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: