Relating 3 Thrilers to our own Thriller Opening

In the opening shot of Sin City you get a tracking shot up the body of a girl, and in our thriller we have a similar opening because we do the same tracking shot up our characters to body to get a sense of what the character is like and what they are wearing and finishing with a close up of their face shows the audience what the character looks like, and engages the audience into the character's emotion.

In the movie Heat they use a lot of over the shoulder shots, and in our thriller opening we have used a lot of these sort of shots to create the feeling of panic our character is feeling and also the sense of being watched.

In Pschyo when Marion has runaway after stealing the money, and she is in her car she has very expressive facial expressions. You can tell what she is thinking through her expressions, and in our thriller opening we want to create this because our character is very scared of the thought of being stalked, and once bumping into her stalker we want the character/actor to look extremely panicked. We want to create the looks Marion has in the car, because they are very effective within the mise-en-scene.

Preliminary Task & Questions

1). What planning did you do for your filming task, and how did this planning aid in the filming?

For the planning of our preliminary task we did a story board, a shot list and a shooting map. On the shot list we decided what shots would be used throughout the preliminary task. For the story board we drew what would be within the mise-en-scene, and the angle of the camera. For the shooting map we planned out where we would get our character to walk, and what way they would leave. All the planning before the preliminary task helped because the shooting of the short film went quickly and smoothly because we knew where we wanted things, and how we wanted it to look. We referred to the shooting map, and shot list a lot while filming because these two things helped us with where to put the camera, and what we had decided through filming.

2). What camera and editing techniques and codes did you use in your film and how do they influence the audiences understanding of the film? (eg. camera and shot types etc; match on action, shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule)

We used close ups, long shots & mid-shots. When Liam & Ellie (actor's in our preliminary task) were having a conversation we used a reverse shot between them. When Ellie was speaking we placed the camera over Liam's shoulder, and the same when Liam was speaking. We made sure we used a range of camera angles so we could practice filimng these shots. We only followed one of the characters movements to the other character so the audience would understand that the short film was from this characters point-of-view.

3). How did you use new technologies in your construction, planning and evaluation (eg. digital camera; non-linear editing software; youtube, blogger) and what skills do you have at using this technology? (strengths and weaknesses eg. steady/shaky camera; variety of shot types; smooth/clumsy; independence when using technologies...)

To construct the prelinminary task we used a digital hand held camera, with a tripod. A few times myself and my prodution group took the camera of the tripod because it was easier, sometimes this resulted in a shaky scene. I think some of the preliminary task was quite clumsy because you can hear the people behind the camera speaking, and the actor in the preliminary task sometimes went the wrong way. To edit the preliminary task we used Adobe video editing which is quite simple to use once you get the hang of how things work. We then uploaded the video into youtube and from there we embedded the video into our blogs. Using new technoligies is quite important for the preliminary task because we relied very much on these new technologies to achieve the outcome.


From this preliminary task I have picked up several techniques which I can apply to our thriller opening, and the mistakes I made on this task will hopefully not happen with the thriller opening.

Notes on North and South

In class we were given an essay question to answer, and these are the notes I made during the clip of North and South. The notes helped me to write my essay, the essay question is: 'Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender in an extract from Episode 1 of North and South.'

• Camera shots, movement and composition
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise-en-scene

Ellipses is used while Margaret is waiting in Thornton's office and this shot shows Margaret was waiting for about an hour. Clock to her shows the passage of time, and the close up of her face shows her expression which engages the audience into the mise-en-scene and its more personal also shows the important of her character. The shot engages us into Margaret's impatience.

Gender is constructed by the close up of Margaret where she dominantes 2/3 of the mise-en-scene. Her stance is haughty (attitude) and her gaze is firm, her chin up which suggests she is assertive. Margaret is out and about on her which also shows her independence. Margaret is very wide-eyed, with no hunched shoulders. She also doesn't rely on clothes to show the audience how wealthy she is because her costume doesn't show 'wealthy'.

