Location
The location within Eisner’s horror is ‘Ogden Marsh’, a small, idyllic farming community located in Iowa, America. At the opening of the film, the audience are able to acknowledge the everyday lifestyle Ogden Marsh residents live by and what their daily routine consists i.e. harvesting crops, maintaining vast amounts of farm land, buying local goods etc. This is presented through wide shots as they emphasize the vast scale of the surrounding land detaching Ogden Marsh residents from the outside world; from this, equilibrium is established by the spectator as they have seen what is ‘normal’ within the setting and how much dependence residents have towards one another in order to live.
Moreover, the American flag can be seen hoisted up in front of many Ogden Marsh homes and buildings. This implies that the town residents are patriotic about the country they reside in and are united due to their beliefs. Moreover, the setting of this narrative is within a civilised and economically wealthy country. Therefore, the spectator can assume that if there were to be any form of disruption within the town, Ogden Marsh residents would unite and make all efforts to restore and repair the damage in a organised and controlled manner.
Iconography and Props
Within ‘The Crazies’, all weapons used by the protagonists are everyday farming and cooking tools such as pitchforks, hunting guns, kitchen knives etc. Farmers are dependent towards their pitchforks to maintain their crops which are their source of income to exist whereas, to the sheriff and his wife, it is their source of protection to survive.
This connotes that the characters within this situation are finding any way possible to fight against those who once were loving neighbours and friends. Reoccurring images within ‘The Crazies’ are of the deterioration of a tight knit community through deserted streets, abandoned cars, buildings on fire and mass amounts of dead bodies lying on the ground. For example, through the use of a bird’s eye shot, the spectator can acknowledge the extent the government have gone to try and sustain any form of order amongst Ogden Marsh residents. Props that are specific to this particular sub-genre (virus) are yellow/amber warning lights, military uniform and firearm, protective hazardous clothing and gas masks.
Camerawork
Within Eisner’s horror, a variety of camera angles are used. Handheld shots create a sense of realism and add to our understanding of the chaotic environment the protagonists have found themselves in. Canted angle shots help to suggest the protagonist’s sense of disorientation within their situation. For example, the sheriff’s wife becomes unsure whether or not one of the infected have left the room she is hiding in; in order to convey across her uncertainty, Eisner decided to tilt the angle of the shot to give the audience a better understanding into the protagonist’s state of mind.
Also, Eisner uses a deep focus shot when showing the antagonist (one of the infected) becoming aware of the protagonists (sheriff’s wife) presence in the truck stop café. This foreshadows what will later happen to the protagonists; the audience acknowledge that the protagonists have ironically directed themselves closer to the enemy rather than further away. As a result, the audience are aware on the potential possibilities of the protagonists’ fate and continue to watch to find out what will happen. Furthermore, this supports Barthes’ enigma theory in the sense that, there is a question left to be answer; Does the Sheriff and his pregnant wife have any hope of survival now?
Point of view shots allow the audience to see from the protagonist’s perspective.
For example, when one of the Ogden Marsh’s residents has to escape from one of the infected, she hides in a closet; in order to see where the infected individual has gone, she peers through the keyhole. Through a point of view shot, the audience can see how little view she has on locating the enemy making her vulnerable.
For example, when one of the Ogden Marsh’s residents has to escape from one of the infected, she hides in a closet; in order to see where the infected individual has gone, she peers through the keyhole. Through a point of view shot, the audience can see how little view she has on locating the enemy making her vulnerable.
Sound
When all four protagonists are located in the car wash, synchronous sound plays. When the infected are attacking, a ticking noise (similar to the ticking of a clock) quickens and increases in volume. But, when the protagonists think they have killed all of the infected, the ticking suddenly stops leaving the spectator suspecting what will happen next. One of the infected is located on the car roof. When the infected individual tries to climb into the car, a sudden non-diegetic sound of almost two metal objects hitting together is made.
Within the horror genre, synchronous and asynchronous sound must be considered just as much as the visuals are. This is due to the fact that, ultimately, audiences that go to watch a film from the horror genre want to become frightened by the unexpected and caught off-guard.
Editing
Eisner decided to present the beginning of the film with a flash-forward of two days from Ogden Marsh. This once again, links in with Barthes’ enigma theory as it makes the audience question why the town is on fire. Graphics are only used when the film’s title appears in the bottom right corner. The titles themselves are white. White connotes hope and innocence. This suggests that the victims of the virus (the crazies) are innocent within the situation and the few remaining survivors rely on hope to survive.
Themes
Trust. The true monster within ’The Crazies’ is the government as they were responsible for the contamination of the water supply. The government took no responsibility for the accident; instead, it essentially "shut down" the town, closing off all access points and rounding up both the infected and the uninfected, eventually killing everyone as a blanket solution to the problem.
Fear of the unknown.The government do not know how to approach the elimination of something that cannot be seen yet has great impact. As a result, they eliminate any and all potential threat through extermination.
Narrative Theory
The binary oppositions within Eisner’s film are good versus bad; in this case, the good being the healthy residents of Ogden Marsh and the bad being the infected Ogden Marsh residents and (strangely) the government. The fact that those who possess authority within the western country, turn out to be the enemy, makes the audience consider who they hold their trust in; this potentially negotiates a new meaning from the text to the audience (readers own experiences + text itself = new meaning).
Hollywood three act narrative (set-up, confrontation and resolution). Set-up consists of introducing the sheriff and his pregnant wife (the protagonists) and the hook (why is Ogden Marsh on fire?) Confrontation is when the sheriff and his wife realise the source of the virus and that they must escape what once was a loving community in order to survive. Lastly, the resolution is when the sheriff and his wife finally escape the final confrontation of the movie (the bombing of Ogden Marsh) and survive the truck crash.
