Final Destination

Alex Browning was going to Paris with his friends for a school trip. However, after being approached by a mysterious man at the airport, he started having visions of their plane crashing and burning. He had a massive fit and ended getting himself and 6 other people kicked off the plane. The movie revolves around the concept of death and how every person has their own pattern of death. After figuring out the pattern of death, he finds multiple ways to cheat death Gruesome ways to die were shown throughout the entire movie. In the end, he realised that there is no way to escape the pattern of death.

Final Destination can be categorised under Unnatural Horror. Firstly, unnatural horror films contain external and mythical sources of threat towards normalcy. In this case, the unnatural external source of threat is the Grim Reaper. Although death is real, the character behind death – Grim Reaper – has not been proven to be real. In the movie, the Grim Reaper is the one coming up with intricate and exaggerated designs to kill off the characters, threatening normalcy. For instance, a mysterious fluid flows out onto the floor in Tod’s bathroom causing him to slip and choke on a string but then flows back to where it came from immediately after he died.

Since the movie was produced in 2000, there was not many extravagant graphics incorporated. However, there was many special effects and stunts found in the movie. The scene with the best special effects was when it was Clear River’s turn to die. The mise-en-scene was very captivating. The setting was very realistic and dark to create and eerie atmosphere. Props included everyday home appliances and furniture such as a backyard pool, clothes rack, cables etc. Costume was very realistic in terms of capturing the regular outfits of a teenage girl. It applies similarly to makeup. The lighting was the element that was worth applauding. In the scene where there was a blackout and the wind blew out the candle, the lighting was very dark but there was still sufficient light to capture the background of the set as well as the Clear’s expression. There was also texture and different intensities in lighting during this scene to create a realistic approach instead of having an even lighting through the entire background. Lightning and electric currents were properly executed through the speed of lighting, in terms of the frequency and rate of the flashes of light. Furthermore, Clear’s body movements were in sync with the flashes of light. In addition, the dog’s reaction towards the electric currents was the detail that completed the scene. Overall, the mise-en- scene tied in together very well which complemented the storyline. Although the semantics of the movie was not visually stunning in terms of edited graphics, but it was very realistic.

In contrast, the mise-en-shot was not very professional. The movie used a lot of basic filming techniques. For instance, close up on Alex’s expression after the plane explosion; long shot during the funeral scene; tracking shots on Alex while he was being chased by the police on his way to Clear’s house etc. The film also practices certain rules of camera angles and position such as rules of thirds which was showcased when Ms. Lewton was talking on the phone after seeing Alex outside her house. The film also practiced the habit of positioning the camera slightly lower to have a low angled shot of the actors which gives a majestic feeling towards the actors. The low angled shot also shows that the actors are still somewhat in control despite the chaotic situation. There were many low angled shots of Alex. The movie was trying to portray him as the character that was trying to manipulate the design of death. He is the heroic character with a certain supernatural power which is being able to see the signs of death through visions that was going to be the resolution to overcome death’s threat to normalcy.  Even during the interrogation scene of Alex after he was caught for being on Ms. Lewton’s front yard, there was no obvious high angled shot. This is to keep the image and persona of him being the heroic character even though he did not fully overcome death in the end. The cameras were often positioned slightly angled in the movie whereas the straight on approach was very rare. This principle as practiced to create more depth in terms of capturing better 3-dimensional background as well as the character’s facial expressions. The movie executed basic camera shots appropriately and followed the principles of framing.

Due to having clean and simple shots, the movie may not excite audiences in terms of angles and positioning of the camera. For instance, by using regular long shot during the scene when Alex was running away from Ms. Lewton’s house after it was caught on fire, it managed to show a clear image of the house exploding. The shot was fairly simple and did not capture the full atmosphere of the scene. By showing takes of certain parts of the house exploding, it showed regular mini explosions instead of creating the atmosphere of the severity of the fire. There was not much excitement as there was no complicated shots to capture the entire background and the character.

Furthermore, the scene where Alex was in the forest trying to escape from the police, the camera angles were fairly flat. It was a combination of simple basic shots. It did a good job of capturing clearly Alex and the police’s expressions and movements. However, it did not provide the subjectivity in terms of the actors being in a large forest. With the simple camera angles and positions, it was as if the actors were just surrounded by leaves and trees.

Overall, the movie’s cinematography was fairly average. The special effects were not graphically astounding. However, the movie did manage to make the movie very realistic in terms of its mise-en-scene.