Let Me In - Amara Bullen

Let Me In, directed by Matt Reeves, is about a bullied young boy that befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian.

I chose this film because the soundtrack to the opening of this film drew me in and stood out as a good example of a horror movie. I thought that the sounds used were quite threatening and the shots used were interesting as they leave the viewer guessing and making up stories in their heads as to what's happening in the film.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjL7VEFvOxM

 

While the producer credits are shown on the screen by fading in at the very beginning, an echoing choir is singing in one tone that gradually becomes clearer and louder. On top of this, a harp is very slowly playing in a minor tone making the atmosphere sad. The plucks of the harp strings echo so that they end up combining into the sound of the choir singing. The sound drifts off into a minor scale which makes the choir sound haunting almost as it comes across as harsh and drifting out of tone. The sounds put together enhance a scary surrounding making the viewer feel tense and adds to the scary affect making it seem like something is wrong but they don't know what yet so it keeps the viewers guessing the worst.

 

A black screen is shown and the choir becomes quieter and a fade in of each word of the title is shown in big, bold letters, written in red. The colour red is often referred to blood and death as it is written in front of a black screen. This may give the viewer an image that death may occur in the film. After the title has fully appeared, the choir fades out into nothing as well as the title which fades out into blackness once again.
 

A loud booming drum breaks the silence which repeats while a place and date appears on the screen (Los Alamos, New Mexico, March 1983) which can scare the viewer as this relates more to real life.

The sound of wind builds up before a picture is shown on the screen. The wind gets louder and a low brass instrument accompanies the drum, playing the same haunting note over and over.

A small, orange light is show in the middle of the screen is zoomed into it to see that it's an establishing shot of an ambulance and a few police cars going round a winding road surrounded by some trees. Sirens fade in and become louder as the camera nears closer to re-enforce the audience that they are police cars. This shot can make the viewer interested in what's happening but nervous at the same time as the sirens are on so something must have happened and they're surrounded by trees on a winding road so they could be far away from a safe place.

A factor of mise-en-scene is that this scene is filmed at night as its pitch black which can scare people as some people are afraid of the dark and most bad things happen at night. I can also be quite threatening as you can't see what’s lurking in the dark, if there is anything there or not.

 

A tracking shot of the police cars and an ambulance is shown from in the trees and the sound of the vehicles is emphasised to show that they are driving quickly, building suspense to show that they need to get to the destination quickly.

 

A shot shown from the inside the police car is of the front of the window showing that it's snowing heavily as the window-wipers are moving quickly.
 

  A straight edit to a shot of the radio which has a radio transmission of a man asking for them to reply in code. The voice is stereotypically a man's voice as he must be a police man and this role is stereotypically carried out by a man as they are known to be the braver and stronger gender.

 

 The next straight edit is blurry and isn't very clear as to what it's showing. It seems to show a trolley bed as the camera moves to show the bottom of the foot of a person that is laying down on the bed. The camera is quite shaky so suggest that it's shot inside of the ambulance. To add to the fact that they're moving quickly, creaking and shaking of the bed and things in the ambulance are cluttering noisily.

Scissors are shown cutting the material, supposedly belonging to the person's on the bed showing that he must be injured, leaving the viewers with no idea of what's going on making them wonder how they got there? Who he/ she is with? What's wrong with them? etc.

 

The hand of the person reaches up and grabs one of the uniformed men who tries to stop him/her. The uniformed man is stereotypically male as it seems they're dealing with something major and women aren't seen to be able to handle too much pressure and blood.

 

Another straight edit changes to show the radio again and the voice replying, inside the ambulance describes the 'male' that is injured in the ambulance. This is typical for the person lying on the bed to be a male as they tend to get up to no good and misbehave more than women.

 

Different shots are shown to be helping the man on the bed  but faces haven't been shown yet so this also adds to the curiosity of the viewers as it leaves things unknown.

 

 
Sounds of the patient being sick and making strange noises may freak the viewers out, still not fully understanding what's happening. The report on the radio said that he had swallowed acid so this could link in which can gross the viewers out and feel his pain almost.

All the while, the brass instrument and drum had been playing quietly in the background, unnoticeably yet still haunting like.

 

 

All sounds come to a sharp, high pitched sound and all is quiet. A straight edit is shown of the back of a man in what looks like a hospital.

 

                                                                                                                                                 

 

Media Lesson - 22.01.2013

Media Lesson - 22.01.2013
Todays lesson our group worked more on the storyboard - We thought of how we could make the film opening flow better by introducing the doll as the children carrying it about, this could then lead to the girl leaving the doll in one place, but somehow it moves around (The camera jolts and the doll appears and disappears).

Media Lesson - 17/01/2013

Today we spoke to our teacher - We explained all our ideas: The basis of a doll that was given to a two girls (Not yet decided if they are sisters or friends), the fact that there is something not quite right about the doll, it is following the two girls wherever they are.
Our teacher then gave us ideas about ways in which we can introduce the doll instead of jumping straight into the beginning of the film: The doll could be given as a birthday present, the doll could have been there all of it's life, introducing photos at the very beginning of a girl with a doll with the opening credits.

