Orphan is about a young girl called Esther adopted by parents Kate and John. The couple visits an orphanage and immediately falls in love with 9 year old Esther.

However, Esther isn't as sweet as first impressions suggest, and soon after welcoming the young child into their home, Kate and John suspect that something is terribly wrong with their adoptive daughter.

Kate can see right through Esther's charm, and tries to convince family and friends the truth about Esther. By the time anyone bothers to take Kate seriously, it might be too late to prevent a devastating tragedy from happening.

Summary of the movie

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgxVIB2WuHU

Genre: Mystery, thriller Characters: Happy family (parents

with children looking to adopt a new family member)

Innocent villains – A Nun plays the part of a helper and tries to help the family research the orphan.

The killer is young and is appeared to be a child which appears as innocent.

Props: Childish, old fashioned clothing. Chocker around her neck. She uses weapons such as knifes and stones.

Location: A modern house next to a lake and a field

Genre conventions (Locations, characters,

props)

After Kate realises there is something wrong with Esther, she informed the head of the orphanage where she was adopted from and they warn her about being around Esther when things go wrong and that she has a troubled and mysterious history.

Kate is increasingly convinced that Esther isn't who she appears to be, especially when the orphanage calls her and tells her that they can't find any record of the Russian orphanage from where she came but no one believes her.

Later that day Kate sneaks into Esther's room and looks through her Bible. She discovers it came from a place called the Saarne Institute. An internet search reveals that it is located in Estonia. She calls the Institute and discovers that it isn't an orphanage, but a mental institution.

Kate is convinced that Esther is evil, but John and her counsellor think that Kate is relapsing into her drinking habit. Kate insists she isn't going crazy, but then John produces the other bottle Kate bought the night before, saying Esther found it. He threatens to leave her unless she gets help, and fast.

The Plot Twist

The age rating for this movie is 15 plus, therefore the target audience for this movie is for teenagers/young adults.

Orphan is psychological/supernatural horror movie which appeals to the target audience.

What some viewers thought about the rating:

“Parents need to know that this is a review of the movie shown in theatres and not the unrated version with an alternate ending available on DVD. Parents also need to know that this gory horror movie centres on extremely violent, sexual acts carried out by a 9-year-old girl. While the film's ultimate twist negates some of the queasy, sleazy feeling that comes from watching this kind of material, the bulk of the movie revolves around the shock value of seeing a child doing horrible things. Plus, there's lots of swearing (including "f--k" and "s--t"), as well as smoking, drinking, and sexual scenes between adults.”

Audience

Film critics and responses from the audience

“Dark, edgy, twisted, effective, clever, intense, and blackly comic - one of the best "evil child" films I've seen. It's brilliantly cast.”

“Excellent directing - superb editing - great cast = good acting 2) Well-scripted plot that makes sense - and contributed to believable characters 3) Above-average good quality production 4) ...made me grip and squirm in my seat 5)”

“As an 'older' adopted child, I would like to state that this movie is incredibly offensive. It is a disgusting exploitation of children who are in the foster care system under no fault of their own. Not to mention the poor young girl who portrayed 'Esther', and the potential for trauma experienced in playing that role.”

By watching the film, the audience, becomes aware of the genre and sub genre as the middle part of the trailer kicks in. When we see Esther become violent in the toilet, and screaming, the action then cuts to a strap reading ‘I think there is something wrong with Esther’. It is written in black and white, colours associated with purity and evil, common themes in horror.

This is a psychological horror film as one of the main conventions you see in these types of horror are that they include a troubled, disturbed individual (also the use of a child).

Typical settings that we see in psychological horror films are used. For example, two different types of schools are used, a big house in an isolated setting and a hospital.

Common sounds/ music such as scary music that is played during the film includes screams and high pitched. Also, some general conventions that we see are that there are no deaths shown on screen and the victim appears, at first, and in terms of her physical appearance, to be normal.

Production - How the film works in terms of mise en scene

Settings/ backgrounds are used throughout this trailer to create realism. The typical conventions that we see in any psychological horror film are also shown in this film. For example, schools are a common convention of a psychological horror film and we see two different schools in different locations. This could be because of the fact that the killer has had a bad childhood and wants to seek revenge on other children/ teenagers, for example.

