Hello and welcome to my blog. The brief for the AS course is that we were tasked with creating the opening two minutes of a new feature slasher film, including some titles. Feel free to have a look at my blog and leave comments.
The opening begins with a dutch, low angle shot of a large outdoor white sign. It says: NO PASE Por orden del departamento de arquiologia. This provides exposition of the country where the film may be set. The words translate into: DO NOT PASS by order of the archaeology department, providing further exposition of the place.
The shot then moves down showing a mining like area. There is diegetic sound of crickets and a wolf howl denoting the time of day. There is further diegetic sound of a 'digging' sound and deep breaths, denoting that there is somebody in the mining area (yet this is still narrative enigma as the audience has not yet seen anyone and no narrative of the plot has been given)
A medium long shot of a middle aged man digging at a wall is shown. This may be going against character conventions because teenagers are usually the characters in this type of genre of film.
The tomb like wall falls ontop the man and a bright red/orange light escapes from behind the wall, with diegetic sound of a screaming and whispering coming from the sound, this provides anchorage that denotes the light is alive and is a spirit.
The light then travels around the ground before entering a building.
The opening lasts 2 minutes and 14 seconds.
Barncasarn are next scheduled to be filming on Wednesday 1st February. This shot should take around 1hr 30 mins. The shoot will be at Georgia's house (the first location) with one of the actors that we may be using in the final opening (Luke Kenna). We will be filming scenes of the boy walking to Georgia's house, and also The scene where the boy gives his girlfriend the doll, and the scene where the boy finds the girl in the bath, and is then killed.
Experimenting use of:
•Dutch Angles
•High angles
•POV shots
In the bathroom scene where the boy rushes in to find his dying girlfriend in which he is then murdered by the doll (Georgia plays the boy and pretends there is somebody in the bath as only Tom and Georgia were present and Tom was on the windowsill getting the shot)
GEORGIA EDITED THE FOOTAGE
The Doll - various different weapons that we are thinking of using for the doll (razor/lego sword/penknife/flicknife)
The idea of a puppet instead of a doll.
Costume - for doll looking at charity shops for baby/doll clothes
Costume scream queen - girl will wear a vest top and short cotton pants like pjyama wear
Casting - Luke Kenna will play the boyfriend in the film (description of him) fits the representation of a jock character.
We have not yet found a 'scream queen' character
'Altering' the doll to make him more creepy eg creating indents into his skull or punching holes into his head and inserting hair, or removing his eyes) his head also twists the full way around
We are going to use fishing line to animate his arms so we do not have to use our hands in the shot.
Scream Queen babysitting her little brother idea like from Halloween
Here is a schedule of the filming which we will be doing in the running up of and in the final filming of Tiny Terror. January 15th - First practice footage at location 1 (Georgia's house), 1 hour, all of the scenes with rough footage of ideas that we may have. Bathroom and Kitchen scenes (which will be at Tom's house) are shot at Georgia's house for the first footage. Friday 20th January - Practice footage at location 2 (in the bathroom of Toms house) Around 1 hour. Sunday 29th January - Practice footage at location 2 (in the kitchen of Toms house) 1 hour. Wednesday 1st February - First rough cut in both location 1 and 2, all scenes. 3 hours. Wednesday 8th February - Filming for the second rough cut in location 1 (Georgia's house) around 2 hours. Thursday 9th February - Filming for the second rough cut in location 2 (Toms house) bathroom and kitchen footage. 1 hour. Friday 17th February - Filming for final footage of Tiny Terror with actual cast at location 1 (Georgia's house) filming for 2 hours. Saturday 18th February - Filming for final footage of Tiny Terror with actual cast at location 2 (Toms house) kitchen and bathroom scenes - 2 hours. Sunday 19th February - filming at both locations for 2 hours, to finalise shots and retake any shots that we thought we didn't have enough footage of, or wanted to change.
This is the first test footage we did. Here we built the foundations of the types of shots that we wanted to use in further test footage and in our final film opening. We also tested out the different shot angles that we wanted to use and how this would work. We attempted to move the doll without being able to see our hands.
