2A

 LOCATION : Long’s Wood (Shed in the forest – not pictured) 

 

Costumes list: 

Character 1 (M)) 
Black Leather Jacket – Ominous, connotations of danger, contrast to scenery 

Red shirt – Connotations of danger + violence, complimentary colour to green so complimentary to environment 

Broken Watch – Implies that something bad happened – injured possibly 

Rings – No design, smooth all the way around 

Hair: Natural hair, un-brushed and rough 

 

Character 2 (F)) 

White outfit – Connotations of purity and innocence, playing in to the conventions of the horror trope 

Light voluminous clothes – A sense of ethereality is created through lightweight flowing clothes 

Stained by mud – Works with environment, creates sense that something is wrong and has stained the sense of purity connected to the outfit. 

Props list 

Keys – 1 house key 1 car key, no keychains 

Ripped clothing 

Plain rings 

Plastic fake plant in a vase

Plot Synopsis:

Opens on character 1s hands spinning keys in his fingers and cuts between him and character 2 sitting outside a shed reading a book. Audio is quiet and not intrusive. Shot of character 2 with the sound of keys shaking can be heard, audio becomes louder with distorted foley becoming intrusive.  Cut to shot of character 1s face shown for the first time looking very happy while beating character 2 with the keys (character 1 not shown on camera) as triumphant music plays. Cut to shot of the shed with a plant pot in it with title card appearing.

Character Profiles:

Character 1: Strange figure who takes pleasure in violence. Isolated from society and relationships for pretty obvious reasons (he kills people) - he carries a fake plant with him to have a companion that can't die or leave him.

Character 2: Typical "killed at the beginning of the horror movie" horror movie trope, innocent woman with no fleshed out character.  

HORROR FILM OPENINGS

Analysing three horror film openings

Setting:

Generally night time to build an element of suspense and the unknown as well of connotations of darkness and danger.

In all 3, the film is set in a familiar location, for example, Scream is set in her house, Get Out is set in a relatively average looking American estate, though it's unfamiliar for Lakeith Stanfields character for the audience it's not far from what's been seen in other films and media and It is set in Georgie's estate as he runs through it. This is most likely because adding a element of fear in to a more realistic, grounded and familiar environment can help the audience immerse themselves fully in to the film

Colour:

Colour is generally very washed out and grim using desaturated colours so that important features can stand out like vibrant red blood or the clothes of main characters.

Character expression and Movement:

For the most part actors start in their most natural form living their daily life and then stumble in to the danger and progressively become more paranoid to build tension. This can be seen in all 3 openings, characters will naturally move around their environmnet and slowly become more panicked and scared as the scene moves forward.

One thing all these have in common is that every person shown in the opening scenes are side characters/not the main character and are used as bait almost to die or get injured immediately to hook the readers attention. A clear trope in the horror genre is that you don't have to be strict about showing your main character straight away.

In this opening scene, the student uses a large amount of close ups on objects of interest that may not necessarily have a huge correlation to the narrative. This is questionable, but does help build tension effectively. Using a style like this in my own coursework but focusing in on more eventful objects may be an effective way to present my cinemetography. 

There is also an ambient soundtrack running through it, something I may want to incorporate, however a lack of diagetic sound design.

This opening scene also features a familiar environment (school) but adds an added hook to watch the rest of the film by introducing us to a list of targets for the killer at the end. Introudcing a narrative revealing piece of information at the end of my scene may be something to incorporate as a hook.

This opening scene features a slightly less familiar environment, but utilises colour in certain shots effectively - for example the girl holding the bright red rose in what is otherwise a desaturated colour pallete definately helps the shot come together as a whole.

Something all these openings incorporate is a use of someone innocent, young or "weak" appearing as an immediate victim to illicit a more visceral response than an average looking person.

HORROR FILM MOODBOARD

HORROR MOODBOARD

OUR SHORT FILM

Recap Task

  The Breakfast Club           

The Breakfast Club is one of the most popular and influential films of the 80’s and has created some stars that went on to do even bigger things. Most notably Molly Ringwald, who went on to star in many films from the same director. The film is famous for making a long, engaging story out of a normal boring activity, but how do the micro elements of this film allow for a creative spin on the concept of detentions? 

Starting with sound, the film is famous for its cheesy 80’s OST. But my favourite use of sound in this film is where there is none. Non-diegetic sound is completely cut out for one of the only scenes in the film when the principal brings Bender into the utility closet and threatens him. Not only is this scene powerful for showing Bender’s personality to be a façade, but also is one of the most unexpected scenes in the film. To emphasize this, all you can hear is the hum of a boiler, shuffling of clothes, dialogue, some other foley and an uncomfortable silence. This grounds it in reality and makes it hit a lot harder. 

