THE DAMNED OPENING SCENE ANALYSIS.

Student Work

A typical feature to a horror movie setting is a forest, this connotes a dark presence and a sense of lost, which makes the audience feel on edge. The scene opens on a high angle shot of the trees and starts to pan downwards to the floor, this is quite an interesting technique used for camera work as it gives the audience a good idea on where the establishing shot is and where we are set, using the uses of gratification theory so the audience can place themselves into the situation. The use of non diegetic sound which resembles a electric piano, this connotes that the opening scene is set at around the 80’s where electric sound was very popular. The font which is used is serif font which is with embellishments. I feel that this doesn't support the overall sense of the opening, creating quite a childish feel to the movie. This could also be noted as a convention, using the childish nature as sympathy, by using the colour white it connotes purity, but it is opposed next to the dark black background, connoting that the insidious darkness is taking over and destroying this purity. The use of calling the movie ‘The damned’ connotes a religious atmosphere, denoting that the victims have committed a crime and will be punished, which helps confirm the genre as a horror. The use of fire also connotes an evil spirit approaching as red connotes evil and blood, as we denote fire as dangerous and can kill, like the murderer in this plot. Fire can damage anything in its path, this could be compared to the victims because if they step into its path, they will be brought down and destroyed.

A typical convention to a horror is the use of teenagers as the victims, this is because the targeted audience is normally in the demographic of 15+, so by using these character, it makes the movie much more desirable. They have put these opening scenes in slow motion, this is quite effective as the audience gets a better perspective of what is happening in these scenes, and by using no diegetic sound, it helps relate to the typical convention in a horror of the over use of non diegetic sounds. The past few scenes include the teenagers getting drunk and partying in what is seemed to be thick woods. By making the teens drunk, it exposes them to any negative enforcement as their vision and concentration is impaired, making them endanger. The camera shot is at a medium shot which gives the audience a good view at who the character are. The use of having an equal amount of males and females make the audience think that these four may be together due to typical conventions in a horror movie. I feel that the use of slow motion n doesn't really give a great overall effect, in movies such as Friday the 13th, the opening scene is quite similar and they do not se slow motion, this makes it quit plain and unprofessional as we as an audience are expecting conversation, which we see none at all in the whole scene. These characters can also relate to Propps theory of characters by using females who is wearing pink which connotes femininity and beauty.

We then start to hear diegetic sounds of footsteps over dried leaves, connoting that this is either the season of winter or autumn. Using these seasons connotes quite a dark atmosphere as we normally relate winter and autumn as cold and uncomfortable months where we have to stay warm to survive, whereas summer is warm and comfortable. This could connote the theme of the movie to be horror as we already see signs of darkness. I feel that the sound is quite unprofessional as it is far too loud and doesn't create a realistic experience as we can tell that the actual sound from the footage has been taken away, which brings a negative impact to the outcome. The use of the male character having his back to the camera connotes that he is at a disadvantage and leaves the audience thinking that there may be someone behind him. W e then start to hear diegetic breathing sounds coming from in front as the camera angle changes to a medium shot of his face as he leans in to the darkens, The sound is once again for too loud for how close the camera is to the characters face, the camera should have been further away to create a more realistic experience for the audience. By using a male as the first possible victim, it creates a intense feeling as males seem to be a typical convention to who dies first, as males are sometimes stereotypically witnessed in horrors as strong and powerful, but the villain always seems to be even more powerful.

His friend from before then appears behind him which makes the audience shocked as the shot is firstly a medium close up of the first characters face looking into the dark distance where we then see someone's head at his shoulder and swiftly changes to this medium close up of his friend who diegetically quotes ‘Oil’ which must be the first characters name. This bonds the audience and the main character to each other as we now feel that we know him and that we wan to keep him safe. The use of the friend jumping upon on him is a typical convention to boys in horror movie, they are also connotes as being the jokers and the characters who do not always take it as seriously and end up creating humour in the movie. As the pair walk away, we hear the non diegetic sound of breathing increase, and we also hear non diegetic background sound of tight violins playing, this is a typical convention to horror sound as it is very traditional and old school. As the violins get louder and faster, the shots get quicker, where we can hear the diegetic screams of the girls shouting each other and then the eerie sounds of the male villain breathing. The camera shot changes to a close up to olies face , where we can see he is terrified as he has fallen onto the floor and is over him, this tells the audience that he may be murdered soon. The fact that the friends run off without helping their friends is also another convention to a horror, where in real life we may do the same. This creates a realistic experience for the audience as it uses the gratification theory aswel may have to be put into their shoes.

The mood of the scene totally changes as we come back to the present. It is now midday and we can hear non diegetic cheerful pop sounds being played, these sounds are quite uplifting to the audience and is quite a sudden change of atmosphere, but this soon changes once we see where the girls are set.

We then hear the happy non diegetic sound fade out as this girl walks past a certain large bush, We can see a medium close up of her facial expression where she is quite curious, we then here her friend in the distance shout her name, not a sense of fear but to make her keep walking. This gives the audience flashbacks to when the friends in the past were screaming their other friends name, showing a binary opposite between the two nights. We then hear an introduction to once again a very eerie non diegetic sound as she starts looking at the bush, this connotes that there is a bad presence here and the she needs to escape. We then hear the familiar electronic keyboard reappear as we see a zoom in to the bush once more and we hear the familiar sounds of the breathing, which connotes that these girls are now in trouble as the murderer is back. This relates to Propps theory as he talked about character types and the main protagonist from this perspective is the girl, this is because she is conveyed as smart and intrigued as she looks at the bush unlike any other of the girls but still walks away, leaving the audience in a tense atmosphere of the question of whose next.

Overview of work.

Overall I believe that this AS media production is quite successful, I noticed many conventions of a horror and many positive techniques such as panning and zoom ins. But there is some room for improvement. I feel that the non diegetic sound was far too loud, the sound needs to be incorporated into the setting and plot, they seemed to place the sound wherever and did not tweak it to sound right. Some areas which I may want to emulate are the use of teenagers as my demographic is of that age but a factor which I want to avoid is the basic use of non diegetic sound.