Montage

Source of Inspiration: Montage Sequences

We came across some trouble when originally planning our death scene and chose to leave the murder vague within our storyboard as to refer back and add in detail as we began to produce the piece.

We found it would be difficult to incorporate supernatural elements into our death without any expertise in special effects or skilled acting so we therefore decided it would be best for the killing to occur off screen, adding an air of mystery to our plot as an unnatural inhuman event, allowing our audience to themselves envision what they believe to have happened.

To accompany this idea, I looked into montage sequences used in other horror films to disorientate the viewer. We decided that by compiling a number of shots related to the plot context and of gruesome images would allow us to maintain an uncomfortable experience for the audience and to enforce fear due to their lack of understanding and the fast pace of the transition between shots.

After having storyboarded ideas we chose to include shots of:

• The clown (at different proximities, moving farther away from the camera and then appearing at an awkward and incredibly intimate distance to finish)
• Various violent weapons (a crowbar, the blade of a saw and a hammer struck towards the camera)
• Victim (having his neck snapped shot at different angles and lying dead upon the floor)
• Disgusting images (maggots, rotten apples)
• Point of view shots to mimic a victim running to escape (through the tunnel and up the stairs)
• Repetition of previously used skyline shots to refer back to the isolation anonymous London location (edited to appear with a newly green trint to represent the supernaturtal elements of the city now apparent)

Deconstruction - Trapped ( A Level Film Opening.)

Deconstruction - Trapped.

This week I have chosen to deconstruct another A Level piece in which was filmed at the same location that we are going to be setting ours at. I have chosen to deconstruct this piece, as it will give us some ideas on the lighting, how another group have incorperated the location into their own film opening and how it will be percieved on camera. It also gives us a chance to look at the Mise En Scene of the tunnel, to see how effective the underlying design is, and how clear the features stand out on camera - defining how seeable the wall texture in the tunnel is. Although this was filmed 2 years ago, I still feel that it is relevant to our filming, as we can see how other people have adapted and used the enviroment to their own benifits and strengths.

Camera Angles/ Shot. 

• There was not a wide range of camera angles, within this piece of filming, just mainly full body shots, establishing the tunnel location around them, and establishing the stalker into the scene. 

• I liked the use of the close up shot on the face, which to me demonstrated to the audience that the girl was trapped within this tunnel, and that she was still yet unaware of what is going on, it also to me felt like a type of CCTV that you would see within a reality TV show such as big brother, as she is clearly being watched, but has no idea that the camera is this close to her, or that she is even being watched. 

• By following her walking down the alley with the camera, a tracking is being used, through the point of view of the stalker, which I feel is quite a good concept, as we get to see exactly through their perspective. 

• There was no a variety of different camera angles used, which made the scene opening quite repetitive, and in my view quite boring, as we already knew what was coming up, which is the reason why I would have liked to have seen quite a few more camera angles included as the opening was quite basic. 

• I felt that the tracking of the subject was quite good, as it paned from right to left to reveal the protagonist running down the tunnel a countless amount of times, but due to it being over used, in the end it became boring and predictable. 

Mise En Scene

• The tunnel linked in with the title, as she was trapped, with the underlying designs also indicating that she was trapped within, by the use of the parallel walls, which would usually create a sense of security, these created a sense of confinement, showing that she really was trapped, with not a lot in which she could do to stop/escape from it. 
• The editing in of the antagonist was good, and showed that he was a figure of the imagination, that he was not from this world and was not real, but when it was repeated many times.
• The use of the red sign on the wall within the shot connotes the danger in which the protagonist is in , although it was placed in the tunnel already, I feel that it was a smart decision including it into the camera shot, as it is the only thing that stands out in colour within the whole piece. 

Lighting

• 

  The lighting in the tunnel is artificial, which adds to the suspense of the filming. It is also reflects off of the side of the wall, in which darkens the edges of the tunnel, which creates a perfect lighting scheme for this location.
• A dark circle is shown at the top of the tunnel, in which could be foreshadowing her being followed, and also builds effect and tension within the scene.
• There is no way of altering the tunnel lights, as they are one set brightness, and are connected to the electricity mains. This means the only way of altering the lighting would be to use additional lights, which were not used in this film opening, which could have been quite useful, as they could show the harsh reality of what is happening to the protagonist.
  