Also, the main setting is in the family’s home which is the most common setting for any horror film of any sub genre. This could be because the audience are therefore able to picture themselves in this situation and would therefore be more thrilling.

We see a hospital and a park and these types of setting simply create realism. In one scene in the park, where Esther spots the girl that bullied her about the way she dressed, we see her follow the girl up to the top of one of the play instruments where she appears to push her off. A shot is then shown of Esther at the top, looking powerful and dominant, due to the low angle camera shot.

Esther’s dark, old-fashioned costume and the shape of her hat give her a witch-like appearance that leads us to see her as evil, sinister and a danger to innocent children.

At the beginning of the trailer, facial expressions and body language is calm and happy. All the characters are smiling, the mother and father have welcoming eyes, and all the children, even Esther, representing the innocence of children in general.

However, later on, body language becomes more closed, facial expressions become stronger and our view on the character of Esther begins to change. We see Esther giving evil stares and at some points, evil smiles, like she has a cunning plan on how to destroy this mother’s family. The scene where Esther is in the toilet, her facial expressions and body language is angry and violent which reflects her character. Other characters in the trailer such as the other young children, the mother and the father, towards the end of the trailer, there facial expressions too, begin to change.

They all have fear in their eyes and they look confused as to why this is happening to them. The other young child looks innocent and defenceless against the evil of her adopted sister who is steering her into several ‘death traps’. As an audience, they begin to feel sorry for the family and worry about their survival.

When looking at lighting and colours that are used throughout this movie, there is a gradual change from the beginning to the end. For example, there is a range of bright colours on show to the audience e.g. when Esther is painting, there are a lot of colours on the page. This makes it unclear at the beginning of what type of genre that this film belongs to as the child and family look happy and normal. Ambient lighting is being used which makes the atmosphere appear bright and normal.

However later on in the movie, Esther is in the toilet kicking and screaming and the lighting and colours begin to change as they become darker. This suggests to the audience that there has been a change in emotion, and everything is no longer ‘normal’. Lighting and colours only become darker and sometimes the effect is almost black and white. This could suggest the contrast of characters, the black representing the evil inside Esther, and the white representing the innocence of the other children and the mother in the film.

Skies become grey and stay that way until the trailer ends which creates a gloomy and evil atmosphere. The use of fire in the film trailer also suggests evil as fire is a symbol from ‘hell’.

Lightning is used in the scene where Esther is standing over her ‘step sister’s’ bed whilst she sleeps. This again creates a sense of evil and a villain like feeling, and we can then tell that something is going to happen.

In this film, the combination of Diegetic and Non Diegetic Sound is used to create fear, excitement and anticipation for the audience. Diegetic sound has been used in this film trailer to help aid the target audience’s understanding of the narrative. For example, towards the middle of the trailer, when our understanding of the narrative should become more detailed and clear, we hear the mother’s voice say “I think there is something wrong with Esther”. Immediately, the target audience are aware that something bad is going to happen and that Esther isn’t the child we first thought to be kind and ‘normal’.

Also, Esther says “I guess I am different” to the mother, so even from the beginning, even if we didn’t think it straight away, the audience become aware that this is no ordinary child. During the climax , dialogue becomes mainly screams and shouting e.g. the mother on numerous occasions shouts out “What did you do!” “What are you doing?!” and so on. This then makes it apparent to the target audience that the family are in trouble and that Esther is the one causing the trouble. Esther’s scream, on the other hand, is spine chilling and signals her disturbed mental state, again confirming that there is ‘something wrong’ with this child.

Realism is created by the sounds that are used that we would hear normally in our day to day lives e.g. the school bell, the sound of a car engine and so on.

Sound

Non Diegetic Sound has been used in this trailer to create a sense of fear and suspense. The sounds/music excites the target audience and makes them want to know what happens next, thus making them want to go and watch the film.

A light melody is being played on a piano which contradicts the genre of the film. However, the music becomes more eerie and the tempo builds up which suggests to the target audience that the action/ horror is about to take place.

