Textual analysis- The Witch

The Witch from RebeccaIH

Film Opening- Title ideas and storyboards

Possible ideas:

Genres:

- Comedy
- Reality
- Horror
- Thriller
- Romance
- Action
- Adventure
- Hybrid
- Sci-fi
- Crime
- Historic (period)

Romance
Two people meet at a cafe; man walks up to the girl and buys her drinks; they get to know each other and have fun; girl leaves number on tissue; goes on more dates to the cinema and restaurant; end up getting together.

Crime/ Thriller
Detective has been investigating the crime of two girls being kidnapped for 11 years. One returns but the family are questioning if this is the right girl. The detective tries to find all three men that are involved and includes his allies to help, but can they be trusted?

Opening:

The scene starts with the detective looking at images of the missing girls and looking at the possible suspects. Then the scene changes to a girl in a forest, struggling to walk and end up in a town and collapses. Towns people send her to the local hospital. Diegetic sounds are playing (footsteps and crunching leaves); and non-diegetic sounds in the background (slow, creepy music).

The girl is taken to the family and tries to settle in; there are interviewers outside the house interrogating the family. The family are shocked to see the girl returning and conflict occurs within the household between the parents as one thinks that she isn't the daughter; the dad is always out and the brother is in a gang and always getting arrested.
The detective tries to get answers out of the girl and find the men who were involved, however the girl doesn't want to talk to anyone and isolates herself away from everyone.

The girl fakes a death and runs away as she can't cope being back at home, leaving the family in distraught and horror from the incident. However, the detective still tries to find the men that were involved and doesn't believe that the girl is actually dead, therefore he tries to find her too. He finds clues from newspapers and travels to Iraq and Germany to find the three soldiers that took the girls.

Ryan's opening idea 

A group of teenagers are at a large house party to celebrate on of their 16th birthdays. The scene opens with them all drinking and speaking about the history of their friendship. The scene then cuts to them cleaning up after the party. one of the friends then finds a mysterious looking book that has strange ancient symbols on the cover. One of the friends says to leave the book alone but the friend who discovered it takes it with them and reads if. 

A week after reading a selection of passages from the book the friends experience consistent bad luck until one of the friends decide to interrogate the  friend who read the book. The next day after rhis the friend mysteriously disappears and the scene cuts to them appearing to be possessed by evil spirits and wreaking havoc amongst their friendship group. 

the scene ends with a news report which is informing of the deaths of the three teenagers who were involved with this book and its evil history.  

Tim's story opening: 

Scene starts with the two teenagers laughing in a living room with the TV on and candles in the background. The teenagers become bored and decide to play tarot cards. The teens pull the Death, Hanging man and Tower cards to then be greeted by a thunderstorm erupting in the background. Scenes of a mysterious figure can be seen in the background through the windows of the house. Throughout the opening there will be crosscuts of the mysterious figure entering the area and the garden of the house. 

After a short while, the TV begins to static and the candles flicker. One of the teens start to panic whilst the other brushes it off and tries to calm the other down. TV now switches off completely  and both teenagers become anxious. 

The murderer eventually breaks into the house without the teenagers knowing. He begins to taunt and torture them mentally.

Script

BLACKOUT

VOICE-OVER - JACK

"It was a normal day, at first. Thought I finally got a chance at love. That was about to Change"

FADE INTO TITLE SCREEN

"DATENAPPED"

FADE IN.

INT. / DAYTIME / RESTAURANT.

A brightly lit restaurant with an open window view in the centre of town. Two males, known as Brad and Jack, are having a blind date. Brad is a dark, nerdy character who seems to have a mysterious aura about him. The other, Jack, has a very innocent appearance: light hair and bright blue eyes. He seems like a genuine, loving young man. 

JACK

"So, do you come here often?"

BRAD

"Yeah I come here.. probably every weekend? Roughly." 

JACK

"Oh? Why's that?"

BRAD

"I come here to do a couple of shifts here and there. Just some extra work."

JACK
"Oh right."

BRAD
"Excuse me! Waitress!"
*Waitress walks over to the table*
"Could we have a glass of bourbon, and a glass of wine please?"

