The Ring Analysis

The opening clip of The Ring shows a mid-shot of a girl with a drink in her hand, however in the background we can see the light of the TV through the blurred glass turn on. Her initial reaction is to look around, we come to a close-up of her face so we can see her startled reaction and then is momentarily confused. She comes around the corner of the door frame where we see the blank screen of the TV in the darkened room. Using a mid-shot we see her look around the room to see if there is anyone in there, which there isn't. Taking the remote she turns of the TV and we see the back of her walk out the room. Before she completely exits, we once again hear the static sound of the TV. This increases the tension as we know that there is no one else with her at this point. Looking around knowing that she is alone, she comes to the fact that TV turned itself on. The suspense rises as the girl runs to the TV and comes face to face with it while she looks at it to see if there is any sign of it somehow turning on by itself. Knowing there is no possible way of turning on by itself, she pulls the plug out the socket in a attempt to keep it off. We then hear the eery sound of a noise coming from the kitchen. The camera pans round from the face of the girl to the blurred glass of the kitchen window, with a sudden burst of sound, it increases the tension further and makes us feel slightly uneasy, knowing something is not right. There is the creaking sound of the floorboards as she enters the kitchen. Looking into the kitchen we see the fridge door opening by itself. There is a sharp intake of breath of the girl as she rushes over to shut the fridge. As she leans against the fridge, there is a high pitched sound, which is typically used in horror film. This makes the audience feel as if there is another presence in the house which we do not know of which makes it more scary. We come to a high angle shot of the stairs which looks down on the girl, this makes her seem small and vulnerable. As we hear her footsteps go up the stairs, the camera angle changes and what we see is the bottom of her door with water pouring out from under. However this is not makes us feel uneasy but it is the non diegetic sound of a strange sound to us, the sound alone is enough to make us feel very uneasy, this is because high pitched sounds are generally associated with horror films. The to us is strange and something we don't hear or recognize very well, this could be why its so frightening to us. As her hand reaches towards the doorknob, she turns it and opens the door which reveals the TV in her room which is where the sound is coming from. The sound at this point is extremely high pitched and sounds almost like a scream, there is the quick shot of the TV and the girl, whose face changes which we do not know why. With the scariness of her face and the non diegetic sound of the TV, it makes it seem so much more horrific