Analysis of Mummy Returns and Twister

Analysis of Mummy Returns and Twister

In The Mummy Returns, the opening sequence has very bright colours and

lighting like gold and black. They are vibrant and realistic. However,

in Twister the lighting is low-key like dark, shadowy and the colours

are blue and black. This introduces the film as if it is a horror, but

a few minutes later it shows it is an action/adventure movie because

there is news on the T.V. of a twister and also right at the

beginning, the title credits are on screen and are suddenly blown

away. They are trying to create a scary atmosphere. You can also tell

it is an action/adventure because the twister seems to growl like an

animal. This and the way the house appears in shadow is also another

way in which people could be mislead into thinking it was a horror.

One thing that tells you the film is an action/adventure is the music.

It is on right from the beginning and this is why we notice it first.

It is trying to create tension to give you a big clue to what the

genre might be.

The dialogue is mostly diagetic because there is no narrator. You

can't hear it most of the time though because of the SFX such as the

twister. The director puts this in deliberately to mount the tension.

A lot of the time in action films we see long shots and Twister is no

different. Also, the framing of the shot is using the `point of view'

method because the girl (Jo) is on her mother's shoulder and we are

looking from the shoulder back into the room. We then see the dog and

this further enhances our knowledge of the genre because we think `oh

no, poor dog's going to get crushed.' Another thing typical of Twister

is the fact that it works very well by mixing genres. Twister is

sometimes called a thriller/adventure/disaster movie.

In the mummy however, right at the beginning a scorpion symbol fills

the screen and so you know the genre is most likely to be