When she is in the mill and walking she dominates the mise-en-scene again and her walk is very determined in what she wants. Non-ambient lighting, and an optimistic soundtrack. When Margaret coughs in the mill this shows an unhealthy enviroment. When walking into the cotton room its like 'the children entering Narnia' the shot shows that the mill world is foreign to her and her expression is full of wonder.

The shot of Thornton's masculine image is constructed by a low-angle shot which makes him seem dominant. There is something quite 'predatory' about him like he is looking for something wrong. There's something dark and dangerous about him and the stony face indicates a harsh man. Margaret looks at him because he is different and she hasn't ever seen a man like this before and she is 'taken' with him.

A shot of a weak man with 7 kids is shown because he is putting the whole mill in danger by smoking a pipe. Thornton yells, 'I SAW YA' which puts Thornton in a lower rank because of his common accent but he still has more power than the workers. Gender is constructed in the 'fight' scene by power, and Margaret just watching. Thornton is physically dominant by using violence. Mrgaret interferre's which is unlike a woman by yelling, 'STOP'. This tells us again that Margaret is assertive, brave and doesn't fit into the ordinary female role. Thornton responds, 'Who're you? What you doing here?' Margaret has never been spoken to like this before because she is of higher class. Margaret gives her full name which shows she is confident about her identity and wealth. 'Get her out of here' Thornton yells at a worker, suggests he is ashamed of what he is done or he doesn't want her to see this side of him. Also suggests his contempt for Margaret, and he doesn't talk directly to her anymore.

There is a shot of women and children looking shocked because it shows they rely on Thornton for employment and if they do something wrong they will be fired. The fact they are doing nothing to stop the violence shows that the way Thornton treats his workers is not uncommon and its a quite 'natural' way of dealing with them. The audience at home are shocked because we don't treat anybody that way now. The close up of the woman at the mill shows she admires Margaret for standing up to Thornton, also there is a comparison between the two women. The woman who works at the mill is not doing anything to stop the violence which is how women should respond, while Margaret steps in and inteferres which is uncommon.

Social Class Notes

• Low angle shot of Thornton which shows he is dominant and his masculine image is constructed by a low angle shot.
• Thornton 's clothes are sharp and smart which shows he is higher class than his workers, but Thornton is still considered to be 'working class' compared to Margaret.
• When Thornton asks who Margaret is she gives him her full name which shows she is confident about her identity.
• When walking around the mill, Margaret walks powerfully with her shoulders back and her chin up. She walks around on her own, and she doesn't wait in the office like Thornton's worker asks. This could mean that Margaret is confident person all the time, or she thinks she is better than the people in the mill so she does as she pleases.
• Margaret doesn't dress like she is from a wealthy background, but she dresses differently from people who are from the mill. She has a hat, full-skirted dress but the materials on the dress are very bland, and dull so she isn't flaunting her wealth.
• When Thornton is beating up the workers there is a high angle shot of the worker which shows he is vulnerable, and that Thornton has all the power.

story boards and shot list of preliminary task

This is a story board for the preliminary task we were set. The shot opens as a close up of a girl's feet then slowly moves out to a long shot of her. Then an over the shoulder shot as she goes around the corner, then a long shot which turns into an extreme long shot as she walks across the balcony then she vanishes completely when she goes around the corner. Close up as her feet as she comes down the stairs and then a mid shot of the character. A close up of the character's hand as they open the door and then a long shot of the character walking to a table where the second character is sitting. Then a reverse shot of the two characters having a conversation about a missing phone. Then a long shot of the character walking out the way they came.

The Opening Narrative Shots and Title Lengths of Thrillers

Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese, 1976
Camera frame, movement and angle: There's an extreme close up of the characters eyes and then shots of the city and there is a lot of smoke when the camera shows shots of the city there is a lot of smoke.
Sound: At the opening credits romantic and soft music plays when the camera is on the man's eyes but when the shot is of the city its tense and deep, loud music. You can hear the diegetic sound of the phone ringing when the man enters the office.
Mise-en-scene: During the opening credits you see the man's eyes a lot, and shot's of the city. Then it cuts to two men in an office with the phone ringing.

