Textual analysis of Saw II (Saw 2)

Saw II opens with a conventional scene for the Saw franchise as we see an almost submissive shot of an unidentified man tied to a chair with a device fitted to his neck. The shot pans up to give a full view of said man as he struggles to break free from his bindings, all the while there is a rising tension in the soundtrack as non-diegtic sounds build up. This build up immediately drags the audience in as we know to expect a gory torture scene, but we know not of the method in which he will be tortured so a tension as we, the audience, imagine the horrifying contraptions capabilities.

An overhead pan brings an emphasis of the mans imprisonment as he struggles against his bindings in a desperate manner. He manages to rise to his feet and attempts to compose his balance with a large weight around his neck, as he does so a diegetic wire snapping sound can be heard as the device is triggered. An over the shoulder shot is used to draw attention to a small CRT TV located on the opposite side of the room, from which the diegetic sound of a deep and distorted voice can be heard as the screen itself heats up and forms the image The shot quickly cuts to a close up view of his face as to give the audience a sense of the bewilderment that the man is feeling.

The voice is one that is despite a generic nature, due to distortion and low pitch, can be immediately recognised as the main antagonist of such a horror film as even new audiences can identify with this convention of a voice being of an inhuman nature. As the antagonist speaks to the man it is edited in a manner that gives the maximum amount of information as the shot switches between the horrified face of the protagonist and the screen which is displaying information that will define the actions of the character. The information on the TV is presented in the same way as the antagonist, distorted and grainy as the outdated TV would likely present it in this manner. The key information that the protagonist needs to focus on abruptly flashes up, dislcosing the information that the protagonist needs in order to have a chance of survival. The face of the puppet that represents the form of the 
antagonist fills most of the frame space on the screen, which can emphasise a position of power by forcing the protagonist to see only the antagonist.

After the location of the key is disclosed it is down to the protagonist to forcibly cut his own eye out in order to save his own life. A diegetic timer begins ticking down as to force the protagonist to make a decision rather than deliberate his options. As he raises the scalpel it cuts to an extreme close up so we get to see every millimetre of movement the scalpel 
makes towards his eye. However before a perferation is made he angrily throws the scalpel to the ground and the shot cuts to mid range to show the protagonist desperately clutching at the device in an attempt to create any kind of leverage with which to remove it. During this frantic panic an extreme close up constantly ticking timer is overlayed in order to further create tension as the audience know that the countdown is rapidly progressing.