Spooks

What techniques does the opening sequence use to appeal to a weekday mainstream audience?

The opening of the sequence shows the institution 'BBC' so people become familiar with them and that way the audience is more likely to watch it since they know of it.The genre is thriller as there are terrorists speaking a foreign language (Arabic) and they have subtitles at the bottom so the audience can understand them.It uses diegetic sound and turns into non diegetic when the couple come out of the house they are seen as binary opposition to the other two in the car who want to 'destroy their lives'.Shots used are closeups on the villains as hes looking in his wing mirror (POV).The slow motion creates enigma codes and connotes a thriller as they are the target of something and the use of slow motion makes them seem more important.It appeals to a mainstream audience as they are an ordinary couple getting on with their life and are discussing their child's school fee, people can relate to doing the normal day to day thing.Also because there is no violence/sexual content it can be targeted at everyone.The demographic would be C1/D and the psychographics would be resigned and the struggler.

Scream Clip

This essay will explore the different elements of film language and the effects it creates on the audience in the movie ‘Scream’ such as low lighting to create an eerie atmosphere.

The beginning of the scene uses low key lighting as it’s following the horror genre convention and creating enigma codes. The girl Casey who plays the victim uses the phone as the main prop to communicate with the unidentified killer. Another way which the killer is unidentified is through his clothes he wear a long black cloth and a white mask (and carries a knife which connotes death) so his identity isn’t revealed and at the same time it follows through with the conventions. The shots used are close-ups to draw attention to the protagonist’s facial expression which the audience identify with as scared and worried for the safety of herself and her boyfriend who is tied up outside. Her body language also shows this as she crouches down into the corner of the room. The director Wes Craven uses non diegetic sound to slowly build up the tension as she has to play along with the killer and if she gets the question wrong her boyfriend dies which he does and also there’s non diegetic sound coming from the characters’ speech.

The camera slowly pans into her as she’s answering the question which determines whether Steve lives or not. The effect of the pan is to show that she’s under pressure. When she stands up and look out a point of view shot is used as she’s looking to see where this ambiguous person is. When she gives the wrong answer they use a jump cut and show Steve with his guts out and the music accompanied with this is parallel as it’s quite dramatic and sinister. It then has long shot used of him dead and has a reverse shot of Casey facial expression where she’s shocked and crying. The prop she grabs is an envelope opener to use as a weapon to protect her. Diegetic sound is used when the window smashes as a chair is thrown into it and a high angle shot is used to make her seem small and powerless as she’s backed into a corner. Tracking is used when she runs to the kitchen in terror and this creates chaos.

The music as this point is quite loud and parallel. She then grabs a knife as a prop and slowly moves back in anticipation. It cuts to the masked killer looking around for her and then has a reverse shot to show the panic on her face. When she lets herself out and waits by the door clinging onto the phone her body language shows she’s afraid. The music builds up suspense and as she peeks to see where the masked figure is which is shown by a point of view shot & the music turns dramatic to make the audience excited. It then has a jump cut to a long shot of a car approaching in the distance. The audience hopes this is the new equilibrium where she will manage to escape. It then has a close-up of her crawling and then it keeps cutting to the car to raise enigma codes and makes keeps the audience in suspense as they wonder will she escape or not.

Dramatic irony is used as Casey slowly looks up to see where her killer is and the audience know that he’s going to be there and music intensifies to build up the suspense as she about to look. The masked person suddenly turns around and diegetic sound is used when she screams and he breaks the window and grabs her wrist but she punches him. It then has a long shot of her running and this is so the audience can see if the killer is coming. She runs and she sees her parents’ car parking up so she look relieved but then he jumps through the window suddenly which is unexpected. The diegetic sound is the window breaking and the camera is positioned behind the villain to show he has the power and the innocent girl as they both fall to the ground. The camera shot changes to a long shot and the two characters are positioned in the middle of the frame as she is being chased.

The parallel music turns dramatic and goes a bit slow as it goes into slow motion when he captures her and slowly brings the knife up in the air and stabs her in her chest. As she drops to the ground the camera is looking down on her so it’s the point of view from the killer and the makeup used is blood to show she’s injured. After he strangles her in a close-up and she kicks him the camera is upside down showing that she’s looking for help and she can see her parents nearby. The framing of camera is that so you can still see the killer in the background. As she gets up and walks lifelessly towards her door the camera is behind her suggesting that he’s still following her. Tracking is used to demonstrate this. It has both diegetic and non diegetic at the same time. The non diegetic is to create sympathy and hope that she can make it in time and the diegetic opposes the hope as her parents don’t notice her.

