Hostel 2 - Intro Analysis (2007) Eli Roth $10m

The are no idents at the start, however it starts with a white seriff font on a block background with 'Quentin Tarintino Presents' and then fades into a man in some sort of boiler suit searching through someones back and emptying the contents. The room is lit only buy the fire possibly from a fernice in the background which creates an earie an sinister feel. The only sound is Diagetic and the sound of the fire and the emptying of the back. Also there is polysemy as the scene does not show the mans face so you wonder what his job is and why he is there. He goes through the mans walet but puts the money on the side. There is also some exposision as the persons identity on the walet shows he is American and possibly a victim of the killer, but again you do not see the mans face on the I.D as the persons thumb is covering it.

The camera then cuts to these belongings bieng burnt on what appears to be some sort of grill. This is possibly to destroy evidence and we get the sense this man is an Antagonist. There is long takes of the belonging bieng burnt and the titles carry on over it. There is still only the sound of burning which keeps up the mysterious atmoshpere. The camera then cuts back to an extreme longshot as the man appears to take his suit off, however when this happens the camera blurs slightly and then fades slowly to black meaning you still dont get a view of the man which keeps up the narrative enigma.

Clown House - Intro Analysis (1989) Victor Salva $200,000

So the film starts of with only one company ident which plays for a short time and then goes straight into the opening. Exposision is provided at showing a poster of a circus that is coming to town. The films main theme plays on the fear many people have of clowns. The titles start over an establishing shot of an old mansion and theres a man hung from a tree dead which is a shocking opening image. The music is a mix of creepy and a circus theme which ties in with the title. Also the sound of howling wind creates a tense atmosphere. The camera cuts to the inside of the house as the titles are still playing and pans past some clown related toys with the creepy sound of laughter in the background.

The camera then pans onto a boy who is in bed and gets up and out of bed and looks out the window to see the body swinging in the wind. His face is expressionless and he doesnt seem to phased by the whole thing. He goes down stairs in his pyjamas and short quick sting notes play which ups the tension. He looks down the corridor as if someone is there and begins walking down. The camera comes up behind him from a low angle giving the imprssion he is bieng followed. Then suddenly the poster we saw earlier blow onto the door of the house with a large quick string note giving the auidience a false scare.

The boy has a horrified look on his face as he sees the clown on the poster and then wets himslef whilst standing up. He then quickley wakes up from the dream he was having looking relieved. The camera pans back to the outside of the house where the body was hanging in his dream and it is still there. The scene outside fades into day and the introduction finishes which lasts around 4 minutes.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer - Opening Analysis (1998) Danny Cannon $24m

Unlike the last film this one starts out with 5 lenghty company idents which take up around to minutes. The titlles shows and screaming and voices are heard in the background which is quite affective. The shot fade in quickly on a close up of a statue which looks as if its crying. Theres a close up of a woman in a misty church which cuts to an extreme longshot establishing shot of the woman in an empty misty church but we still dont see her face. She goes into a confesion box which is framed well through the grating in the wall.

She talks and there are subtitles played over due to the wispering. She provides exposision on what happend and how she killed a man and nobody else knows about it. She talks about having dreams about the killer and her friends. She tells the priest the killers name 'Ben Willis'. The priest turns to her and tells her he know what she did last summer and smashes through the wall and she screams and wakes up in the middle of her classroom. She talks to her friend Will about whats been happening. Suddenly a passer bye on a bike sets of some fireworks as a false scare and she screams again. Its the anniversary of when what happend last summer occurd. Throughout this you get the sense she is a final girl through church and books and the brown hair. You get the impression theres some love interest between these two characters as they leave each other.

She has another discussion with another friend who was involved in what happend but they argue and he leaves. The teen apppears to be living on her own in isolation and looks distressed throughout the opening. She has a photo of her friend who im guessing dies in the previous film to show a bit of exposision. Again this opening dosent have a clear ending and no titles are played. Overall the start has a sombre and meloncholic atmosphere with a couple of false scares to raise the tension at the start.

Hell Night - Intro Analysis (1981) - Tom DeSimone

The First scene is a close up of a woman screaming which then quickly cuts to medium panning shot possibly stedi cam of a massive party full of teens. Interestingly there are no company idents and the title for the film play straight away in a red seriff font which connotes blood which would be in keeping with the title and theme of the film. Diagetic music is playing in the back ground and teens are dancing, drinking and smoking which is often seen in this sort of slasher film. Another thing to note is that the takes are alot longer as it is an older film from the genre.

The camera then cuts to the inside of the mansion where they are partying where exposision is provided telling us that it is a fraternaty party and there is going to be some sort of initiation which is hinted at. Lots of the girls are in fancy dress and in very revieling clothing. Here we also get an idea of a possible final girl, She is much more appropriatly dressed than the rest of the possible scream queens and looks to be the sensible one and socially awkward  she is not seen drinking or participating in any of the moral taboos which are found in films of this genre. There are a few close ups of certain character who have dialog which possibly means they will play a part in whats to come.

