K.H. Rosemary’s Baby (Polanski, 1968)

Genre:

• Rosemary’s Baby is part of the supernatural and psychological horror sub-genres. This is shown through the use of low-key lighting, tight character blocking, and most obviously the enigma established in the unnatural movement of the previous apartment resident’s wardrobe.
• The panning shot of the city during the opening shot is extremely reminiscent of the panning shot in Jacob’s ladder (Lyne, 1990) which establishes the setting, atmosphere and conditions of the city.

Establishing expectations:

• The opening is largely representative of what the audience can expect from the film. It is established as a largely dialogue-driven supernatural horror movie, in the context of the 1960s middle-class. Although the threat of Rosemary’s pregnancy is only implied, it still has a looming presence.

Attitude to convention:

• The text is mostly playful with the conventions of the genre. It is a more romanticised than is to be expected from horror, as Rosemary and Guy frequently joke together and hold hands.
• There are instances where the extract does abide by the typical horror conventions. Both Rosemary and Guy are dismissive of the hints that there is a darker secret to the apartment building, such as the death of the old woman that used to live there and the unfinished letter she left.

Camera:

·         The high angle, bird’s eye view of the apartment building implies dominance, and the extreme long shot that includes both Rosemary and Guy allows the building to loom over them ominously.

·         The group is often framed in a medium close-up to create a sense of claustrophobia and unease.

·         There are a number of tracking shots, most notably one’s that follow Guy as he squeezes past the apartment block owner through a doorway, again reinforcing the sense of claustrophobia, and ones framed in a two shot that reflects the relationship and like-mindedness of the Rosemary and Guy.

Editing:

·         The apartment building has dated architecture and a gothic look to its dark bricks

·         Guy and Rosemary motivate many of the cuts and a shot will often hang on them when they get distracted by something and should be moving to look at another part of the apartment. For example when they are supposed to be shown the bathroom, they are still looking at the house’s herbs.

·         There are largely very few cuts throughout the extract, most of the transitions between rooms happen through tracking shots which makes the tour seem smooth and fluent while highlighting that Rosemary and Guy aren't being given long to look at each room.

·         The extremely slow cutting rate gives the apartment tour a somewhat laid back atmosphere before events become more serious later in the film.

Misé-en-scene:

·         Rosemary’s costume, a white dress, and the white flower fountain connote innocence and virginity.

·         The tight character blocking again feeds into the notion claustrophobia.

·         The prop of the letter left on the table is unfinished, and appears to foreshadow the dark side of the apartment building. It reads “I can no longer associate myself” but ends there.

·         One of the workmen repairing a door looks disapprovingly at Guy who looks into the room he’s working on, showing that his behaviour is not appreciated.

Sound:

·         The dialogue is used for character exposition, for example, Guy repeatedly lies to the apartment owner in an attempt to stop him asking questions, but Rosemary says Guy is joking, and tells the truth, showing that she is the more honest of the two.

·         A piano plays during the tour as diegetic sound to create a welcoming and pleasant atmosphere to the apartment.

·         The voice of the apartment owner showing Rosemary and Guy around is frequently heard off-screen to show how easily distracted they are from the tour and are more interested in the specific details of each room.

Titles:.

·         The titles fade in and are positioned in the centre of the screen. These are fairly generic ways to present a title, which is to be expected as they are placed over a long pan across the city, something mostly done to establish atmosphere and the location of the apartment building Rosemary and Guy will be shown round. The text does not cover much of the frame, however, so most of the city is still visible.

·         The text is coloured pink and written in the stylised to look like eloquent handwriting, to look romantic and feminine, but is also fitting of the middleclass 60s setting.

·         There is a faint bloom effect coming from each title which them a vague eeriness

·         For the most part, the titles follow typical film conventions with the director’s title being shown last.

Narrative:.

·         The opening follows Rosemary, the film’s protagonist, and her husband Guy who are being shown around a prospective apartment building they are considering buying.

·         The apartment building tour is a fairly stock situation and the apartment owner is a fairly stock character. His old age, somewhat closed features and soft voice make him seem vaguely unnerving

·         The audience is positioned with Rosemary and Guy-they motivate the cuts and their entry into the unfamiliar setting of the apartment building helps the audience relate to them more

·         The main narrative themes are maternity, trust, and religion.

·         The tension is first hinted at by the gothic appearance of the apartment building and the soundtrack during the opening, which has a slow, ominous beat, and is first fully alluded to in the dialogue regarding the previous resident dying. It is further built upon with the appearance of the broken floor tiles, the unfinished letter left by the previous resident and the strange movement of the wardrobe

Representation and Ideology:

·         Women are not widely represented throughout the extract, but they are quite positively represented. Rosemary often walks ahead of Guy on the tour, explores the rooms on her own and drags Guy away when he gets distracted by flushing the toilet. The previous tenant “Mrs. Gardenia” is said to be “the first woman lawyer” in further support of the notion of female independence.

·         There is one black character represented in the opening, Diego, who operates the apartment block lift. This is a theme throughout the film where black people often have the lower paid, sometimes manual jobs, which is a clear statement about the role of minorities in 1960s American cities. The text seems to be critical of the marginalisation present in the time period, shown by Guy mocking the apartment building owner picking some dirt off Diego’s suit.

Media Audiences:

·         The target audience is 30-50 year-olds, which is more of an art house audience. This is the same audience as the book the film has been adapted from.

·         This audience would likely see Guy as a suspicious and untrustworthy character, who unnecessarily lies early in the extract and mentions marijuana when the couple looks at the herbs the previous resident was growing.

Institutional Context:

·         Bankable stars include Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes play the protagonists and Ruth Gordon who plays a secondary character.

·         The film is an industrial film and had the associated distribution of one but was funded by Paramount when they were in financial trouble, meaning it was made with the fairly modest budget of $3.2 million.

·         The actors and talent of the cinematographers and director lead to some impressive tracking shots and long takes in the opening.