  

Sound. 

• I really like the sound at the start of this film opening, as it is what you would expect within the tunnel, but with the sound of silence echoing around the tunnel, and being maximised, it creates tension within the audience, as we are expecting something/someone to jump out from within the tunnel as this is in the horror genre. 
• With the use of a little irregular beat put in, which sounds alike a scale in which would be used at a part of tension in a unexpected occurrence in a horror movie, I feel this sound works incredibly well for the genre and the piece.
• The sharp, almost screeching sound at the end, is used to make the audience jolt/jump, in which it did successfully the first time for me, but I do not feel it was effective enough to fully startle a audience on a large scale. 

  

General Comments.

• I did not think that the acting was strong enough, especialy at the end, as you could tell that the girl was not scared at all, and did not react enough to what had just happened. She would not have been that calm. Also when running through the tunnel and the facial close ups, she did not look as scared as I would have expected from a protagonist within a film opening.
• There were elements that I did like, such as the editing, and a few of the camera angles, but they were over used, which took away the effect in which was the sole reason they were created, which then dampened the effect at the next time. 

Male Protagonists

Male Protagonists

Hero

• Stereotypically brave and courageous male, often either completely selfish or selfless.
• Strong and physically able to protect themselves and others.
• Handsome and sexually attractive to both other characters and the audience.
• Protective father/son/boyfriend figure in dominance over female vulnerability.

Geek

• Socially awkward, few friends/small social group.
• Physically incapable of defending themselves or others.
• Usually young, teenage and unable to cope with growing up/being in high school.
• Easily scared, phobic of violence or any minor harmful activity. 

   Subversion

• Masculine male, physically fit and attractive.
• Able to defend themselves against other humans and protect others.
• Defeated by evil despite their powerful dominance.
• Overpowered by a threat originally thought to be far smaller than them.  

 (This would be most suitable for our chosen theme as we want to introduce an immediate sense of danger to our audience within our opening scene and we feel by choosing a victim to unexpectedly be defeated it can demonstrate how large a threat our killer is, establishing it as the plot would continue for the duration of the film.) 

Costume

Antagonist Costume

Clothing-wise the killer will wear clothing typical of a clown but with dark colouring. Red and black costumes are our desired choice as we want to easily demonstrate that the clown connotes evil and danger and foreshadows death as soon as it is seen onscreen, creating a sense of fear. It is also important that the costume hides any gender behind the character as we want them to remind anonymous and unrelated to humanity as much as possible, not giving it any human or gender specific qualities to detach it from the victim and the audience.

A pair of large, old, distressed boots would help define the survival of the killer and their ability to still be standing. A pair of red or black boots would be more suitable for this purpose as if using red, a close up shot of the clown's feet could be used to introduce them onscreen for the first time having seen the red balloons and establish a connection between them.

Pairing a creepy clown painted face with a pair of red contact lenses enables us to re-enforce the lack of humanity and innocent within the killer and again, detach them from any possibly empathy or reasoning behind their actions. Also, it suggests the contrast between itself and society's view of what clowns are (humans in comic clothing), establishing that this evil is not related.

Make-Up and Costume

 Creating Gore

Scars 

This would be useful to use within a flashback scene to connect the victim (if they survive) to before/during and after they experience the attack.  
(Made using eyelash glue and foundation.)

Burns
This would be useful to use if we chose not to follow the route of conventional gory deaths and decide to opt for burning injuries instead.
(Made with theatrical wax, paints, optional fake blood.) 
 

Cuts

This would be useful to use if we chose to feature our injuries in a house/school/hospital environment and our character fell through glass or was struck with a object that could shatter. This would also be easiest to duplicate on a large scale to include an entire face and also to create the illusion of skin sliced by glass such as in Suspiria.
(Made using theatrical wax, foundation, fake blood and plastic.)  

