The horror film 'The Ring' displayed a wide range of points to do with the 4 elements; Mise-en-scene, camera angles/movements, sound and editing.
As the scene began, the clouds were in a deep shade of grey and moved across the sky very quickly which could possibly be showing a countdown to how long the woman had to live after she watched the tape. As we became engrossed deeper in the forest, more trees began appearing as we neared her house, which could be revealing how shes getting more and more trapped as the time goes by. We immediately understand that the ring is a symbol of death and will eventually be the thing that kills her. When she looks through the window after the tracking shot to the house through the forest, the lighting on her face is red which could symbolise the danger that she is in and how death is looking at her in the face, yet she's unaware of when it is going to get her. This being because red is a colour that is the colour of blood and is usually used when trying to warn someone of danger.
The fact that the telephone is in almost every shot that she is shown in could be revealing how there is no escaping what is going to happen and how the thought of death is always present in her mind since she got the phonecall that told her she only had a week to survive after watching the tape. As the camera moves closer into her face, we see extreme vunerability in her face of her unknown future, and as the camera moves from a close up to an extreme close up on her face, the fear that she is feeling is being revealed more and more. The fact that the man then begins to destroy the house and everything in it could be revealing how he feels that they no longer have control over whats happening and the ring has taken complete control of their lives and no matter how hard they try, they will never be able to redeem that power back.
The music begins to get softer and quieter as the audience feels something bad is about to happen, this being because by having subtle music in the background, it is almost trying to relax the audience even though they know in the back of their mind that something is about to happen, so it builds great suspense as it leads up to it. But also, I think that soft music was used in an ironic sense because what the characters are going through is very scary and not nice to think of it, but death is almost being portrayed as an innocent thing just through the way that the tone of background music displays.
As the woman becomes more and more in trouble and closer to death, we notice that the lighting of the scenes become a deeper shade of red, showing that perhaps is showing the audience that she is closer to danger, yet she doesn't know because she can't see what the audience are seeing, so the audience feel her dangerous situation through the lighting that is used. The camera shots show a close up of the womans face in full focus, yet the man in the background is out of focus, which could be showing how the ring is only after the woman and is not interested in the man. As they begin to smash the floor and make it all fall in could be showing how they are getting closer to death and moving further in towards hell. The camera also begins to follow the woman in a way that the audience are now in the point of view of the ring and as we are watching her, we are watching her in a way that the ring would be.
The use of light and dark shows the contrast between life and death and also heaven and hell, because all of the light is shining above the surface which is showing the two people still alive, so they are in a safe place, yet below the surface, underneath the floorboards is in complete darkness and whats beyond it cannot be seen, but also because its underneath them, it could be revealing how it is hell. The upshot of the two people from underneath the floor shows a vunerable and scared expression on both of their faces as they await death, but the fact that the camera is looking up at them from below could be showing how death is staring at them in the face, and there is no escaping from it now because it is too late.
When she asks a question to her partner, the camera pans and moves to a view of the television which could be showing how the ring is answering her question for her because it has control of her life now and no one else can be involved in it. As the object falls through the floorboards it could be representing the woman falling to her death and although she has no idea of this being the way that she is going to die, the audience pick up on the different hints given to them and begin to have an idea as to how she is going to die. But also, it shows how the ring thinks of a human being as nothing more than a useless object because it was thrown down there with no hesitation just as her life is going to be.
When it reaches the moment when she dies, as she is falling and hits the bottom in which she is no dead, we notice that whereas the television screen was blurry before when she was alive, it has no completely blacked out, this perhaps being because she is now dead and the tele symbolised her life and now that she is dead the tele has stopped working.
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