ET2: Knowledge of Representation

Planning

• Editing - Connotations of blood when the titles are written in red writing and sketchy font. Title 'Fragments' written in black and white sketchy font. Production video includes creepy (tip toe) music giving it a spooky atmosphere. Titles come in at 00:50 seconds - suitable amount of time to introduce the film before the title comes up.

• Mise En Scene - Outfits of both characters represented their character, Chloe was wearing party clothes (dress and heels) to signify that she has just come home from a party. The killer was wearing a white boiler suit (white to signify ghost-like connotations and being haunted) also didn't show his face which showed an anonymous character.

• Camera - Point of view shots/over the shoulder shots when Chloe is in danger (when the killer suddenly appears right in front of her, when she drops the glass and see's the killer at the door) Camera shot inside the fridge, to show that Chloe's being watched? Lots of extreme close ups (phone ringing, keys on floor, keys in door, opening door handle, tap dripping, feet getting dragged out of shot etc) these make us closer to the location and details of Chloe's character.

• Sound - Synchronous sounds for significant noises that we may not notice if it were quiet (keys dropping, tap dripping, footsteps walking back, locking door, smashing of glass, windchimes, breathing down the phone). Non-diegetic music crossing over when Chloe walks through the front door, tense music to create a creepy atmosphere. 

Textual Analysis
The opening scene starts with a long/pan shot of a teenage girl walking down the road, from this shot we can see her outfit, time of day and location. Her outfit symbolises that she has just returned from a party and that it is early hours of the morning. The location is in a housing estate therefore we know she is returning to her house. In terms of representation of gender, this makes the girl vulnerable as she is dressed in limited clothing and is walking on her own when it is dark. The following shot shows an over the shoulder shot of the killer in the car, watching the girl walk past through the window. We hear synchronous diegetic sound of the man heavily breathing and we see the condensation on the window - this creates suspense and creates a creepy atmosphere. This creates a traditional dominant representation of the male role beause at this point, the girl is put in a dangerous position as she is unknowingly being watched and stalked. The male is carrying the danger and therefore carries more power than the girl.

While the film opening is running, 35 seconds of titles are placed in that introduce some of the casting crew, director and music composer. The colour of the titles match the production video at the beginning as they are written in the colour red - showing connotations of blood. The names of the titles are evenly handed out to both male and female - this creates a modern representation the production is shown to be equal for both genders and not dominated by male roles.

At the time of 50 seconds into the clip, the title 'Fragments' fade into the shot and fade out after a few seconds. The title is written in black and white, capitalized and ironically 'fragmented' font to give the film a distressed atmosphere. In relevance, a few seconds before the titles come in, we are show a long shot of the killer stood watching the girl as she walks through the door. Therefore the titles come in at perfect timing to make the atmosphere tense. The shot of the killer stoof behind the girl creates a traditional representation of the male role as he again is the dominant one. The girl would be unprotected at this point as the killer knows exactly where she lives and therefore puts her in a place of great danger.

After the titles come in and the door closes, the music switches to a slow, low key of the piano. This is a great contrast to the music that opened the film as it was faster and tension building - we could see that the girl was being stalked therefore the tension was high, however as soon as she walked in the house, we knew that she was in more danger therefore the switching of the music at that point was indicating danger. This music continues for the rest of the film opening and helps keep the momentum of being watched. Extreme/Close up shots are included (such as hands opening doors and turning on lights, picking up keys, grabbing a drink out of the fridge) are significant as they create a relationship between the audience and the girl's character. These shots make us familiar with her house and feel closer to her character. We feel sympathy throughout the film as we can see things that she cannot, this creates a traditional representation of women as they tend to be the gender that most often are unaware of being in danger.

The camera pans as the girl closes the fridge and walks into the next room, this shows connotations of being watched as the camera follows her. The fact she walks into a dark room symbolises the sense of danger as we do not know what is in there. The following shot shows a low angle shot of the girl's legs walking around the room, as the phone rings she turns around to pick it up. This surveillance shot shows someone sneakily watching her, of which she is still unaware. This shot creates a traditional representation as she is still vulnerable and the male role is still dominant.

The close up shot of the phone ringing shows an unknown number calling, this puts the girl that one step closer to the killer and allows her to gain some awareness of what is going on. Another close up shot of the girl on the phone allows the audience to be close to the phone call (as well as the girl), we hear synchronous heavy breathing noises on the other end of the phone conversation - this creates an anonymous reference of the killer.

His costume also symbolises his anonymity as we are not shown his face - only a black mask. The use of the colour white in his outfit associates with ghostly-like features and being haunted. The fact the killer is anonymous creates a traditional representation as the male role has authoritive power over the girl without having to hold an identity. After the phone call we hear synchronous wind chime noises from the other side of the door, at this point, the girl becomes scared and spooked. The following over the shoulder shot shows her trying to shake it off and get a glass, however danger becomes closer than she would expect as we hear a diegetic synchronous sound of the door creeking open. This sound is followed by the non-diegetic sudden, erie shuddering noise of the killer appearing at the doorway makes the audience jump as we become more frightened. The synchronous sound of the glass smashing on the floor associates her fear and gasping in freight. This reaction is traditional of a woman being belittled by the man, it shows the girl being frightened and fearful of the opposite sex. However when she runs to slam the door, this becomes a modern representation of women as she is braving up and fighting back.

