ALL - Podcast no.3 Review of filming

This is a podcast about our filming so far, it includes when, what and successes and failures we have experienced with our coursework.

Deconstruction of the opening of Last House on the Left

Director: Wes Craven

Budget: $90,000 (estimated)

Box Office Takings:

US – $3,100,000 (USA)

Deconstruction:

The film opens with the scary concept of reality...

Events you are about to witness are true. Names and locations have been changed to protect those individuals still living.

It opens with a pan of a lake, the audience hear diegtic noises such as birds. The camera concentrates on the wildlife on the lake. This could be related to the animal like behaviour of the bad people in the film. 

We are next shown a close up of a someone's post box, exposition gives an idea of where the action is taking place by the address on the post box it also has...

'MARI' and a heart with an arrow through it.

A car pulls up to the house and honks. We see a range of shots of the man in the vechile, side shot, mid shot, close up. We see the man open the door and let a dog in, he then proceeds to talk to the dog...

Hello Chessie

As he talks to the dog, the music begins, the man mentions the character 'Mari' who we assume is the house he has pulled up to, and who will be the main character in the film. This then leads to interpose shots of a girl getting into a shower,  side view extreme close ups, and close ups are used to show the females face. We then see the man getting out of the car. Then back to the girl who we assume to be 'Mari', the camera continues with extreme close ups of the eyes, rings. The man then puts some anchorage into the film and tells the audience she is 17. And we begin to grasp the idea that 'Mari' is very pretty.

The music begins to increase in tempo as the titles appear on screen as the camera zooms in on the house.

The audience are then shown a shot of the girl in the shower but through fogged glass. This could be the director deciding to excite the male audience with the prospect of nudeity. The girl then gets out of the shower and walks to the mirror, minor nudeity is present. She cleans the steamed window to reveal her whole face. A range of shots are used here, for example a over shoulder shot shows her reflection of her in the mirror.

The final shot is another side close up of her face, she then walks backwards out of the frame. 2 minute end.

IMDb:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068833/

Story Line:On the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Mari Collingwood tells her parents that she is going to the concert of underground band Bloodlust in New York with her friend Phyllis Stone. She borrows the family's car and heads with her friend to a dangerous neighborhood in the city. Meanwhile, the sadistic and cruel escapees Krug Stillo and Fred 'Weasel' Podowski are hidden in a hideout with their partners Sadie (Jeramie Rain) and Krug's addicted son Junior Stillo (Marc Sheffler) after killing two guards and one shepherd in their runaway. The two girls seek marijuana near the theater and meet Junior that offers some Colombian grass to them. They go to his apartment and are subdued by the criminals that rape Phyllis. On the next morning, they hide the girls in the trunk of their convertible and head to Canada.

Trailer: 

ALL - Psycho- research of the slasher genre

Psycho is and always will be one of the most influential horror films in history. 

http://www.houseofhorrors.com/psycho.htm 

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Budget: $806,947 (estimated)

Box Office Takings: 

US –$32,000,000

Deconstruction:

The credits themselves last 1.52 seconds. So that would be are hole entire coursework if we did the same idea. The credits are shown on a black background with use of grey lines. And white sans serif font. Non diegetic dramatic music is played.

 'Suprisingly Hitchcock originally intended it to play without music but the film would have lost much of it power to frighten without it. The strings stab like the frenetic movement of the knife on screen. The discordant high-pitched repetition of one note is quick succession jars the audience and makes it immediately aware that something horrible is about to happen. It is probablly one of the most influential pieces of music in horror movie history'

The first shot is an establishing shot of a city, it continues to pan the city and the following appear on screen

'PHOENIX, ARIZONA'

'FRIDAY, DECEMEBER THE ELEVENTH'

'TWO FORTY, THREE P.M.' 

This exposition sets the time and place of the film and gives the audience expectations for what the rest of the film might entail.

The panning of the city progresses to a zoom in on a specific window. Inside we see a woman lying on a bed looking up a t man, dressing, this can denote about men's heirhachy in society to women. The woman is wearing her undergarments and the man dressing signifies sexually activity has just occured. The shot chosen gives an angle so that the man's head is not included in the shot but we see the woman at the level of the bed height.