SHELLY
"Of course! I'll be right back."
*Waitress walks over to the bar*

CAMERA FOLLOWS WAITRESS USING A TRACKING SHOT.

The bar is a very simplistic bar. The waitress stands over the bar with her back to the rest of the restaurant. Shelly makes two drinks and slips a mysterious powder into right glass. She collects the drinks and walks back over to the table.

JACK and BRAD

"Thank you!"

SHELLY

"Is there anything else I can get for you two?"

BRAD
"No thank you."
*Waitress leaves*

*Both JACK and BRAD pick up their drinks*

CAMERA CUT TO THE WAITRESS FOLLOWED BY A EYE-LINE SHOT OF THE DOOR. 

Shelly looks over to the couple sitting at the table then looks back to the door. She then flips the sign over from open to closed. Waitress walks away and the CAMERA ZOOMS INTO THE SIGN SLIGHTLY. CAMERA CUTS BACK TO TABLE.

BRAD

"Cheers!"

*Couple bash drinks. JACK takes a sip*

"So, how's your evening going so far?"

JACK

"It's going.. okay.. T-thank.. you."

BRAD

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

*Audio sounds to dilate as BRAD speaks*

*Waitress walks behind JACK and covers his head with a sack*

SCREEN SUDDENLY CUTS TO BLACK.

FADE IN.

INT. / NIGHTTIME / DARK ROOM.

The scene begins with a CLOSE-UP SHOT of Jack's face which has been covered with a sack. CAMERA ZOOMS OUT to become a MEDIUM SHOT. The sack is viciously ripped off Jack's head to reveal a slightly beat, tired-looking Jack. CAMERA CONTINUES TO ZOOM OUT to become a LONG SHOT. We now see that Jack is tied up on a chair in a dark room with a single spotlight poised onto his face and upper body.

CAMERA CUTS to a TRACKING SHOT of the kidnapper's lower leg and feet, slowly walking towards the light emitting from the spotlight. 

The kidnapper is in fully dark clothing. Mainly leather clothes with black shoes and a dark gas mask. 

KIDNAPPER

*Ominously circles the chair as JACK tries to escape from rope*

*Calming tone*

"Don't try to escape. It'll only end badly for you."

JACK

*Nervous voice*

"Wha-Wha-What do you Wa-Want from me?"

KIDNAPPER

*Snaps to action, throws hand to JACK's neck and begins to threaten in a more aggressive voice*

"You only speak when I tell you to!"

*Pulls away slowly and continues to walk in circles around JACK*

CAMERA CUTS to another kidnapper standing up against the wall who is also wearing all black. 

KIDNAPPER 2
*Speaks in a calm yet enthusiastic manor*
"So, what're we going to do with him?"

KIDNAPPER
"Not sure yet, we'll have to wait and see what he says."
*JACK continues to struggle and attempts to break out of the rope*
"Do you know why you've been brought here? Any thoughts?"

JACK
"N-no.. Of course not!"

KIDNAPPER
"Hmm, thought as much. That's a shame."

KIDNAPPER 2
"Guess we'll have to enlighten him.."

KIDNAPPER
"I guess we shall. Your family destroyed ours, we want revenge. Simple." 

JACK
"Who are you? What does what my family have done have to do with me? They're the ones you should be after!"

KIDNAPPER
"Who I am is none of your concern yet. What your family has done has everything to do with you. You're the one they did it for, to give you an even better life than you would have already got. Spiteful if you ask me, selfish. The rich always want more."

JACK
"Are... Are you going to kill me? Oh god, please don't, please"

KIDNAPPER
"Of course not. How vulgar. And anyway, where's the fun in that?"

KIDNAPPER 2
"I'm getting bored now.. Let's kill him!"

Evaluation

As a group, we decided to go with Tim's story opening because it's easier to film and it fits well into the horror genre, as said by one of the classmates for feedback. For example, one of our peers mentioned that the use of the stereotypical two teenagers home alone watching horror movies and messing with paranormal equipment was a good idea. They also mentioned that the ironic thing of something bad happening to the teenagers (which creates a tense atmosphere for both the characters and the audience) was a good idea as it also links with many theories of representations of the youth. For example Ann Gould's theory of the six stereotypes of teenagers, which in this case is self-destructive and nihilistic. 

