Coraline: Down The Well Into the Realm of Stop Motion
The 2009 stop-motion animated dark American fantasy film Coraline exhibits a visually stunning and emotionally unsettling plot through the use of narrative style and visual techniques. The use of stop-motion animation allows for Coraline to transform into a dark fantasy because of the wonder of elements it includes while mending it with a paranormal feel. Through the changes in the human psyche, displayed in the characters in the “Other World,” the film encompasses a sinister and frightening side of nature causing the audience to feel uncomfortable and in awe at the beauty of the work. In this chosen scene, I will be breaking down the mise-en-scene opening sequence of the film where the antagonist, “the Bedlam ‘’, is creating the doll of the protagonist Coraline. The story opens up with an establishing shot of Mrs. Lovat’s twin sister floating through an open window and being caught by metallic needle hands. According to Furniss, “Stop-motion animation makes it possible to get a number of angles on the action with relative ease,” (137). The scene then switches to an eye-level shot, where the camera is angled horizontally towards the subject (the doll) and this allows the viewers to feel as if they are sharing the same space as the Bedlam. The doll is then cut open on what looks like an operating table. The hands then work unnervingly on destroying the doll, alluding to this…