The Collector - Jodi

The Collector

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxbrgnsvAc4

Analysis

 

It opens with a tracking shot of a large house, which sets the scene which shows that there maybe someone outside watching the house.

 

  There’s slow non-diegetic music in the background. there’s a ‘crime scene do not cross’ tape around the tree which adds to the affect of mise-en-scene creating the atmosphere for the film.

A car pulls up at the house and the camera slowly stops to focus on the car. 

 

The scene then moves into the house with a straight edit. There’s a two shot to show the main characters at this point. Outside it looks like very dark and gloomy night which sets the scene.

 

 The lighting inside the house is also very dark and gloomy (mise-en-scene).

 

In the house you cant really see the faces of the people its just dark silhouettes, this creates a spooky atmosphere.

 

There’s a tracking shot of the woman walking through the house and walking up the stairs.

There’s a close up of the man getting something out of the cupboard downstairs and looking at some letters. Which is odd because people normally look at their letters in the morning.  There’s a tilt shot down and then up.

 

Then there’s a close up of just his face, this shows that he heard the woman shout/scream and he is going to see what's going on. Then the camera shows what he’s looking at.

 

  Then there is a close up of the women’s lips because she has shouted something to the man.

 

 Then there’s a tracking shot of the man running up the stairs. Showing that he is going to see what the woman was shouting about.

 An over the shoulder shot to show where he’s going and who's there. A two shot is used to show who’s in the scene looking at the red box.

 

There’s a main problem/mystery (the red box) in the scene. it's also a main focus from now on.

A zoom shot is used to get closer to the box/ note. A note is used to also create a sense of mystery.

Return to Sleepaway Camp - Jodi Lee

Return to Sleepaway Camp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nSygEl5nOQ&feature=related

 

Analysis

 

Close up of a poster about the camp. It says that it'll be 'A summer you'll NEVER forget' which can either mean in a good way or a bad way. This shows that something bad might be happening or has happened in the camp before. The camera pans down the poster and slowly zooms in on the writing to emphasise it.

The camera pans across quickly to show other articles about death and bad things that have happened. This make you think that something bad has happened and will happen furtehr on in the film. Randomly over the writing is blood splatters which also adds to the effect of something bad happening.



In the opening the people starring in the film name's are shown and the producers etc. Also with the blood splatters to carry on the effect.

The camera carrys on moving across the pages showing other stories.

The background then turns red which relates to the blood splatters on the pages. Red is also associated with danger and death. 

The movie title writing then slowly fades on onto the background, this is also red and blood like which carries on the thought of someone dying or being killed.

The scene then moves to a slightly tilted to the side view of a house and it then slowly movoes towards the house. This is shoing that the scene is likely to be about the huose or that the next scene will be inside the house next.

 

The scene then moves to the house/cabin and there are a group of boys messing around with fire and another boy walks in who seems to think that he is better than the rest of them.

The boy then threatens the other boys and then he joins in with what they were doing.

He then gets an aerosol can and sprays that at a flame to create a massive flame to scare away the other boys.

 

A man then comes in an pulls the boy away from the other boys and hold him there. This shows that he is no longer the 'bigger' person in the room.

The ring - Jodi

The Ring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BDKXyTCe54

Analysis

The first scene of this film is a fade in, high angled shot of a house at night, this is a typical opening to a scary/horror film. In the background you can hear rain hitting the ground. The camera also slowly zooms in on the house. There is also an over-voice saying 'I hate television, it gives me headaches', this shows that the scene is going to change.

 

The next shot is a two shot of girls watching tv and the camera slowly zooms in on them both while they are talking. They convosation is mainly one-sided and it is about something the might happen to them later on in the film. You can also see the television flickering on the bed and the girl's faces. there is also a faint sound of the television in the background.

 

 

Then there's a close up of what they were watching and the tv being turned off. The lighting is very dim in the house that they're in. This also shows that it is night time as people have their lamps on when it's dark outside.

 

After there's an over the shoulder shot showing the girls having a convosation about something else that might happen to them later. This shot show that even though there's just them two in the room that she's talking to her.

Shot reverse shot of the two girls carrying on talking about something that has happened. You can also hear the rain hitting the window in the background. This shows how quiet it is in the room.

Close up of the girls scared face. She has heard about the phone call thing before from somewhere.

One of the girls messes around to scare the other girl because she was talking about someone being told that they're going to die.

The camera quickly zooms in on the clock to show what time it is. Coincidentally it's 10 o'clock, as this links into what they were talking about before.

 

 

Another close up of the other girls face to show that she is scared/worried of what is happening. There's also a shot reverse shot of the other girls face. They hear the phone start to ring and they look even more worried.

Close up of the girls feet as she's walking downstairs and you can also hear the phone ringing in the background.

This shot shows the phone in focus compared to the background of the shot. This shows that this is where the two girls will be going to as it is ringing.

The girl goes to answer the phone but before says 'This is so lame' and answers it saying 'Embry residence' and then her face changes from a smile to a scared expression. In the background there's tense scary music and looks at the girl. She then gives the phone to her, she says 'hello' expecting something else but then it's actually her mum.