The scene then quickly cuts to a bunch of cars driving down the road with select members of the party in them who are going to take part in this initiation. The possible final girl mention earlier is now wearing an outfit which resembles red riding hood. The red over coat possibly signifies blood shed again, however she looks very innocent in it. The smaller group then proceed to go through the gates into the gardens of the infamous 'Garth Manor'. Exposision is then provided and the groups task is to stay in the manor for one night. The leader of the fraternity then proceeds to explain what took place at the manor twelve years ago which was the killing of 4 family members and a suicide which provides exposion and the reason for why its 'haunted'. The group dont seem to concerned as most of them are intoxicated and they laugh and oke about the deaths. It is also said they did not find one of the bodys which gives us an idea of who the killer might be even though there has been no sign of one yet.

It is not clear where the intro ends as the titles play at the very beginning, however what ive got is that its around ten minutes. The intro has given me further ideas on how we could develop our own coursework piece and how i can encorperate some of the techniques used into my own work.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK89XlOUWms

Buried Alive (2007) - Robert Kurtzman

So the film starts out with two company idents and cuts to a woman shaving in a bath. Most slasher fans would definetly see this as a sign of danger due to many famous scenes in bathrooms in past films. However everthing seems fine as who appears to be her boyfriend comes in and they joke around however things suddenly change as she is forced under the water by the man and struggles with him.


 But it turns out to be a false scare as she wakes up from her dream and everything is fine. Another man comes in who is her boyfriend and he gets in the bath with her signifying she is sexually active so possibly a scream queen although she has brown hair. Titles play over this sequence and it then cuts to a sunny garden where the introduction ends. Overall the Intro is just under five minutes long.

Black Xmas - Intro Analysis (2006) $9m - Glen Morgan

The Film starts out with two idents for the big horror company at the time Dimension and 2929 Entertainment. The film starts with what would seem to be a house decorated for christmas time, however the atmosphere still feels a little creepy. It then cuts to a woman opening a bottle of wine with a red corkscrew and everything in the room is red. This could connote blood and possibly foreshadows what is to come.


 You hear voices in the background so the scene does not feel to isolated but then there appears to be a creepy rustling sound coming from the cupboard. But its a false scare as its only an updraft coming from the ventilation in the house. So she sits backdown and relises her pen is missing. Suddenly a bag is put over her head and there is a momentary struggle until she is stabbed in the face by her own pen and it suddenly cuts to the title which is in a red seriff font on a black background.

My Bloody Valentine - Intro Analysis (1981) $2.3m - George Mihalka

So the Intro starts with one paramount ident and goes striaght in with titles over two miners walking through a mine shaft. The constumes look quite ominous and scary. There is polysemy as to who these people actually and why they are in the mine shaft in the first place. There are lots of low dutch angles used to increase the tension and you feel the suspense is builing up to something. The mineshaft also gives a clotrophopic and isolated feel. 


Then one of the miners starts to take there boiler suit off to actually reveil she is a woman and that they may be in the mineshaft for a sexual liaison. There is a type of false scare where the miner who we still dont know appers to swing and the woman with the pick axe however is only sticking it in the wall. This gives the impression of the pick axe has some weight behind it and is not just a foam object or similar. Titles continue however the first miner still hasnt taken there mask of so we become quite suspicious. The woman involved is also blonde and obviously sexually active which is an instant indicator of what is going to happen. The first miners hand starts to shake and suddenly pushes the woman onto the pick axe in the wall which stabs through her and the camera pans into her screaming mouth and the title scene commences.

Last House On The Left - Analysis (1972) - $90,000 - Wes Craven

As with a few slasher films the opening starts of by saying these where real events. This may not be true but certainly makes everything seem a lot more scary. So it starts in a peaceful scenic setting with a mail man deliviering mail to a girls door. He goes through the mail which provides exposion on her name and age so we know shes a teenage girl. After this the titles play and you see Mari in the shower. So then her mum and her have an argument about her wearing reveiling clothing but she brushes it off and proceeds to go out with her friend. They go of into the woods and drink and talk. This is showing the moral code involved. However the atmosphere is still very peaceful and there is no signs of danger and you would even know its a slasher film if you had not known before. Also there is no clear final girl or scream queen so far, Mari and her friend both have brown hair and both appear to be breaking the 'moral code' in some way which isnt commom in slashers. The reason for this where it was made before Halloween which is where the main features of a slasher are set out. Also there isnt really a clear part where the opening finishes, However the titles play after only one minute and thirty seconds. Overall this film dosent seem to apply most modern slasher features.

Terror Train - Intro Analysis (1980) $3.5m - Roger Spottiswoode

The film opens with a group of teens having a party for new years eve. A boy gets tricked into going upstairs to have sex with a girl who is actually a dead body. The rest of the teens come in and start laughing as he freaks out and the scene fades to black. Again common slasher devices are used: teenagers drinking and partying. Overall the intro is about 6 minutes long. This traumutising experiance leads the teen to become a killer. Another key note is the film features Jamie Lee Curtis who appeard in haloween and prom night. The clothing of the characters is important as well as it shows they are college students. There isnt alot of exposision in the opening scene just a brief introduction to a few of the characters. However should you be a fan of slasher films its quite easy to figure out what the plot might hold in store. One of the interesting points of the film and what makes it unique is the killings take place on a train. Overall it has many of the common slasher devices which build tension and suspence.

