'Flightplan' analysis

‘Flightplan’, Brian Grazer, 2005

The film Flightplan by Brian Grazer is a hybridised genre, as it contains convention of both a horror and a thriller. The specific sub-genre of horror used in this film is psychological. The conventions used in Flightplan to connote a horror film, are the death of a person, and use of mise-en-scene. In horror films, death and murder are frequent, especially in slasher movies. However, as this is a psychological horror, there are a less amount of deaths, and so is more to do with things such as mental illnesses like schizophrenia. Conventions of a thriller film used are some sort of mystery or weird happenings going on. This is connoted by the death of Kyle (the lead character’s) husband and the fact that the FBI and the government are involved in shipping the body from Germany back to their home country of America. The expectations of these genres are fully fulfilled to the audience, as the conventions of these genres are clearly put across to the audience, with perhaps cliched film language such as crows to signify death. This specific text conforms to the genre through use of film language and the structure of narrative, and especially the denotations used, which will then lead to connotations. Therefore, the audience is fully aware of the genre, and their expectations of a classic thriller/horror film are fulfilled.

In the opening scene, we are shown shots of a train station, with Kyle sitting on her own apparently waiting for a train, on a bench. However, the station is completely deserted which is unusual, this may denote that she is either waiting for a train exceedingly early in the morning or extremely late at night, when people are less likely to catch trains. Or it could be to connote that as she is on her own, she is feeling lonely and is perhaps waiting for something to change her life. The mise-en-scene used throughout the opening of this film is crucial so as to catch the audience’s attention, and is used as signifiers as to what may have happened or will happen. There is a shot of Kyle standing in a mortuary on her own, with an open casket several feet in front of her. Immediately, the audience is provoked to think that someone she knows, perhaps a close family member has died. The fact she is standing on her own, in quite a central place in the room also connotes that she does not have many family, or perhaps feels shut off from the rest of the world and has no one to talk to. Also, just the use of a stock location of a horror film such as a mortuary is already a very strong signifier, of death and of perhaps murder. There has also been a blue wash put on in the mortuary, pose production. This is to make the atmosphere of the mortuary colder and with little or no emotions. There is also a scene featuring Kyle and her husband sitting a courtyard at night, with snow. The use of a snowy location signifies that it is winter, and that perhaps the atmosphere between the characters is cold or harsh. In the opening sequence, there is a wide angled long shot used of Kyle sitting on the bench with train at a halt in the platform. This is an establishing shot, although there are3 different locations in this opening. This style of shot has been used so that we take in the situation the character or characters are in, and their location, so we can begin to work out what is going on. The camera then tracks into the back of her head, as all of this is shot from behind her. There is then a cut to a tracking shot towards the front of her. This then continues until we are at a BCU of her face. This style of shot so that it perhaps connotes that she is slowly starting to realise something and she fully realises when the tracking comes to a stop on her face. A jump cut is then used to a different scene, where Kyle and her husband are climbing the stairs to what we presume to be their home, when Kyle asks to sit outside. Again a long shot has been used in this sequence so as to establish their home and their locations, and it is again used once they are outside in the courtyard. Once they are both sitting down there is another BCU of both of their faces. This has been used whilst their talking, showing high emotion is involved and each characters reaction to what is being said. There is repeated use of an electronic mechanic sound, similar to some sort of engine starting. It could be the train engine featured in some shots that has been edited to sound more metallic and vicious. This diagetic sound is used at the very beginning of the sequence when there are flashing images of the train, and it continually builds up to a heightened point where it stops and we are shown the long shot of Kyle at the station. This sound has been used to build up tension, and is used repeatedly in this sequence even when there are no scenes of the train, so we therefore link this sound with heightened tension. The non-diagetic music used throughout the sequence is played on a piano, and has a vast contrast to the fast ferocious sound of the engine. The music is quite soft and slow, and could be linked possibly to death or mourning, which is associated with the mortuary. There are only three characters introduced in the opening sequence, Kyle the main character, her husband who is then found dead, and the mortician. There is not a dialogue used, so Kyle’s only speech is when in the mortuary and when in the house asking to go outside. As she is only seen speaking when she has to or wants something, this shows she is quite reserved and shy, and possibly a lot has happened to her, which we are made to think about as it could possibly be related to her husband’s death. She also stands or sits in quite a stiff position, arms down by her side and her legs aren’t crossed when sitting down and she seems to stare a lot with a sort of dazed or blank expression. This connotes that she is perhaps shocked, is these are typical actions of a person in shock. Again, this is perhaps related to her husband’s death and what occurred. The main visual technique used is post-production, such as flashing breaks between shots of the high-speed train and just generally colours washes to locations. These effects help give more emotion and feeling to the scene, connoting various emotions and high tension.

The narrative in this opening is quite complex and unclear. There are frequent flashbacks or flashforwards to three different scenes. The first being Kyle waiting at the deserted station when her husband comes form the stairs and collects her, the second being Kyle in the mortuary with the open casket and the body of her husband inside and the third being the couple sitting outside in a snowy courtyard at night. There is then a final shot of the dead body in the casket. There appears to be no particular order and we can only assume they are flashbacks, similar to film noir crime elements. As this is so complex we can only assume that something must have happened to cause the death on purpose, and we must try and work it out. However it does identify the main character and her husband well, as she is featured in every shot and there are references to ‘your husband’ from the mortician. The majoy theme that we can gather from this narrative is that there is some sort of mystery behind her husband’s death as the FBI are involved, and possibly horror elements. The tension is created and carried on by never actually saying what is going on, we are constantly left without real answers, and this also then creates an enigma for the audience to watch the rest of the film to find out.

The social groups represented in this opening so far are quite restricted as there only 3 people featured, however from it the audience can see that it features a 30-40 year old married couple, who are possibly parents although children are not mentioned. The semiotics used are also infrequent. When the couple are sitting on the bench in the snow, Kyle looks up to see a flock of birds. This just denotes a flock of crows flying from the tree, but it connotes a much sinister happening. It connotes death, as crows are often associated with death and mourning, perhaps preparing us for what has happened to her husband. There is some obvious ideology discourse throught the film's opening. It shows that the husband has died and the wife is surviving and organising and will be the protagonist in this film. Usually females are represented as the weaker sex, with the males being stronger and surviving. However, the ideology in this film challenges gender sterotypes, by having the woman being the obvious stronger character.

I believe that the target audience for this film is for young adults, about 16 – 24 years of age. This is because of the complex narrative, perhaps signifies the rest of the film may be as complicated and so would be more easily understood by this age range, and they will be able to figure out possible solutions. The intended reading of this text is that a couple have been broken apart by the death of the husband, and as the FBI are involved from what the mortician said, the death is quite mysterious and serious. However, aberrant or negotiated readings could be that this is a documentary or comedy, or that they do not agree with the shots of the dead body used or similar views. I think the intended reading is quite clear, as that is how I read it and I think that the film may be aimed at a slightly older audience than myself. So I do not think that the reading of this text is affected by the age of the audience either. I believe that the text could be quite believable in extremely rare cases, as murders are quite common in today’s society unfortunately, and the FBI have been involved crimes such as murders before. I think older couples could be able to relate to this film more than the targeted audience as they will obviously be able to understand the pain Kyle is going through having lost her husband.