10 shots altogether.

Heat, Michael Mann, 1995
Camera frame, movement and angle: There is a long shot of the train coming into the station. Then a close up of a man walking and close ups of his face to show his expression which is quite stern. Then an over the shoulder shot as he goes down the escalator. Then a tracking shot when the character enters the hospital, and long jumpcuts to the different patients being treated and a lot of doctors bustling about.
Sound: As the scene opens there is quite soft music but then the train breaks through it so you hear the diegetic sound of the train coming into the station. When the character goes to the hospital there is diegetic sound of heart monitors, patient's voices and the doctors shuffling about.
Mise-en-scene: A train coming into the station and crowds of people who are 'quite business like.' Then a shot of the man in the hospital, heart monitors, patients, doctors.

Identity, James Mangold, 2003
Camera frame, movement and angle: A lot of jump cuts in the beginning of different files.
Sound: Sound of the thunder and lightning outside the window. Sound of a man asking another man questions which are on a tape and sound like an interview.
Mise-en-scene: The jumpcuts show a lot of files and drawings which look like children's drawings. Then from the innocent drawings the camera jumpcuts to violent images of murdered people. The mise-en-scene also shows a man working, and the lightning outside is also shown outside the window.
Opening credits: The opening credits is like 'typed font', font you would find on an important document, and its quite small, capital, simple and formal. The font is in the corners of the screen as the jumpcuts happen.

40-42 shots because of all the jumpcuts at the beginning.

Red Road, Andrea Arnold, 2006
Camera frame, movement and angle: Quite a lot of close up's of the female character's face which gives us a clearer image of her expression. Mid shots of her head, and shoulders. Camera shots of security cameras' and the quality of these shots are blurred and bad quality.
Sound: Diegetic sound of her pushing buttons and the sound of her breathing and laughing softly.
Mise-en-scene: The mise-en-scene is of the woman working and the images on the screen that she is watching. The woman is sitting in darkness, and the glow from the screens lights up her face and there is also a non-ambient lighting on her face.
Opening credits: Blurred camera moving around with small informal font.

Cosmetics Perfume Advert Analysis

My target audience is young adults so within the age range of 16-23 because the girl in my advert is very young. The background I chose is of a girl very happy and laughing and I think this makes the perfume seem fun and appeals to teenagers who are of a similar age to the person in the advert. The advert shows that females are very happy and gives them a 'positive' image. The background image is very normal because the girl is sitting in a place that loads of teenagers will hang out at with their friends so this makes them want to buy the perfume more because they can relate to the advert. When you look at the advert it seems like anyone can buy it, but because of the young girl in the advert you see that the perfume is aimed at young adults.
I gave the perfume an 'summery' feel because the photo was taken outside surrounded by a lot of grass so by using a paint brush on paintshop elements 2.0 I added a large rose/flower in bewteen the font and the perfume bottle and because the advert is in black and white I made the flower a bright pink so it stood out and made the advert a little more eye catching. I also used another paintbrush and put little black and white leaves across the advert. My advert could also be seen as very 'naturey' because of the setting of the background image, and the paintbrush rose and leaves.
I took the picture with a digital slr and I think this helped get a high quality image, and captured the lighting really well on the girl's face. The lighting along her face shows sunshine which you can link to happiness and the 'summery' feel I was going for. I used paintshop elements to copy and paste the font onto the image, but I used a different programme at home called PhotoFiltre to put the background image into black and white. I made the advert black and white because it seemed more sophiscated slightly, and I thought leaving it in colour seemed quite overwhelming and the bright pink of the flower is more effective and the sunlight on the girl's face is shown more when the image is in black and white. I used http://www.dafont.com/ to get the font for my advert then copy and pasted that font from the website onto my advert. I picked the font I did because its quite informal, and not too fancy and its extremely feminine. I used http://www.google.com/ to get the image of the perfume bottle and I really like the image I chose because its very girly and fancy which brings a hint of sophiscation to the advert.
I think my target audience would be girls who don't rely on appearance so thats why I made the advert seem very 'natural'. The girls wouldn't wear a lot of make-up, and they wouldn't be high status but students who want to smell nice, and not to over the top.

