Saturday, December 31, 2011

Leprechaun Film Analysis

Leprechaun
Director: Mark Jones
Year: 1993

IDENTS
  • TRIMARK PICTURES
  •  DIVISION OF VIDMARK INC.
A long shot is shown of a stereo typically dressed leprechaun walking down middle aged looking cellar steps of a house.
Leprechaun is dwarf like and wearing costume which possibly denotes comedy.
Diagetic sound of a 'sparkle' is denoting that he magically shut the door, connoting supernaturalism.
Medium shot of the leprechauns legs and a 'pot of gold' is shown, connoting a typical leprechaun and also connoting comedy.
Low angle of limo driving along a secluded road is shown, showing exposition of time era.
Non diagetic music is playing, which is soft beats and fast pace anchoring that the film is not serious.
Medium shot of middle aged man wearing smart clothing leaving the limo, the smart clothing and limo denote that he is rich or somebody of importance. The man is drinking alcohol which shows anchorage that he is drunk. A medium shot of the empty bottle on the floor is shown at 1:53 possibly foreshadowing the bottle being used as a weapon later on in the film.
Long shot of man walking up the stairs to a middle aged if not elderly lady dressed in rags, denoting that she is poor, connoting that she may be working class.
She says, ' A limo? What on earth has gotten into you Mr O'Grady?' which is exposition of his name, and that he would not usually drive around in a limo, possibly denoting that he is not rich.
The womans accent shows exposition that she is Irish, also the name O'Grady denotes the the man could be irish too.
The woman is authorative, signifying that she could be his wife or possibly mother.
'Tomorrow we will be looking at mansions', denoting that they are rich, also denoting that they have gotten rich quickly, which leaves polysemic options of that they could have won the lottery, or the mans business could have done successfully, he could have gambled and won etc. It could also be linked to the pot of gold shown at the beginning of the opening.
Mr Ogrady says 'did they deliver the package' using exposition showing that this package may be of importance, the woman says 'whats going on?' denoting that she has nothing to do with this mans plans.
The driver of the limo steps out of the limo, he has an American accent which denotes that he is American, possibly connoting that the film is set in America.
When the package is uncovered, the woman says 'you were supposed to bury your mother, not send her ashes over from Ireland' signifying that they have moved to America.
Medium shot of Mr Ogrady smashing the vase on the table and retreiving 'Gold Leah, Gold' denoting that they are infact rich, and also expositon of the ladys name. 'A wee person, a leprechaun' media language slang of 'wee' denotes that they are both irish. This also anchors that the pot of gold shown at the beginning of the film is very much so linked to Daniel Ogrady and Leah.
A storm begins, which begins tension, possibly foreshadowing death or struggle.
A pot of tea is being made, a medium shot of the woman in the kitchen is shown of her waiting for the tea, a dutch angle of the woman bending down by a suitcase is shown, a medium close up of the suitcase is shown as the leprechaun gets out.
A medium shot of Leah praying for god denotes that she is religious, also that she is afraid and wants god to protect her from this leprechaun, foreshadowing conflict.
A low angle shot of the leprechaun pushing Leah down the stairs is shown, she falls down the stairs towards the camera, there is diagetic sound of bones breaking, anchoring that she is most probably dead.
A low angle long take of the camera following the stairs to the top to find the leprechaun, denoting his authority and foreshadowing that he will win this conflict.
A long shot of Daniel Ogrady entering the house is shown, to be greeted by the leprechaun, the leprechaun says 'where did you hide it, Dan?' denoting a past relationship, he then replies 'where did you find me?'
A long, over the shoulder shot of the man with a pistol and four leafed clover is shown, used for comedic purposes, related to when people scare off vampires with a cross and wooden sharp stake.
The leprechaun says 'catch me if you can', used for comedic purposes, also something that a child would say which denotes his immaturity and the fact that he isnt serious possibly signifies that he isnt afraid, foreshadowing that he will win against Daniel Ogrady.
Long shot of man putting the leprechaun in a wooden box is shown, the leprechaun says 'ill keep coming back' denoting that he will not lose.
Medium shot of Dan Ogrady hammering down the box is shown.
Daniel Ogrady begins to drag his wife, he looks in pain which could be polysemic from what the leprechaun has done to him, or possibly that he has a heart condition etc.
Medium shot of Ogrady moving his hand towards his heart, signifying and foreshadowing a heart attack.
Diagetic sound coming from the leprechaun is heard 'Danny, whats wrong?' denoting sarcasm and a comedic sense, also possibly showing that the leprechaun has caused this heart attack.
Ogrady shouts 'Burn in hell you little green bastard' and begins to light a match, there is petrol all over the floor which could foreshadow a fire.
A close  up is shown of the match being lit, and Ogrady falls to the floor, the match goes out.
A close up of the hand twitching is shown, and a flash of light from the lightning is used to connote that he is dead and did not manage to set alight the cellar and kill the leprechaun.
A long shot of the box moving around, denoting that the leprechaun is attempting to get out of the box, possibly foreshadowing his success. Non diagetic sound begins to get louder.
The shot then moves to a transition, denoting a fast forward in time.
THE OPENING LASTS 10 MINUTES AND 7 SECONDS.

2 comments:

  1. Great detail, but it needs broken up!
    Use relevant hyperlinks (eg to IMDB/rottentomatoes/review/official/fan/wiki pages), embed YouTube vids (trailer or even the opening if someone else has uploaded it - you shouldn't upload it yourself though), and provide stills (using the caption tool to add a little detail)
    Its also useful if such posts can start by setting out budget + box office; production co's + UK/US distributors; director; year; any awards; and a rating (eg from IMDB or rottentomatoes.com)

    ReplyDelete
  2. also...
    try to pick out what you consider the most useful points from all this detail, especially any scenes/editing/mise-en-scene/soundtrack (whatever aspect it may be) that may now influence or inform how you'll produce your film idea

    ReplyDelete

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