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Akesha Smith
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My
first case study is an extract from the TV Series “Pretty Little Liars” in this
certain episode it was Halloween based. This episode I thought would be perfect
for my case study. In this episode the group of girls go to a Halloween party
and are then lured to a old house which no one lives in any more by their friend
Allyson. While they look for their friend who lured them into the house the
girls don’t notice that there is another person in the house who is dressed in
a scary costume following them around. When they find their friend in a room she
looks completed terrified and tells her friends that someone is out to get her
and that the person is in the house as well. The friends try and call the
police but there is no connection they can only get a connection in the hall
way. Allyson gets here phone and tells the rest of her friends she’ll try and
make the call from the hallway. Allyson gets attacked by this mystery person
dressed up but manages to fight them off and she runs away. The friends all
witnessed this from the crack in the door and they all jump out the window and
look for their friend.
In
this you can say that the main characters are quite typical, they’re four
beautiful teen girls with their own little problems. I guess you could say it
engages with the audience because every high school girl and people in general has
their problems that they go through and they don’t tell anyone. So with that
concept in mind this can keep the audience engaged. Even though the TV series
has this slight fantasy feeling the whole overview of girls and the people
around them having problems is the connection between them and the audience.
The
main sound used in this extract was non-diegetic sound. There was a lot of
suspense music in this extract.
Also in this piece the types of shots used
also caught my attention. I liked the use of the panning shots. This was used
when the girls entered the house and the camera zoomed out so we could see the
whole picture of the house while they were walking. Shot reverse shot was used
when the girls found their friend in the room hiding and they were all asking
questions at once. The camera was going back and fourth between the girls and
then their friend who was hiding. Close ups were also used when the girls found
their friend in the room this was so we could all see their emotions and how
they were feeling at that current moment. I also think they used a tracking
shot as well when the mysterious person dressed up was following them around
the house. The editing was also good because like in all action scenes the pace
of the cuts speeds up along with the soundtrack music. I think the key shots
used in this extract was the close ups of their faces so the audience could see
clearly how each character felt.
What ideas I took from this
From
this extract I took the idea of the scary costume outfit and the type of music
used and angles taken. In terms of angles I would take from this the use of
establishing shot because through this extract I realised how important this
shot is for the audience. Also I would definitely take the close up shot as
this is really good for showing the characters emotion. The shot that I liked
the most in this extract was the panning shot. I liked this shot because in
this particular extract it gave off the feel that someone was watching them as
they were walking, which I thought was great. The way they portrayed to give
off the scary vibe and how it was set up to spook the audience had an effect i
on me when I was watching it. This is the same I would like for my short film
with my audience.
Case Study: 2
The
second case study is another extract but from the film “The Haunting” 1999. In
the extract one of the male characters is walking and h startled by the sound
of a banging door. All of a sudden the music starts to get more intense and he
begins to walk down the long corridor to the door at the very end. As he gets
closer the noise gets louder and louder. Then as soon as the male character is
right by the door the banging just stops. Then the door starts banging even
louder now and it begins to bulge as if someone or something is trying to break
free. The man falls backwards and then runs off in fright.
In
this short extract there were a number of techniques used for example when the
male character was walking to the door they did a medium shot from his waist
down to show his weary steps also to emphasise on the creaky floor boards. They
have done close ups on his faces and the door when it was bulging as well.
Another thing they did was a shot reverse shot with his face and the door. Also
they set the camera in a way that it looked like we were looking through the
male characters eyes when he was looking at the door, the door was being zoomed
in to show he was nearing the door. All these elements combined together builds
tension in the audience because the music is indicating that something bad is
about to happen but its not happening yet. Also with the zooming in of the door
we the audience think its right about to happen the music is at its peek and
then boom nothing happens but this still leaves the audience on there guard
just in case for a nasty surprise trick.
In
this the main sound was non-diegetic. This included the suspense soundtrack and
the creaking noise of the floor. Also the great boom/banging of the door.
In
this there is also a clear narrative problem. This being an isolated locked
door banging really loudly and bulging a lot giving the audience that something
supernatural is doing this.
What ideas I got from this
I
liked the whole creaky floorboards and the bulging door effects. I also like
the type of music they used it worked really well with that scene. I could
adapt these features into my own piece but with a twist because mine is a
horror/comedy. For example the main character will be in his room doing work
and then the passage way floor starts creaking and then his door slowly starts
to creak open and he’s really scared and then its only his mum who walks in
saying that its dinner time or his sister playing a joke on him. Something
along those lines.
The
third case study I looked at was “Lost Things”. This was a really interesting
clip to watch. I found it on Youtube and the whole clip is a stop frame
animation. Even though it is not horror based the clip still gave me some great
ideas that I could incorporate into the short film that my group and I would be
creating. I’m not 100% sure on what the clip was about, but I got the feeling
they were trying to portray the things we may lose as we grow up hence the
title Lost Things. It’s as if the character went back to her childhood sort of
and was just remembering all the things that she had when she was younger .
However apart from that the stop frame action was really good and I enjoyed
watching it. This third case study is especially important for my research
because like I said before I want to incorporate stop frame animation within
the short film. Other techniques that were used were medium shots from the
characters waist upwards. Close ups of the toys, objects like books dolls etc. that
were in the room with the character. In the beginning there was the
establishing shot that showed us everything in the room.
What I want to do
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