GM - My coursework pitch

For my two minute opening coursework task I have chosen the slasher genre. The inspiration for my idea was the film Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1960.

There has also been a remake which was release more recently in 1998.

The shower scene is very common with the slasher genre and have been adapted in other movies. A more low budget approach to this scene is Succubus by some pupils at Hurtwood House.



Here is me pitching my ideas to the class. Everything I mention is below with a few extra details.

• The establishing shot is of the outside of a big, white house where we can see the bedroom light on. This shot will use a blue tint, a convention used in movies such as Halloween. This first shot will be taken with some branches obstructing the lense to connote that the girl is being watched. Some dutch angles may also be included.
• The camera zooms in on the bedroom and we can see a stereotypically blond, skinny, pretty girl in her room, getting ready for a bath, taking her earrings out, brushing her hair.
• We watch her walk out of the room whilst putting her dressing gown on and once again observe the outside of the house as the bedroom light goes out and the bathroom (next door to the bedroom) is switched on. This will be hand held filming.
• In the bathroom we see her running the bath, with close ups of her hands on the taps and the water filling the bath.
• The mirror begins to steam up and she draws a heart in the bottom right hand corner. She then pouts/smiles at her reflection.
• There is then a medium close up of her legs walking over to the bubble bath and she hangs her gown up on the radiator before stepping in.
• Using a high angle we see her shutting her eyes and plugging her music in.
• Extreme close up of the murderers hand on the door handle turning it.
• The murderer is never revealed we only ever see his hands as he pulls out the cord from the dressing gown.
• The lights go out and we can hear the girls scream fade as she is strangled.
• The lights are then turned on.
• We can just see her body floating in the water with hair over her face and the cord draping over the side of the bath, whilst still wrapped around her neck.
• It will be edited quite slowly at first, but the pace increases as it gets more tense.
• There will be no dialogue but we will be able to hear the music playing though her headphones.
• On top of this there will be one long drawn out note with the pitch and tempo varying throughout.

All - The Prelim Task

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

match on action - A match on action, a technique used in film editing, is a cut that connects two different views of the same action at the same moment in the movement. By carefully matching the movement across the two shots, filmmakers make it seem that the motion continues uninterrupted.

shot/reverse shot - Shot reverse shot is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

180-degree rule - The 180° rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line

What problems occured and how we solved this problem

• The camera we got jumped as we loaded it into imovie, so some of our clips eg, Jem coming through the door, jumped. To solve this problem we had to refilm it and upload onto a different computer

What we would alter/do differently

• We would spend more time on costume ie, get less noisier shoes (flipflops)
• Better location because it was set in a corridor with steps going down towards the door, so the run would be a lot smoother if there wasn't any steps there

What we learnt from constructing this

• We learnt that you have to get the 180 degrees shot perfect otherwise it wouldn't look right
• Also Jem coming through the door was hard to show because of our camera

What inspired us

• What inspired us was the T.V program, Baywatch, so we decided to do the very famous "Run down the beach, swishing the hair" and put the theme tune on to give it the overall Baywatch effect. 

GM - Deconstruction of 'The Shortcut'

This task was to try to convey the genre of horror mainly through mise-en-scene which meant that we had a limitation of only being able to use 17 words of dialogue throughout the opening to the film. I won my pitch for this task so I was directing. I drew up these storyboards before filming to try and save us some time and also planned out the dialogue that would be included.

The Shortcut Storyboard Page 1

The Shortcut Storyboard Page 2

Mise-en-scene

• It is set in the dark
• There are shadows everywhere from the tree branches which start to scare the girl
• The girls are dressed in revealing clothes; short skirts, tight low cut tops, and high heels showing their more sexual side, signifying that they have just come back after a night out partying and we can see that alcohol has been involved from the bottle that the girls are swigging from
• One of the girls is blond which fits in with the conventions of slasher as it is generally the blond, pretty, popular girl that gets killed
• The blond girl leaves the others to go on the 'shortcut' home which happens to be through the dark wood late at night. The others leave her on her own (another convention of slasher) and by doing this the audience can tell that something bad is going to happen to her
• It gets darker the further into the woods she goes but some shots of her phone and the moon illuminate the path and her face
• We used a range of angles some to she she is being watched, others to reiterate that fact that she is in a very vulnerable position
• POV shots were used to again connote that the girl is being followed or watched
• Close ups of the girls face show us really how scared she is and we can see the emotion she is feeling
• When the phone rings the screen of the phone lists 'unknown caller' which further anchors that fact that the girl is being followed and that something is going to happen

