Here I have done some research into the documentary scenes of the film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, our original idea was to create a horror film that incorporated scenes that would appear to be from a real documentary but we decided to change this upon further thought into what we wanted our film to be about, in case we decide to change our minds we decided it would be a good idea to research into a film that has used this style in order for us to gain a basic understanding of how it could be done if we changed our idea.
At 0:23 the handheld camera shot through the woods is a good establishing shot that makes it clear to the audience that someone is filming a house secretly, the fast paced movement suggests that the person filming is on edge as they are ensuring they are hidden by hiding behind leaves and trees. This shot could be used within our shortfilm to establish that someone is also recording the house secretly.
At 1:30 the medium longshot shows the audience that the man is walking into a new room, when this cuts to the mid shot at 1:35, the way the man is acting makes it clear that he has heard something and is cautious, this technique could be something we use when the protagonist hears the antagonist from outside to show to the audience that the protagonist is on edge.
At 1:48 when the man is knocked out, the quick cut between the victim and the antagonist creates suspense quickly, I like how it cuts then to a black screen to show that the man is knocked out, this is something we would like to test with our own film as we feel it creates a dramatic effect.
At 3:18 the camera cuts rapidly between around 4 or 5 different shots, once the boy is hit it cuts to a black screen, this builds up a huge amount of tension for the audience and also leaves them wondering what has happened to the victim
At 4:20 I liked the use of the quick cuts between the camera shots as it helped build suspense, this use of parallel editing will be ideal within our film to help quickly create tension for the audience in a short space of time.
In
the short film ‘This Is For You Baby’ Music has been used throughout the film
such as at the very beginning at 0:19, this use of music helps to establish
both the tone of the film as well as creating a tense and suspense filled
atmosphere. The music fits in with the attempted message and theme that the
film is attempting to convey throughout the film. Another use of music in the
piece is in the constant flashbacks throughout the film such as 1:59 that use
music in order to establish a different camera change, this is something that
would be effective in our own film in the sense that we are having two
different cameras and we should show this through non visual cues such as the
music changing. The effect that the music gives to the entire film is adding atmosphere
and the particular music adds an air of tension and suspense from the unknown.
The
amount of dialogue in this short film goes against the normal codes and
conventions in the sense that the film has a vast amount of dialogue; this is
not very effective in the sense that this breaks codes and conventions but the
budget of the film means that the effect of dialogue is gone. The reason that
the dialogue doesn’t seem to work is mainly down to the films budget; short films
are often very low budget and the acting can leave a lot to the imagination of
the viewer. The fact that the dialogue comes across as tension and tone
shattering means that for our film we should perhaps consider considerably
limiting dialogue in order to keep the tension and atmosphere of our film.
Starting from around the 1.50 mark of the film some of the
camera shots show the woman as alone and almost as though she is being watching
by something or someone this is the tone that we will be attempting to convey
with our film and also attempting to bring unease and tension to our
audience.One specific midshot at 1.55
captures this tension and feeling about the film perfectly as the foreground to
the shot is obscured and it gives off the impression that the girl is being
watched and is not actually alone.
From 0:40 in this short film the
camera is positioned in front of a computer screen that has an instant
messenger conversation happening, the original idea for our film is that our
protagonist has a phone conversation which will get across the idea that she
has recently moved into a new house and has brought it for a little amount of
money under semi suspicious circumstances. Using a computer as the main form of
conversation in our film will help make the film seem more professional as the
acting level of our actors may not be completely up to scratch in order to have
a convincing dialogue on a phone. It will also take less time to have messages
pop up for the audience to read than it will in dialogue. Using computer
‘slang’ or abbreviations in this conversation may help our target audience to
be more engaged with the character and may find the character more relatable,
this will help to meet our requirements that our focus group have suggested for
us.