We watch the couple talk and kiss, and there is reference to their relationship being a 'secret', as the conversation continues they continue to talk of marriage. The music now heard is romantic slow music, which adds to the atmosphere of the couple.

Very basic shots are used in the 2 minute opening. And the opening scene ends with little action having occurred other than the couple discussing their future and the woman leaving to return to work.

The film has a rather slow start compared to many horror films, its not till around 40 minutes into the film is their any gore and violence. 

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/

Story Line:  A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother. 

Ending: Norman's mother had been long dead, her corpse was found sitting in a rocking chair. Norman (the motel proprietor) had dressed up as his mother and commit the murders.

Trailer: 

Psycho has been described as  the mother of all modern horror suspense films. It pioneered the 'wet-death' which is showing a murder graphically by including blood etc. Psycho broke film conventions by showing the leading lady having an affair in her white underwear in the first scene. Another first for an American film of that time was photographing a toilet and the flush. It was also unusual for the leading lady to be killed off halfway through.

Prom Night Deconstruction

Year of release: 2008
Director: Nelson McCormick
Budget: $20,000,000
Opening weekend,
USA: $20,804,941
UK: £507,85


Deconstruction of the opening two minutes.


Non-diegetic music- drum beat. White titles in a serif, cursive font on black background. The music/soundtrack then changes to a 'poppy' style music with lyrics. This stereotypes the target audience.
The scene opens with a high angle view of a stormy sea with choppy waves. It is twilight and there is a blue tint to emphasize this. The camera is at a flying birds eye view angle. It pans from the sea to the land, showing a well populated lake side city. The numerous yachts and prestigious, lit up buildings connotes that it is a wealthy town. The camera follows the car through the city using a range of shots and angles. 
There is a high angle close up of a girl through a car window. The girl looks in her teenage years, she is blonde and pretty (typical scream queen appearance). Side view shot showing she has a sad/worried expression on her face.  
The car pulls up outside of a house, the girl gets out and speaks to the driver. There is a two shot of the driver and a person in the passenger seat. The driver looks like the mother of the girl sat next to her.
The blonde girl converses with the driver and there is a shot reverse shot. The conversation implies something distressful has occurred and there is a mention of the girls going to cheerleading practice. This stereotypes the girls as popular American teenagers.
The two minutes ends with an establishing shot of the house she is stood outside of. It is quite big and tastefully done. This connotes that the owners of the house have well paid jobs.

Plot synopsis: Donna is preparing for her upcoming prom just like any normal girl except she lives with mental scarring and has frequent flashbacks to the night her family were brutally murdered by her teacher. Her obsessed teacher was locked up in prison but escapes on her prom night and hunts Donna down at the hotel, killing anyone who gets in his way. Her friends are discovered dead in the hotel and the police get word that he has escaped. Donna is told to go home; however, she is followed by the psychotic ex-teacher. She discovers her boyfriend dead in her bed and comes face to face with the killer. A policeman appears just in time and shoots the killer multiple times. Donna survives. 


Prom Night has influenced the story line of our coursework as our alternate ending includes a flash forward to Rachel (the little girl who was baby-sat) when she is a teenager. The story line is that she is still being stalked/hunted down by the babysitter killer. 


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0926129/

Jennifer's Body Deconstruction

Release Date: 2009
Director: Ridley Scott
Budget: $87,000,000
Opening weekend, 
USA: $58,003,121
UK: £6,402,540