It has a point of view shot used at the same time as reverse as she’s calling her mother in a limp lifeless voice the killer comes from the side of the frame and as the door is closed the music intensifies again with a medium shot as she turns around to see her killer in her sight coming towards her with the knife. Just as when he’s about to stab her again she takes the mask of to reveal the identity but the audience don’t know and the music become dramatic as her facial expression hints that she knows them. A sound bridge is used as he stabs her for the final time it jumpcuts to her father calling her and the fire alarm going off which her mother runs to to sort out and the music becomes dramatic again as there is fire in the kitchen but Casey is nowhere to be seen.

To conclude horror genres tend to use quite a lot of cuts to create chaos and they use parallel music to build suspense in order to shock the audience. It wouldn’t be as effective and scary without sound and the victim is portrayed as hopeless in the efforts of getting away from the villian.

Cinematography

The shot used from 'What Lies Beneath' is a high angle and has the protagonist leading up to something and by her facial expression and body language shes seem scared to investigate as shes clinging onto the rail and her facial expression is worried.Low key lighting is used.Mise en scene is her in her house going up the stairs with the light as a prop dangling near her.

The shot (from Mr and Mrs Smith) used is a long shot and the two protagonists are placed directly in the middle of the frame so all the attention goes to them. A long shot is used so we can see that she has a gun attached to her thigh which is what the viewers are supposed to identify with. The lighting used is high key lighting. The mise en scene is at a social event and has people in the background whilst the two are dancing.The props used are chairs in the background and a gun.

This scene is from 'Drag Me To Hell' a horror genre. Has top lighting also its a point of view shot from the girl on top of the coffin and a high angle shot
to show the dead woman in the coffin as she is in most of the frame. The mise en scene is dark and gloomy and there water in the scene.The prop used is a coffin.

This image is from 'Bruce Almighty' and is a medium shot with high key lighting to make it look realistic.
The frame has space around the top of him to show the papers flying as he separates the soup in half with his powers.His facial expression looks shocked and his body language looks like he is using a lot of energy.The mise en scene is him in a cafe and no one else in the frame because the attention should be on him being powerful.The props used are papers and a bowl of soup.

Daily Star*

Masthead-Daily Star which is a tabloid

Web address-www.dailystar.co.uk

Dateline underneath the masthead

Slogan is 'Two great papers for the price of one.' which makes the customers think they got a bargain for 25p

Kicker is the premier league article and the stories on the side.

Pug is the price in a really bold yellow font to draw attention to how cheap it is.Also the price '25p' is targeted at a D/E Demograhic which is why there is really little text and more images.

Headline is 'Jordan hunk is a secret woman' and is placed in the middle dominating the resat of the newspaper as its the leader article which is about a celebrity.

Strapline is 'shocking truth about Alex' also the word 'exclusive' is a buzz word and generates interest of readers.

Captions are under the side stories as are the stanfirsts which are about entertainment (Strictly Come Dancing' and relevance as its about cutting taxes.

A Touch Of Evil

The camera begins with a closeup of someone setting a time bomb so a point of view shot is used.It pans out as the camera follows peoples movements and the mise en scene shows the busy streets full of people going places.It creates engima codes as you its leading you to something and when is it going to be stationary.The camera follows the couple by using crane and high angle shots and long shots to as they are going in the same direction as the car with the bomb planted on it and leads up to when they are about to kiss and suddenly the car explodes in the distance dramatically as the couple were about to share a 'moment'. Has a long shot of the explosion to emphasise the destruction followed by people running up to see what happened.The sound in the film is diegetic sound as its coming from the characters dialogue.

Sound

Parallel images associated with this would be of the dark haunted places deserted areas etc to give a isolated feeling.The music sounds eerie. The primary thought the person has is creepy horror images.

Contrapuntal images associated with this could be thing to do with love or a kids toys or people looking happy doing ordinary things as they dont go well with the music.

Halloween 2

Low key lighting is used as the shadows are quite visible and in the background you can see a graveyard so this connotes a horror genre as the enigma code suggest death.Back lighting because the light is coming from behind this ambiguous character who is wearing a mask as a prop and holding a knife.The knife has quite a dark shadow and stands out amongst the light behind it.