Sound

• Diagetic sound throughout - the main sound is the dialogue, along with the scream at the end and the sound of footsteps in certain places of the film. There was also some laughter at the beginning.
• We were only allowed to use 17 words so there is very little dialogue. My group used less then 17 words but the ones that we included assisted the audience to understand and engage with what was going on
• The footsteps crunching on the leaves adds to the mise-en-scene and helped to create the idea that the girl is being followed as these footsteps were heavier than her own would be in her high heeled shoes

Opening Credits

• Has the characters names and the director's name appear on the screen
• They fade in and out on a black screen which adds to the mystery of the plot
• They are written in a sans-serif red font (another aspect that is frequently used in the slasher genre)
• The film name then follows in bold, sans-serif red font again for continuity

What we have learnt

• To complete the overall planning stages to a higher level before going out to film as a lot of time can be wasted on set trying to sort this out
• Use a call sheet in addition to the storyboards so that we know which shots are in the same place
• When shooting a scene set at night or in the dark start filming at dusk rather than when it is pitch black
• Between shots make sure that the actors/esses stay warm if the weather is cold

Challenges we faced

• We slightly misjudged the timings as getting ready and set up took longer than anticipated so it had gotten very dark by the time we started filming. This meant that we had to use alternative lighting like torches and phone lights.
• It was underestimated how much planning needed to be done to try and be more organised on set
• It was quite muddy so the shoes of the girls were hard to walk around in rather than sinking into the ground

All - Deconstructing film openings

(The observations highlighted in red are indicating the parts of the openings we have watched that influenced our opening.)

Friday the 13th

(Marcus Nispel, 2009)

Budget: $19,000,000

USA Box Office: $64,997,188

UK Box Office: £1,955,271

Camera Shots

• Handheld
• Point of view
• Over the shoulder
• Shot reaction shot
• High and low angles
• Extreme close up
• Close up 
• Long shots
• Panning
• Establishing shot

Mise-en-scene

• Dark 
• Rainy
• Shadows from over hanging trees
• Lightening flashes
• Windy
• Blonde girl is wearing revealing clothes - short shorts/skirt, white top which goes see-through from the rain
• This contrasts with Jason's mother who is wearing loose, long black clothing which is quite stereotypically. By wearing all black, most of the time she is an outline and blends into the background. This makes her face stand out and also focuses the audience on her silver necklace which we assume is a key part of the film because after she dies someone comes to collect it.
• In some of the shots the trees and branches obstruct some of the shot 
• Both of the characters have a weapon which signifies that one of them will die
• When the head drops to the floor is splashes in a puddle which is quite dramatic
• Lightening bolt flashes illuminate the scene in short sections

Sound

• Starts eerily throughout the opening titles and credits
• We can hear the lightening and thunder along with the rain and the wind
• There is a bang when the second character jumps out
• The beat of the drum in the background music is in time with the claps of thunder making it louder and more dramatic
• Very little dialogue but when words are spoken it is from the older woman, the blonde girl just screams and mutters
• To heighten the tension of the scene is certain places, one long note is played getting louder as the action intensifies
• Non-diegetic is used throughout with diegetic on top
• The music that has been added in editing messes with your heartbeat making it more tense

Editing

• A red tinted has been added to the first credits which list the companies that were involved with the production of the film. This colour represents blood which instantly tells the audience the genre of the movie
• Serif fonts have been used for the names and titles
• Cross and jump cuts have been used between the action and the credits
• The credits are presented in a white font against a black background which is binary opposition of good and evil
• The first shot anchors the date: Friday the 13th
• The second shot anchors the location: Camp Crystal Lake
• By having small sections of action between the credits it builds suspense and makes the audience not fully understand what is happening which makes them want to carry on watching the film. Also the fast pace of the editing and the reluctancy to show everything makes it more tense and in the fight and death part it makes it more real
• It pauses the girl for a few seconds when she has killed Jason's mum making it more dramatic
• Lighting flashes every time the action cuts to the credits

Bride of Chuckie (viewed with no sound)

(Ronny Yu, 1998)