1. Establishing shot of location; big house surrounded by countryside. Tyre swing anchors it as a family home.
2. POV shot zooming in to the house. Sans serif, child-like font titles in a light green colour, as if it was written with wax crayons. It is at night and lights are on inside signifying people/someone is home.
3. Close up of a scab on skin and someone picking it. Nothing to connote which gender the person is. Pans slightly to show a yearbook under the arm. Diegetic sound of the TV and non-diegetic low music playing to sound like a soft humming noise. Signifying the person is inside.
4. POV shot from outside pans around the tree to view the back of the house. It is a long shot which then zooms into the house. Diegetic sound of a wind chime which in the garden. In the garden/ land surrounding the house there is a horse. This signifies that owners of the house are wealthy.
5. Extreme close up of a teenage girl's mouth eating/sucking her dark brown hair.
6. POV shot, mid angle approaching the window the shakiness suggests that a steadi-cam is used to connote that someone is walking to the window. The noise of the TV, wind chime and soundtrack music increases in volume.
7. Zooms through the window to show a glimpse of the room- the TV is shown as well as a bed and a leg on it. 
8. Close up of a large storage basket. The movie title appears in pink, cursive script. It looks like it could be an extract from a teenage girl's diary. The camera pans upwards to show that the basket was at the foot of a bed in a bedroom. There is a girl laid on the bed wearing casual clothes and watching TV. Even without the girl on the bed, it is easy to denote that it is a teenage girl's bedroom from the interior decor, such as the pink walls and posters of bands. The non-diegetic music is now quiet piano playing.
9. The shopping channel is being watched on the TV. The presenter is trying to sell gym equipment. The program being watched suggests that the girl is bored and has nothing better to do/or physically cannot do anything more.
10. There is a loud non-diegetic 'bang' sound as the shot changes to a side view, mid angle. In the shot is the side of the girl lying on the bed and the window in the background. In the window there is another girl wearing a black hood looking into the room at her.
11. Shot reverse shot of the girl looking through the window and the girl laid down responding, turning around to see what is there. A mid shot of her face not showing any reaction as the girl in the window is no longer there.
12. Close up of empty window.
13. Close up of the girl lying on the bed. This time, more of her face is visible and she looks ill due to discolouration in skin tone and eye bags. Non-diegetic sound of a girl's voice over.
14. The scene changes to day and the soundtrack music becomes more upbeat. Mid angle mid shot of a window with bars on it. The camera pans down to show the back of girl sat down facing the window. It is the same girl that made an appearance in the window in the last scene. There are a lot of teddies on the floor, this could signify she has a child-like mid or state of maturity. She is wearing a patients gown. Camera pans down to show more toys, clutter and a crucifix. This could imply she is interested in Christianity or Catholicism. There are also presents on the floor, showing she is thought about a lot and visited often.

Becky and I liked the POV shots and used them in our 2 minute opening in a similar way. We recorded some shots from outside looking through the window to portray the killer observing the surroundings. We also tried to zoom in through the window or move closer to it; however, because we did not have a steadi-cam we did not achieve the desired effect, instead it looked more like a handheld home video.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1131734/

BW- All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

Director: Jonathan Levine

Year of Release: 2006

Budget: $750,000

Box Office:$ 41,000

Deconstruction:

We see a average American high school corridor, as a teenage girl walks down the corridor we see her everyone staring at her as she walks by. The girl shown is pretty, blonde and the audience are left wondering whether she's new, popular or there's something else about hey why everyone stares but the most obvious  idea is that she attracts the opposite sex. This is portrayed through the use of framed shots of Mandy,and how the other students seem aligned on the side of the corridor as she walks through the centre. The first shots of Mandy are of her chest before her face, this portrays the idea of an object and falls under the pleasure of the male gaze, male pleasure. 

We then see her approach a boy sat on the floor, he's stereotypically the opposite, he appears 'nerdy', an 'outsider'. However through dialogue and their body language we realise they are infact friends. As we see them leave the school their approached by a group of kids in a car inviting Mandy to a pool party, her friend doesn't look pleased but she says they will both be attending, the group in the car look slightly annoyed that her friend will be coming also but drive off.

We then see a 'classic' American Pool party, where we see all the code of conventions for immoral behaviour, warning the audience of the idea that someone will be punished for this. The audience are made aware that alcohol, drinking, drugs and sexual interaction is occuring.

We also see the stereotypical idea of 'sexy' females and 'hench, masculine' males.

As the scene progresses we see the Mandy being approached by males at the party who think they can gain her attention but she is not interested. Where we see the idea that she is innocent, and although she looks like she should belong in this social group her and her 'nerdy' friend dont.

We see the party again and its now night time which signifies the party has been on for a while, which connotes the people there will be well under infleunce of alcohol.