Wolf Creek - Intro Overview (2005) $1m - Greg McLean

So the intro of wolf creek starts with a group of 3 youngish people about to set of on a road trip and there buying a car. Theres a long flash back of the party the night before which involves lots of drinking, smoking and sex thus following common slasher conventions. The people wake up the next morning and set of on the journey, this gives an overveiw of rural australia and the wide outback which really enforces the sense of isolation. When it acctually gets to the part where they wake up theres plenty of close ups to show the characters emotions. What also help build up tension is the long opening and it takes a while to get going. Overall the film does a good job of creating a tense atmophere and one I would like to emulate when it comes to my own coursework peice.

Friday The 13th Intro Analysis - Sb

The film starts by showing the 3 idents of New Line Cinema and Paramount and Platinum Dunes, these are all red themed unlike how they usually are, more or less blue. Music is being played over the top of these. White text is then displayed over a black background, giving the production company.

The film starts off by showing a puddle while rain is pouring into it on a muddy track, while in the bottom corner it say's "June 30th 1980". It then pans under a sign with a low angled shot saying "Camp Crystal Lake". Lightening then appears to strike and the screen flashes, with a woman running out of a woodland area. It is a medium longshot revealing most of her body but you can't make out any major details as it then changes shot back to a black background with white text on, saying the actor's names. Over the top of this the woman is screaming and seems to be in pain, she is holding something in her hand. The music is getting faster and the girl ends up next to the lake.

The girl being chased is a counsellor at the camp, the woman is Jason's mother and she is blaming her and the other counsellor's for her sons death; she say's she has already killed all the others. It then cuts to a shot between some bushes and shows someone in the actual bushes watching, seeing what's going to happen. You only see parts of the face, but you can make out it's a male. Jason's mother then tries to kill the counsellor using a knife, but the girl slashes her neck. You see the head drop to the floor and it quickly fades out. The girl then runs out of the way, you see this as an extreme longshot which is the point of view shot of the male in the bushes.

The male runs out and grabs a pendant from around the neck of the mother and she starts talking when he opens it. He takes the blade and over the top of this the mother say's "Jacob you must kill for your mother". This denotes that the male was in the bushes is Jacob. It then fades out into another black screen.

The mis-en-scene was a dark woodland area and was very dark due to a lightening storm which was happening at the time. The lighting was also bad as they mostly used the natural lighting of the storm to see different parts of the body such as the face.

Representations in slasher films

The film i will be analysing representations of is John Carpenters Halloween. This film uses many of the classic slasher film representations as it is the film most modern slasher's are based on today. It was one of the first films to bring about the idea of the final girl who is often a morally correct brunette girl who succeeds in defeting the main villain in the film. Also there are scream queens in this film who get murderd early on due to the moral code of them paying for having sex/drug taking/drinking. This has succeeded in feminist critics like and dislike for the genre with the final girl being the heroine. However the murder of other women can be seen as misogenistic. Also the primary use of teens appeals to the target audience as is common with most slasher films. Still others have read deeper into the social significance of this and other slasher films as critiquing the supposed safety recently found by middle class individuals in the 1950s suburbs. Also critics say the portrayal of Myers as a demonic, superhuman monster inhibited his influence on the audience. However Carpenter himself dismisses the notion that Halloween is a morality play, regarding it as merely a horror movie.

Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone - Intro Analysis

So the intro starts with an estalishing shot of a sign which gives the audience an idea of where the film is set. There is also an owl standing on the sign which connotes possible mystery and fantasy. This shot then pans over to a misty looking surburban setting which shows a man dressed in robes emerging out of the fog. Again this connotes this is going to be a fantasy film and theres also polysemy about who this man is due to his mysterious apperance. The camera also pans to a cat which again can be related to wizardry. The wizard the starts to put out the street lamp by using what looks light a magic lighter which anchors the fact that this man is a wizard. The man starts talking to the cat that was seen earlier and the cat spontaniously turns into a woman. We now know the identity of the man as proffesor Dumbledore and so far 2 characters have been introduced. Then it goes to a 2 shot of them walking discussing a 'boy' and what appears to be some sort of mission. There is definate polysemy hear used to make the audience think who this boy is. Then the camera cuts to a man flying out of the sky on a moter bike which again shows there magic powers. The man on the bike 'Hagrid' hands over a small boy in a blanket however we still dont get to see his face which continues the mystery of who he is. Another point is throughout the intro there is very mysterious music which emphasises the fantasy setting. The music then changes tone and the camera zooms in on his faces which connotes this is most likley a mian character in the film the camera then zooms into the scar on his forehead which is an influential part of the film.

Leprechaun Opening Analysis - Ak

Leprechaun begins with a Trimark Pictures ident. It then fades into a dark scene with steps leading down to a rocky underground. This uses blue lighting to add a sense of coldness and mystery to the scene. A leprechaun then slowly begins to walk down the stairs. Non-diagetic music is played with long, slow notes that help add to the
strangeness of the scene.


