Feedback - Miss Spencer

There is lots of detailed work here Sophie, you have really noticed all the interesting elements in the openings and commented on many of them. However at the moment you haven't added enough comment about the conventions of the genre or the effect on the audience.

At the moment your work is at a level 2, in order to improve I suggest:

• When you comment on a shot/prop or any other element ensure you comment on the effect on the audience and whether or not it is a convention of the genre.
• Look into the conventions of Rom-Com and Thriller to check you understand the conventions
• Please embed the film opening for each clip
• add screen shots throughout to illustrate you points

Textual analysis - The pact

Textual analysis

The pact analysis

The location of this opening scene is in a old furnished house. I’m not to sure where the scene is based but I can that she lives alone in an old dim house.

At the very start of the opening scene I can hear breathing, the screen is dark. All of a sudden the camera jumps to a very close up of an eye. The eye has a green pupil then blinks changing to a blue pupil. The camera then jump cuts to the hall way giving the audience a long shot of the room. The camera begins to move towards to door at the end of the hall this gives the audience a clue into what is about to come, possibly being based on that hallway or the door.

The girl then wakes up giving us a close side shot of her lying in bed. The camera then moves to a mid shot as she exits the bed, picking up her phone as she leaves the room.

The girl the walks down the hallway on the phone to possibly her sister. The camera is behind her as she walks towards that door then taking a right into the kitchen. She picks up the kettle filling it with water then replaces it back onto the cooker. She then walks around the house whilst on the phone and sits down, here we get both side and front close ups of her showing her paralinguistic features as she talks.

Whilst the girl is on the phone the camera moves to long shots of each room of the house giving the audience a view of the house and what rooms are in it. This creates tension as the rooms are all empty and old fashioned leading us to think something is about to happen. The kettle begins to whistle and the girl gets up to make her drink, the camera is behind her at this point slowly moving up towards the light looking down at her. The light flickers.

Later on in the scene it becomes night time creating a dramatic atmosphere in the house. The girl is making another drink in the kitchen. The camera then jump cuts to her sitting in a different room on her computer, the camera is over her shoulder. We can hear breathing and then all of a sudden she jumps as if to say something had just touched her. The camera jumps again to her looking out into the hallway. All these jump cuts create tension as there happening so quickly.

Throughout the opening scene this is no diegetic sound being played, this is when a sound/music is being played in the background, the audience can hear this but the actor cannot.

During the start of the opening scene there are titles being played only being played for roughly 20 seconds. The titles show the film production team and name of trade marks.

The characterisation is evident in this scene, we only see the one woman throughout the opening. The women looks young possibly in her early 20’s. she lives alone so we can see she is not in a relationship. I know she has relations with her sister as she is on the phone to her throughout the scene.

The mise on scene of this sequence shows low lighting in areas e.g. the hallway is dark and dim but the kitchen and the bedroom are fairly bright. This could mean that something’s going/gone on in that hallway. The props lead us into thinking about the genre and the narrative of the film as the old furnished house and the dim hallway are conventions of a typical horror. The colour and tone of the film are both bright and dim. The films starts in daytime but goes into night time as the scene goes on showing us that that things can happen during the day too.

The camera angles and shots throughout the opening scene change frequently showing editing skills. In terms of editing the editor has used fast and slow jump cuts in and out. This makes the fast parts dramatic and the slower parts more tense. There camera shots and angles change a lot throughout the opening scene giving us a look into her life and her house.

Textual analysis - Conjuring

Textual analysis

Conjuring analysis

The location of this opening scene is a small room where an interview of paranormal activity is being discussed. I’m not to sure where the scene is based but I can see that they are sitting in a dim room being filmed.

