Full Film Analysis - Saw - Uncut Version (2004)

I am analysing the Uncut version of “Saw” (2004), this horror film is classed as a torture-porn film as there isn't a great amount of detail in the story line but that is made up in the amount of gore within the film. This film does not fit with my horror trailer, as that is a psychological slasher horror, but the way that this film captures the attention of the audience is useful within this film and I will be using some elements of this film in my trailer.

Todorov theorized that every movie had a basic narrative structure consisting of five points: The equilibrium, at the beginning of the film when everything is calm; A disruption to the equilibrium, something happens to disturb this but the characters within the film haven’t noticed yet; Recognition of the disruption, the characters have noticed that something has happened which usually causes chaos of some sort; an attempt to repair the damage, resolve disruption somehow; back to an equilibrium of sorts, because of the chaos that has happened the equilibrium cannot be the same as before, instead a new equilibrium occurs.

This film goes against Todorov’s theory, instead of developing the narrative, this film starts in the middle of the chaos, when the disruption to the equilibrium has been realized  Adam and Lawrence wake up in a run-down bathroom. Each is chained to a pipe on opposite corners, and there is a dead body in the room. Later on we go into a flash back to when the disruption has just happened but the main characters have not yet realized it, we see crime scenes and police officers and gain a perspective into ‘The Jigsaw Killer’s’ typical crime scenes and traps. We then see another flashback to another victim’s trap, this is more chaos. The film constantly switches between flash backs and current events, each one being in the ‘recognition of the disruption’ stage. The final scenes are an attempt to repair the damage, but they do not succeed. The film ends with both Adam and Lawrence dying and the Jigsaw killer walking away.

Propp  also had a theory, his was about the character types within movies and how each one has characters that fit into these roles:
-The Villain, this character struggles against the hero

-The donor, this character prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object

-The (magical) helper, this character helps the hero on their quest

-The princess, this character is the person who the hero marries, often searched for throughout the narrative

-Her Father, this person usually dies during or before the film or book

-The dispatcher, this character sends the hero off on their quest

-The hero, this character reacts to the donor, marries the princess and kills the villain

-The false hero, this character falsely assumes the role of the hero

‘The villain’ in this film is ‘The Jigsaw Killer’, although he never harms his victims, he puts them in a harmful position and forces them to harm themselves or those who are in the same room for survival. ‘The donor’ in this film is also ‘The Jigsaw Killer’, he gives Lawrence a bullet and other objects to kill Adam in order to save his family. ‘the helper’ in this film is Adam, as he helps Lawrence to work out all the clues in the room and put together the puzzle. ‘The princess’ in this film is Lawrence’s daughter, Lawrence does not want to marry his daughter, but she is the only person he truly wants to save, as he is cheating on his wife, he doesn't want to be with her. ‘Her Father’ is Lawrence’s wife, she doesn't die in the film; she manages to escape. ‘The dispatcher’ is ‘The Jigsaw Killer’, he leaves Lawrence the tape leaving him the quest of killing Adam to save his family. ‘The hero’ is Lawrence, as he has the quest of saving his family and he needs to use the tools he is given to save them. ‘The False hero’ is Adam, as he tries to work out a lot of the clues and tries to keep both him and Lawrence alive, he survives the trap but is then locked in the room on his own to die.
Barthes theorised that all films also have a Binary opposition, where there is good and evil in every film. In this film, the evil is hard to define, but I feel like the heroes in this film are the police officers who try to capture/defeat Jigsaw. However, some may say that Jigsaw (who I would class as the evil in the film) is the hero, as he only puts his victims in a lethal position and challenges them to fight for their lives and appreciate their lives, therefore making their lives better or more enjoyable if they survive.

This film focuses mainly on the gore within the film, so the directors of the film haven’t focused much on the story line, which is pretty generic itself. The target audience for this film is males aged roughly 18-30. This is the typical target audience for most horror films.

The messages portrayed in this film is to be grateful for your life, the characters places within the traps take their lives for granted and do something to harm it, for instance, Amanda was a drug addict before being placed into one of Jigsaw’s traps.