The leprechaun then does a pointing backwards action with his hands, a 'magic' noise is made and the scene fades out to black.

It then fades into a medium shot of the leprechaun sitting on the stairs with a pot of gold laughing and feeling the money. This then cuts to a long shot which has a light coming diagonally from the top right of the shot onto the leprechaun. This lets you see some moss on the wall which makes things seem more mysterious. The leprechaun then says a short poem as it cuts back to a close up of the gold.

It then cuts to a black screen with the words 'Trimark Pictures Presents' on it in a stereotypical Irish font.

Next it cuts to two low angle dutch tilt shots of a black car driving along the road at night. Then it cuts to a high angle long shot of the car driving along a dirt road. The words 'A Mark Jones Film' fade in and out in the same font as before. You see the car to be a short limo which would signify that the person inside it is quite wealthy. There is then a long shot of the limo driving towards the camera.

The screen then cuts to black and the title Leprechaun transitions onto the screen.

There is then another medium long shot of the car driving past and the camera pans across to follow the limo. It then cuts to a medium close up of the front of the car from the side driving across the shot and coming to a quick stop.

There is then a medium shot of a mans legs as he steps out of the car which tilts up to show a middle aged man finishing a bottle of whisky which he then throws onto the ground. There is a close up of the bottle rolling across the ground.

It then cuts back to the man and there is a long shot from behind as he walks towards a rural house. His walk signifies that he is drunk. A woman is standing on the porch looking shocked.

They then begin talking and it provides quite obvious exposition as she calls him by his name and speaks in an Irish accent. The woman asks about why he's in a limo, the man replies by talking about how they are rich and going to start living a more luxurious lifestyle, the woman thinks hes just saying it because hes drunk, the man produces a bag of gold saying that he got it from a leprechaun and she doesnt believe him. I don't think that this works well as firstly, the man isnt very good at acting drunk, and also it is too blatent and to the point. I think that they could have made it much better by having less talking and using mise-en-scene more effectively to show what was happening. Something that I thought was good in this scene was the lighting flashes which in this case was used to get them to go inside and shut up, but in our opening we might be able to incorporate to forshadow something bad happening.

The music throughout has long slow bass notes with high pitched Irish music elements.

The opening is 4 minutes 4 seconds.

A Nightmare On Elm Street

The film franchise I'm researching is the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The franchise consists of nine slasher films, a television show, novels, and Comic books. These nine consist of:

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)  Budget: 1.8 Million, Box Office: 26.3 Million, Director: Wes Craven, IMDB Rating: 7.4, Trailer.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Budget: 3 Million, Box Office 30 Million, Director: Jack Sholder, IMDB Rating: 4.9

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) Budget: 4.5 Million, Box Office 44.7 Million, Director: Chuck Russel, IMDB Rating: 6.3

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) Budget 13 Million, Box Office 49 Million, Director: Renny Harlin, IMDB Rating: 5.3

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) Budget 8 Million, Box Office 22 Million, Director: Stephen Hopkins, IMDB Rating: 4.7

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) Budget 11 Million, Box Office 34.8 Million, Director: Rachel Talalay, IMDB Rating: 4.6

Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) Budget 8 Million, Box Office 18 Million, Director: Wes Craven, IMDB Rating: 6.3

Freddy vs. Jason (2003) Budget 30 Million, Box Office 115 Million, Director: Ronny Yu, IMDB Rating: 5.7

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) 35 Million, Box Office 115.6 Million: Samuel Bayer, IMDB Rating: 5.1, Trailer.

Reviews:

Variety: A highly imaginative horror film that provides the requisite shocks to keep fans of the genre happy.

Empire: What makes Freddy truly terrifying, and an inspired invention on Craven's part, is that he exists not in the real world but in the shadowy realm of dreams.

Film4: It succeeds by preying on archetypal fears and imagery - the myth of the bogeyman, the power of the unconscious conjuring up the worst horrors imaginable.

Horror.com: Seeing the movie again, I was reminded that while the Krueger character did have some taunting, humorous dialogue, it was more eerie than funny. Krueger was truly a menacing, terrifying boogeyman in the beginning.

Cinema Crazed: An imaginative, menacing, and scary film with top notch performances, an original premise, and horrifying villain.

Budget/Box Office Analysis:

Over all the films before the Remake and Freddy vs Jason the budget has been relativly low and all the films appear to have made substantial profits which would indicate why they countinued the franchise to nine films. There was a substantial gap in between the first seven films and the last two films which are the spin-off and the remake. The Remake however got quite negative reviews to do with acting and the fact that it seemed like a schedualed corperate rerun and that it had all been seen before. Where as the origional has been generally very well recieved and has remained a classic in may peoples eyes. This goes to show that a big budget dosent nessacerilly make a better film.