Mis en Scene: Medium class house, secluded and surrounded by fields (like SCREAM 1)
Teenage girl/scream queens bedroom: Pink theme/ double bed/ magazines/teddybears
White bathroom (which will later contrast with the red blood)
Character: Scream Queen - around 17 years old, blonde hair, rich family, wearing a vest top and lounge shorts, indicating that these are her pyjamas.
Scream Queens boyfriend: 'jock' like character, has a football with him, well built, muscles, bad attitude of a personality.
Father: Tall and slim with brown hair and shaven facial hair, wearing a black and white suit which denotes that he is smart and authorative, possibly connoting that he works in an office.
There is diagetic sound of the house telephone beginning to ring.
The first shot is a medium shot high angle of a modern telephone ringing. A dutch angle of the scream queen picking up the phone is shown. She says "hello?", the voice on the other side of the telephone says "whos this?" in the voice of ghostface from the scream movies. The scream queen replies "daddy its Drew, don't be silly...Oh, you're on your way home? Ok, see you soon", the girl puts the phone down.
There is a long shot low angle of the girl running up the stairs and along the corridor. A long shot of the girl running into her room, where the camera is already positioned, she is facing her bed. We then see a medium shot of her boyfriend in the bed asleep. "Steve! Steve! wake up! my dads coming home, you gotta hide or he's gonna kick your ass!" The name Steve is also the name of the scream queens boyfriend in SCREAM 1, and also, the media language allows the audience to know that the scream queen is using slag, denoting the time era. As she scream queen says this, there is diagetic sound of a door opening and closing downstairs.
A long shot is shown of the girl running down the stairs and moving past the camera. There is a medium 2 shot is shown of the girl greeting her father "Daddy! I'ts great to see you!" In which her father replies "I have a present for you sweetie", Her father reaches behind his back and pulls out a plastic doll, the scream queens facial expression moves from a smile to a dissapointed face. "Oh thanks dad, shes...Pretty". The father says "I knew you'd like her sweetie, now daddy has to go and meet Samantha, we have reservations at that new expensive restaurant, (denoting that the family are rich) food looks good there", The scream queen looks at her father in a disgusted way "Oh, i didnt know you two got on so well..." (denoting jealousy) in which he replies "You know i think the world of her, now i need to go, I'm going to be late!" in which he turns and leaves the house, whilst leaving the scream queen standing there, there is diagetic sound of a car speeding away. The way in which the scream queens facial expression changed when she saw the doll and how her father treated her denoted that he must not be around his daughter enough to see that she is growing up, and in that case the scream queen may feel neglected. The way in which the scream queen acts innocent and young infront of her father, contrasts with the fact that she has a boyfriend and that she is sexually active, this adds tension to the opening of the film.
A long shot of the girl running back up the stairs to find her boyfriend locked in the bathroom is shown, a medium close up shot of her knocking on the door and saying "hes gone now, you're safe" is shown.
The boyfriend walks out of the bathroom, topless, with a towel around his waist.
A medium long shot of the girl sitting on the bed, showing her boyfriend the doll is shown, "haha, look what he got me! sad or what, im not four years old anymore...DADDY!", the way in which she says "daddy" denotes sarcasm and connotes how she has no respect for her father, and instead makes fun of him.
The girl throws the doll onto the floor, and invites her boyfriend back to bed.
A close up of the doll is shown, a bra is then thrown onto the doll, denoting sexual intercourse between the girl and her boyfriend.
The rest of the opening occurs as the main idea of the coursework does.
In short, the doll moves and ends up torturing the scream queen in which the boyfriend finds her in the bath, he is then killed.
My first impressions on final cut, are that it is very efficient and specialises in a wide variety of edits, such as cropping the shot or changing the opacity.
I think that Final Cut is alot more complicated than IMovie. But when i get used to using it, for example, practicing with the prelim video, i will find success in using Final Cut for my coursework, more so than i would with IMovie.