The cinematography of this scene also makes it an iconic moment in movie history. It’s the first time you ever see Bender from a high angle shot and every time the principal is seen it’s from a low angle. This reinforces his position of power and for the first time Bender sees him as above his himself. Also, when the principal starts becoming aggressive and threatening Bender he bends down to eye level with Bender, making the shots become eye level shots, which may represent the principal “stooping down” to his level, making us wonder whether he’s really any better than Bender. 

The editing is a very slow-paced minimalist approach, with nothing but shot reverse shot being put to use. It is purely a character based seen so being super flashy with zooms and pans would distract from it. 

Another factor that runs throughout the entire film is the detail put into the mise-en-scene. In that specific scene the setting is a dirty utility closet, the transition from a very nice library to a dirty closet could represent the devolution of the Bender’s façade, especially since he was making fun of the janitor earlier in the film. The lighting is a very important choice for making this scene uncomfortable and hard-hitting, no studio lights, no big ring lights and no flattering lighting. It's purely an orange glow from an old lightbulb in the closet and helps make a more intimate uncomfortable scene. The character’s costumes are very representative of their character, much like everyone in the film. His rugged ripped clothes represent his edgy personality and how he’s a broken person, whereas the smart suit the principal wears represents the front he puts up, before it’s taken off in the closet scene to reveal a pure black shirt, which enforces the switch up in revealing his true colours. Bender’s expression throughout this whole scene is a look of confusion and terror, because he knows nobody will believe him, whereas the principal’s face feels like built up anger being released. 

That pretty much covers the specific scene, but there are themes running throughout the entire film – take for example the idea of the Male Gaze, a theory thought up by Laura Mulvey suggesting that most women in films are there for men to gawk at. This theory has faced a lot of criticism as some argue that it could be applied right back on to men. An example of this is prevalent in The Breakfast Club with the two lead actresses Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy, however you could argue the same thing goes for Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall. In my opinion, that was the intention of John Hughes. The whole film is about digging underneath the “pretty girl” or the “jock” trope you may see on first look. 

This concept can be backed up by Henry Jenkin’s theory on genre. This film misleads you in to thinking it’s a cheesy 80’s comedy with its upbeat synth-filled soundtrack but ends up becoming a character-based drama with rich social commentary. 

Representation of disabilities in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (MAJOR SPOILERS)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OReFR-2rmQc

(major spoilers)
(if you're reading this without watching the film watch it first it's worth it)

James, played by Peter Dinklage, is looked down upon in the small suburban discrimination filled town throughout the entirety of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. After Frances Mcdormand, a single mother estranged from her only child after her second kid was murdered, sets fire to a police station for their lack of answers on the who the murderer is, she discovers one policeman is still inside of the station, she had assumed it was empty due to it being late. The officer comes screaming out of the station while on fire and Peter Dinklage comes to his heroic rescue putting out the fire and contributing more so than Frances Mcdormand who has gone in to a state of shock. This subversion of stereotypes of what the discriminatory idea of what dwarfism is to a lot of people could be perceived as discriminatory due to its entire leverage being based on the perpetuation of that original stereotype. In other words, subversion of a discriminatory expectation is still grounded in a discriminatory expectation. However, I would argue that Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri handles this far better than a lot of other films. There's no dramatic music, no low angle shots of Dinklage and definitely no triumphant moments for the character. The emotional weight of the scene is not based on Dinklage's rescue, but about the officer and Frances Mcdormand and the relationship between them, if you were to notice Dinklage saving him and be surprised the film prompts more ideas of how you should maybe introspect on your own deep-rooted discriminatory views as supposed to shoving a message down your throat while beating you in the head with a social justice hammer and stealing money from your pockets under the pretense of a "positive message".

I would also argue that the cinematography focuses far more on the emotional relationship between  Frances and Dinklage, which is a way more tasteful way of presenting disabilities. The way Martin McDonagh uses camera angles and blurs to present this scene to boost emotion and messaging is very detailed. You may notice the camera following the file the policeman was holding as it slides across the ground, followed by a shot of Frances Mcdormands reaction, while Peter Dinklage was actually blurred out and presented as more of a human than a plot point. Presenting him as a character who out of instinct would try to help any human without it being a decision to be made makes him a lot more human and not a paper slate to push an agenda.

Not to say there's no focus on Peter Dinklage's disability in the film, there's a scene where he vents about feeling judged by the town, which isn't too out of usual for the film which deals with a lot of discrimination based on class, gender and disabilities. However, this scene is not based in the subversion of a negative stereotype and so I would argue that it handles that tastefully also.

Overall, I would argue that the presentation of disability while not a main plot point in the film is handled tastefully and well, encouraging the audience to introspect and also connect with a character they may have preconceived negative connotations towards.

EDGAR WRIGHT VIDEO ESSAY