While the girl walks backwards slowly and fearfully, the killer is behind her in the window. During this mid shot, we hear the synchronous sound of glass being walked over from when she previously dropped it, this creates suspense as we do not know what is going to happen next. The shot cuts to a close up/over the shoulder shot of the girl looking behind her in the window, and no-one is there. It cuts again to an over the shoulder shot of the killer stood right infront of her. These fast cuts contrast against the rest of the film (being quite slow) and show the death to be quick and fast. The close up of the tap dripping shows connotations of blood as the girl is being killed, the scream also helps represent this. The sound of the scream is synchronous and fades out after a few seconds - this helps show that the death was quick. The end shot shows a close up of the girls' shoes getting dragged out of the shot. This shot alone shows us that the man has won the battle of the genders, as the girl is dead. This is a traditional representation of gender as the man is more dominant than the woman, and in the end what the man intended, did happen.

ET1: Knowledge of Genre

1. Phonecall - In the film Scream, the opening includes a young girl on the phone to a mysterious man, we don't know who he is therefore he is anonymous. We included this similarity in our film with the young blonde girl, however the phone in ur film is more up to date with technology than the phone in Scream, also we don't hear a voice on the other side of the phone, we only hear deep breathing.  
2. Outfit - In the film Prom Night, the girls all get dressed up in prom dresses, in our film opening we wanted to make it look like I had just come back from a party (hense the party clothes). Although I'm not wearing a ball gown as like Prom Night, we wanted to add a twist and make it seem as if i've been to a house party or in to town clubbing instead of coming back from Prom.
3. The title of scream is in blood red, scribbly font using the connotations of blood. We used this technique in our production video with the red scribbly handwriting on the wall. We also used the technique in the opening credits of our film however this shows more similarities of the Scream title as the font is capitalised. 
4. To make our film opening scarier, we wanted to re-inact the scene from Prom Night where the killer appears behind Donna in the bathroom. We re-did this scene where Chloe is in the kitchen and while she is walking backwards, the killer is behind the window behind her.
5. When including the opening credits, we wanted to include the names of characters that were going to be killed, we got our influence from the film Return to Horror High as they include the actors in the opening credits aswell.
6. At the end of our film opening, we included a close up of my shoes getting dragged out of the shot, in the symbolisation of death. I got this influence from the film Paranormal Activity 2 when the mum gets dragged down the stairs, however in this circumstance I only get dragged out of the room for all we know.

FILM OPENING FINAL

Photos during filming

These photos were taken whilst we were filming as an overlook of the film set, how we used the tripod and camera from a different point of view. We are shown the location of the filming and how we worked together helping eachother out with ideas. This helps develop our planning for our film as we have evidence of the scene in action.

Ways to improve before the deadline

Before the final hand in on 21st March, we were given some feedback on our video. As a team we made some targets on how we can improve and how we can make things better. These targets are;

• Softening the lighting so it looks naturally dark outside, decreasing the yellow-ness that the light bulbs gave off.
• Editing the music, deleting the duplicate so that only one track is playing.
• Deleting some shots that didnt make sense, maybe re-filming some shots so the audience can understand step-by-step whats happening.
• Making some sounds synchronous eg. Wind chims, keys dropping on the floor, door being locked, doors being slammed shut, knife being grabbed.
• Making sure we don't break the 180 degree rule.
• After the phone coversation/during, make sure the sound is in sync with the image.
• Make the storyline of the film clearer to understand - this can be achieved by adding in different shots that will make the film flow better.
• Getting rid of the camera noise in the background of when I speak on the phone
• Changing the positioning of the titles, compare to other films and how they include them. Maybe include the framing of a news scene, with the news scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
• Include more shots of the killer to build the tension, as our audience was confused and wash't sure how he changed rooms.

Teacher feedback

Feedback from class peers

Opening was really good and really well edited, however they said too much happened in the time we had and it was too much to follow.

Some things made our audience confused, for example adding in shots that didnt have any reason (walking towards and opening the drawer, but not seeing what was taken out)

Lighting kept changing throughout the clip (from light to dark)

Breaking the 180 degree rule (towards the end of the clip)

Music needed fixing (sounded like there was two playing at the same time, but not in sync)

Sometimes they could hear the camera (before I spoke on the phone)

Some noises needed to be louder as they didn't really understand what was going on (wind chimes)

Initial Screening

Re-filming shots

We wanted to re-film the second half of our film due to lighting issues, we have discussed and mind mapped ideas that we could use whilst re-filming. I have thought of alternatives of how the clip could end in different ways.
For example;

Titles

Although my character doesn't last for the majority of the film, we wanted to include my name in the opening credits because of our influence from 'Return to Horror High', from the beginning of the film, all the names of the actors who die in the film in sequence, are still included in the opening titles even though they don't remain alive throughout the rest of the film. Therefore we wanted to create the same opening credits including the names of the girls who die.