As we see Mandy being pestered by a boy at the party who keeps attempting to 'fondle' her, her nerdy friends intervines which leads to a fight between the two boys. This shows the idea of protection between the two friends.

This opening uses eliptical editing and flashes to imply time has passed. This concept we intend on using in our coursework but to show a greater time having passed. The flashes will be used to show the babysitter dead and we're going to attempt to use eliptical editing to show the child grown up now at secondary school.

A main concept used in this opening is the main character, Mandy Lane, is an attractive girl who in the first opening shots the audience consider her role in the film, she  appears to suit the idea of stereotypical scream queen on looks but personailty we see a final girl characteristics.

We intend on also using this concept in our media, we would like to challenge the code and conventions of the final girl and scream queen and surprise the audience with our choice of actress for the murdered babysitter and the personailty she will portray.

This opening scene is around 8 minutes long. Which is much longer to our given 2 minutes, so to be able to portray and include as much information it would be very difficult in our given time. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0490076/ 

Trailer and Opening to film.

BW - Texas Chainsaw Massacre- 1974.

Director: Tobe Hooper

Year of Release: 1974

Budget: 83,000 - Low Budget

Box Office Takings: 

US – 31,000,000

 

Deconstruction: 

The film begins in a documentary style, the concept of real events, also emphasized by shaky camera filming. This creates verisimilitude.

Anchorage of the event is created by showing the date. We intend on using this, not only to set the film but to emphasize the idea that time has passed.

We then see a black screen, where sound effects are created. This creates an audio bridge between opening credits and the film. The diegetic sound, appears to sound like someone is digging up bones with heavy breathing, this unnerves the audience.

For the first 2:21 seconds all the audience has seen is a black screen. This relates to the idea that classic horror doesn't show violence.

The audience are then proceeded to be shown a series of flashes of images, creating a flash of a camera lighting a bloody scene. It suggests a investigation is undergo and we see pieces of a human body signifying there has been a murder. This ultimately creates the concept of narrative enigma which unsettles the audience.

We then hear a radio voice over, reporting the situation the audience believe their being shown, this is known as exposition.

In the opening scene, which lasts around 3:21 seconds, we haven't been shown any of the main characters, this isn't a reccomended idea for our coursework however the use of flash photography showing the aftermath of a situation is what we intend on incorporating into our media. After we see the babysitter approach the bedroom door we intend on showing a series of photos of her body signifying she has been killed before we show time has passed.

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072271/

Story Line: En route to visit their grandfather's grave (which has apparently been ritualistically desecrated), five teenagers drive past a slaughterhouse, pick up (and quickly drop) a sinister hitch-hiker, eat some delicious home-cured meat at a roadside gas station, before ending up at the old family home... where they're plunged into a never-ending nightmare as they meet a family of cannibals who more than make up in power tools what they lack in social skills...

Trailer:  

BW - Trick or Treat. Deconstruction

Director: Charles Martin Smith

Budget:

Box Office Takings:

US – $2,912,687

Deconstruction:

It opens with a black screen with white serif font, non diegtic music is played, creating a ringing effect. And a voice over begins in a sinister tone, but with a story telling style.

The title 'Trick or Treat' appears on the screen, mixture of orange, yellow, blue, red and yellow which ultimatley creates a 3D gothic image. A ripple effect runs over the title before it fades out. This denotes something supernatural might take place in this film.

The voice over continues to get more agressive and louder as the music builds up.

The first visual shot is a low angle shot of a rockstar, and rock music begins. The image of the rockstar zooms out and pans down to pan around a teenage boys room. The font now seen is white to stand out against the dark room.

Props seen are such as, 'ROCK ON' books, Rockstar calenda, baseball cap and other such things. This informs the audience of a stereotypical teenage rock music loving boy. This emphasized to us how important the props are to a scene to signify the the main character involved and their personailty. This is a key aspect we had to consider in our coursework, as the room shown is a young girl, we had to involve teddies, games, fairytale books and a girly atmosphere, in contrast this film creates a dark stereotypical teenage boy image.