Budget: 25,000,000

USA Box Office: $32,368,960

UK Box Office: £526,510

• Titles written in a serif font
• blue tint
• flashing
• wind moving the curtains
• lightening
• rain
• fire
• blood
• shadows
• blonde, busty woman with long nails who sucks blood
• light coming through the windowns, raindrop on windscreen in just one line showing it is derelict, isolated, rarely visited
• shes wearing a tight PVC dress which is revealing and cheap signifying slut
• the police officer is breaking the law, talking on the phone, it is unsolved so he shouldnt be taking it
• close ups
• long shots
• establishing shot of police department
• ecu of the eye shows must be tense
• tapping the lighter- impatient, waiting for someone
• follows high heels around the car - mysterious
• femme fatale - evil
• phone is a life line - safety
• face in the rearr view mirror

All the boys love Mandy Lane 

(Jonathan Levine, 2006) (8mins 25secs)

Budget: $750,000

USA Box Office: $41,000

• everyones looking at a girl - could signify shes new or an outsider. The girl is sexually attractive which we can determine from the looks she recieves (admiration)
• pool party signifies the american setting
• they are all wearing limited clothing (bikinis etc) which hints the sexual nature of the teens
• they are all partying and drinking - rebelious, and kissing - something will happen between the teenagers
• Girls in the film opening are pretty, slim and the males are very muscular (REPRESENTATION)
• fight scene - tension between Mandy Lane's best friend and the person who wants to have sex with her.
• it is set at night indicating that the party has been going on for some time and the teens are now drunk
• he shoots the guy with a waterpistol which foreshadows what might happen later on in the film
• titles are in a serif font - blood splatterd - screaming, blood drips, non- diagetic sound

• pan down - happy music,. schools out after last bell has rung for the end of school
• close up of large boobs framed by her long blonde hair - secual element of the character/film
• close up of boys and girls looks that they give her
• binary opposition - geeks/pretty - cheerleader
• Mandy Lane flicking hair - emphysising binary opposition
• close up of bum - framed
• quick cut to white screen - ellipsis signifies time has passed
• quick shots of the alcohol, smoking, drugs, kissing, boobs/bum/blondes - typical teens are misbehaving 

• Mandy Lane and binary opposition, he is lonely, nerdy and not stereotypically muscular or 'fit'
• blonde, busty, skinny - but not a scream queen as expected. she is still hints at being sexually available for is a FINAL GIRL instead.
• girls have been included in this horror movie as 'eyecandy' for the guys but it is also the same for the female viewers and the male characters
• this film is playing against the conventions of horror - final girl rather than scream queen, usually it is the death of a blonde girl in the beginning but in this case it is death of a male

Babysitter Wanted 
(Jonas Barnes, 2008)

Budget: N/A
USA Box Office: N/A
UK Box Office: N/A

• Blood stained weapons suggest that they have already been used on someone else
• the lines on her body have been drawn out like they would be put on a pig by a butcher
• no death is seen on screen as the imagination can be more scary than the real thing
• it is one long drawn out note which adds tension to the scene and the volume and pitch increases as the seen goes on, intensifying it
• the butchers hook signifies that the babysitter is being treated like a piece of meat
• hand held camera makes it more realistic like you are seeing something you shouldnt be
• sadistic
• girl is only in her underwear which could be how she was found (hinting a sexual act had taken place previously)

Sorority House Massacre 

(Carol Frank, 1986)

Low budget and wasnt very successful

Long opening credits with tense music building up - 1.17 minutes long

• Picturesque house
• Extremely slow zoom in as credits play
• Credits are sans-serif font
• Creepy, eerie and suspenceful music
• Wind blowing un the trees signifies presence
• White house with all the lights on

When the title of the film appears

• Traditional greek lettering for a sorority
• Then "massacre" is shown with blood-red colour, serif font, blood splatter - Sets the theme of the film
• Futuristic sound effect when "massacre" is revealed, building up tension

Shots/Plot

• Cuts to medium close up of main character in hospital, in the bright daylight
• Shot changes to midshot/2 shot of main character and the new entered character
• Flashback cue
• Creepy, scene setting music begins to play again
• Camera tracks footsteps- Low angle shot
• Door of the big white house is ominous and forboding
• Zooms in on another character sleeping- this hightens tension as footsteps are also heard
• There is a shadow next to the bed; someone is leaning of the character
• Scene cuts to a tracking shot of the empty sorority house - signifies lonliness
• Zooms in on character again; death is imminent
• Camera tracks through dark, creepy hallways
• Cut back to main character, close up to show fear
• Figure in bed
• Scene cuts to main character and new one- mood is lightened temporarily
• Camera looks downstairs, long shot of a girl in the doorway
• Music/atmosphere rises
• Man in the bed wakes up- Extreme close up of his face
• Blood- curdling scream from room- camera zooms out quickly
• Cut to 2 characters in daylight - midshot
• Final shot of little girl again