Life On Mars

While we watched Life On Mars we categorized activities that took place which we would consider to be inappropriate or illegal in the present day. We categorized these things into three groups political, technological and cultural.

• Political is something in the episode which you would consider to be politically incorrect.
• Technological is a piece of technology which has been replaced by something more high tech in the present day.
• Cultural would be actions that would be considered acceptable in 1973 but these actions wouldn't be acceptable in present day.

Cultural

• When Tyler arrives in the 1973 police office he has a bewildered expression which makes the other officers comment on him being drunk which shows drinking during the work hours was acceptable while in the present it is highly unacceptable.
• Some of the men in the office use quotes such as, 'Your as white as a gingerbirds arse' and 'she'll kiss it better' which shows men are very sexist and women have very little respect and one of the men said the women work upstairs like they're nothing.
• Sam Tyler gets beaten up in the office by his boss, and punched in the stomach by the same man which would be unacceptable now.
• When Sam Tyler goes over the evidence with other officers one man is eating a sandwich over the evidence, and not treating it like precious evidence. In present day evidence would be handled carefully and wearing gloves as to not interfere with the fingerprints already on the evidence.

Political

• The scene in 1973 where Sam Tyler is in the office is filled with smoke and all the officers are smoking which is illegal in present day now because some people find it unhealthy and disgusting and the new 'smoking ban' brought in means people cannot smoke in public places or the work place.
• We notice in the office in 1973 that there are no women in the office because soceity was very male dominated. Women would be at home doing wifely duties, while men worked but in the 1970s some women started going out to work. In present day it is not unusual to see men and women working together in the same space. Later on in the clip you see that the women work somewhere else, whereas in the present day women work with men.
• When the two detectives from 1973 go with Sam Tyler to the morgue the two detectives laugh at the young women as she is a prostitute and deserves to be murdered because of her profession. You see the difference between the 1973 men to Sam Tyler present values of how women and victims should be treated whatever their lifestyle.
• When Tyler travels back to 1973 the men in the office make sexual inuendos towards women, which also shows that women were looked at as lower class in soceity because of the way men treated them.

Technological

• There is a lot of use of files around the police office because they are in 1973 but in the present there is not a lot of metal filing cabinets used because you can store all your work onto the computer under different files.
• There is the use of a typewriter in the office, but in present day this would be replaced by a computer.
• There is a shot of Izal toilet paper which was used in all workplaces and public toilets. Izal toilet paper was uncomfortable and felt like plastic but technology has changed this so we have better toilet paper.
• In the office they have old phones but in the present day they have been replaced by cordless phones.
• The black and white television that is shown in the female workers house has been replaced in present day with a colour television, which would have more channels than BBC.
• A switch board operator is shown in the office in 1973 and the switch board operator would usually be a woman and it was a low paid job thats why it was for females. These have been replaced with internal telephones and technology.

Thriller Character

My thriller character is about a fifteen year old girl called Alice and she lives in New York City with her mother and father. Her mother is a forty-five year old woman called Diane who is very quiet, isolated and suffers from a mental illness which she could have passed on to Alice because Alice portrays a lot of her mother's qualities. Her father is a strong business man who is fifty years of age and is hardly ever home because of his wife's growing illness.
Alice has extremely blonde hair, almost white, to her shoulders and she has very large blue eyes framed with light eyelashes. She rarely smiles, or frowns, most of the time she seems like she isn't all there. She doesn't hang out with anyone her own age, or hardly speaks to her family. When her father is home she will speak to him for hours about her day, and its the most she speaks all week. When her father is away from the house for days Alice will shut herself away in her room and only leave to go to school and other necessities. Alice doesn't speak to her mother, because her mother spends her days crying or staring at a wall in total silence. Alice fears that she will turn into her mother so stays away from her as much as possible.
Her mother tells her one day that her father is leaving them for another family, and Alice goes into a rage, ruining things in her room. Alice shuts herself in her room and doesn't even leave when her mother calls her down for dinner.
A week later, her father is reported as missing and when Alice's mother tells her Alice sits on the edge of her bed in complete silence and she appears to be quite calm and unfazed. Her mother, however, cries with worry about her missing estranged husband.
Does Alice have more involvement with her father's disappearance than she lets on? Or is she simply a fifteen year old girl ruined by her father's affair and her mother's mental illness?

