The Happening Analysis

By Ryan Fleming

How does shyamalan create a sense of tension in the mise-en-scene which could be linked to the psychological thriller genre?

The happening is a thriller movie that was released to the UK in 2008, it was directed by m. night shyamalan. It Stars Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel and more. The film follows the genre very well, there is mysticism, action and a struggle for life for the main characters. I’m going to be answering the question ‘’how does shyamalan create a sense of tension in the mis-en-scene which could be linked to the psychological thriller genre?’’ I will be looking at the first 6 minutes of footage and analysing it.

 The Opening sequence is made up of the clouds moving across the sky with very eerie sounds. The opening sequence is mostly violins it’s almost like there building up to something, by getting louder and more intense building up to a crescendo. During the opening sequence the title ‘’the happening’’ comes into view by using a slow fading in technique. We normally associate violins with sadness, so this automatically links our mind set to sadness or terrible thoughts. The sinister sounds of the violins fit in well with genre.

The next shot is an establishing shot of a park that is filled with people. It’s a very busy setting. There is a non dijetic wind sound again which is another signifier. There is a vulnerable two shot of these girls sitting on a bench, with some trees in the background. The angle of the shot is slightly above them which does show them as vulnerable or maybe weak. Everything is fine and seems all is going well, and then there is an unconventional scream in the background. The scream is quickly followed by a reaction shot of one of the girls. It is done quickly I think to again build tension. It then goes to a point of view shot of the same blonde women of lots of people standing still down the park, all in different places. This adds immediate suspicion, it makes the viewer think what is happening why are they doing that. There then is another scream but from a different place. Another reaction shot quickly follows again, using the same technique as before to add tension. It almost like things are being built up now. There is still the wind in the background building tension and building up to something. After the music being built up for a while the other women stares into space and seems not to be all there, almost blank. The woman takes out a sharp object from the back of her hair and slowly stabs herself with it in the neck. This adds lots of things tension, mysticism and it is starting to confuse the viewers why she has done this.

From that shot in the park it cuts to a suburban shot of the city. It is very busy in the streets, plenty of noise. Police cars come into view with there lights flashing and speeding which adds to the mis-en-scene of this shot, tension and wondering if there reacting to the park incident that we have just scene. Keeps the viewer thinking. Equilibrium disruptive ‘’a complicating has occurred in the narrative’’ because this is all different to a normal day already.