Comparison of the origional and remake:

■Freddy Krueger was not a child murderer but a convicted child molester with sexual attractions to the Nancy and her friends of the remake


■There is two more elm street children then originally now being Dean Russell and Marcus Yeon

■The film features a blogging nightmare capturing computer technology

■Nancy's mother's demise was not the fiery suffocation of the original nor the jump sequence pull in through the 1428 house front door but rather a complete eye socket stab with the glove and pull back into mirror behind her

■Kris Fowles the character equivalent of Tina Grey dreams not of a long armed Freddy pursuing her from her house street and pulling her back into the trash cans which becomes the under of the bed she is sleeping in sheets, but rather Freddy having killed her pet dog Rufus and and then she supposedly awakes thinking the nightmare is over only upon getting back to bed to find Freddy lying beside her

■The bathtub sequence having Nancy pulled through a water hole into a deep water ins excluded in exchange of the glover just appearing and leaving upon Nancy's mother's voice

■The group were former victims of Freddy of molestation and all attended the same pre school

■Tina Grey owned no pets

■Rod Lane was missing the knife used to taunt Glen

■The Rod lane equivalent Jesse Braun is friends with Glen equivalent Quentin

■Nancy has an employement

■Theres a Springwood diner introduced

■Theres a dream flashback sequence showing the burning of Freddy which originally was never shown until the sixth instalment

So overall it appears that the sexual content has been upped form the origional as Freedy is now a child molester not a child murderer. I havent seen the films in full but i would presume the gore and violence is increased due to more advanced special effects.

A Nightmare On Elm Streets Effect On The Slasher Genre:

A Nightmare on Elm streets main effect on the slasher genre is the use of a supernatural killer and increasingly graphic and realistic special effects and certain comedic elements. Another film that includes these elements is the Childs Play franchise. The slasher genre reached its peak around the time when the first Nightmare on Elm street came out.

Killer And Weapons:

The main antagonist in a nightmare on elm street is the fictional character Freddy Krueger. He often recognizable for his burnt face, claw like hand and striped jumper. Wes Brown when creating the character stated that he wanted to make the villain memorable as every memorable villain as some sort of outstanding feature. He got the idea of the claw like hand from his cat scratching his sofa. Wes Craven says his inspiration for the basis of Krueger's power stemmed from several stories in the Los Angeles Times about a series of mysterious deaths: All the victims had reported recurring nightmares beforehand about a man named Mr. K., thus the name Fred Krueger, and died in their sleep.

Scream Queen/Final Girl:

The scream queen in this film is Tina Gray and after having sex with her boyfriend is brutally murderd in here sleep which is a common thing to happen to the scream queen as having sex is portrayed as bieng immoral and she is therefore punished for it along with her boyfriend who is sent to jail. Overall there are four victims in the film and one final girl Nancy who succeeds in defeating Freddy Krueger for now that is. As is typical with this sort of film the screem queen is blonde and the final girl is a brunette.

not quite finished

Rear Window Opening Analysis - Ak

Rear Window begins with Universal and Paramount Pictures idents. This overlaps into the opening credits. The text is in capitals in a yellow/brown to white gradiented, serif font. The text is quite large and takes up most of the screen. Behind the text there are three windows with blinds down. The blinds then slowly raise up one at a time as the credits play. Through the windows you can see a neighbourhood. The fire escapes on the sides of the building signify that it is set in America. Non-diagetic orchestral music plays through the credits and first few takes of the film. All three blinds finish going up, the credits end and the camera zooms in closer to the window.

It then cuts to a high angle extreme long shot of a cat walking up some outdoor stone stairs. The camera pans across and tilts up and down to follow the cat and show more of the neighborhood. There are people standing on a balcony, people in the apartments and people walking through the neighbourhood. The camera eventually comes back into the window to show a close up of a middle aged mans face sweating. The man is sitting down and looks relaxed.

It then cuts to an extreme close up of a thermometer which is at just over 90°F which shows how hot it is. The camera tracks across to show a man in another window shaving. And a radio from inside his house starts playing.

Then it cuts to an extreme long shot of a man and woman waking up on a baclony and again the camera moves, this time showing another woman in her house, someone putting washing out of their window and again the camera comes back in through the window to show the man sitting down. This time the camera keeps moving past his face and shows him in a wheelchair with a cast on his leg. On it is written 'Here lie the broken bones og L.B. Jefferies'. The camera then moves around the room to show photographs of a car crash, then it shows a camera, then it shows a photo of a woman and then some Paris Fashions booklets with the same woman on the cover. All of this provides a bit of exposition. The camera probably belongs to the man and the Paris Fashions booklets would suggest that he might be a fashion photographer, however there is still some narrative enigma with the photographs of the car crash. The mise-en-scene also signifies that it is set in the 50s. The shot fades to black.

There are only four takes in the opening so each one is quite long. I think that as this is an old film it would of worked well when it was released, but I find it too slow and a bit repetitive and I would have prefered more takes and faster editing.

The opening is 3 minutes 52 seconds.

