Analysis of the first 15 minutes of 'Would You Rather'.

Analysis of the first 15 minutes of Would You Rather

In the first scene of Would You Rather, Iris, played by Brittany Snow, the blonde woman, is having an interview with a man who appears to have a fairly high role in some kind of restaurant. She reveals that she moved back because of 'an accident' and she has to 'look after her brother'. Therefore, this demonstrates that this was a serious accident that she has had to move from a long distance to help out, as a result. This shows that she is desperate for the job because it will be to look after her brother. Little detail is revealed about the subject as it is a sensitive topic she doesn't want to talk about. When she is being interviewed, the restaurant is empty, with the chairs up, meaning that it is closed. This would mean that these hours that she is currently in the restaurant are either quite late/early, which could represent her great work ethic to try and provide for her brother,despite the awkward times she has to adapt to, in order to receive this interview. Furthermore, the interviewers face is not revealed, this focuses completely on Iris throughout the clip, which could represent her isolation in having to help her brother as it is later revealed their parents died, showing she has no support in what she is doing.

When the title is being shown, the camera dashes rapidly through, what appears to look like neurons. Neurons are what allow us to think of and process information, this could suggest that the film takes alot of thought and requires intelligence to get through up coming events. Linking to the previous statement of the interviewer "you are pretty smart" could suggest that Iris is the person,who will have to make smart decisions.

In the next scene, Iris, despite her difficult situation, helps an old, disabled woman through the door, by holding it open and pushing her wheel chair through. This represents Iris as a person as she always looks out for others no matter what, as she gets a 'thankyou' from the woman she helps. This could demonstrate her current life,as she only receives basic rewards through her hard work to help others. This is to show her tough, current life as it seems to be endless. This is further demonstrated as basic non-diegetic music plays in the background, a sound bridge proceeds to link these clips together which shows that this is the constant battle Iris faces everyday as she struggles to make ends meet.

When she enters the scene with the doctor and Shepard, Shepard is instantly shown to have a level of carelessness as he appears to have his feet up and some kind of nutshells next to his on the sofa. This shows that he is ignoring the fact that this is a formal meeting between Iris, the doctor and himself. Whilst speaking, he eats in between his words and continues to speak whilst he has food in his mouth, this shows ignorance as he doesn't show that he is bothered that he is being impolite. This could mean that he is quite powerful and therefore isn't used to people saying what they think about his actions, as a result, he proceeds to do what he feels like doing.

In terms of the doctor, he is demonstrated to be a nice person as he is shown to be polite and well presented. From this, you can tell that Iris trusts the doctor as she asks about Shepard's legitimacy with the Would You Rather dinner party he is offering to her. This is because he claims that the winner gets all expenses paid for whilst the losers 'just don't win'. Therefore this shows that she has faith in his decision-making when it comes to trusting Shepard or not.

When Iris asks this question, the doctor tells her about how he was saved by Sheperd as he 'was in debt and would have lost everything if it wasn't for Shepard's help.' They both proceed to stand and Shepard puts his arm on the doctor as they show a friendly, genuine bond between them. This establishes how they have become good friends due to the Would You Rather dinner party. But at the same time, this could show intimidation as it could possibly be a subtle hint that Iris doesn't understand. Through Mise en Scene, they both become physically higher than Iris which could demonstrate their over-powering of Iris's decision making. At the same time, the lighting makes them appear darker which could foreshadow the problems that they are causing by convincing Iris that it is a good idea.

Towards the end of the 15 minutes, Iris is picked up by a suited man in a car. He says nothing and makes very little gestures, this is to inject a sense of mystery into the audience as he proceeds to drive and make very little expression. The only significant actions he makes are when he glares at her when she is asleep in the car and when she is looking in a different direction. Through dramatic irony of the looks that he gives Iris, gives a suspicious twist on what may be more than a simple dinner party. This is further shown when the bald, suited man directs her to the room of guests as he addresses her by saying 'This is guest number eight' which devalues her to an extent as she isn't introduced by her name as he leaves with a creepy smile. It is later revealed that all guests were introduced this way, showing that they are not valued, even by the employees of Shepard which foreshadows an unsuspecting outcome for the guests.