This film will be at a low budget due to the group not purchasing many of the mise-en-scene such as the props and the location (such as the house) as one of the members in our group can facilitate this for us.

Furthermore, the cinematography used is camera angles. The camera angles which are usually used in horror films are: close up shots to emphasize the characters facial expressions and make the audience sympathize for each character; medium shots to show the scenery and all the characters to create either calm or eerie ambience; Dutch angle, which can make it look like a character is lost or loosing focus or the camera is in the audiences perspective and is in a low angle shot (which makes the audience feel intimidated); and lots of high angle shots are used to make the victim and audience feel vulnerable and intimidated although the camera is looking down on the victim. Whilst filming, I will try to include all these shots to emphasize the horror genre and make my target audience want to watch the film.

In addition, the mise-en-scene will have a location of a teenagers house in a normal and quiet neighborhood; props such as the spiritual equipment such as the tarot cards, equipment for a living room and a knife or baseball bat for the murderers weapon. As this is a film, the knife will be a fake for health and safety issues however, we will make it look real to keep the story looking realistic; and the lighting will be dim to show the horror genre, which makes it emotive to the target audience watching. These are the stereotypical props used for a teenage horror movie as blood is stereotypically involved and usually a murderer chasing the teenage victim.

When editing, horror movies tend to use smash cuts (intense dream and waking up) to emphasize the characters fear; invisible cut (cuts blended in) to create an eerie enigma and make the audience wonder what will happen next; l-cut (audio carries into a new shot); and a j-cut (audio from a new scene comes before you see it) to emphasize the tense atmosphere.

In contrast, the techniques used when filming will include continuity editing (the use of using the same mise-en-scene to make sure the shot links together and looks the same), which is important because it will help the audience understand more of what’s happening and not confuse them ; sometimes the 180 degree rule (showing 180 degrees in the shot, showing both characters) to show the scenery and the characters body expressions, which also interlinks with the characters facial expressions to help the audience know what the characters are trying to say; shot reverse shot (mainly used in conversations or a character looking back at something); eye-line match (characters looking at each other); insert shot and cut away. These are used to make the audience understand what is going on and want to watch more of the movie. Therefore to make my film successful, I will try to include this whilst I’m editing.

Video auxillary equipment

• Track and dolly- A wheeled cart used in filmmaking and television production to create smooth horizontal camera movements. The camera is mounted to the dolly and the camera operator and focus puller or camera assistant usually ride on the dolly to push the dolly back and forth.

-The advantage safe that it is stable and prevents shaking, however if the equipment is not fitted on properly then it will break and it will cost a lot to recover.

• Steadi-cam- A brand of camera stabilizer mount for motion picture cameras that mechanically isolates it from the operator's movement. It allows for a smooth shot, even when moving quickly over an uneven surface.

-The advantages are that this prevents shaking and makes filming easier and makes it look professional, however there may be a little shaking and the person using it can trip and damage the equipment.

• Tripod- A portable three-legged frame, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. A tripod provides stability against downward forces and horizontal forces and movements about horizontal axes. The positioning of the three legs away from the vertical centre allows the tripod better leverage for resisting lateral forces.

-An advantage is that it films steadily and accurately, however the camera can fall off if not screwed on properly and shaking can occur if the camera is moved.

• H1N- A remote-like device which gives a great sounding audio. Earphones are used whilst using this device due to picking up better sounds and not picking up sounds that  you do not want.

-An advantage is that sounds are given off accurately and the user can control the duration and volume of their surrounding sounds, however if earphones are not used or the pitch of the noises are not high enough, it will not sound as good when editing and will ruin your film.

• Shotgun microphone- A highly directional microphone with an elongated barrel which can be directed from a distance at a localized sound source.

-An advantage is that it picks up sounds easy and can hold itself, however the actors need to be loud enough for the microphone to pick the  sounds up, which makes it easier to edit when producing the video. Also, the microphone must be directed towards the actors otherwise the sound will not be picked up.

Preliminary task video-Initial ideas

Crime scene- My idea

Characters:

Detective; victim (Brian); suspect; witness.

Plot:

Detectives want to catch the murderer after 2 weeks of investigating. The witness is the only helper of the detective, but will they actually find the suspect? The victims family are in grief and want to catch this horrid person as soon as possible.

