Coraline synopsis and textual analysis

Coraline is a feature length, stop-animation film based on the children's book of the same name. Originally written by Neil Gaiman and adapted under director Henry Selick for the purpose of the movie, the story is about a young girl named Coraline who is ignored by her busy parents. After moving into a new house she discovers a small door containing a tunnel leading to a house that seems identical to her own. These assumptions are short lived after Coraline meets her 'Other Mother' and 'Other Father' along with the improved, fun and entertaining house. At first this new world seems perfect until she's asked to replace her eyes with buttons. After rejecting the offer the world around her starts to deteriorate and show it's true colours, once Coraline has left this world behind something terrible happens, her parents have disappeared. Following the sighting of her parents in a mirror Coraline knows exactly where they are. Now Coraline has to go back to her other mother and find a way to win them back.

In terms of mise-en-scene, this is where the film really flourishes. In reality Coraline's house is very dim, it is portrayed with dull shades of white, grey and brown exacerbated by low-key lighting. The Kitchen seems barren of food and the bedroom features very few home comforts such as a photo of friends and a string of birds around Coraline's bed. Her fathers office is full of unpacked boxes and a dated computer on which her father is droning away with bags under his eyes to show how tired he is. All of these contribute to the very dim outlook on their life. As nighttime arrives the rooms become very dark using chiaroscuro lighting. To show the connection between the real house and the 'other house' Coraline goes through a tunnel consisting of entrancing purple and blue lighting, almost as if to show that something magic is happening.

In contrast to the real house, the 'other' house feels a lot more "homely", the kitchen is full of food and flowers while the other mother is cooking a roast "just in time" for Coraline's arrival. The use of color shows warmth with orange and blue as apposed to the grey cracking walls of the real house. The study has crooked and disproportionate frames on he wall showing an element of German expressionism. Replacing the dated computer in the centre of the study is a piano with moving hands which plays itself by controlling the other fathers hands showing creativity through music rather than documentation. Coraline's bedroom features live toys giving the room the home comforts that it was lacking before along with that portrayal of fun and excitement.

Moving on to camerawork and editing, an establishing shot shows the house at the beginning of the scene to let the audience know where the scene is going to be set. A mid shot is used to show the family around the dinner table, showing the body language of the three characters. There is a comic effect that come from a close-up of the food being served and a tilt up to show Coraline's disgusted reaction. There is a graphic match between Coraline slumping back onto the chair and then the bed. As night time falls and mysterious events start happening the entire scene is shown with a subtle canted angle to make the audience feel unnerved until Coraline opens the small door were there is a close-up to show her reaction to what she sees followed by a reveal shot of the tunnel.
Later in the other fathers study, while playing the piano to the music the camera spins around the scene as does the other father and piano, adding a sense of craziness to the other world. Then as Coraline goes to bed there is another graphic match between the bed in the other world and the bed in the real world to blend the two scenes almost making it seem like it was all a dream.

The sound in Coraline is heavily influential on the mood, while the scene is being set a calm and tranquil sound is playing, the track resembles a peaceful yet adventurous tone which matches Coraline's character. As the happenings in the night occur there is a much more fast paced track with wind and brass instruments building up to a crescendo, this creates tension before the opening of the door to the other world. The song played by Coraline's other father is centred around Coraline and the lyrics start with "making up a song about Coraline", it's an upbeat fast tempo song played on the piano which gives off a happy aura. Once Coraline enters her bedroom there are diagetic sounds of the birds wings flapping along with the speech "hello Coraline, hello, hello, hello" this once again centres the focus of the other house around Coraline's happiness. At the dining table of the other house the merriment of dinner is short lived when the other mother mentions playing hide and seek in the rain, when Coraline asks "what rain" there is a sudden crash of thunder and a flash of lightning which silences any other sounds and draws the audience to the realisation that there's more to this other world than meets the eye.