Voices (Sources of Inspiration)

Sources Of Inspiration: Voices

Dubbing an actor's voice with an alternative, often used for characters during possession and usually with a more sinister tone to increase fear.

(This could be beneficial for us to use if we chose possession as a focus to easily create a differentiation between the two speakers inside the body and also to allow the evil itself to address the characters without any confusion of who is speaking. This also acts as a device to increase fear as the voices chosen are usually deep and unsettling, highly in contrast to the previous.)

Often within horror, the evil is able to communicate with the victims through an item or a location and their voice is heard as whispering.

(A whispering voice can connote sinister intentions and by using many different whispering voices at once and overlapping them, it can isolate the victim from everyone else around. This technique can also effectively be used to signify no hope of escaping as once the evil gets to your mind, it can consume you. In terms of production of our own opening scene, this technique would be easily to duplicate as it could be added in as diegetic sound during the editing stage of production.)

Transmitted communications causing speech to cut out and be received in chunks often used to signify severe danger from the other end.

(This technique when used with a long cut out of silence causes the audience to be on-edge anticipating what will happen next, focusing entirely on sound. This would be useful for us as it would allow us to increase the audience's involvement within the scene and acts as a reminder that they are only communicating through technology and now, they cannot be helped.)

Wounds and Gory Deaths

Wounds and Gore

If we chose to include an accident involving glass (or it could be adapted to a knife wound and other cuts), a similar effect to the one shown above in Suspiria can easily be achieved through the use of theatrical wax and make-up. Although we have little skill in costume make-up and a low budget, a smaller scale version of the above wound could easily and effectively be made.
Also, we can use similar techniques to create burns and other bloody gashes on the body if we chose to include a gory death or chose zombies as our evil. Burns and glass cuts could be very effective if we decide to chose a home location and involve a fire or the victim falling through glass/out of a building. We can use this and cut to a shot of the victim after a fall to avoid having to find an effective actor to participate in a drawn-out death scene and to increase the pace of the scene, increasing fear.

As we are planning to possibly include a flashback within our opening scene, we could possibly show our victim after their attack with them having survived. By using make-up to create the appearance of scars healing over time, we could allow the audience to more easily establish a connection between the victim in the future. It is, again, easily achievable with little experience and can be produced effectively with pharmacy-bought products.

If we include a possesion/zombie/supernatural being within our plot, or even just to represent death, coloured contacts would allow us to easily alter a character's personality. If we want to take away a character's innocent/want the audience to feel no empathy for them, changing the eyes is an effective technique due to being the core feature of the face that conveys emotion. Changing the natural colour of someone's eyes to a demonic small pupil with an unnatural colour like in The Exorcist can allow the character to be consumed by evil and to break any bonds the viewer may have formed with them (it also helps when used for possessio to show the audience when the evil is present if it is not entirely clear within the plot).

Containment (Coursework Deconstruction)

CONTAINMENT COURSEWORK DECONSTRUCTION

Sound:

• Non diegetic sound overlay is current, dub step music to appeal to a teenage audience and also to act as an action device, increasing the pressure and intensity of the situation.
• The use of diegetic voice over allows the audience to be given clues into the plot through an anonymous voice, not creating any relationship between viewer and characters, intending on keeping them emotionally detached.
• By editing the voice over to echo and overlap, it again refers to the irregularity of the events and the uncertainty of the words, suggesting that even the government's announcements are uncertain.

Editing:

• Cutaways between different scenes and media coverage are used to represent the frantic and uneasy nature of the plot and suggest the uncertainty of whether they will reach survival. (Although, this is a trailer, a similar effect could be achieved within our opening scene to introduce our audience to the plot without revealing any possible key information).
• The consistent transitions between shots causes the viewer to feel anxious as they become aware of the danger within the situations.

Camera:

• A close up shot of the person giving the vaccination is used as a point of view shot, to allow the audience to experience the situation as any other member of the public involved would. This acts as a fear device, also being re-enforced by using a reaction middle-shot to demonstrate the painful response (foreshadowing the pain and danger to follow).
• Introducing the vaccination with a close up of the needle also refers to typical human phobias, relating the storyline to reality and the possibility of occurance. Also, the use of the needle introduces the fear of safety to the audience, preparing them for the theme of survival within the storyline.