Rabid Intro Analysis - Ak

Rabid (1977) Director: David Cronenburg

Rabid begins with a New World Pictures ident. The ident fades out and it cuts to an extreme long shot looking behind a brown haired woman wearing leather biking clothes, standing by a motorbike. There is a road running across the screen in front of the woman, an old barn on the opposite side of the road and a country scene in the background. There are no leaves on the trees, the sun isnt out and there might be a bit of snow on the ground in the background which signifies that it is autumn/winter. The main colour in the shot is brown which adds to the feeling that although it is daytime in the countryside, its not a very picturesque shot. The camera begins to move around the woman with use of a steadicam as credits begin to play. The credits are in a yellow, sans-serif font with a shadow and they come on in different positions in the shot which fits in with the camera movement and makes the viewer see more in the shot. It is quite a long, slow take and ends with showing a man walk out of a small building behind her.

The music which starts from the first shot is quite slow and uses long, high-pitched notes which isnt what you’d usually associate with a slasher film. This might however be used through the film to make the audience think that everything is fine before a scare or a killing.

It then cuts to a medium close up of the man walking out the building. He has black, 70s style hair and is also wearing biking leathers which signifies that hes probably with the woman. The building is mainly dull brown in colour. This all connotes that the film is set in the 70s.

The man looks up and it cuts back to the extreme long shot of the woman from behind, which makes it similar to a point of view shot.

It then cuts to a close up of the woman from the front who is rubbing her hands together to warm them up. This also signifies that it is cold and probably autumn/winter. I quite like the composition of this shot and I think that it fits in well with the music and overall feel of the opening to this point, but I dont think that it would work very well in our opening as so far it doesnt feel like a slasher film.

It then cuts back to a close up of the man who is still looking at the woman in an admiring way. This signifies that they have quite a close relationship.

The music fades down and it cuts to an extreme long shot of the two people on the motorbike driving down the road. There is just the diagetic sound of the motorbike and then music similar to before begins playing. The camera is in front of the bike and moving at roughly the same speed as it, so the bike stays pretty much in the same place in the shot throughout the take. The title Rabid comes on in capitals in a distressed, yellow font with a black shadow and a thick line above and below the text (also in yellow with a black shadow) at the bottom, centre of the screen. The title goes off and the take continues, showing some more credits. It is a long take and I quite like how it cuts from the very slow, peaceful start to the fast paced take of the bike.

It then cuts to a close up of one of the bikers brown leather boots and the wheel as well as some of the road as they are driving. This is also quite a long take. It cuts back to the extreme long shot from before which is also quite a long take. Next it cuts to an extreme long shot from beside the road. The bike drives past the camera and it pans across to follow the bike, ending with the bike riding off into the distance.

The credits play through all of this which I think could run for a bit less time as it is quite slow, but the quick motorbike does add a bit of pace to the credits.

The music fades out and it cuts to a long shot of a sign that says Keloid Clinic Inc. In the background there is the outside of a building with a grassy area and a path which leads to two men wearing white standing and talking. This all helps to connote the setting. The noise of the motorbike fades in as the camera pans, tilts and zooms to show some windows next to each other on the building. A voice of a man begins to play which creates an audio bridge to the next take.

It cuts to a medium close up shot of a middle aged man sitting in a chair, smoking a cigar and talking. I think it works well how the previous shot shows you that the man is in the building by zooming into a window and using an audio bridge. The camera zooms out as the man provides exposition by talking about plastic surgery.

Then it cuts to a medium long shot of another man sitting behind a desk. He is also middle aged and appears to work at the clinic by what he says and the mise-en-scene with the desk and his shirt, tie and waistcoat.

It then cuts to a long two shot of the man smoking and a brown haired woman sitting in a long white dress and high heels on another chair. On the wall there are diagrams of the human body and there are big books on a shelf.

It then cuts between a medium close up of the smoking man, a medium close up of the woman and a medium long shot of the other man depending on whos speaking at the time. They talk about experimental plastic surgery.

It then cuts to an extreme long shot of a road and the same music begins playing again. The bike rides down the road past the camera. It cuts to a close up of the two peoples feet as they drive along. Next it cuts to a point of view over the shoulder shot from the passengers viewpoint which might make the audience feel like they are there on the bike. I then cuts to another extreme long shot from off the road and pans across as the bike goes past. All of these are long takes and very similar to the first driving scene which I think works quite well.

The opening is 2 minutes 59 seconds.

Harry Brown Film Analysis

At the start of the film there is a reel of film companys and producers in a white sans seriff text on a black backround. This signifies vunrebility as the text is very small and blackness takes up most of the screen which links in with the intro. Then it cuts to some found footage style camera of some youths smoking in the subway. This connotes violence and signifies who the main protagonists are going to be in the film. Also in this scene one of the youths pulls out a gun and shows it around this signifies danger and foreshadows whats to come in the film. Then it cuts to a scene with a pov camera angle in which the youths are riding a bike and a woman is shot. This supplies anchorage to our intial thoughts on the gang bieng violent and unlawful. The next scene is of an old man moving slowly. From this you get the impression that he is weak and vunreble which is actually a contrast to how he turns out

Trick Or Treat Opening Analysis - Ak

Trick or Treat (1986) Director: Charles Martin Smith
Trick or Treat begins with a DEG ident. A male voice over begins reading lines from Doctor Faustus as the title and credits play. The title Trick or Treat is on a black background and is in a font similar in style to fonts used by quite a few 1980s rock and heavy metal bands logos. This signifies that hard rock/heavy metal music might have in important role in the film. There are then credits in an off-white, capitals serif font on a black background which play until 48 seconds into the film. The last two names to be credited are Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne which provides further anchorage that hard rock/heavy metal music will be influential to the film.