Script:

(Detective walks into the interview room suspiciously, slams door and drags the chair towards him and slowly sat down whilst glaring at the suspect)

Detective: I’m not going to let you leave until you tell me, did you kill Brian?!

Suspect: NO! How many more times? Get that into your head! He was my best friend.

(Witness is watching and is screaming at the Suspect)

Detective: Where were you that night? The 16th May?

Suspect: I was out with the family; we were having a meal out for my mother’s birthday.

Detective: You really think that I would fall for that? Really, where were you?

Suspect: Like I said, I was out on a meal with the family.

Detective: One more chance…

(Witness storms into the room screaming at the suspect and tries to attack him; the detective drags her away and tells her to go back to the room)

(Suspects hands are shaking in fear)

Detective: What’s wrong with you? (Looks down at the suspects hands smirking) Scared? Well all you need to do is tell the truth and this will be over.

Suspect: I…I…I didn’t erm…do it…how many more t..t…times.

Detective: Wring answer I’m afraid; again did you or did you not kill Brian?

Suspect: NO! I did not, why would I? Just let me go right now! (Starts to become violent)

Detective: Nope…(Giggles whilst reading the victims files)

Suspect: GET ME OUT OF HERE NOW! OR I’LL…OR I’LL…

Detective: Kill me? Like you did to Brian?

(Suspect goes to attack the Detective but the hand cuffs on the table stop him from getting towards him)

Suspect: Yes!

(Detective walks away with a smile on his face whilst the suspect sits in shame, crying and shouting)


Time idea: Kidnapping romance (groups choice in film).

Kia- Camera operator and editor.
Ryan- Victim (Jack)
Tim- Kidnapper 1 and editor (Brad)
Rebecca- Kidnapper 2 (Shelly) and voice operator.

Storyboard: This storyboard which my group and I have created shows the main camera angles and shots which will be included in our film. The plot is that Jack and Brad go on a date, which then turns into a kidnapping nightmare. Brad and Shelly want their revenge on Ryan's family due to them taking all their families money and making them struggle to survive. Will Jack make it?

Evaluation

Firstly, the strong points from the video task is that we knew how to use the equipment and used a variety of mise-en-scene such as the locations (the university building for the restaurant and the studio for the interrogation), and the variety of props such as the cups and costumes. For example, the dark clothes that the kidnapper wore to indicate darkness, mysterious and showing that the was the antagonist. Also, the characters knew what they were doing and knew what to say as we all had a script, which makes the film look more professional and makes the audience understand what's going on.

The technical and software elements which were important in the production and editing of the preliminary task were: the tripod because it helps the camera to remain static and makes the filming more accurate; H1 because it picks up the voices of the characters easier and sounds better when editing; and a camera to film the video and upload it to edit, also making sure that it was in focus the whole time to make it appeal to the target audience.

The key purpose to create a film was to plan. This was important because the group then knew what props to bring and the set up of filming, which ensures continuity to our production. For this we did a storyboard to give a reference of our narrative, and make sure the correct camera shots and editing techniques were used. Another important aspect of the planning process was that we needed to make sure that the locations for where we planned to film our production were booked and also that the noise level was manageable so that the dialogue could still be heard over any ambient sound that may have been picked up in our production. The budget for filming this was low as we were on the college premises and used most of our equipment from there. Also we had a limited time to film, therefore we did not have to use as much equipment as there are not a lot of scenes used.

Our production Date-napped fits into the thriller genre because it's not exactly horror but it still makes the audience frightened. For example, the lighting used in the interrogation was low-key. The atmosphere created encourages the audience to think what it would be like in the victims position. Also, the mise-en-scene used such as the gas mask warn by the antagonist covers his true identity. Furthermore, the location was in a place where theres no chance of escaping, therefore this conforms to the conventions of a thriller.

To improve, use more conventions of a thriller such as more jump cuts and more props such as weapons to increase that tense atmosphere. Also, more rehearsals for the acting as it wasn't the best that we could do, due to a lack of time to film. Furthermore, we can use the dolly to include more tracking shots. For the editing process we could include some colour correction to make the miss en scene seem more realistic and natural.