Perfume Advert - Darling

Perfume Advert - Darling
Originally uploaded by xlondoncalling

the cosmetics advert (leads to flickr where I have annotated the advert).

Life On Mars TV Analysis

Life on Mars: Episode 1

The opening sequence in episode one cuts between the credits and an extreme close up of the front wheel of a car going at high speed on a main city road in present day Manchester. The colour palette is grey (use of grey filter) which connotes (which applies) bleakness, monotony and technology. The car is also a masculine signifier (representing the character) and is an object characters identify with (the car reflects the characters ego). There is tense music in this future shot. The gray steel is cold, hard, unforgiving and the shot really emphasises on technology on the zoom of the wheel.

The medium close up shot of the terraced houses juxtaposed with the tower block that dominates the mise-en-scene. The tower block connotes crime and to some a hostile environment. The terraced houses connotes community, neighbours, more control and in the shot they represent the past. Life over tower block because its more modern, Mars is over terraced housing which could suggest another dimension. This could mean that the past and the future are so different we associate the past with another dimension. Rule of diagonals on the terraced housing roof which creates a sense of movement and dimension and perspective. Grey clouds over the tower block (modern day weather) and reflective light over terraced housing (representing another dimension again). The grey clouds over the tower block could suggest that the director finds modern day boring and the light over the terraced house is more interesting.

Tyler's associated with suits, smart cars and he is in the middle of it all. Tyler is shown to be very stylish, and modern. Tyler seems to act like a machine, and that he has lost part of himself and has become cold. He has quite robotic feelings, and is dismissive which is proven when he speaks to his girlfriend. It is clear that the couple are having problems, but when she tries to console him he is dismissive. Tyler says to her, 'What use are feelings?' which shows he is cold and robotic and is lost in a materialistic world of technology and smart suits. Tyler's girls clothes are the same colours as the clothes he is wearing and the colours are also associated with police colours and technologies grey cold colours. The office behind Tyler is surrounded by technology and the office is a shade of white, and greys. Tyler is holding a mobile phone, and people are working on computers behind him. He is also holding a plastic cup with water in it from a water machine, which is very modern and also the cup is blue blending in with the clear background.

The low angle tilt shot of police headquarters and Sam Tyler's car indicates the importance of police HQ in the narrative and the importance of Tyler. The dominant grey tone reinforces the contemporary setting which is hard metallic surfaces. The use of the tilt shot represents confusion and disorientation. The police car that is beside his car shows the audience that Tyler is at Police Headquarters.

In the interview room they rely on technology like the tape recorder (which could also resemble something from the past because the 21st century has moved on from tape recorders), the laptop to show the criminal a picture of him who the victims have identified as the attacker. In the interview room everything is either blue or grey. The police are very hard on Colin (the accused) and the social worker tries to stick up for him againist the police. The police are confident that they have found the killer, but then the social worker proves that Colin was with her on the day of one of the murders. This causes Tyler to feel like a failure, and right back to the start of his investigation.