Effects

• A blue tint may have been used to create a dark effect

Sound

• Tense music throughout to create the illusion that something bad is going to happen
• it becomes fast and upbeat during parts to get the audiences hearts racing

Texas Chainsaw Massacre
(Tobe Hooper, 1974)

(3mins 21secs)
Budget: £83,000
BO: $31mil

• scrolling and voiceover gives the idea of a documentary - verisimilitude - based on a true story
• the date 'August 18, 1973' provides anchorage
• blank screen, still sound - audio bridge linking the opening shots to first look at the screen
• sounds of digging - diagetic but unanchored
• freaky music - not overpowering but non diagetic
• (1m 22s) to going into the first part of the movie until now it has been a blank screen - off screen violence - your own imagination can be more frighting
• flash photography denotes a police investigation - sense of mystery narritive enigma
• polysemic
• radio playing over the top provides exposistion of where it is set
• no main characters (not standard convention of an opening)
• only really one shot being used which mmakes the audience provide the horror for themselves
• equilibrium is introduced

The Ring 2

(Hideo Nakata, 2005)
Opening- 6.30 minutes (including production titles etc 6.50 minutes)
Budget: N/A
USA Box Office: $75,888,270
UK Box Office: £5,168,265

• Establishing shot - shows a dark picture of a rough sea against rocks, its from a birds eye view of the sea, zooms into water, this is in daylight
• Has Dramatic music playing
• Shows a close up of dirty water, still in daylight
• Then pans back out to show a much calmer sea, the camera is following the swaying of the seas movement, this is now sunset
• Shows a close up of darkness and dark water, sea is glistening from the moon and fades into a aqua colour of sea and fades out to blackness, this is night time
• Zooms out from a town surrounded by sea, there are many buildings as the camera pans out to show a high angle of the town
• Fades into a street showing a particular house, camera has trees infront of it
• Each different shot when black then faded into the next shot
• Fades into a living room, with a teenage blonde girl sat on a sofa
• Over the shoulder shot of the girl
• Looks like someone is behind her as the camera zooms in on the girl
• Music gets more tense, faster beat
• Close up of the side of the girls face then zooms into her ear
• A teenage boy whispers in her ear "hey" and she jumps, still close up
• The two teenagers start having a conversation, 2 shot
• Dutch angle on the two teenagers talking, both sat next to each other touching
• Zooms out to a tape nearby
• Two shot again-Mid shots
• The guy is trying to make the girl watch a scary tape
• They kiss, the boy seems nervous and tense (suggesting it could be his last kiss)
• Music becomes high pitched as the boy leaves the room
• Shows him coming through a door, mid-shot, a loud bang as the door opens
• Pans to the microwave, focusing on the time, 8:58
• Shows the boy stood anxious, saying "play it", mid-shot
• Music is tense and faster beat
• The goes to a close up of his worried face
• Goes back to the girl, shows her reflection in the t.v walking towards it to play the tape
• Close up of her putting the tape in
• Zooms in for an extreme close up of tape
• Close up shot showing her reflection in the t.v, she looks worried
• The music has faded out
• A fuzzy screen then comes on the telly (black and white)
• Shows the boy from a low angle in the kitchen, zooming from his face down his body
• Music starts again, its tense and upbeat to show urgency
• Pans down to his arm, as he rolls his sleeve up, it shows a red burnt hand print on his arm
• Goes back to the living room where the girl is looking worried, its a mid-shot
• Sound-fuzzing of the t.v and music becoming faster
• Close up of the girl picking the remote up
• Close up of the boys face
• She presses play on the remote
• Screen comes up with a close up of the t.v showing a cold woods
• Tense music
• The guy is now in the room (girl in the background in a curled up postition, shes scared), midshot
• This is all in face movement
• Background behind the guy is blurry then fades into the guy being in the woods which was previously shown on the telly
• Zooms to a well but the guys reflection is still in view, grey and old hands appear and start climbing up the wall of the well
• Music picks up pace
• A wet girl climbs out of well, as if she is chasing the boy
• Shows the boys scared face
• Shows a black/red fuzzy screen
• The shows an extreme close up of an eye
• Shows an extreme close up of the girl crying and screaming
• Zooms in on a terrified boys face
• Back to black and white fuzzy screen, still here scream
• Shows a black background with a white ring on it