We had the task of making a swede film (a 'rip off' version of an existing film which uses comedic references eg using a pedal bike instead of a motorbike which would have been used in the original film) the class decided to choose KILL BILL and worked together in creating a swede. We used research methods to find out what props were used in the films and came up with our own ideas in order to create comedic references, for example we used a yellow afro hair wig instead of a blonde haired girl to play the part of the protagonist in the film. Here is my cut of our swede.
A long shot is shown of a stereo typically dressed leprechaun walking down middle aged looking cellar steps of a house.
Leprechaun is dwarf like and wearing costume which possibly denotes comedy.
Diagetic sound of a 'sparkle' is denoting that he magically shut the door, connoting supernaturalism.
Medium shot of the leprechauns legs and a 'pot of gold' is shown, connoting a typical leprechaun and also connoting comedy.
Low angle of limo driving along a secluded road is shown, showing exposition of time era.
Non diagetic music is playing, which is soft beats and fast pace anchoring that the film is not serious.
Medium shot of middle aged man wearing smart clothing leaving the limo, the smart clothing and limo denote that he is rich or somebody of importance. The man is drinking alcohol which shows anchorage that he is drunk. A medium shot of the empty bottle on the floor is shown at 1:53 possibly foreshadowing the bottle being used as a weapon later on in the film.
Long shot of man walking up the stairs to a middle aged if not elderly lady dressed in rags, denoting that she is poor, connoting that she may be working class.
She says, ' A limo? What on earth has gotten into you Mr O'Grady?' which is exposition of his name, and that he would not usually drive around in a limo, possibly denoting that he is not rich.
The womans accent shows exposition that she is Irish, also the name O'Grady denotes the the man could be irish too.
The woman is authorative, signifying that she could be his wife or possibly mother.
'Tomorrow we will be looking at mansions', denoting that they are rich, also denoting that they have gotten rich quickly, which leaves polysemic options of that they could have won the lottery, or the mans business could have done successfully, he could have gambled and won etc. It could also be linked to the pot of gold shown at the beginning of the opening.
Mr Ogrady says 'did they deliver the package' using exposition showing that this package may be of importance, the woman says 'whats going on?' denoting that she has nothing to do with this mans plans.
The driver of the limo steps out of the limo, he has an American accent which denotes that he is American, possibly connoting that the film is set in America.
When the package is uncovered, the woman says 'you were supposed to bury your mother, not send her ashes over from Ireland' signifying that they have moved to America.
Medium shot of Mr Ogrady smashing the vase on the table and retreiving 'Gold Leah, Gold' denoting that they are infact rich, and also expositon of the ladys name. 'A wee person, a leprechaun' media language slang of 'wee' denotes that they are both irish. This also anchors that the pot of gold shown at the beginning of the film is very much so linked to Daniel Ogrady and Leah.
A storm begins, which begins tension, possibly foreshadowing death or struggle.
A pot of tea is being made, a medium shot of the woman in the kitchen is shown of her waiting for the tea, a dutch angle of the woman bending down by a suitcase is shown, a medium close up of the suitcase is shown as the leprechaun gets out.
A medium shot of Leah praying for god denotes that she is religious, also that she is afraid and wants god to protect her from this leprechaun, foreshadowing conflict.
A low angle shot of the leprechaun pushing Leah down the stairs is shown, she falls down the stairs towards the camera, there is diagetic sound of bones breaking, anchoring that she is most probably dead.
A low angle long take of the camera following the stairs to the top to find the leprechaun, denoting his authority and foreshadowing that he will win this conflict.
A long shot of Daniel Ogrady entering the house is shown, to be greeted by the leprechaun, the leprechaun says 'where did you hide it, Dan?' denoting a past relationship, he then replies 'where did you find me?'
A long, over the shoulder shot of the man with a pistol and four leafed clover is shown, used for comedic purposes, related to when people scare off vampires with a cross and wooden sharp stake.
The leprechaun says 'catch me if you can', used for comedic purposes, also something that a child would say which denotes his immaturity and the fact that he isnt serious possibly signifies that he isnt afraid, foreshadowing that he will win against Daniel Ogrady.