After the interview and after Tyler has acted harshly to his girlfriend they get a call about a crime scene. The crime scene is at a child's park, surrounded by tall grey tower blocks and their are grey clouds behind the tower blocks. The child swing is set against the tower block which brings innocence into the shot but the t-shirt Tyler's girlfriend was wearing is smeared with blood and draped across the child's swing which stains the innocence with dread and murder. Tyler's expression in the shot is guilty because his last words to her were cold, and unloving. They use a tilt shot so the tower block looks taller, and looms over the characters and the swing seems bigger which emphasises the fact that Tyler's girlfriend could be missing or worse, dead.

In the next shot Tyler is driving in his car, and he is in a state because his girlfriend has been kidnapped or murdered and his last words to her were cold and heartless. The camera remains mostly on his face and his expression which is showing emotion. Sam Tyler sheds this robotic personailty for a moment, while he shows emotion over his girlfriend. There is a shot of his ipod which is very modern and 21st century but the song then changes to David Bowie - Life On Mars which brings the 70's (the era he is sent to) into the car and into the scene.

When Sam Tyler enters 1973 the colour palette changes from greys to sepia which is the colour of old photographs. Sepia is a cinematic technical device to connote a different time. Also the 70's was known as the brown period and the sepia effect emphasises on this fact because things in the frame are different shades of brown.

In the shot it shows buildings being knocked down which in 1973 they done a lot of to make room for new motorways, and tower blocks which are evident in Sam Tyler's future. They use a tilt shot and it pans around in a circle to show Sam to be confused and disorientated. The shot is called a zooming pan shot which is the characters point of view. There is a poster Sam spots which is advertising a new motorway, the same motorway Sam was driving along and then got hit on.

The Happening analysis

Cast:

Mark Wahlberg
Zooey Deschanel
John Leguizamo

Ashlyn Sanchez
Betty Buckley

The film opens up with fast moving clouds across the screen, with quite simple, innocent music with an egde of mystery and suspense, also the sound of wind is intwined in the music.

The sky, and the clouds are light and summery in the first few seconds then they turn dark, and the music changes to fast and filled with tension and soon the screen goes to black.

The film then opens up to Central Park in New York City and shows a lot of people, and the rustle of trees in the wind and strange music. The camera then shows a long shot of two girls sitting on a bench and one girl says, 'I forgot where I am' very blankly which makes you instantly think, what's wrong with her? But then the second girl tells her, and she laughs it off which makes you relax again.

A loud piercing scream grabs the attention of the girl who didn't say the opening line. A pan shot searches Central Park for the source of the scream. A mid shot of the girl who is distracted by the scream is shown, and the wind blows her hair and her facial expression is confused and panicked. The camera shows nothing of the girl sitting beside her, even though the distracted girl is speaking quickly and asking questions to her but she never answers. The distracted girl describes what she see's, and we don't see anything of what she is seeing which creates mystery within the scene. Her friend sitting beside her doesn't respond to what she is saying. A long shot of central park is shown and people are walking backwards, and some are frozen still. Then another scream comes from the opposite direction, and the girl paying attention says, 'Is that blood?' but we never see what she's seeing. A mid shot of the distracted girl's face, and she is very startled. Another long of Central Park shows everyone to be frozen still, and a few start to walk backwards.

There is a lot of jerky head movements from the girl, and shocked breaths come from her. The whistling from the wind carries on throughout the opening. A shot of a dog trotting across the grass is shown which proves, along with the girl, are not affected by what is happening in the park.

The girl turns to her friends, addresses her as 'Claire', and she is also frozen. The woman repeats Claire a couple of times, and the shot changes to a two people shot but Claire is out of focus. Her face then twitches, and her eyes focus back in and she looks throughly confused then she speaks nonsense. Music then builds up tension, and the whistling of the wind gets louder.

A close up of Claire is shown pulling out a hairpin out of her hair, and slowly brings it to her neck and stabs herself with it. Claire's expression is completely bewildered, and she's not aware of what she is doing to herself. The girl beside her who has been the most active throughout the scene doesn't scream or say anything, she turns her head away from Claire. Then the scene instantly goes to busy New York City.