Hostel
(Eli Roth, 2005)

Budget -$4,500,000 (estimated)
USA Box Office: $47,277,326
UK Box Office: £4,216,561
Opening- 1.73 minutes (including production titles etc 2.08 minutes)

• Starts off in blackness
• The sound is whistling and in the background water dripping this sound is through out the whole opening
• Titles appear in white, with pipes and dark room in the background
• Shows some tiles with dirty foam running down them. This gives the audience an impression that something bad is being washed away
• Shows a close up of a rusty pipe and water dripping onto a dark black floor
• All the setting is dark and mucky
• Close up shot of a pair of blood red scissors going into a glass of liquid (could be cleaning acid - Sterelizer) on top of the whistling they clatter into the glass
• Close up of blood being washed away
• Pans out to a dark room, small, dirty
• The the door of the room closes, blocking the light out gradually, makes a loud squeeking noise, then they screen goes to blackness, the titles carrying on appearing in white.

Granny 

(Luca Bercovici, 1995)

Budget: $1,000,000

Opening-7.22 minutes long

• Teenagers are telling stories of the boys granny, haunted stories and then touching her dead hands and insides, fake scare
• All realise it was a joke and go and wash there hands in the kitchen
• Girls are in the bathroom talking, audience thinks its POV shot of the killer going down the corridors, tense music
• Music stops, but girls are still talking
• POV from the mirror, girls fixing themselves, false scare
  Then outside at night, watching of the house

Halloween

(John Carpenter, 1978)

Budget: $320,000

USA Box Office: N/A

UK Box Office: N/A
Low budget, indie film
1min 58s

• pumkin - lit up, flickering flame - zooms in
• colours of text (yellow and red) signifies hell, fire, horror
• music gets louder, fast pace making it eery, builds suspense and changes the audience's heart rate making them more tense.
• title cards signify and anchors the location (country) which provides exposition, dennoting
• black screen - plain white lettering - connotes binary opposites good and evil - representing aspects of the film
• is set in Illinois - not New York, smaller and more sucluded
• POV shot - handheld - shaky camera shot
• blue filtered lighting for the house signifies the supernatural, cold (metaphorical - cold atmosphere/heart)
• trees are overhanging creating creepy shadows
• the use of a detatched house for the location represents isolation and vulnerability
• couple can be seen throught the net curtain kissing etc - quiet volume adds suspense and the camara shot is as if someone is looking in
• long drawn out notes adds tension

The last house on the left

(Wes Craven, 1972)

Budget: N/A

USA Box Office: $$32, 721, 635

UK Box Office: £880,716

• Titles provide anchorage for where it is set, America
• Woods, daylight, deserted road
• Old car indicates the time period of the film
• Name on the mail box shows who the main character of the film is, the heart signifying that she is a girly girl and likes love, sex etc
• Bathroom/shower scene - frosted glass screen covers up exposure but we can still see she is naked
• Zoom in through the bushes on the house
• Titles in a bold red font
• Final girl, challenging the conventions of the genre, she is brunette, pretty and skinny

Cherry Falls

(Geoffrey Wright, 2000)
Budget: $14,000,000

USA Box Office: N/A

UK Box Office: £818, 465

4mins 24s

• Titles: Red on black signifies blood and evil
• Anchorage of location- Virginia
• Long shot through the bushes, bushes are in the camera shot which creates a POV
• Close up shot of the moon alone in the sky
• A car is present, the car dates the time period
• Good looking teenage boy and girl canoodling, whispering
• Leg shot (close up) of the girl
• The girl refuses sex with the boy
• Deserting car behind them
• Car headlight beams into the teenagers car, cannot not see who is behind the steering wheel, mystery
• The boy checks out who it is, then has a fight and gets killed by a mad man
• Cant see the kill, leaves it open for audiences imagination
• Music builds up tension, girl is crying, she is left with the killer
• You see the weapon pressed up against her face
• The killer then puts blood on her lips like lipstick

Urban Legend

(Jamie Blanks, 1998)