Long shot of man putting the leprechaun in a wooden box is shown, the leprechaun says 'ill keep coming back' denoting that he will not lose.
Medium shot of Dan Ogrady hammering down the box is shown.
Daniel Ogrady begins to drag his wife, he looks in pain which could be polysemic from what the leprechaun has done to him, or possibly that he has a heart condition etc.
Medium shot of Ogrady moving his hand towards his heart, signifying and foreshadowing a heart attack.
Diagetic sound coming from the leprechaun is heard 'Danny, whats wrong?' denoting sarcasm and a comedic sense, also possibly showing that the leprechaun has caused this heart attack.
Ogrady shouts 'Burn in hell you little green bastard' and begins to light a match, there is petrol all over the floor which could foreshadow a fire.
A close up is shown of the match being lit, and Ogrady falls to the floor, the match goes out.
A close up of the hand twitching is shown, and a flash of light from the lightning is used to connote that he is dead and did not manage to set alight the cellar and kill the leprechaun.
A long shot of the box moving around, denoting that the leprechaun is attempting to get out of the box, possibly foreshadowing his success. Non diagetic sound begins to get louder.
The shot then moves to a transition, denoting a fast forward in time.
THE OPENING LASTS 10 MINUTES AND 7 SECONDS.
The opening begins with an establishing shot, the weather is dark which could be pathetic fallacy of setting the 'mood' in the opening.
Low noted dark music is played continuously possibly denoting that the film will be a horror and signifying that it will not be comedy/romance etc.
A long take shot of the camera following a road, coming closer to an object in the middle of the road is shown, this denotes tension and makes the audience think 'what is in the middle of the road?'
As the shot gets closer to the object, it becomes obvious that the figure is a teenage boy, unconcious, possibly denoting that he is dead. There is a bike next to the boy, which could signify that he has been on a journey.
A long high angle shot of the view from the camera shows hillside which could anchors that he is in a secluded, rural area.
A medium close up shot of the boy is shown waking up, he starts laughing which could be connoting that he is mentally ill, but also signifies that he is not confused as to his where abouts like this event happens regularly.
The boy is wearing pyjamas which signifies that he lives in civilisation.
A transition is used to jump into the future of long shots of the protagonist on his bike.
A long shot of a sign is shown saying 'Middlesex Halloween Carnival OCTOBER 26TH = 30TH HALLOWS EVE'' which implies anchorage as to where the film is set, what month it is, and what event is occuring (Halloween).
Long shots of the protagonist are shown again, the mis en scene is now very suburban, with pathways, houses, trees and cars (which denote the time era).
'Pop' music begins to play, possibly music from 2001 which denotes the time era.
The shot moves to a 2 person shot of a middle aged male and female, there could be polysemy that the protagonist is related to this couple who are in a garden, which could also denote that he lives in the same house as them .
A long shot of the protagonist is shown walking into the kitchen from outside, he is out of breath, signifying that he has cycled home. The protagonist moves to the fridge and opens the fridge door, on the door of the fridge is a whiteboard with handwritten text on it saying 'wheres donnie?' denoting that the protagonist's name is donnie, and also showing anchorage that he has been missing, yet adds comedy which could signify that the protagonist, or 'donnie' goes missing regularly and it is not an irregular event.
A group shot of the family around a table is shown, the same 2 middle aged couple, donnie, and 2 teenage girls. The pop music fades away.
The family interacts in normal conversation, the children then begin to throw harmless insults at eachother e.g. 'will you still be working at the yard barn?', it then gets out of hand and builds tension when the oldest teenage girl says 'ok, do you want to tell mum and dad why you stopped taking your medication?' which builds tension and provides exposition, signifying that donnie is ill, yet the audience do not know why.
A long shot of the boy is shown, he is in bed reading a book, denoting the time of day, and also possibly signifying that he is a smart child.
Donnies mother walks into his room, she asks 'where do you go at night?' which shows anchorage that he dissapears regularly, and only at night.
Donnie gets adgitated at his mother, he says 'well then why dont you start taking the god damn pills, Bitch?' which denotes that he does not like taking his pills and that he does not have a healthy relationship with his mother.
