Analysis of 1408

Analysis of the opening sequence of 1408.

 

The scene opens with the titles, which start as white on black and edited to fade away, little circles at a time. This is accompanied by non-diegetic, eerie music. The music starts as a slow rumble that appears as soon as the company logo appears on screen. It escalates into an almost fast paced rushing sound. The eerie music creates the mood for the genre of the film, by using minor chords that are held too long to be any other genre of film.

 

The music stops momentarily and is replaced by the sound of heavy rain pour off screen. The sequence fades into an establishing shot of the empty road at night with the ambient sound of the extreme rain and high winds. We then see a low angle shot of a car coming towards us, accompanied by an incoherent, high pitched sound similar to human screeching, and the diegetic sound of the car braking to a halt. The title of the film fades in out of nowhere at the same speed as the car and quickly fades away again. The title is shown with blurred edges, a method used widely by horror films about ghosts and hauntings in particular. The camera uses a side shot of the car and pans as it reverses, and the screeching heard earlier is revealed to be a religious radio programme. The use of mise en scene becomes apparent pretty quickly, as the sequence switches to a shot of John Cusack, the lead actor as mentioned in the opening credits, sat at the wheel. We also see the first prop used in the film – a torch, a very common tool in horror films and it is the early use of this prop together with the serious, almost anxious expression on his face that establishes the genre of the film. We then see a close up of the car tyre, and a shot of the car driving back in the direction it just came from the same low angle and camera position as the start.

 

We are then introduced to a new location – a hotel. The sequence fades to a shot of the car stopping outside the location and our attention is brought back to the eerie music in the background which leaves us wondering what is about to happen. There is then a mechanical shot of John walking up the bridge and another establishing shot of the hotel itself to denote the size of it. Ambient sounds of thunder is played along with the diegetic sound of the doorbell as John walks into the hotel. This whole sequence is shot POV from the innkeeper’s perspective. The location is important to the narrative as well as mise en scene as it reveals to us the meaning behind the name ‘1408’ – it is now a thought that it could be a room number. The dialogue opens with John introducing himself quite casually, especially for a horror film. He reveals his character’s name to be ‘Mike Enslin’ and the innkeeper’s wife replies “It’s such an honour to have you here.” This suggests that he is of some importance or at least considered famous as his costume is very casual. The innkeeper and his wife continues the dialogue by telling Mike about the history of the hotel, in particular the hauntings and sightings of ghosts. This is accompanied by shot reverse shot, revealing Mike’s expression to be one of fake interest. His one worded replies to the dialogue show that he doesn’t seem to care and as if he has heard it all a hundred times before. This is compounded by the Innkeeper’s attitude to their history and that they aren’t warning him about it, instead they sound as though they are proud of it and are using it as a tourist attraction – this gives us an insight into Mike’s mind and why he seems so sceptical. Throughout this dialogue we are treated to high angle POV shots filmed from in between the bars of the staircase, and POV shots of the roof and the moon outside.

 

We are introduced to the new location of the ‘haunted’ hotel room. We see the props used which include a tape recorder and a strange device, but also a cigarette and the mini bar. This shows the contrast of professionalism and business with comfort. We see the extreme close up of the cigarette with the tension building non-diegetic music in the background, but this time with the addition of piano notes with a lot of reverb. As for the camera techniques, this sequence is filmed entirely from one corner of the room, and the shots fade into each other to show the progression of time and that Mike hasn’t slept since his arrival. The music finishes to ambient birdsong and the off screen dialogue of Mike describing his night into the tape recorder. The shot changes to a side view of Mike in his car and the dialogue now on-screen over the top of an upbeat 80’s rock song on the radio – a heavy contrast to the non-diegetic music played earlier. Mike describes his night in an incredibly cynical way, paying more attention to his notes about the Innkeeper’s wife’s home made, flourless chocolate cake. This is shot with a close up view of his expressionless face, proving just how cynical he is of his stay. “On the shiver scale, I give the Weeping Beech Inn, 6 skulls. Screw it, 5 skulls.” He has rated the hotel room on how scary his stay there was. This gives us a hint as to his job, which is revealed in the next sequence, as the location changes to a bookstore front, with the camera zooming in on the advertisement of ’10 Haunted Hotels by Mike Enslin’.