Budget: $14,000,000

USA Box Office: $38,048,637

UK Box Office: £1,146,110
7mins 57s

• Titles: a thunderstorm with white titles flashing up, lightning
• See long shots of a car going round a bendy deserted road
• Pans into the car with the brunette girl, radio is on, radio is talking about sex
• Nearly crashes her car into an oncoming car because she is trying to reach for CDs, put on total eclipse of the heart song
• There is a storm
• Close up shot of a low petrol signal
• Girl starts to swear/sin
• Pulls into a deserted gas station, old and battered
• POV in car looking around the station
• False scare, guy bangs on the window and helps her fill up the gas
• He looks into the back of the car suspiscially
• Then goes inside with her credit card
• Music is creating tension as it builds up
• The guy comes back and says the bank is on the phone, he tries to get her out of the car
• The girl puts on her coat and puts a spray (self defense) in her pocket
• Follows the man inside
• Man locks the door, blocking her escape exit
• The girls realises no-one is on the phone
• The guy attacks her, starts grabbing her, she sprays in his eyes and she smashes the window in, all fast pace and climbs out the window and runs to her car
• Guy follows her, she starts the engine and hits the man and drives off
• The man shouts 'there is someone in the back seat'
• Tense panick
• Song is now back on, the girl is singing along nervously
• rain blurs the windscreen, unsure of the events
• See a black figure creeping up on the back seat
• Shows blackness behind the girl
• Flash of lightening (alternate lightening) showing a axe shape
• ECU of girls eyes looking through the mirror to the back, scared and realising someones there
• Fast motion. see windows smashing and blood

American Psycho
(Marry Harron, 2000)

Budget: $8,000,000

USA Box Office: $15,070,285
UK Box Office: £3,563,472

• Titles – White and black with blood dripping down, binary opposites
• Tense music
• Red (blood) being pooled onto white background
• Cutting of bread viciously
• Strawberries / raspberries falling
• Shows pork surrounded by blood
• Close up of plate being moved
• Showing table decorations
• Posh people sat around a table
• ‘Blood’ raspberry sauce
• Voice over explaining menu – waiter
• Shows 3 men talking at a table, two shots – going into a club – music playing
• Girls using fingers as guns
• People dancing – having fun
• Dark room, loud music
• Men ordering drinks
• Man starts having a go at the bar staff – indication of him being the psycho, talks about playing with her blood

 
 
 
Ginger Snaps Unleashed
(Brett Sullivan, 2004)
Budget: $CAD3,500,000

USA Box Office: N/A
UK Box Office: N/A

• White font on black background – whispering
• Close up of a girl grabbing her razor – potential weapon
• Close up of pale skin
• Girl shaves her back
• Washes razor – washing away mystery?
• Close up of shaving her leg
• Shaving back
• Blood hitting the floor
• Shaves whole body
• Close up of bruises on her arm
• Sound – screaming and sharp noises all the way through
• Close up of putting razor down and picking up scalpel
• Close up of scars on her arms
• Cutting arm with scalpel
• ECU of scalpel cutting arm, blood dripping down
• Blood dripping in water
• Hand covered in blood, blood everywhere
• Bandaged arm and hand
• Titles floating across the screen
• Needle in a pot
• Tapping needle to get air out – red coloured
• ECU of injecting the substance
• Long shot of her injecting, on her own, bathroom with blood everywhere
• Bits of sharp objects and pans down to a picture of two girls
• Sea of blood

Nightmare on Elm Street

(Wes Craven, 1984)
Budget: $1,800,00
USA Box Office: $10,777,659
UK Box Office: N/A

• Close up of bottom half of legs, only in the middle of screen surrounded in blackness
• Close up of hand, knives as fingers, on the table – weapon
• Screeching background noise plays throughout opening
• White writing credits, sans serif font
• Still small screen, hands put on a glove with knives
• Big title appears in bright red lettering signifying blood
• Hand goes through cloth material, is it that easy through a body?
• CU of woman’s face white background
• Runs down a dark deserted corridor, towards the camera
• Turns back to the camera, over the shoulder shot
• False scare- sheep runs out
• Pipes dirpping, dark room, girl is on her own and vulnerable
• Music is fast pace
• Face lurking and jumping out on the terrified girl
• Audience fears for girl, she is lost
• Girl shadow creates false tension
• Steam makes surrounding unclear
• Over the shoulder shot of girl
• Freddie Kuger pulls metal nails across pipes, high pitched screech
• CU of girl jumping from the screeching
• Freddie tearing lines through the cloth near the girl
• Girls runs into a dead end, with fire behind her lightening her up
• CU of girl screaming and crying
• Shadows creeping around
• Freddie creeps up on girl, hand goes to her face
• She wakes up, startled ECU

