GHOST - MICROANALYSIS:

Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, Demi Moore,  Patrick Swayze

This extract is from the 1990 film Ghost, in this film Sam Wheat played by Patrick Swayze has been murdered and his girlfriend Molly played by Demi Moore is in grave danger.  Sam's ghost try to warn Molly, but she does not know it is really there. Then he meets a spiritualist named Oda Mae Brown played by Whoopi Goldberg, who can hear the dead. Sam speaks to hear and convince her to help him save Molly.  In this scene, Carl Bruner played by Tony Goldwyn goes to find Molly and wants to kill her and eventually Carl dies as he dies from a painful death as the glass from the windows falls and stabs him in the chest.

The scene starts off with a high shot of Sam and Molly, that is set in their apartment.  It has lighting coming from the sky at night and also there are a few lamps that are on.  While the high shot is going on, Carl from outside the door is knocking on the door trying to look for Molly as he wants to kill her, Sam comes out of Oda Mae’s body and Molly realizes that Carl is outside and needs to escape, and this uses special effects when Sam is leaving Oda Mae’s body.  

We then see a close up of Carl as well as using a cross cut effect that is of a two shot of Molly and Oda Mae, realizing that they need to leave the apartment as Carl is here.  In Carl’s close up, it is shot using soft low key lighting, it has non diagetic music and it is in a dark location giving us a sense that the scene is set in a mysterious setting.  As an audience it shows Carl’s determination to open the door as he wants to find Molly as well as make up has been used on Carl’s face as you can see the bright light shone onto his face, in this scene Carl is wearing a suit as he is a businessman. As Molly and Oda Mae finds a way to escape, Carl is outside the door trying to shoot the lock and gets in and it shows us a close up of Carl’s facial expressions as he is angry and determined to find Molly. 

As Carl enters the apartment, he starts walking to the middle of the apartment and starts looking around as diagetic sounds from outside the building is heard as Molly is escaping and Carl turns to the window and hears the sounds coming from the window, and is trying to control his emotions through heavy breathing which is overpowered by the music and Molly’s footsteps.  This shot is shot using a tracking shot as it follows Carl when he’s walking. 

As Carl leans out the window, he sees Molly climbing up the stairs and opens the window and it is still a tracking shot as is still hand held as you can see the camera is shaky and not still.  Then the shot continues with a medium ranged shot that is shot in soft low key lighting, in this scene there is diagetic sounds as they start hearing Carl’s footsteps and gun shots and as well as the diagetic sounds, music is being played, as well as this shot being a fast paced scene as they try to escape from Carl.  The clothing that Oda Mae is wearing in this scene is from the 90s as this film was shot in the 90s as well as she plays a spiritualist so her clothing choice is abnormal.  It is filmed as a two shot and is also a tracking shot.

While Molly and Oda Mae climb up the stairs, it then focuses on Carl who has arrived on the same floor as Molly and Oda Mae.  The tracking shot shot in low key lighting is still used as it focuses on how Carl is going to grab Molly by jumping up and down trying to reach the ladder.  In this shot, non-diagetic sounds are used as background music as the music gets intense we as the audience knows that the scenes will be getting more intense.

More tracking shots are used as Carl finds tools that he can use as his ladder and while that is going on Molly is shouting for Carl to stop, at that point Oda Mae is stuck and Carl then grabs her by the foot. Oda Mae realizes that and she is shocked, this is shot using a close up shot.  More intense music is being used as Carl pulls Oda Mae away from the ladder and brings her to the ground, this then intensifies as we see Carl sweating and Molly climbs down the ladder and tries to save Oda Mae from Carl. Bright lights hanging from above are used in this shot to show how angry Carl is as the shot is zoomed up to his face where it is shining, as well as it gives the audience an idea of how vicious Carl can get as the music slowly intensifies again.

The next scene shows an angered Carl holding a gun as he asks Oda Mae where is it referring to the money that she took from the bank and donated to charity which is in an earlier scene, it is shot using low key lighting and it is a medium shot as it only shows Carl and Molly from the waist up.  While Carl is holding a gun he starts to hear diagetic sounds coming from outside the door as Sam in his ghost form appears and tries to haunt him.

As Carl gets up, he realizes that somethings wrong and fires his gun to scare Sam in ghost form away, and at that time he gets up he grabs Molly and starts acting crazy as he demands the money or else he will kill her.  

This scene is shot from a left side view and Carl starts hearing diagetic sounds coming from the outside and starts to get scared, we as the audience then think to ourselves what on earth is going on in this haunted place.  We can see by his facial expressions that Carl is scared and as well as his facial expressions we can also see it through him shaking while holding his gun against Molly’s head.  Sam as a ghost form appears and this is done using special effects as Carl’s gun flies away from his hand when Sam is invisible. 

As Molly escapes, we can see that Carl is scared and shoots the lock as he is done here and wants to find Sam.  This is shot using a medium shot that is angled from behind Carl and the music intensifies again.  Carl then opens the door and Sam in ghost form appears, as Carl tries to escape from Sam the music intensifies again giving us the audience a gradual sense of what will happen as there will be a fight between Sam and Carl.  

In the scene where Sam lifts the construction ladder, special effects is used and as Carl is escaping it is shot using a tracking shot as it follows Carl as he tries to escape along with intense non-diagetic sounds again.  Then it shows a close up shot of Sam’s facial expression as he sees his friend getting stabbed in the chest with the shattered glass pieces from the window.  As Sam turns away and closes his eyes, Carl then realizes that he has been stabbed by glass pieces and it is shown from a close range shot from a higher angle, paint has been used to show the blood splurging out of Carl’s chest as he has been stabbed by the window’s glass.  

Then the shot continues as Sam notices that Carl is now dead and Carl is now a ghost, and it is a close up shot showing us Sam’s facial expressions, then it changes to Carl’s facial expressions and during that change they have a short conversation before Carl goes to hell. 

 Soft low key lighting is used in this scene, A close-up of Sam as we see his facial expressions when he hears sounds as Carl becomes a ghost, diegetic sounds are heard in this.  The director here then uses special effects to create the ghosts and then Carl is dragged to hell. When Carl is being taken to hell, he hears diagetic sounds as his evil ghost comes and they take him away.  Then it ends with Sam’s facial expressions as a close up and shows that he is suffering from a loss of a friend.