Detailed analysis of Thriller Clip analysed in class

'What Lies Beneath', 2000 is an American Supernatural Thriller film directed by Robert Zemeckis, is about a couple played by Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, who realise that past secrets caught up with their present future.




The shots are mostly from Claire’s point of view, as they are shot from her perspective as the plot is surrounding the demonic spirit of Norman’s former lover, as she is living through Claire.
The scene shows Claire tries to call 911 but then Norman appears behind her, as she realises that the emergency number was not called. The shot of Claire holding the phone is a close up, signifying the importance of this call she was going to make.
The aerial shot of Claire crawl on the floor, as Norman watches from a very high camera angle on the stairs, which highlights the vulnerability of Claire under Norman control.
The cutaway of Claire’s face in the bath, then the camera went onto the shot of her toes, which takes the audience’s attention away from the main plot this when the camera goes onto another subject.
The two shot of Norman looking at Claire, then Norman lifts her neck up and sees the supernatural flashes of the ‘corpse’ in the bath, which creates tension as Norman gets a freight and bashes his head on the basin.

The panning of Claire walking up the stairs into the landing and then her bedroom allows the audience to think something is going to happen (false plateau).
The ellipsis of Norman appearing behind was shocking as the audience did not see he coming from as far and it seem very supernatural to Claire and the audience, which increased the pace of tension and made the audience want to know what will happen next.
The shot reverse shot of Claire in the bath looking at her toes as the water is rising, rapidly. This shows her fear, as he thinks she is going to drown.
As Claire is being drowned in the bath, the low angle shows the power that Norman has over Claire, who is shot from a high angle, as she is vulnerable to the dominance that Norman has power to the fate of whether she lives or drowns to death.
What Lies Beneath uses the style of director Alfred Hitchcock with demonstration of establishing the 'Hitchcockian' motifs, where the blonde woman in peril, the deceptive leading man and the misleading MacGuffin .
For example, 'Psycho'(1960) this illustrates the bathroom as a significant location where the climactic scene that sees Claire drugged and left paralysed in a running bath by Norman. The scenes of her fingers reaching out, her eyes frantically staring and her breath gasping are reminiscent of the iconic scene featuring Janet Leigh murdered in the shower in Psycho. However, Marion Crane died in the film but Claire does not die.

The mise en scene of the couple living in a detached house, as this shows they are a stereotypical affluent middle class couple, who live in the suburbs. This illustrates that that not every wealthy couple has a happy home life, which contradicts the stereotype of rich people having all the happiness in the world.
Claire is in a white nightgown, which her character as she is vulnerable to Norman‘s dominance over her as she drugs her. This displays her weaken against his control and makes her character powerless to evil mind of Norman.
The character of Claire is a contradiction as she is blonde and is not naive like a blonde bimbo. Also, she is being manipulated by Norman’s behaviour but she is quietly smarter than him as the ‘corpse’ flashes in Norman’s face that frightened him.
In the bedroom, as she tries to dial emergency number 911, however the tension is created by the realisation of 911 not being dailed.

The sinister non- diegetic music when Norman appears behind Claire, creates a sense of fear for the audience, which is a scene of false plateau.
In the bathroom, the diegetic sound of Norman’s voice on the phone as he explains to the doctor that Claire is not feeling well. This uses the ‘Bomb Theory’ as it gives the information to the audience about what is going to happen next but Claire does not know.