As the camera pans the room it ends on the bed where the music begins to fade out as we see a boy lying on the bed. If we had the equipment to get a smooth pan of the girls room, we would have considered using this technique however to attempt this we wouldn't create as smooth pan and the shot would be a waste of our given 2 minutes.

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092112/

 Story Line: Hard rock idol Sammi Curr burns to death in a hotel fire. His biggest fan, Lakeridge High School student and resident metal head Eddie Weinbauer is devastated by the news and turns to local radio DJ "Nuke" for emotional support. After a heated discussion about the deceased rock star, Nuke presents Eddie with a rare demo record, the last ever recorded by Sammi and the only copy in existence. Overwhelmed by Nuke's generosity, Eddie accepts the gift without hesitation, unaware of it's dark role in things to come. After constant humiliation and a near drowning at the hands of school bully Tim Hainy and his sports jock friends, Eddie becomes enraged and vows revenge on all those who have wronged him, much to the dismay of love interest, Leslie and best friend, Roger.

Trailer:

When a Stranger Calls Deconstruction

Director: Fred Walton
Release date: 1979
Budget: $740,000
Opening weekend, USA: $21,411,158 


It begins with white titles in a lower case, serif font on a contrasting black background. There is a diegetic sound of outside noises  such as crickets and frogs. The titles have a visual effect of them hovering in air.
Sound of non-diegetic high pitched music plays. The movie title appears in the same font and the black background changes to an establishing shot scene of a street. It is a long shot with lots of trees. It is early evening, the blue tint connotes this. There is a sound of a dog's bark in the distance. The shot is not still, it looks like there was use of a steadi-cam. 
A small figure appears from far away, walking up the road towards the camera. The camera pans to follow the figure from a side view. It is dark and so only the silhouette is visible.
Figure walks up to a house. There are windows by the door exposing inside lighting. As the person walks up to the house, the music changes to become lower and more sinister and the titles turn green.

1. There is a long shot of inside the house. The house contains expensive looking black and white interiors. There is a woman coming down the stairs and a man walking through the hall towards the camera. There are many paintings on the wall and a large collection of walking sticks in a holder. This could signify an older member of the family lives with them, or that they have them for show to make them look classy.
2. They both walk towards the camera where the door is suggested. The door bell rings (diegetic sound). They are both dressed up and discussing a reservation, signifying that they are going out to dinner.
3. The man opens the door to show a young woman with blonde curly hair stood with books in her hand. The man and woman converse with her and they conversation connotes that she is a baby sitter and they are parents.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080130/

Part 1 of When a Stranger Calls:

 

Trailer:

Our film opening links closely with When a Stranger Calls as they both involve a babysitter. The opening of our film introduction involves a babysitter who is sat in the living room and becomes fearful as she hears noises coming from upstairs, this is similar to that of When a Stranger Calls. One main difference is that in our film, the babysitter does not receive unknown phone calls. The rest of our film opening takes a different plot outline to WASC as the film progresses to when the child grows up, therefore the main character will no longer be the babysitter.

BW - Babysitter Wanted

Director: Jonas Barnes

Released: 2008

Budget:                           

Box Office Takings:  

USA:

UK:

I was unable to find any information on  the Films budget or box office takings, however it is described as a low budget film.

Deconstruction:

The film begins with an extreme close up of a body, which slowly begins to reveal a body with surgeon lines carving around the body. As the film continues we see a female strapped to a table struggling, she appears bruised and only wearing her underwear. Whilst the audience are being shown this we see interposing shots of someone walking we assume towards her, we only see the mystery persons feet, this is more thrilling for the audience, the mystery of a  persons identity, allows them to guess through the film who the murder is.

Whilst we see the mystery person walking towards the girl we also see a range of weapons, knifes, gives a sense of  butchers equipment. They appear dirty and have blood on them which signifies what ever is going to happen to this girl has happened before to other people.

We also see other use of props such as a meat hook, which emphasizes this idea of a butcher, and connotes this female as a piece of meat. Which could dennote the idea of females being treated like meat, objects and could be an interesting insight into the most extreme case of women being treated badly. Most extreme.