At the very start of the opening scene the people are talking and the screen is dark. The video camera has obviously not started recording yet as it all of a sudden it clicks and a jump cut is used to start it off. The doll is placed in the corner of the opening showing a slight glimpse of her face, this gives the audience a clue into what is about to come. The camera then fades out from the doll giving us more detail of her small fragile face then jumping to the 2 girls and lad sitting on the sofa being interviewed. The camera starts with a side shot of all three of their faces as they begin to talk. The camera then jumps to a front view of the three slowly zooming out as they speak about their experience.  

Later on in the scene the 2 girls go back to their apartment where they find a letter on the floor with ‘miss me?’ on it. The two girls look at each other then look down the hallway finding the doll sitting in the hallway with its back pressed up the wall as if it was waiting for them. The girls then freak out and one takes the doll and chucks it in the bin. The camera here is above the girl showing her chuck the doll, this shows that the girl is powerful as she’s the bigger person and the doll is presented as small as she is being thrown away. The scene continues with the girls being woken by a loud knocking of the door. They both exit their bedrooms and look down the hall way and make there way towards the door. The girl opens the door with the camera behind her jumping the a close up of her face as she looks out the door and looks down finding another ‘miss me?’ letter. The door then knocks again and the other girl opens the spare room door to find the doll sitting waiting.

After that the scene jumps back to the interview between the 2 girls, man and the two ghost hunters discussing what has happened and why.

Throughout the opening scene there is non diegetic sound being played, this is when a sound/music is being played in the background, the audience can hear this but the actors cant.

During start and end of the opening scene there are no titles being shown apart from the film productions before the film begins, this is because this is an insight before the film actually begins taking us back to where the doll came from and where it all started.

The characterisation is evident; in this scene we see five people and a doll. Three are women and two are men. The two women on the couch being interviewed seem to be younger that the women interviewing them. Same with the man being interviewed. The two interviewers are a couple and the three people on the couch are friends, the two girls seem to be closer compared to the lad.

The mise on scene of this sequence shows very low lighting making the scene tense and dramatic. The props lead us into thinking about the genre and the narrative of the film as dolls and letters show the conventions of a typical horror. The colour and tone of the film is dark and dim linking back into the genre. 

The camera angles and shots throughout the opening scene change frequently showing editing skills. In terms of editing the editor has used fast and slow jump cuts in and out. This makes the fast parts dramatic and the slower parts tense.

Textual analysis - The note book

Textual analysis

The note book analysis

The location of this opening scene looks like it is set on a real life location. It is based in the countryside by a lake.

At the very start of the opening scene it slowly fades in, there is a boat floating in the middle of a lake. In this scene, they use a long shot, this is to show a view of the sunset and the boat floating up on the water. This helps the viewer know that is a romance due to the type of music being played and warmth of the scene. The fact that there is a boat in the middle of a lake in the light of the sunset possibly foreshadows what is going to come next.

Later on in the opening scene, they’ve now jumped to a different setting, the is still warm but there is now a view of a big white house, birds fly past and sunset is still reflecting on the lake. The slow-pace of the scenes creates a peacefulness linking back to the genre of the film. The shot is still long giving us the full details of each setting.

As the opening scene goes on we get an non- diegetic sound in the background. Non diegetic sound is similar too to voice over or plays as a background sound. We can only hear the music playing as the sequence goes on.

Before the scene ends the shot grows close to the big white house heading towards the window, there we can see the reflection of the sunset and the lake and a old woman standing in the window. This gives the audience a slight hint of the storyline possibly being about an old woman looking back at her past, the reflection could resemble her looking back to what was.

During the start of the sequence we see titles slowing coming in and fading back out during the opening scene, we can see that there is an order of the most important actors.

The characterisation is evident, I can see that the gender is a woman and she is fairly old.

The mise on scene of the sequence shows low lighting keeping the scene calm. The props used lead us into thinking about the genre and the narrative of the film as boats and birds link into romance and freedom. The colour design is also calm linking in with the setting as the country shows warm colours e.g. wheat growing.

 

The shots stay long throughout the starting sequence then moving in towards the end, the camera angles also stay the same. 

Prelim task