A close up shot of a bathroom cupboard being open is shown, an orange tub is shown, which anchors that the tub is for perscribed pills from the doctors. On the tub, the text says 'Donald Darko' and '3/24/86' which is exposition, showing his full name and his age (Where he would have been 15 years old)
TRANSITION to signify that the opening of the film has ended.
THE OPENING OF DONNIE DARKO LASTS 7 MINUTES AND 23 SECONDS.
The film begins with non diagetic choir like classical music, denoting christianity and religion, possibly connoting innocence and purity.
An extreme loing shot of the church spiral ius the opening shot, denoting religion and could be signifying that the whole town is religious.
There is a long shot of a sign post saying "cherry falls" which is anchorage and exposition denoting the setting of the film.
An extreme long shot of a serene and peaceful setting connotes calmness, or possibly foreshadows the "calm before the storm"
There is a long shot of a car, which is exposition of time era.
Close up shot of a boy kissing a girl, both with brown hair, the boy begins to put his hands across the girls legs, denoting sexual tension.
The girl shouts "Keep that up rod and it will be your last act!" denoting that she doesnt want to have sex. Also possibly foreshadowing that he will die.
A long shot of the girl getting out of the car, signifying the area that the car is in and also that they are both visable to anybody in the park like area.
A long shot of a car hidden in bushes is showing, denoting that somebody is watching the teenagers.
A medium close up 2 shot of the couple kissing is shown, in the background, 2 flashing lights from a car becomes visable and moves nearer to the car, parking behind the car.
A close up of the first car's numberplate is shown, it says "virginia" which is exposition of where the film is set, it could possibly connote that one of the teenagers is a "virgin" as it is hinting.
The boy gets out of the car, convinced that the car behind him is one of his friends "messing around", he says "Ben, get your ass over here", the audience is led to believe that this is one of his friends, too.
The boy walks closer to the car an non diagetic music begins to build tension, as the boy bends over next to the car, the killer opens his car door rapidly which knocks the boy to the ground.
A long haired dark figure with manly features gets out of the car.
A close up of the girl screaming is shown, denoting that she is scared.
Medium POV shot of the dark figure stabbing ross is shown, denoting that the girl can see Ross being stabbed.
Non diagetic fast beat music is added to denote tension and horror.
Diagetic "stabbing" knife sounds are used to denote that Ross character is being stabbed.
Close up shots of Casey locking the doors to denote safety.
Ross comes up to the door and begins to shout his girlfriends name "Casey"
Close up shots of Casey unlocking the door to let Ross in.
Medium shot of the killer coming back and stabbing Ross to death as Casey tries to help him inside the car. The killer drags Casey out of the car, there is a close up shot of Casey being held against a tree, the killer has a long black leather jacket on and long dark hair, yet has manly features.
The killer begins to wipe the bloody knife across the girls face, possibly foreshadowing her death.
A medium low shot is shown of the bottom half of the killer and Caseys body is shown, the killer is wearing a long black skirt and tights with boots, and has weapons in the side of his/her waist. It is still unnapparent wether the killer is female or male, denoting confusion of sexual identity, possibly connoting that they were bullied or neglected at some point in their life.
There is a close up of the killers fingers moving across the girls mouth, the killer is wearing nail varnish, denoting confusion further, also possibly foreshadowing rape.
Close up of killer leaning into the girl, his hair covers the screen which turns black, there is anchorage that the killer will be moving to kiss and embrace the girl.
THE OPENING LASTS 4:18 MINUTES.
Non diagetic sound starts as soon as the idents appear on the screen - slow pace hollow noises are used to create tension.
Diagetic young girls voice is used over the first shot.
The first shot is a close up of shot of a hand, which goes to pick up a pink razor (anchorage that the protagonist is female), it becomes apparent that this person is in the bath. The razor could foreshadow violence with sharp blades like a razor blade or knife.
An extreme close up is shown of the girl shaving her pale leg, there is non diagetic sound of a loud electric razor blade when the girl shaves, to build tension.