Mise En Scene:

• The white eyes of the zombies connote the blankness of their character and the loss of their humanity. Contrasting with the use of the eyes during transition that are red to show their fury and the danger of them becoming infected and bloodthirsty.
• Showing the vaccinator's eyes and hiding their other features highlights their humanity through their ability to show emotion through their expression. (Also, refers to her innocence as a cause of the spreading virus and that she should not be blamed.) It reminds the audience that the danger is caused due to human error and that the biggest fear to humanity are their own mistakes.

The Locket Teaser Trailer

Locket Possession 

Camera Angle

• The camera was on a wide angle and set up on a tri pod in order to keep the camera steady so that the only movement was coming from the girl on the screen.
• It is on level with the girl which makes the audience feel like they are just like her and therefore we have more of a connection with her.
• She is at a personal distance and therefore you do not feel as strong a connection than if she was at an intimate distance. This therefore shows that the director does not want the audience to feel closer than just acquaintances with the person on the screen.

Sound 

• The is non diegetic sound of music that has been laid over the top of the screen in order to create dramatic effect of when the possession is taking place. The music goes in and out of being quite loud and of high pitch to being low and deep. This therefore backs up what is happening in the scene.

Editing

• There are jumps cuts between each shot which are filled with darkness and then followed by another shot of the girl doing something different to what she was doing before.
• There is continuity editing shown through the shot being overlapped with other shots and slowed down in order to show that time is moving forward but at a slower pace as though something is taking place which is slowing her brain down.

Mise En Scene

• The scene is in black and white which connotes this idea that she is making the transfer from innocence to a threat and this is shown just through the colour of the scene.
• They have used over laying and slow motion in order to create a sort of possession scene as it is distorted and plays with the viewers mind as there are multiple shots of the girl in one scene therefore showing that she is being replicated into many other things. Or that certain parts of her personality are being changed.
• It is shot within what looks like an old castle ruins which makes in quite sinister as the place is probably deserted and also shows that the locket is also quite old and who ever left it there probably didn't determine that someone might find it.
• As she puts it on over her head it has to pass her mind and sort of push her hair towards her head showing that the mind might be the form of possession.
• She is dressed in black and white which shows that this form of threat is present however with the white cardigan it shows that it is not yet unleashed and contained within this innocence.
• The darkness between each shot could be someones eyes blinking however the shot doesn't seem of point of view and therefore could be using the same effect that is seen in the Weeping Angels.

 The Stairway

 Camera Angles

• Again the camera has been set up on a tri pod in order to look down the stairs but not move and therefore makes the filming less wobbly and keeps the viewers attention fixed.
• It is a more narrow shot this time filmed at a high angle looking down the stairs at the person coming out of the basement. 
• It is quite a tight framed shot but however by having the darkness at the bottom of the stairs it gives this person a place to go because the stairs have been made to look never ending. Therefore the tight frame may be trapping the other person in the house rather than the person in the hole. 

Sound

• The sound is non diegetic again and this time it is music that they have made in order to go over the top of this scene.
• It sounds similar to the RING music with the child like voice singing in the background and therefore it makes the entire scene much more sinister as children are made to seem innocent and therefore by making them a form of danger it makes the viewer uncomfortable to listen to.

Editing

• Again there is the jump cut editing of them getting closer to the camera before it cuts away which is another reference back to the Weeping Angels and the use of stop motion.
• There is continuity editing which is used in order to show the time moving forward.