The credits quickly fade out to black and it cuts to an image of a metal musician against a black background. A hard rock song begins to play and the camera zooms out to show the image to be a poster in a bedroom wall. The camera then moves through the room to show books on rock, a calender with a band as the picture, a black leather belt with studs, a skull etc. Everthing signifies that the person whos room it is is really into that kind of genre of music and likes to try and dress like his idols.

The shot then overlaps into a similar type of shot showing more posters of bands such as Anthrax and Ozzy Osbourne which signifies the time period to be in the mid to late 80s. The camera then continues to move around the room showing more memorabilia and overlapping into another shot which does the same. The camera eventually reaches a long shot of a boy, with long black hair and dark clothing, lying on his bed writing a letter. The music gets quieter and a voice over comes on. He is saying what he is writing. He begins by saying 'its me again, Ragman' which signifies that he writes to this person quite often and it also tells the audience what the character calls himself. He then goes on to say 'its them against us. I cant believe the cancelled your halloween concert' which signifies that he sees the person that he is writing to as similar to himself, and that the person hes writing to is likely to be a fairly successful performer. It then cuts to a long shot of the poster which was shown at the start, the focus then changes to be on the boy. This signifies that the person he is writing to is the man on the poster and someone that the boy idolises.

The voice over and music continue playing and there is an audio bridge as the scene overlaps to a medium long shot of teenagers walking up some stairs indoors carrying some books. This signifies that it is in a school setting. The camera then pans across to show the boy sitting under the stair with his arms crossed.

Next it cuts to a medium close up of the boy stood reading a magazine, with a picture of Motley Crue on the back, in a corridor. This is the first time you get to properly see the boy in a good light. He is wearing headphones around his neck and is wearing a denim jacket with a skull pin and guitar pin on it. This provides more anchorage of the boys personality and style.

It then cuts to a long shot of a girl walking down the corridor who he likes, she waves, it cuts back to the medium close up of the boy who waves back thinking that she's waving at him, and it then cuts back to a medium shot of the girl and the camera pans as it follows her walking past the boy to her friend. It ends on an over the shoulder medium close up of the boy, showing the girl and her friend starting talking and the boy looking awkward. The voice over then stops for a short while. It then cuts to a two shot of him eating his lunch with a geek who is represented in this way by wearing large glasses, a shirt and his hair. The main character then drinks his milk but it goes over him as someone has put a hole in the carton. It cuts to show the people who did it laughing at him. All of this signifies that he isn't liked and people bully him.

It then cuts to a medium close up of him walking down the coridor, it cuts to a point of view shot and the same people who put a hole in his milk mess up his hair. This allows you to see the people better and they are represented as jocks by them wearing jeans and a varsity jacket or a jacket with its collar up and trainers. It then cuts back to the medium close up of the main character with his messed up hair and him looking annoyed.

Next it cuts to show shower tiles and the camera tilts down to show the boy in the shower (at school). It cuts to show him walking through the changing rooms with just a towel round his waist and when he gets to his locker the jocks are looking at his stuff and taunting him with it. He then gets pushed through a door as another jock takes his towel off him. It cuts to an extreme long shot of some girls playing volleyball in a sports hall and they turn around to look at him. So hes naked in a sports hall with loads of girls looking at him and he tries to get back through the door but it has been locked/held shut by the jocks.

It cuts to a medium close up of one of the girls and she looks like she has an idea. She runs to get a camera and as the other girls laugh at him, she takes pictures. He looks gutted and then it cuts to a medium long shot of one of the girls and as the camera zooms in on her she goes from laughing to looking sorry for him. The voice over begins again as he drops against the door.

There is then an overlap to a shot of his room again, with the poster of his idol in the center of the screen. This adds importance to the man in the poster. The camera tilts down to show the boy still writing his letter. This allows the audience to realise that what they had seen was a flashback of what the boy was writing about. It then cuts to another shot of the poster and the camera zooms in as the voice over says 'the one things that holds me together is you'. This anchors that the boy is writing to him. He then says 'you did it man. You went to this fucking school and you rose above it. Now youre on top, and you can just look down at the anthill and smile'. This provides the audience with exposition of why the main character idolises him, because he can relate to him. The boy finishes off his letter and tears of the page.

It cuts to a close up of the boys hands holding an envolope addressed to Sammi Curr. This is the first time that the audience actually finds out the idols name. I think that they manage to do this well as the audience already knows who the letter is to with use of mise-en-scene and shot variation, and by telling the characters name through it saying it on a letter is quite subtle and it just adds a name to a face for the audience instead of the film just providing obvious exposition about the character which wouldn't of been as effective.

The music fades out and the opening ends.