There is a medium shot of the girls back in the bath, it first becomes apparent that she has brown hair which could denote that she is a final girl. The girl begins to shave her back, signifying that something is wrong.
A close up of blood dripping into the clear bath water is showing, denoting that somebody is bleeding, but is polysemic as the audience does not know if the girl has cut herself with the razor, or another tool.
There is non diagetic sound of high pitched screaming with a close up of the girl shaving her cut and bloody leg, denoting self inflicted pain, which could connote self harm and depression.
An extreme close up is shown of 2 circular marks next to eachother, there is anchorage of the marks being bite marks if the audience has seen Ginger Snaps 1, and the bruising around the marks.
The non diagetic voice of the girl says "i thought you were going to die" giving the audience anchorage of what has happened, it could also be polysemic in connoting that the girl has schizophrenia, or she remembers a girl talking to her and saying these words.
An extreme close up is shown of a scalple cutting the skin of the girl, denoting self harm and torture.
The non diagetic girls voice says "Its like an infection, it works from the inside out, its like a virus", this could be narrative enigma if the audience has not seen Ginger Snaps 1, or if the audience has seen it, they understand what the girl is talking about.
A dutch angle long shot is shown of the protagonist sat naked in her bathroom bandaging up her arm, denoting that she has cut herself quite severely.
A close up of a needle being inserted into the girl is shown, anchoring drug or medicine use.
The non diagetic girls voice says "Ginger please", providing exposition of the protagonist's name.
There is a close up of the girl biting down on the needle, denoting that she is feeling pain, a non diagetic voice of a wolf howling is used to provide anchorage of the rest of the storyline.
A close up of a photo of 2 "final girl" looking teenagers is shown, anchorage is used to possibly show that they are sisters, and denotes that the girl talking is Gingers sister, from in the photo.
THE OPENING OF THE FILM IS 2:22 SECONDS LONG.
The first shot is an establishing shot of a middle class house at night time
There is diagetic sound of a glass smashing and a girl screaming, with a shadow in the window, this is denoting horror and is used as a false scare.
A teenage girl with brown hair runs out of the house with her lingerie on, she then looks back and says "Danny, give me my shirt!" this denotes that she has had her shirt taken off her, or possibly connoting that she has been involved in sexual intercourse. A 'jock' like boy then runs after the girl and shouts "come and get it" denoting false scare.
A long shot is used to move into the house, with various shots of teenagers dressed in lingerie and pjyamas, denoting a pyjama party.
There is non diagetic sound of mainstream pop music denoting the time era and connoting that these teenagers are part of the mainstream scene and are alot like 'jocks' and 'cheerleaders' character representation. This is also shown with a medium shot of a group of girls doing a 'dance routine' possibly denoting that they are teenagers.
As the camera continues to move around the house, there are many close up shots of teenagers with plastic cups, generally denoting alcohol, which is connoting that they are drunk and incapable.
A high angle medium shot of a teenage couple on a bed embracing each other in public is shown possibly foreshadowing sex.
The camera begins to follow a brown haired muscly teenage character who says "hey chugs, give me a beer!' denoting that the teens are drinking.
This "chugs" character is then shown, she is female, denoting that she has a nickname, a medium shot is shown of the girl throwing her drink over this boy, denoting previous conflict and tension between the two.
A medium shot of a 'jock' character attempting to flirt with a typical 'geek' female character is shown (she has ginger hair and glasses, this could possibly foreshadow a final girl character) he asks "so how long have you been a beta?" which denotes anchorage of her status and the fact that she will be in an American university, as american students usually refer to each other from greek mythology.
A long shot is shown of a girl on a staircase attempting to attract the geeks attention, "Ellie up here!" giving exposition of the girls real name.
The camera follows the geek up the staircase and along the hall, teenage couple walk past the camera and are about to enter a room when the boy says "I just got tested so its cool" denoting that he has no STI's and connoting that the couple are about to have sex.
The shot moves to a group medium long shot in a bedroom of 5 girls, a tall, busty blonde haired girl (Denoting scream queen) says "this party kicks off our senior year" providing exposition of their last year of university and their age.
