Media Language and Forms

In Texas chainsaw massacre- the beginning there are great levels of meaning as there are stories to be revealed within the film; however as the audience you feel some aspects are unclear for example why does the character ‘Leather face’ have such a cruel and inhuman personality.

There is a great significance of the texts connotations as that's where the mysteries within the text are unfolded, although there are some things which are left to one’s own interpretation. On the other hand there are examples in the movie of the questions being answered in the text which gives the audience satisfaction and better understanding of the entire text. For example the mystery which is revealed at the end of the film is that none of the main characters are left alive by sheriff Hoyt and leather face. Furthermore earlier on in the film there is a moment where anxiety builds up for the audience as the Protagonists try to break free from the house of horror but only a few minutes later the audience discover that breaking free from that place is almost impossible. This is one of many scenes in this film which engage the audience.

The non verbal structures of meaning like the facial expressions, props and the gestures are quite self explanatory as looking at the facial expressions of the characters the audience is able to identify and relate to the situation without the need of a dialogue. The facial expression which is most dominant in the entire film is the nervous and horrified look. The props such as chainsaw, knives, guns etc are a very important element of the film as it’s a Slasher film and weapons express the terror that words cannot. The costumes worn by the characters are very casual as they are on a road trip but once they have an accident and are taken away by Sheriff Hoyt to the house of terror all characters have some element of blood on their body and also their clothes.

The locations used in the film are very stereotypical as most Slasher films are set away from the city centre, in the countryside where hardly any human being is to be seen. The house being in such a quiet area gives it more significance and reinsures the audience that this is the house of terror where Sheriff Hoyt and Tommy terrorise their victims. Furthermore the old wooden furniture and low key lighting within the house make the location gory and horrifying.

There are many non-diegetic sounds included in the text although they are short sound effects rather than theme tunes. When there is an element of non-diegetic sound it plays an important part as it alerts the audience that something really intensive or violent is about to happen. Diegetic sound effects such as fierce movements, sound of chainsaw, character screams are also very effective in engaging the audience. Moreover the combination between the camera angles/movements and the sound is very interesting. For example there is a scene where Leather face is walking with a chainsaw, there is an extreme close up on his foot and the sound is of the chainsaw and foot steps.