Production ProcessPreproductionThe Decent was directed and written by Neil Marshall, before The Decent Neil Marshall had directed another horror movie called Dog Soldiers, this means he has past experience of horror movie pre The Decent.Neil Marshall had spent more than 2 years writing and developing the script for The Decent. He also had help from producer Christian Colson, who is also the managing director of Celador. The filming took place in the United Kingdom and the scene outside took place in Ashbridge Parkland and Scotland. Also, the cave scenes were filmed on sets built at Pinewood Studios, where set designer Simon Bowles had created all the sets for the cave adding up to 21 caves. Neil Marshalls original plan was to cast a mix of male and females but because most horror films did this and because he did this in his past film he wanted to make an original cast, therefore he casted women as all the main characters. He also gave all the actors different accents so the audience can tell the difference between them. Christian Colson was the producer of ‘The Decent and also managing director of Celador Films, therefore they financed the film but at a very low budget. There were also Pathe and 20th Century Fox who helped with the funding.

There is only one example of shooting real action on a public location in the Decent, which is at the start of the film when the three girls, Sarah, Juno and Beth are white water rafting, every other scene in the film is private or produced by green screening. To help in aid of the production, the women acting in the film had to take part in different activities to get more prepared for the film, such as white water rafting and rock climbing. When they shot the film, it had to be in a controlled location, so that no other people or cars interfered with scenes, such as the car accident at the start of the film. Also, the production of the film involved the use of green screens and dummies; these were used to ensure the safety of the actresses. An example of the use of green screen is when they were in the big interchanges and drops in the cave system. When shooting at the studio, the filmmakers used the lighting that the characters had on them, such as the headlights on their helmets instead of the set lights to make it more realistic and create a more dark effect. Overall there were 21 cave sets built by Rod Vass and his company.

After the shooting of the film was finished, it was edited a lot in order to prefect the lighting of the film and ensures the film is put together correctly. We also don’t see the dummies used in the water-rafting scene because of the position of the camera so the audience doesn’t notice. CGI was also used in the film but only once in the cave when a group of bats jumps out on Sarah. The CGI wasn’t very good in the film and it wasn’t used much either, it was very weak. Sound effects was also used a lot throughout the film like at the beginning in the white water rafting scene where the sound of the water was busted and made louder.

Macro Analysis

There is two main purposes for the reason why the Decent was produced, one of which being to produce revenue and the other being to entertain the viewing audience, as it is for most movies. Also, Neil Marshall produced The Decent in order to launch and be the first instalment to The Decent franchise.

Moreover, The Decent was produced to be appealing and entertaining to the viewing audience in a pleasuring but horrific.The Decent was chosen by Neil Marshall to be in the genre of horror. He chose this decision because he wanted to make a film in such a concept, which was brand new and has never been done before, which is why he chose the concept of the creepers and all female cast. Neil Marshal chose the concept of the creepers in order to emphasise and aid the originality of the horror film. Furthermore, the crawlers were depicted as cavemen who never left the caves and evolved in the dark. The director included mothers and children in the colony of creatures, defining his vision and quoted, "It is a colony and I thought that was far more believable than making them the classic monsters. If they had been all male, it would have made no sense, so I wanted to create a more realistic context for them. I wanted to have this very feral, very primal species living underground, but I wanted to make them human. I didn't want to make them aliens because humans are the scariest things." These crawlers are used to generate a cliché and classic monster movie theme, but original as the crawlers which are the monsters have never been used in a movie in such a way before. Also, Neil Marshall also presents a survival like genre, this is when the cast of women climb into the unmapped cave system, he uses this genre and theme alongside the genre of horror, in order to make the film more pleasuring and entertaining to the viewing audience.

The narrative structure of The Decent consists of two halves, one half being the tragedy of the car crash and the second half being the survival and horror aspect of the film. Furthermore, the tragedy part of the film, being the first half, is important because it is what establishes the style and they type of content the film will consist of. The first half of the film is vital to the films entire style and content, as it gets the viewing audience predicting the forth-coming future of the film and is an indication that the film is going to consist of further tragedy and horror. On the other hand, the second part of the film is important, because it is the survival half of the film, as the director presents continuous horrific scenes throughout this half. The director does this by using the key protagonist Sarah as a representation as death; we know this as she is mostly covered in blood throughout the second half. Also, the director uses prosthetics in order to aid the survival and horrific aspect of the film. In my opinion, the director makes both the tragedy and the survival aspects of the film revolve around her character of Sarah, this is important as we see the full impact of the both halves upon her more than any other cast member, therefore this make the character of Sarah more appealing to the audience. (Cinematic techniques)- what it does and how it changes throughout the film.

Throughout The Decent the director makes many meanings through direct elements, one of which is colour. The director uses the element of colour to present meaning, as in the first half of the film Sarah is wearing light colored clothing and is dresses sophisticatedly, whereas in the second half of the film, when the group descends into the cave, Sarah is dressed complete oppositely, as she becomes a representation of death. This is because she wears torn up clothes with her entire body soaked in blood. Furthermore, to some extent she can be identified to be a representation of a devil like image, as she is soaked in blood and brutally fights off the crawlers by killing them to survive. As a result, being just as brutal and being at the same level as the crawlers, as they both are doing the same in order to survive in the cave system.

The director also uses CGI in the film to add effect to the horror and make the film more dynamic and effective in the entertainment of the audience. Neil Marshall also uses the CGI in the film so that the film can have the scenes in them that cannot be acted or produced without the aid of CGI. An example of where CGI is used in the film is the car crash sequence, where CGI is used to make the car crash look more realistic and horrific. Also, as CGI is used in the car crash sequence, this makes the car crash tragedy to cause the audience to feel remorse for Sarah, as she has lost all that she was closet to and has lost he only child. This makes the audience feel remorse for Sarah, because that the worst thing for a parent to do is bury their child, this is what Sarah has to do following the car crash.