Mise en Scene

• There is mainly horizontal lines which are created by the steps however there is also the introduction of the vertical lines made by the door and also the carpet which is covering the stairs. However there is also the diagonal line present in the scene which is made by the bannister and therefore connotes that whatever is coming out of the basement isn't entirely human anymore.
• There is the use of crawling which is show in the Excorist which conforms the idea of the fact that it creates a jolting form of movement and also makes them look quite robotic and inhuman. 
• The character is now dressed completely in black and therefore this shows that there has been a transformation from the beginning screenshots to this scene as now she is seen as a complete threat. 
• There is high contrast lighting as the bottom of the stairs is in complete darkness whereas the top of the stairs is mainly bright and this therefore conforms the idea that the threat has now entered the innocent and that perhaps they should not mix.
• By having the character at an intimate distance in the end it will make the viewer more uncomfortable as she is coming into a space which generally the audience don't like.
• She makes eye contact with the camera constantly and it never breaks and therefore the audience are sort of forced to look at her although they may not want to as she is placed in the middle of the screen as also is the main point of focus so the audience do have to constantly look at her for the entire scene. 

Not Alone 

Camera Angle

• The camera is set up on a tri pod again however there are slight movements which could indicate the camera was moved slightly whilst the pictures where being taken. 
• The camera is zoomed in to start with and then zoomed out in order to indicate to the viewer that something was being written.
• On a wide angle and this shows that it has been written on her desk which is a place of personal privacy and also somewhere that she will use everyday. 
• At a slight low angle in order to give the words more power and emphasis on what is happening within the room.

Sound

• Again the non diegetic sound of their piece of music playing over the top with again the child like singing involved which is quite trance like. 

Editing

• This has been done through taking pictures and then putting them together and therefore it is stop motion which is also used in the Weeping Angels. This can be used in order show writing increasing or to make inanimate object move forward each shot at a time.
• Continuity editing shown through the writing being added to each shot.

Mise En Scene

• This is being written on a white surface with a black pen and therefore indicates back towards the running theme of black and white throughout the video. By having black on top of white it means that the threat is starting spread into the innocence that lives within the house. Also it shows that they might not be safe anymore. 
• By not having anyone in the scene writing the words it connotes to the supernatural idea that this person is a ghost and that they have been made visible for the audience in order to show their actions. 
• The words NOT ALONE are quite scary on their own as the idea of being not alone within a house where you may live alone plays on your mind and therefore this short trailer fits in with the psychological genre as well as the supernatural.
• The bottles of products in the shot indicate this as it being set in the protagonists bedroom and has been written somewhere that she will use everyday and therefore cannot be missed.
• The composition is vertical which suggests strength and therefore this shows that the antagonist has a lot of power over the protagonist and therefore she is even more of a threat.
• High contrasting lighting which is shown through the writing being quite lit up but one of the shelves being quite swamped in darkness as though to conceal or hide something. 
• The blue surrounding the writing indicates that this place may be a place of calm perhaps a bedroom or a sitting room. 

 Hello?

Camera Angle

• This time it is a point of view shot as the protagonist is holding the camera and taking us on her journey as she tries to escape this demon/monster.
• The camera is quite jolty in order to show that she is scared and therefore adds a good effect in order to show horror.
• The camera has many different angles but when the girl appears she is shot at a low angle and therefore this shows her with more authority and power of the girl with the camera. Therefore when it goes dark at the end you immediately think that she has been killed.

Sound 

• There is non diegetic sound to start with of a piano fading out and I have found that pianos are quite common within horror music.
• There is the first use of diegetic sound as the protagonist keeps saying 'HELLO' over and over which builds up the tension as nobody is answering before the other girl appears in the scene.
• There is again the diegetic sound of the scream at the end which indicates that she has either been captured or killed.

Editing

• Continuity editing is only used during this shot in order to show time moving forwards.

Mise En Scene

• Low Key lighting is definitely used during this scene as there is only one source of light which is lamp and everything else around it is in complete darkness which has been done in order to create fear and tension within the viewer. 
• The antagonist has red eyes which connotes the idea that she is danger towards the other girl.
• The lamp is white which connotes the idea that the person holding it is innocent and the victim of whatever is about to happen.
• There is no explanation at the end of the scene it just cuts to the scream which makes it a good trailer as it doesn't give too much away and also keeps the viewer thinking what happened and also what is happening. 
• When the girl is revealed she is in a inmate distance with the camera and directly staring at us which will make the audience feel uncomfortable and also make them jump as they will not expect something coming up that quickly and that close to the camera.