During the climax, there is a sharp beat that gradually gets louder and louder, which builds suspense and excitement for the audience. Contrapuntal music, in the form of a child singing ‘The Glory of Love’, is played at the end which makes the scene seem creepy and disturbed. Also, a heartbeat sound is being played, gradually speeding up, whilst the action gets faster and faster on screen. This could suggest the fact that the family are trying to run away from the orphan because she is causing them all this distress. It is also likely to mimic the increase in the audience’s heartbeat as their excitement levels grow. This effect could create tension and suspense for the audience, building them up and up, before they know that they must go and see the film when it hits the cinema.

Sound

The speed of editing starts off slowly before gradually becoming faster and faster. This type of editing builds up tension and creates suspense and also adds excitement for the audience. It does this because when it starts slowly, you are able to get a clear understanding of the basic narrative, then as the speed builds up more and more on the action scenes, it prepares the audience for a final burst of action at the end. Not only does this speed and style of the trailer create excitement and suspense, but it also creates fear and a sense of eeriness that makes the audience jump out of their skins.

Dead black outs are a popular type of fade used throughout this film which creates effect for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons as to why film makers use dead black outs in their film trailers is to build tension and excitement. They create an impact when watching the film trailer and simply help to create a clear transition from one piece of action to the next. Other reasons why dead black outs are used, especially in this particular film trailer, is to create an erratic sense of terror that complements the action on screen. For example, during the film trailer for the ‘Orphan’, towards the end, there is a fast climax of pieces of footage that are being used, from different parts of the scene, dead black outs are used here because it makes the action that is happening on screen look more panic-filled, anxiety-ridden and terrifying.

Also, this could reflect Esther’s erratic sense of mind, as we appear to be looking at the action through Esther’s eyes, the dead black outs could be seen to symbolise her eyes, blinking as she watches the terror she has caused. During the film, a white screen appears with the strap written in black. This could reflect Esther’s exterior e.g. her pale, innocent face, contrasting with her thick, dark, black hair. Also, this could symbolise her image; where at the start, we assume she is an innocent child (the white background) but then we find out that she isn’t as innocent as we thought, and that she has an evil side (the black writing). The white could also reflect her ghostly, eerie image, even more so as the white fades in and out. Due to the fact that the dead black outs are used a lot, the white background therefore stands out more and grabs the audience’s attention which is why the strap on the white background is so effective.

A shallow focus is used where the park swings are swinging back and forth; this creates an eerie illusion as it looks blurry and paranormal.

An eye line match is used in the scene in the classroom, where another student is commenting on the way that Esther is dressed. We then see the a reaction shot from Esther where instead of looking upset, like any normal young girl would, she has the look of evil in her eyes which is the first time we see the first glimpse of evil shining through her innocent exterior.

Editing

The film's content, murderous adopted person, has not been well received by the adoption community. The controversy has already caused filmmakers to change a line in one of their trailers from "It must be difficult to love an adopted child as much as your own," to "I don’t think Mommy likes me very much.“

Melissa Fay Greene of The Daily Beast commented: "The movie Orphan comes directly from this unexamined place in popular culture. Esther’s shadowy past includes Eastern Europe; she appears normal and sweet, but quickly turns violent and cruel, especially toward her mother. These are clichés. This is the baggage with which we saddle abandoned, orphaned, or disabled children given a fresh start at family life.”

Critical reaction to Orphan has been mixed, with the film earning a rating of 56% (43% among the Top Critics) on Rotten Tomatoes,[6] where the consensus is: "While it has moments of dark humour Orphan fails to build on its interesting premise and degenerates into a formulaic, sleazy horror/thriller".

Issues that arose during the making of the film

http://www.tribute.ca/interviews/isabelle-fuhrman-orphan/star/33161/ http://www.movieweb.com/movie/orphan/isabella-fuhrman-interview http://www.movieweb.com/movie/orphan/vera-farmiga-interview http://www.movieweb.com/movie/orphan/peter-sarsgaard-interview

Behind the scenes footage