Leon Thriller Analysis

Cast:

Jean Reno
Gary Oldman
Natalie Portman
Danny Aiello
Peter Appel

The film Leon opens up to a pan across the city showing water and trees which gives a natural adyllic feeling, then the camera carries onto landscapes and a zoom int0 the city and the camera moves along the roads. The camera then enters into a small shop and moves through the door to a dark room, and the light is focused on the table where two men are sitting. One man is shown by the camera, and he is discussing a job for the man opposite him. The man opposite him is never shown, but parts of him are like his dark glasses and hands which are wrapped around a glass of milk.

Then the shot goes to a hotel and shows gangster type characters and a large beefy man. The opening shows all the classic gangster qualities like accents, cigarettes, guns and knifes and dark shades.

You first see Leon through dark shades, but his identity remains hidden. The opening shows a lot of shots of the spiral staircases which are linked to mystery because you can hear the person coming but don't who it is.

The opening scene is of some gangster's staying at a expensive hotel, and dealing with drugs and the beefy character having sex with a typical blonde bimbo.

Leon kills the gangster's men and he does it in a simple way, he doesn't reveal his identity and he shows real cleverness. The camera shots show how Leon comes into the room and how he kills them but never shows who he is.

There is a moment in the opening where the beefy character is trying to escape Leon and Leon has trapped him in his hotel room. The gangster is backing away into another room, then Leon comes from the darkness revealing his face and holding a knife to the mans neck. The characters are the focus on the screen and they are both covered in darkness.

After the killing you see Leon go back to his apartment. This introduces another character called Matilda who is a young girl and this brings innocence into the movie and she is also looking down a spiral staircase. The young girl is then shown to be beaten by her father.

Don't Look Now analysis

Cast:

Julie Christie
Donald Sutherland
Hilary Mason
Clelia Matania
Massimo Serato
Renato Scarpa

The film opens up as the bells of Venice in the beginning, and a man humming, then the scene fades to black.

The scene then opens to an outdoor setting, which is quite adyllic and picturesque and soft music is playing. A shot of the girl is shown of her throwing a ball into shallow water which could represent what's about to come. There are a lot of water shots and reflected image of the girl in water.

The man in the house, the girl's father, is looking at images and there is an image of a church with a red hooded girl sitting in a pew. His daughter outside is wearing a red hood, then the man begins to panic linking the two things. Then the camera shots link togther beause there is a shot of their boy on a bike then he falls off which begins the danger feeling of the movie. The sound effects stay inside the house, but the camera stays outside which links the scene together. The shot outside is the boy running after he see's his sister drowning. Inside the house water leaks onto the image the man is looking at which also links water and the little girl together again. The colours in the image begin to run, and blend together which could represent the little girl drowning outside, like the image of the redhooded figure drowning in the water the man has spilled. The man then jumps up in panic, and runs outside.

Effective tension music is playing then the man's scream breaks through the music and the little boy shouting, 'Daddy'. The man rushes into the water, desperately searching for the little girl who has gone under, and the camera stays on him and the little boy overlooking his father. When the man finds her, he comes to the surface and his desperate screams are the only sounds made. The camera shows the Dad trying to ressusitate his daughter, and his son overlooking his Dad and his attempts. The Mum remains in the house for the whole ordeal, then the camera shows her through the glass of her house when her life is perfectly normal and everyone is safe. Then she looks up and the camera captures her life being ruined and her loud scream links to the next shot of loud drilling.

I like the opening of this thriller because the sound and camera shots all smoothly link together. When the scene opens everything is beautiful and the little girl shows innocence but then there is the devasting shift in mood and camera angles, but everything is done smoothly and everything flows together nicely.

Street Font Poster

The Street Font Poster we did in class on photoshop. We were playing about with fonts on photoshop and using different fonts to match up with a word of our choice which will be useful when we create our advert.

First Blog

Hiya my name's Laura, this is my first blog entry. I've created the blog for all my AS Media work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzAnE4zuYuA&feature=fvw

Testing youtube links on my profile. A trailer for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho which we have watched in one of our lessons.