Source of Inspiration - Diegetic Sounds.

Source of Inspiration - Diegetic Sound. 

I have chosen to look at diegetic sound due to the vast range of sound that we want to include in our opening scene. I want to look at diegetic sound that is exaggerated, and stands out compared to the action, alienating and drawing attention to the action and making the audience think about what is happening. Due to their being so much sound in the surroundings of scenes, the sound is made to be hyper-realistic, which is a element which I would like to include in the film opening, to detach the audience from the opening, and make them question what it is they are watching, also creating tension and anticipation.

Starwars Lightsaber Ignition & Retraction

In this clip from all of the Star Wars films, the sound of a lightsaber is exaggerated greatly, to create and draw attention to it, and make it stand out against the background noise. To noise alienates the audience from the scene, and defines the genre as being a Sci-Fi film. The humming noise in the background creates almost a ongoing theme, showing that this is going to be prominent throughout.

 The humming noise that is shown is a sound that the audience can relate to, and is usually heard by a washing machine, which is closely linked to the machine that the sound designer chose to use, by using a sound that the audience can relate to and have heard before, it draws attention to the action. By using a hyper realistic sound it makes the action more powerful and dominant within the scene, and shows just how much power the lightsabers have within them. 

I like the exaggeration of the sound, in which shows the power of the sound, and the action. I could use this within the film opening, for example if something moves, in real life there may be a slight sound, but if i use this to exaggerate the sound by using hyper realism, then it will enable the sound to scare the audience, questioning what they are watching, and building up tension, as to why this particular action has been made to stand out against the rest of the actions, which are all at the usual sound they should be. 

Joker's Laugh. 

The jokers laugh is a piece of iconic sound effects, that has been used in many Batman films, and I have chosen it, as it is merely a hyper realistic sound that has been exageratted for horror purposes. The use of this iconic laugh has been added to create tension and anticipation from the audience, but also to scare them due to the overexagerattion. 

The use of making this laugh out of the ordinary shows a sinister approach to this laughter, and shows there is a large difference between The Joker and the audience, and that he is not a 'normal' character or person in which we as an audience can relate to. 

By the use of hyper realism, it scares the audience, as we know that this character has a ulterior motive and is not exactly as he seems, also in a horror films, this would be considered incredibly scary, in which could be incorporated into our film opening. 

I like the fact that something as simple as a laugh can be changed into something sinister, and can be incorporated into a scene, to give a darker effect, which i feel could be used within our opening scene, it could be used to scare the audience at a first glance, as they can only hear that something is there, not see it at all, which would give the more supernatural genre a scarier approach, with a added element of something sinister. 

American Physco -Buisness Card Scene

Making something ordinary sound unrealistic completely changes its purpose, and makes it stand out to the audience.  Within this clip, there is emphasis made on the business cards, as each person wants to stand out and impress the others with the business cards. By making the sound of the business cards stand out it alienates the action, by doing this we are drawn to the business cards and are giving it the attention in which the director has wanted us to give to the business card. By using a strange sound, which is created by drawing out a sword, it makes the audience wonder why this sound is being created. I think that by using this within our clip, by using the sound of something else other than what is being used, then it could draw attention to this action, without having to do so in such a complex manor. I feel that this could be a good idea to use, which could be key in creating tension and anticipation from the audience as we are going to be creating a horror film opening. This could be used as a kind of physiological influence to the audience, to confuse them, which would set the tone of the film in a good way. 

Sources of inspiration - Gore

Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)

• The gore in this scene comes quite late but when it does come in, it gives us a shock.
• The first thing we see is the metal hand of the killer go straight through the body of the victim. Not only does this make us jump, due to the surprise element, it also makes us curl up slightly.
• One noticeable thing about the gore in this scene is probably the amount of blood. There is certainly a lot more than we were probably expecting at first.
• Also, the blood is quite dark, making the gore seem more realistic as it actually looks like blood. However, even though the blood is dark, it is still recognizably red and this is very important.
• I think that the gore in this particular shot would be incredibly hard to recreate because, as the hand goes through the body, blood is squirted outwards. This would be difficult to do ourselves with the equipment that we will have.