The music is similar to a childs nursery rhyme, by making the music more slow and emphasizing the notes in the music it creates a sinister effect to how a child is going to be involved. The music and footsteps create tension as the audience begin to fear for this females life, the footsteps signify the coming of her death. The closer they get, the closer she is to her last breath. The use of a high angle shot to show the audience the females body for the first time, emphasizes her vulnerability.

The footsteps have arrived at the female, and she begins to struggle more. We see the mystery person pick up a hammer and place it on her forehead, the hammer draws back and the audience assume the mystery person has killed her, as they hear the noise. The concept of having violence but not showing the most brutal parts, infact scares the audience more. The mind will imagine something far worse than the filming industry would be able to potray.

From this film we liked the idea of the murder being a mystery and if our film was to be completlty created we would involve this concept. But in the opening two minutes we can still portray the murder as a mystery person. Also at the death of our babysitter, we would not show the murder but the aftermath, we feel as a-level students we would never be able to even attempt to re-inact a murderous scene, and the idea of the mind being left to wonder what the killer exactly did to her is far more gruesome.

Story Line:

In a small college town, a young girl working on a babysitting job in a rural farm is terrorized throughout the night.

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0819755/

 

Trailer:

BW - Deconstruction of Halloween

- Directed by John Carpenter

- With a estimated budget of $ 320,000

- Made $47,000,000 (USA) ( No UK figures given)

The film begins with the credits. To fit in with the context of the films title the only visible object you see whilst the titles roll is a pumpkin which connotes a halloween theme to the film.

The pumpkin progressively increases in size as the credits roll, the light inside the pumpkin also creates an eary effect. The tense music played increases in tempo and volume as the credits continue, the music creats more suspense as it changes the audience heart beat with the rhythm.

The titles themself change in colour from a yellow to a red. These colours can be symbolic for evil and hell.

The credits end 1min 59 secs, the pumpkin has now zoomed in so that all is visible is the the eye and nose of the object, which also emphasizes the presence of the flickering candle overall creates an evil image through the use of the pumpkin. This is quite a low budget opening and appears so to the audience however the preferred reading has been created and the audience are aware of what film it is.

The film opens with exposition by the name of a town being shown, it denotes a small town. The titles are down in white against a black screen this is a prime example of binary opposites, white and black are seen as good and evil however in this case the small amount of white can signify the small amount of good in the film compared to the vast blackness surrounding it, signifying the evil in the film.

A background noise of a children rhyme connotes what we might see in the opening of the film, its then followed by anchorage to the film, setting the date, '1973 - Halloween'.

The film proceeds with a shot of a detached white house which signifies the class we're looking at and the neighbourhood the events are going to take place in, it also creates an illusion of isolation and vulnerability. This shot has a blue tint to it, which signifies a full moon connoting supernatural or cold hearted atmosphere. This first scene is shot in the point of view of a character, who it is isn't shown till the end of the scene.

We see the figure watch through the window of a young couple together. The couple then leave the room and go upstairs.

The music then begins, a single instrument, a piano. As we watch the mystery person walk through the house the young man returns downstairs replacing his top, this signifies that the couple have has sexual intercourse. And horror code and conventions normally revolve around the idea that a girl has sinned therefore she should be punished, this can be seen in this film as the referred sexual intercourse is her sin and therefore she will be punished.

The mystery person picks a mask from the floor which he then covers his face with, this creates a smaller view for the audience to watch through. This creates more suspense and tension as the shot is emphasized again as a point of view and the audience begin to fear that an event is about to occur.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/ 

Trailer:

Sorority House Massacre Deconstruction

Director: Carol Frank
Release date: October 1986
Budget and Gross: Unknown (however there are mentions of the film having a low-budget)


2 minute opening.

It opens with an establishing shot of a big, white house with many windows showing lights that are switched on inside. The shot is framed by branches of a big tree blowing in the wind. It looks like it is twilight time and the blue int used helps to portray this further.
There is non-diegetic music of chimes and low toned violins which are appropriate for anchoring the genre.
White titles appear in a serif font with capital letters. The sound of an organ is added to the music and the music gets progressively louder, higher pitched and more intense. 
The film title is in a different font, more gothic looking. The letters of 'Sorority House' look like symbols.
The music builds up to a climax and the rest of the film title 'Massacre' splats on screen as if it is written with blood. The title is surrounded by blood splatters which look as if they have been spurted on the camera lens and it blood drips down.

