As it says on the upper central area of the film cover: ‘We’ve sensed it., We’ve seen the signs., Now… It’s happening’. The film is based in real time and the concept seems quite realistic to the viewer as in society today there is a real focus on what might happen to us in the future and being eco-friendly and saving the world.

The cover shows abandoned cars leading into the distance of a road in a dark, depressing environment, dark and depressing are two aspects that play a large role in this film and are emphasised throughout the film. This dark and depressing theme is signified from the start with techniques such as the music builds up in layers from a fairly light timbre to a heavy build up in violin and then chimes are added  in a surreal manner and it gives impressions of nothingness and pending doom. In the opening scene there is diegitic sound such as wind and city sounds of people talking in New York which gives impressions of a normal day to day environment this is what causes a huge climax when people start dieing as the concept of our race just being wiped out so silently and discretely is shocking. Most films would use drama to emphasise death such as people panicking, sirens etc but this film remains depressing instead of stressful this gives the viewer the idea that were dying and there is nothing we can do (there is no fight to be fought, this is the end, is the impression I get from the opening scene).

 This film focuses more on making you panic than representing panic in the shots.

Generally the director uses build up techniques to make you peak in this film such as camera shots changing from slow pan shots of a landscape view of the city to rapidly increasing close ups of horrified faces which really has an large impact on the viewer and sucks them into the film. Confusion plays another major role in this film which again increases the drama of the film as what you don’t understand especially in this situation can unsettle you.