It - Extended Analysis
‘It’ is a 2017 horror supernatural film directed by Andy muschietti. Written by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman. It is an adaptation of the book ‘It’ by Stephen King. The film stars Jaedan Lieberher (Bill as Georgie’s brother) and Bill Skarsgard (playing Pennywise the clown) as the lead roles. The film was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is set in Derry, Maine (as it has been told later in the film). The movie revolves around a group of children (the losers club) who face their deepest fears while getting rid of the clown - who feeds on fears before eating the children. The Box office was $701.8 million.
The camera starts with showing the grey, rainy sky and slowly comes down to show the view of the house. All the while it starts playing the names of the cast and directors. The camera then cuts to someone tearing off a piece of paper. We are here introduced to our first character, Billy, who’s in the process of making a paper boat for his brother. The lighting is dark and blue reminding the audience of the genre of the film, horror. Slow piano starts playing in the background along with the sound of rain falling.
The camera then cuts to someone drawing a smiley face on the moist window. We hear someone talk which leads us to our next scene where we are introduced to another character(Georgie). Then the camera shows a full view of the room where both the characters are present. The room looks like a teenagers with all the posters and the clothes lying around. The lighting still is pretty dull with only the natural light coming from outside that’s a bit brighter.
The camera cuts back to the smile washing away with rain suggesting something bad about to happen as Georgie makes his way to the cellar. The camera then follows Georgie walking down the stairs, who seems to be their mother is playing the piano the camera stops and focuses on her for a while. The viewers also get to know the the time and year the film is set into; October 1988.
The lighting now is dark with only the lamps turned on. The piano playing in the background starts to intensify as the camera cuts to and from the cellar door to Georgie , who is obviously scared of going down alone. There’s a slight light coming out of the cellar making it look more eerie and to keep the focus of the viewers on the cellar’s door.
The piano in the background stops playing as we hear the door creak open symbolising Georgie now being alone. The camera slowly zooms down to the cellar stairs, the only light present coming from the opened door suggesting the darkness beneath. Georgie’s breathing intensifies creating discomfort for the audience.
We hear bill telling Georgie to hurry up as there is a shot of him then cutting back to George trying to turn the lights on (which did not). This is a typical cliche in horror movies giving the audience a hint that something bad is about to happen. As Georgie makes his way down the stairs (shoulder level shot).
The camera pans(pov shot) over the room the only source of light still being the outside of the window. The camera then stops to a dark space in the room and focuses on what seems like two eyes staring back. The music becomes loud. The camera slowly zooms into Georgie’s facial expressions; scared, he flashes his light for those to turn out to be two bulbs in the shelf. The camera then follows Georgie as he runs out.
The scene begins with (high angle shot)the camera moving from the house to focusing on Georgie running out of his house and stopping only to wave back at his brother. The only sound we hear is of the rain as we can see the grey sky setting a gloomy mood and letting the viewers know again that this is a horror movie with its dark colour scheme. The gloomy sky could also indicate sadness which might com late in the film. With the dull background the only bright thing is the kid’s bright yellow raincoat making the viewers believe him to be the main character in the scene.
The camera pauses as Georgie starts waving at Billy giving the viewers an entire shot of the background.
We see the child waving from what seems to be a window up high which cuts to a shot of his brother telling him to ‘’be careful’’- making the viewers suspect of some kind of danger, increasing the intensity of the scene. But the brother watching over also gives the viewer a bit of comfort as to the child not being out alone.
The camera cuts to the boat floating with the water and the child excitedly running after it (overhead shot). The music is surprisingly calm for a horror movie we also hear the kid laughing and the lighting starts to brighten slightly as he’s running giving the viewers the comfort of the child’s safety. The textual titles start to appear with a white layout- the colour white also providing a source of comfort as white is the colour of angels and protection.
The camera transitions to the boat as it flows across the water, giving us georgie’s point of view as the music starts to intensify, as Georgie looks up he hits his head and trips, the music comes to an abrupt stop. This scene also hints us of the location as it has ‘’Derry public works’’ written on the safety barrier. The camera then transitions to a (ground level shot) of Georgie sitting up to inspect his wound as his boat floats away with the water.
A (high angle shot) lets the viewers know that now they are on another street. The music builds up again coming to an abrupt stop when we hear Georgie yell ‘’Nooo!!’’ As the camera cuts to his boat going down the sewer with him saying ‘’Bill’s gonna kill me”.
Another (ground level) shot shows us Georgie looking in through the sewer while we see the background with thr rain pouring and not a person out to help Georgie if need be. The camera slowly zooms into the darkness of the sewer, a growl is heard after which two animal like eyes pop out giving the viewers a jump scare as well as Georgie.
This is where we’re introduced to another character (Pennywise the clown) who starts off with offering Georgie his boat back but as Georgie seems not to go along with it, the clown starts asking questions about his friends.
The audience are reminded again of the innocence of the child as he tells the clown everything confirming the fact that he’s alone at the moment as his brother is sick in bed. The clown starts messing around with the boy talking about a circus as we slightly hear the sound of kids laughing and a circus as said in the scene. The camera cuts to and from Georgie to pennywise as the viewers also get more comfortable not knowing of the danger about to come.
The camera cuts to an old lady coming out to open the curtain when her attention comes to the boy leaning in towards the sewer giving the viewers a feeling of hope but that doesn’t stay long as she leaves. The camera then cuts to a cat and stays there for a while pointing it to be the only hopeless witness to the scene about to occur. This scene reminds the audience again of the danger the child could be in as he’s still out alone. The music slowly begins to play again giving the old lady the expected saviour feeling to intensifying more when she turns away.
The camera then slowly zooms into the clown as he keeps Georgie from leaving saying that Bill would kill him if he lost the boat, the music intensifies from peaceful to eerie suggesting to the audience that danger is about. As Pennywise beckons Georgie to take his boat back the camera again cuts to and from Georgie to Pennywise making the viewers more uncomfortable with georgie’s scared facial expressions and pennywise’s grin.
The camera zooms in on pennywise as it turns into a monster and bites on Georgie’s arm, again giving the viewers a jump scare. The music stops only to hear Georgie screaming when the camera cuts to the cat - confirming the audience about their only witness. The camera then cuts to Georgie’s bloodied arm, zooming out as he cries for help. Another (overhead shot) shows a hand reaching out from into the sewer and dragging the boy’s body in. With the eerie music intensified it comes to a stop with only the sound of rain falling as the boy disappears.
The camera then rotates through what seems to be a halo of light in the dark and zooms out to the textual name of the film written in bloodied red eerie font. Letting the viewers know again of the genre of the film, horror.