The hills have eyes

(Wes Craven 1977)
Budget: $230,000
USA Box Office: N/A
UK Box Office: N/A

• Music/sound – crow, black crow signifies bad luck
• Animated black hills, dusk, relates to the film title
• Yellow sans serif font
• Barren area, old western barns
• Man and a woman, man questioning woman
• CU of the people
• Two shot conversation
• Strong American accents, western
• Country/Farm clothes, hillbilly look
• Dogs react strangely- addition of characters
• Middle of day to dusk- passing of time
• Warning yelled as characters drive away, signifies danger is near
• Car explodes
• Change of scene

Black Christmas
(Bob Clark, 1974)
Budget: $CAD686,000

USA Box Office: N/A
UK Box Office: N/A

• red wine, red ink - represents blood/romance
• pretty girl
• close up of everday objects (scissors, bottle opener) which could be used as a weapon
• heart on the card represents it is too her lover, signifying she is rebellious, sex etc)
• pen is missing but plastic bag gets her first, then the pen stabs her (this is unexpected)
• the music playing at the begining of the film is jolly so the audience is not expecting anything bad to happen

Dressed to kill
(Brian de Palma, 1980)

Budget: $6,500,000

USA Box Office: $31,900,000
UK Box Office: N/A
5min 10s

• 1min 36 of titles and music
• font and music lead towards a romantic drama - polysemic. This lures us into a false sense of security, narrative is about confusion of identity so the music choice represents this
• conveys a more sophisticated approach which is enticing oler females to come and watch the thriller
• dated design interior signifies the time period of the 70's
• ensuite hints towards wealth as well as the large bedroom
• soft focus - very bright light signifies a dream
• not conventional for a slasher - older married couple rather than teens
• REFLECTION

My Little Eye
(Marc Evans, 2002)

USA Box Office: N/A
UK Box Office: £2,566,742
Opening - 4mins 25s

• Universal and working titles are fuzzy
• in the background there is a phone connection dial tone followed by a hang up andd blank line tone whilst the titles are playing. This fades out into the intro
• ECU of a computer screen and an advert says 'Wanted'. The mouse arrow indicates it is a computer rather than anything else
• This advert goes full screen and subtitles on the screen explain what it is advertising - what the film is about
• title of  the film appears, fuzzy and pixelated by sharpens up
• we now meet all the characters that successfully applied for the competition with a mid shot of each contestant introducing themselves. All start pixelated but sharpen focus
• Blank wall, individual interviews signifies isolation, flickering light
• not a very pretty room - holes in the walls and cracks - abandoned
• some close ups of faces to show emotion of the characters
• blue tint used for thesse introductions
• mixture of males and females in the house, all pretty and attractive, suggests some intimacy may occur over the 6 months they are there
• girls are wearing rather tight and revealing tops
• screen divided into sections each watching a different big of the house like CCTV. Shows they are being watched.
• editing is slow to begin with when the advert is being shown allowing people to have enough time to read what is on screen. The pace quickens slightly for the interview, jump cutting between what they are saying so they finish each others conversations. Very fast changes for the CCTV effect to signify that they are all constantly being watched
• This conversation anchors the time saying 'this time next week we will have the money to buy new stuff' indicating that they have nearly finished their time in the house.
• CU and MCU of faces around the table show the characters emotions
• Girl opens the curtains to let in the light indicating that hope is outside. Camera zooms in on her face (zoom affect is heard). The last line she says 'this house is a f*cking creepy ass house' then the camera cuts to a night vision, green tinted LS. Zoom noise can be heard again
• sans serif font. typed effect.

Psycho
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
Budget: $806, 947
USA Box Office: N/A

UK Box Office: N/A
Opening - 2mins 45s

• Black and white signifies the time it was made and set
• as titles play - music that messes your heart beat up - loud
• Both names and titles need to be pieced together as they are jumbled
• black screen, white titles and grey stripes
• names change position around the screen, fits with the jumpy music
• high angle, establishing shot of buildings in a city, pan of rooftops, 'pheonix arizona' anchors the location - music more slow and sophisticated here
• anchorage of the date 'Friday, December the Eleventh'
• Anchorage of the time 'Two Forty Three p.m'
• Still pans but zooms into one building and an open window, room is dark
• man is putting shirt on, women in underwear in bed - kissing