The girls all compliment eachother beginning with "i love you because" denoting that they are good friends, possibly connoting that they have been good friends for a long time. Exposition is used in all of the sentances to show all of their names, "Claire", "Ellie", "Cass" and "Jess".
One of the girls asks "Wheres Megan?" using exposition to denote that there is a sixth member of their BETA group.
A close up shot of a laptop is shown which is exposition of modern day, on the laptop, through a webcam, there is a long shot of a girl with brown hair dressed in white lingerie on a bed, possibly denoting that she is pure, innocent, and a final girl. It is then apparent that a boy is with her as he starts kissing her and feeling her body. A medium shot of the character "Chugs" is shown, she says "Classy, my brothers good in bed" which is showing exposition that the boy and "Chugs" are related.
The girls start a conversation about the drug "Rufees" which denotes drug use.
There is a close up shot through the laptops webcam of the brown haired girl foaming at the mouth and all of the girls run along the corridor to the room to help this girl who is named "Megan", the sixth member of their BETA group.
Non diagetic fast pace music becomes apparent to denote rising tension.
The squeen queen described before hand, now known as "Jess" begins to perfom "mouth to mouth" whilst the boy leaves the room panicking and trying to find help, when he leaves, there is a close up shot of Megan beginning to kiss Jess back, denoting that she is alive, connoting that the foaming of the mouth was a prank.
One of the girls says "What is going on?" denoting that, like the audience, they don't know the story line.
Megan tells the girls that this boy "Garrett" is her ex, who cheated on her, and she is getting him back with a prank. She says "That boy needs to be taught a lesson" which could be foreshadowing violence.
Long shots are shown of an expensive looking 4X4 car driving along secluded roads rapidly.
The scream queen Jess refers to the car being hers which signifies thats he is rich.
All of the BETA girls are in the car discussing hospital plans, whilst Garrett panicks in the back of the car.
A long shot of the car driving past a sign is shown, "Beck Mining Company" which is exposition of place, also denoting that the girls are not going to the hospital.
One of the girls asks the now apparent dominant character Jess where they are going, Jess replies "We're going to take care of this" denoting the prank going extreme and also possibly foreshadowing real death.
An extreme long shot is shown of the car moving into the mining pit, denoting that the area is fully secluded and nobody can see them.
A long shot of a hole ontop of a hill is shown, possibly foreshadowing an event happening there.
The car stops and all of the girls get out, the boy, Garrett gets out and rushes to vomit, connoting that he still fully believes the prank.
There is a long shot of the girl being placed on a blanket, engaging in conversation with the other girls whilst Garrett is not there, a mobile phone is placed next to her, signifying that they are going to record this prank, which foreshadows further payback to Garrett.
Jess (the dominant scream queen) gathers everybody round together, including Garrett, and says "Everybody spread out and find sharp rocks to dismember the body with" denoting that all of the girls know the plan, also possibly foreshadowing the prank going wrong and somebody actually dismembering Megans body parts.
A close up shot of one of the girls is shown whilst in the background, Garrett picks up a tyre iron and stabs Megan in the chest, the close up goes fuzzy to focus on Garrett and Megan.
Megan opens her eyes, denoting that she is still alive, also showing Garrett that she is alive.
All of the girls gather round Megans dead body (contrasting with her innocent look and brown hair possibly denoting binary opposition as final girl), screaming, whilst Garrett screams "I thought she was dead!" repeatedly.
Some of the girls still try to save Megan by attempting to resuscitate her, Jessica tells the girls to stop, and begins to make a plan of how they can hide her and not tell anybody about it.
Some of the girls oppose to this idea, yet she blackmails them with "Secret sister solidarity" as part of the beta girl rules.
A medium close up of Megan being dragged to the top of the hill is shown
Non diagetic music begins to get louder to build tension.
A medium shot of the "geek" character is shown, she says "Do we want to cross this line?" signifying that they could all get out of the trouble that they are going to get into later on in the film.
3 of the girls throw the dead body into the hole ontop of the hill from earlier on in the opening, there is diagetic sound of a thud, denoting that Megan has hit the bottom of the hole.