National Film Festival Trip

This is a short blog about the trip to the national film festival in Bradford. The first thing we did was go around the experience TV exibit and played around with the blue screen and news reader which was fun however we didnt go to the actual workshop that was going on. After instead we went to the question and answer show with the actors who play the Weasley brothers in Harry Potter. This was good and gave a nice insight into the lives of the brothers and how they approach everyday life after being in a blockbuster film and thier aspirations in the future.

The main event of the film festival was probably the screenings and i went to screening one which involved 4 of Ilkley's video's. 3 from AS and 1 From A2. All the films where enjoyable however some where better than others. All of the videos gave a good idea of ideas for our own coursework productions and overall the films where enjoyable. I hope to enter my own film into the festival next year. Overall it was a good trip and there where lots of great workshops so it was a great experiance.

Film opening analysis

The film i analysed was Kidulthood.


Overall the opening to this film was a 5 minute scene in a school playground. The first part of the opening was the idents for the film companies, which in this opening there where quite alot of. Revolver, Hanway films, Stealth films and Cipher films all featured. There are alot of characters introduced in this opening sequence. Some of who are obviously antagonists and some who are victims. However you don't get an idea of the main protagonist in this scene. The setting of the scene is first set by football being kicked around which gives the idea that it is in a school. Another thing is most of the characters are in uniform which is an obvious indication of where they are. Also in the opening there the camera switches between the school yard and a boy using a drill. This builds tension and indicates that the boy is doing something suspect. Another aspect that build tension is the soundtrack which is tense and helps build the atmosphere. The obvious target audience is probably around 15-18 as that is around the age of the actors involved which also make the film relatable. To conclude this analysis the opening scene gives a good idea of the roles alot of the characters play in the film and helps build an uneasy atmosphere to make you want to watch more.

My awesome new youtube :D

Camera Angle Photos

Heres some photo of different camera shots used in films:

Two shot

Arial shot

Close up



Over the sholder



Medium long shot

Medium shot

Medium close up

Long shot

Low angle

high angle

Extreme long shot

Dutch tilt

Conor O'Loughlin's Final Cut Analysis

Link to final cut.

What shots where used:
1. The First shot is an establishing shot, used to set the scene.
2. Second is a long shot at a low angle of a guy asleep on the bed, this possibly shows vunrebility.
3. Then theres a mid shot of blood dripping at a high angle which gives a sinister affect.
4. Then theres another mid shot of the guy getting up with the sound of dripping still audiable.
5. After there an extreme close up of the guys leg.
6. Then there is another mid shot of the person with a creepy eye on the computor in the background
7. After that the is an extreme close up of the guys hand bashing the keyboard, this gives a snese of frustration and urgency.
8. Then it goes to a long shot through the door way giving the sense he's bieng watched with the creepy eye still on the computor screen. This shows more vunrebility.
9. Then the camera quickley goes to the blood splatter again giving the impression that the killer is close by.
10. The next shot is a shot from behind the character giving the feeling hes bieng followed or watched.


Overall I think the use of camera angles and sound make the the character seem vunreble, the shots from behind build up tension and makes the viewer think he's going to be attacked.

Horror Poster Analysis

So to start of this analysis im going to describe the shot used in the poster. The shot is a low angles shot which make the character look threatining and imposing. You can obviously tell the character in the poster is the main antagonist due to the mask and the large knife in his hand. Also the the background is a dark menacing forest whcih gives an eary effect. Another thing that may attract people to the movie is 'From the producer of the texas chainsaw massacre' so people who enjoyed that film may be interested in  watching this film also. The red text gives the impression of blood and violence. Also the font is quite sinister. At the bottom of the poster it also gives a list of actors and the director and producers. This will also attract people to watch the film if it has popular actors or director.

Looking at a past students blog - Conor O'Loughlin

1. He has evaluated his preliminary task and pointed out things he did to improve his full product.
2. The final production of his movie opening.
3. In this post he evaluates the use of technology to aid his final production.
4. Here he evaluates what his target audience where an how to attracted them to the film.
5. In this post he explains some of the influences of his film opening.
6. This post goes over the plot of the film.
7. He has gone over the use of sound to add effect to the film opening.
8. Photos taken from the production of the film.
9. Here he goes over the final shot and why he chose this shot.
10. In this last post he goes over the BBFC rating he chose and why he chose it.

Other peoples blogs:


1. They researched other low budget films to see how they are made.
2. Used recources from the same film genre.
3. Used facebook to gain feedback.

Hopes for Media studies

This is going to be a brief blog on my hopes and expectations for media studies the year. First of all i hope to gain the correct skills for having a part in a film production. I also hope to learn about Editing, cinematography  and soundtracks. I also hope to learn to analyise differant types of media and learn how certain features of media are produced. I also hope to make my own sucsessful blog. This has been a quick overview on my hopes/expectations for Media In the year ahead.

Favorite Film

My favorite film is Flight Club. This one of my favorite films as it has a good storyline with a good plot twist and Its got lots of interesting characters. My favorite character is Tyler Durden as he is charismatic and witty soap seller. Also theres action scenes and violence which is good in my opinion. So overall its a good film which i enjoy, however there are a few contenders for my favorite film but this one sprang to mind first. This has just been a brief overview of one of my favorite films.

A review from the guardian.

Trailer:

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