Not only is Victor made to seem important but so is the monster by pulling it up with the pulley on to the track and as it ascends, a bright light is shone directly above it. Since this light is so strong it creates a circle of light around the creation. I believe that the effect of this is to suggest the creation as a gift to God or even to make it seem like it is so close to him that Victor can show God he is about to create life just like he did.
Victor is filmed using a high angle shot running at the same speed as the monster on the cradle. The effect of this is to show that Victor is completely dependant on the creation of the monster, therefore not letting it out of his sight. If Victor didn’t care as much about it, he would have waited by the tank where the track finishes. Lots of diegetic sound is used when the log knocks the cradle and as it is running along the tracks.
When the creature is put into the tank, and is above the fire, Branagh uses a series of extreme close up shots as the spikes are being stabbed into the monster. This type of shot is used so that you can almost feel the spikes going into you as you sit at home or in the cinema. This also creates sympathy for the monster.
As the camera shots dissolve through all the bits of machinery and all the electric lines, which have sparks coming out of them to show that they are high voltage, it shows that there are loads of different things going on at the same time. The effect of this is to show that the task of creating the monster is extremely difficult because there are a lot of things to do and think about.
While Victor is fastening a tube to the tank the camera slowly zooms out and pans to the right to show that the tube is connected to a big sack, which is shaking, that retains electric eels and a lot of amniotic fluid. The effect of this is to suggest that this is like a real birth because Victor uses amniotic fluid held in a sack or a container like in a real mothers womb. The sack is also filmed in a low angle shot to make it seem as it is a main part in the creation of the monster.
As the eels are released into the tank they start to attack the monster at first. Then it looks like they are trying to heal him as they go for stitches to make it seem like they are repairing the monster. The first of this part is filmed using a close up, panning shot running up the monsters body, then an over the shoulder shot of the eels repairing him is employed.
There is a lot in the mise en scene when Victor is standing on the tank. Victor himself standing on the tank, with the sack that held the amniotic fluid in, shaking the chains, looks to me like he has got eight hands due to the way the light is shone onto the sack. I think that if this was deliberate then it is meant to portray that he is Godlike with eight hands meaning that he is more powerful than an everyday man. The fire under the tank looks like it has been over fuelled so it is jumping up the side or even dancing. The combined effect of the fire below Victor and the electricity bolts all around emphasises him being like God standing on top of the world that he created just as victor is standing on top of the life that he created. The way those few seconds are shot is meant to give Victor and the monster all the attention of the whole screen by lighting just Victor and the tank and darkening everything else.
When Victor is staring into the tank shouting at the monster to live, the monster’s eyes open and start blinking. As the water is waving it makes the monster look confused and dazed. I think that the effect of this is to put the audience in the monster’s place to make it seem confused because it is waking up in a tank, full of water and eels, with a man half naked on top of it shouting at him. The way the monsters face is shot is a close-up point of few shot in Victor’s perspective.
When Victor realises the creation has failed he starts walking away. The camera films him walking away, then slowly pans to the right to show the knuckles of the monster resting against the porthole windows of the tank. When the camera first shows the hand there is a few seconds of dramatic irony when we know that it is going to outstretch or knock against the window. As the hand opens up and knocks against the window there is a sound played which is meant to be the hand hitting against the window. This sound is meant to be diegetic sound that originates from the action but it really non-diegetic sound that has been dubbed in to make it seem louder and scarier.
When the monster whacks the lid off the tank, Victor walks slowly towards it. As Victor gets closer and closer to the tank an element of suspense is formed because we know what is going to happen. The reason that Kenneth Branagh is doing this is to make the audience feel how Victor is feeling. When Victor is within arms reach of the tank, the monster springs up, just like a vampire does out of a coffin in another horror movie, and grabs him tipping the tank over making all the amniotic fluid and the monster spill out. The reason to show it like this is to give the effect of a real birth where the newborn baby comes out of a place that holds it with amniotic fluid all around it. The monster is then burped to get rid of liquid in the oesophagus, as a baby is when it is first born to push air round the body.
Victor then tries to help the monster to stand but he has many attempts and fails in all of them. This is filmed in quick two or three-second shots that run one after another, which makes this appear like a very hard task that takes along time to accomplish. These shots are filmed with close-ups angles of the head and shoulders of Victor and the monster, and normal wide shots of the whole of them both and some of the laboratory. These two shots alternate to give a broad view of the whole task of trying to give the monster its first steps.
When Victor finally gets the monster to stand with the aid of some chains, he pulls a rope that knocks the monster out and raises it to the ceiling. Victor is then filmed using a high angle shot which gives the impression of Victor being now small and powerless because he has just created life with all that hard work and now, in his eyes, he has taken it away. Sombre, non-diegetic music is then played to emphasise Victor’s emotion.
While Victor is writing in his journal about what has happened in the creation, he reads it aloud so the audience at home can hear what he is writing and what he feels. This is filmed with a shot from Victor’s head to his waist on the right of the mise en scene with the monster on chains in the distance. It is shot like this so as Victor is writing about the monster, we the audience, can see what he is talking about and it is also used as a reminder about what he has done.
Victor, feeling sad, walks towards the curtains, which separate the laboratory from the rest of the apartment, he grabs each side of the curtain and pulls them together at the same time. The reason that Kenneth made Victor do this is to emphasise that this is the end of his research in this topic and wants to completely stop so he pulls the curtains together as happens at the end of a show or play at a theatre, to tell the audience that it has ended.
The whole way through the “Creation” scene there is lots of non-diegetic music that is played that matches Victor’s emotions. For example, when Victor is running through his laboratory, excited and very busy, the music is fast beat and exhilarating but when Victor realises that he has killed a life there is slow depressed music. The reason that Kenneth Branagh has chosen to do this is so that we know what Victor is feeling like at any particular point.