1. There is then an establishing shot of a big house. The camera zooms in slowly towards the house. There is a steadi-cam effect of someone walking towards the house and the camera  acts as their point of view, much like the opening of John Carpenter's 'Halloween'.
2. Mid shot of a woman in a hospital gown sitting against a white wall. She has short brown hair, pretty and young looking. She addresses another character by the name of 'Mrs Lawrence'.
3. An establishing shot showing the young woman is laid in bed in a brightly lit hospital room. A woman enters, sits on a chair and asks her to recall what had happened.
4. The young woman begins to tell the story and the story goes to a flash back.
5. Flash back: Low angle shot of lower body half walking outside along a pathway. Person is holding a large bag. It is dark outside and to emphasize this there is blue tint. The camera pans up to show it is a woman. The camera follows her walking into the house which was shown at the beginning.

Our opening relates to this as we also have an element of the past and the future as Rachel the little girl is then seen grown up at the end of the 2 minute opening. 


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091990/

Eden Lake Deconstruction

Deconstruction of the two minute opening.


Director: James Watkins 2008
Budget: not shown
Opening weekend;
USA: $5,824
UK: £192, 027

 The film begins with titles in red across a black background. The titles are in a sans serif font and there are flickers and shadows across them. The screen turns black. here is then a flash of an insert/picture. The flash is of a woman lying down in the woods; however, the flash is very fast so the content of the image is not viewed. The photo is also edited with high exposure levels which make the photo look very bright, thus making it even harder for the viewer to denote the image.

• There is high pitched non-diegetic music playing which create a tense atmosphere. Another flash image insert appears of rippling water.
• The screen goes black until another flash shot appears on screen. This image is also very bright. It is a close up of a woman screaming and covered in blood. The black screen then shows more titles .
• The next flash photo insert is of the woman hand cuffed with barbed wire, her facial expression shows she is crying out and she is covered in blood.
• The next flash does not show an image immediately but starts changing colour to red then a picture begins to show of some reeds, but it is not very clear due to the bright over exposure editing.
• The film then flashes-back to the screaming bloody woman.
• The next flashing image is a close up of a boys hand. There is non-diegetic sound of a fuzzy signal on an electronic device.
• It then flashes back to a red background with half an image of numbers which could signify a code. 

There are then flashing lights on a long shot of a lake. The screen turns back to black as the music builds to a crescendo or thunderous end.


1. Establishing shot, mid angle; contrasting environment of a nursery. There are lots of small pre-school aged children. Soft sunshine yellow lighting and bright, happy coloured displays and toys. The children and the teacher are singing peekaboo. 
2. A close up of the teacher shows she is young, pretty and dainty-looking, and she has blonde, short, curly hair. 
3. Long shot of class responding positively to the teacher and by the words of the teacher, the viewers denote that it is the end of the week. 
4. Close up of teacher gazing into classroom after the children have left. There is a nostalgic look to her expression.
5. Long shot/establishing shot of roads and school. Diegetic noise of children playing and non-diegetic soothing classical music. 
6. Close up of a young-middle aged man, wealthy looking waiting in a car, opens an engagement ring box and smiles.
7. Long shot, mid angle. The teacher skips out of school. Non-diegetic romantic music playing. She runs to the car as the man hides the ring- shot reverse shot. She gets in the car, kisses him and the car drives away. 
8. Long shot of the car driving away.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020530/

Our 2 minute opening relates to the 2 minute opening of Eden Lake as both include flashes of photographs. To achieve the desired bright/ slightly unclear effect we will edit them. We already took some photographs; however, they were not up to the standard we hoped for so we will re-take them again and attempt to make them look more like the flashes of pictures in Eden Lake.

Vodcast- research from various books.

Here we talk about aspects of film and film theory we have researched and how it may relate to our two minute opening.