• This shot, however, would be much easier to do ourselves and still leaves an impact on the audience. 
• The fact that the man is wearing clothes would help a lot to hide the actual injury. So the film makers would not have to worry about making it look like there was a hole in the middle of the man's chest. All that would be needed is fake blood.
• Here, there is not a lot of blood that we can see. This is another reason why it would be a good shot to take inspiration from. Although we cannot see how much the man is hurt, we can see from his positioning that he is in a lot of pain.
• I think that the blood coming from the man's mouth is very effective because it makes the injury seem incredibly serious as we recognize that bleeding from the mouth is quite dangerous.

• Again, here there is little effort needed to create a huge impact with gore.
• The only thing that we would need to be careful with is what the blood looked like, the amount would not be too difficult to control.
• With concerns to how gory this shot is, it does not seem to be at first as there aren't pieces of the man spread all over the room. However, I think that the way the blood has been smeared across the floor and even how it is over the metal sink, really helps to scare us a little bit more.
• The way that the blood is in a pool near the man's head also is effective because it shows how serious the situation is.
• Making the pool of blood a lot darker than the red smears just next to it would be hard to get right because the colours would have to be exactly right to make it look real.
• A close up of the man with blood on the floor and on his face, seen below, really makes the scene because it shows us just how much blood the man has lost.

Although I think that this is a very good scene for gore, I don't think that it would be too good to use an inspiration as the effects are quite complex and would be incredibly difficult to recreate.

However, I think that we could take some ideas from it, for example; mixing gore with a surprise element really makes the gore seem a lot more intense.

Dead Silence Deconstruction

Camera:

• Leading up to the first time you hear the doll speak, the camera zooms in, causing the framing to become tighter as Jamie becomes less safe, also enabling the camera to receive a reaction shot from the character.

• The camera pans around the room, acting as a point of view shot to enable the audience to experience the scene as Jamie would, intending them to feel the same fear.

Lighting:

• Bright red flashes of light co-incide with transitions between shots, with the doll to move forward using stop motion creating the illusion that as each time the light flickers, it moves closer to the victim, allowing the audience to view it as he does, increasing fear. (A similar technique would be useful to use in our coursework as it can easily be achieved using basic editing software)
• The lighting used within the motel room is dark and causes the room to fade into darkness around the protagonist, not only symbolising no escape from the evil around him but also to increase his visible, re-enforcing that him and his reactions are the focus of the plot.

Sound:

• The diegetic silence used to begin contrasts with the loud high pitch crescendo, creating the separation between reality and the supernatural.
• As the crescendo fades it represents the inability for normality and the realisation that evil has crossed over into 'real life'. 

 

Mise en Scene:

• The use of red lighting refers to the shady motel location to remind the audience of the isolated, unusual surroundings that the victim is accustomed to at the time the scene takes place.

• The choice of red for the flashing light also acts as a foreshadowing device as the red connotes blood and danger and is used to cause the audience to consider what the consequences of the evil may be.
• Although the room is dark and low lit, the protagonist is clearly in a blue shirt. Due to being pale blue, it depicts his understated masculinity, representing to the audience the own personal struggles the character will overcome and also refers to his calm nature revealing a lot about the victim causing the audience to form a fondness for him.
• Mary Shaw's eyes are shown to be an unnatural lime green colour due to highlight her evil and to show the audience that she is not human and not to be empathised with despite being a lonely character, due to the evil within her.

Editing:

• The cut aways between shots are used to represent Jamie's frantic thoughts and his reaction towards what is happening, it highlights the unnaturality of the situation. The intended effect is to cause the audience the same disorientation and confusion that the victim onscreen feels. 
• Switching between three shots (using the flashes of light to transition) of Mary Shaw as Jamie realises she is in the room from a public distance middle shot to a close up of her face followed by an extreme close up of her eyes acts as stop motion, creating fear as both the audience and the victim have no certainty of how close to the evil they will come.