Jess says "Dont worry, atleast she will be warm" including sarcasm which denotes an evil side of her.
A low angle shot of the girls throwing the tyre iron into the hole is shown, as the weapon gets closer to the camera, it visably shows the shape of a cross, signifying religion or secrecy, all related to the greek mythology and "sorority sisters".
An extreme long shot of Cass, a brown haired girl is shown at the ending, standing by the hole, this could possibly foreshadow that she is the final girl.
THE OPENING IS 19 MINUTES AND 40 SECONDS (Which is an extremely long opening)
The film begins with exposition. "The film you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in paticular, Sally Hardisty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived a very, very long lives, they could have not expected nor would they wish to see as much of the mad and maccabre as they were to see that day" this paragraph continues, it leaves the audience with the clue that the film will be about what happened to Sally Hardisty and her brother, and also makes the audience curious.
"August 18 1973" exposition is used to anchor the time era.
There is diagetic sound of somebody 'digging' e.g. with a spade before any visual shots are shown.
The screen is black, then a flash appears for around 1 or 2 seconds, a close up of a rotting finger is shown, whilst it is shown, there is diagetic sound of an old fashioned horn or something alike. This could be connotation of photos of the body being taken with an old fashioned camera.
Non diagetic music is played to build tension in the opening.
Transition shots showing close ups of different parts of a rotting body are shown which denote that this person is dead, connoting that they have been left to decompose, or/and that they were murdered.
Close ups of rotting hands and other parts of the body could possibly make the audience feel uncomfortable and unsteady the heartbeat, as narrative enigma is being used and they do not have any power in knowing what is happening, it keeps the audience interested and entertained.
There is a close up of a mouth, the mouth is almost fully rotting away yet the teeth are still clearly shown, denoting how long the body has been left there, and connoting that the body is definatly of a human.
The screen turns black again, there is diagetic sound of thumping and out of breath noises which could connote tension and struggle.
The first clearly visable shot is shown which is a close up shot of a human head out in broad daylight, looking decomposed and possibly burnt, with an off colour tone goo like substance all over the face of the human body. The shot moves outwards into a long shot, showing two bodies placed in a cemetery, which is where the dead lie. The two bodies could possibly be referring to 'Sally Hardesty and her brother Franklin' from the exposition at the beginning of the opening.
Diagetic sounds of a radio are used to use exposition of why the dead body is there and how the police are involved.
THE OPENING LASTS 3 MINUTES AND 19 SECONDS.
The opening begins with diagetic sounds of a high pitched screaming denoting that the voice is of a female.
The first shot is a dark side on medium shot of a girl running through an isolated woods at night time (this is denoted by the darkness).
There is an extreme long shot of the girl running past and then a torch light on the right hand side following the girl, denoting that she is being chased.
The next shot is a long shot head on view of the girl (in which we first see her facial features, she has blonde hair, denoting that she is a scream queen and connoting that she will die). The girl runs diagonally past the camera and the subject with the torchlight is following her. (The audience can still hear diagetic sounds of her out of breath and screaming)
The girl falls into a heap full of leaves, the audiences hears diagetic sound of a twig breaking which could possibly denote that she has a broken bone, connoting that she is unable to move.
A P.O.V shot is shown of the person with the torchlight searching for the girl, moving the torchlight across the leaves, connoting that she is his prey.
There is a close up shot of a phone, anchoring the time era, the subject scrolls down his contact list and stops at 'Becky', the then rings the phone.
The scream queens phone starts ringing, using exposition to tell the audience the scream queens name, and also denoting that the predator and scream queen have a relationship, they know each other.
There is non diagetic sound of a siren like sound, building tension, as the music gets faster, there is a dutch angle (denoting that something is wrong) of a medium close up of the scream queen crying.
A diagetic sound of a gunshot is heard denoting that the girl has been killed.
a Transition is used straight afterwards to denote the ending of the opening.
THE OPENING LASTS 2.02 MINUTES
(Which is similar to the time allowed for the AS student opening of a slasher film)
