Textual Analysis of Saw 6 Opening

The film starts with quite scary, screeching music. It sounds like knives and metal. The titles are in a white font that flashes neon blue and looks like a light bulb flashing on and off. It has a black background with what looks like barbed wire and also some red bits that could be blood connoting that that is what is in the film.

This then goes on to show a room just like what the titles represent. A dark, old room with a flashing bulb. After the titles it starts to show close ups of things and then goes onto more titles. This is setting the scene and showing the gruesomeness of things.

The first shot of the room starts un-focused and then focuses onto some round metal object, behind a wired fence, that looks quite intimidating. It being unfocused at first could represent the person waking up in the room and you almost feel like it is you who is in the room. The camera then pans slightly to the right and there is a pull focus onto someone's hand with a big bug on it. This adds to the disgustingness of the whole atmosphere but as you think that is disgusting it is nothing compared to what is coming up.

After more titles there is then a tracking shot going along a black wall to then show a long shot of the back of a women sat down with something on her head. You only see a small bit of the room to the right with two thirds of the screen just on the black wall. This could give the impression that the women is being watched and someone is peering round the wall at her. Behind the women is a very tall, dirty looking, metal table with an object on it. You see the wired fence again so you know that the metal object you saw previously is behind it.

There is then more titles. As more titles come up more blood is on the letters. This could represent what is going to happen in the film as people will be fine and then begin to shed more and more blood.

We then see the first shot again. We see a shot with a narrow depth of field with the hand in the foreground in focus and the metal object in the background out of focus. The bug is now crawling along the hand and the hand begins to move. This signifies that the person is now waking up. This then changes to a medium close up shot of the womens head tilted over still. It pans round her slightly and you see her shoulder shake up and down so you know she is still shaking off the bug. You now see the thing on her head a lot clearer. We see a large metal thing attached to her head that doesn't look pleasant. We see some more of the table. We can see a yellowy coloured tube to the right and part of a small chain to the left. She is wearing a blue shirt which could suggest that she was taken whilst at work on on her way to or from it. There is very little lighting in this shot with a slight bit of key light coming from the right and focusing on the women. Her right side is easy to see where her left side is quite dark. The contraption on her head is well lit on top but her face isn't so most of the focus is on the contraption. There is a few streaks of light on the back wall with the only light on the table on the chain and tube. This lighting is only on specific things and everything else is very dark and you cannot see it. This light is highlighting the only important things for this shot. It then once again shows the close up of her hand and you see her finally flick the bug on the floor.

We then see another tracking shot. It starts with a close up of the right on the table (left when looking at the women). We see a few objects neatly laid straight on it. To the right we see a knife. In the middle we once again see the chain. it is very long and in the middle it is all bunched up in a pile. We do not see where it starts or ends and we do not know what it is attached to, if anything. To the left of the shot we see a meat cleaver. We can slightly see a big metal ring attached to the end of each object giving the impression that the chain may be attached to them. The knives connote that there is going to be something quite gruesome coming up. There is very little light in this shot. There is backlight coming from near the women and some key light coming from the right but the objects are mainly dark.

The shot then tracks up and slightly to the left and we see a small glimpse of the tube and the back of the women.

We then once again see another tracking shot. It starts as a medium close up of the women to her right side. Her hand is moving towards her head and we hear her heavy breathing. In this shot there is a lot less light. Her face is completely blacked out and most things are very dark. There is some filler light on the top of the contraption and once again on the chain. This also is to highlight the important parts of the shot. As is tracks around the back of her she notices the contraption and you hear her loud gasp and she then grabs the contraption. As her hand is getting closer to her head her hand is very well lit as it is the main focus.

The tracking shot then switches to her right side and starts t track round her clockwise again. We see key light on her hand and the contraption once again to make it stand out. Her face is still unidentified. As she is grabbed onto the contraption her head then looks up with the light straight on it and you see her face for the first time. As her head goes up you hear a tense, fast sound. It sounds a bit like a loud metal door opening quite far away but you can still here the echo.

After this the light is mainly on her face showing her expressions as she has just realised is isn't home.

Throughout this first minute to the film there is quiet, tense music playing. It sounds creepy and is quite quiet like an echo. It fits with the room as it quite big and old. It sounds a bit like a breeze echo around the room. It connotes that it is quite a tense and creepy scene.

Textual Analysis of Scream Opening

I based my film mainly on the opening of Scream as it has a very similar opening. The film starts with a black screen and some tense music. You can hear something that sounds like wolves howling within the music. Then you hear a phone ringing as the word 'Scream' shrinks into the middle of the screen. As it gets to the right size, you hear a loud bang that sounds like a gun going off or maybe a door banging shut. After then you then hear a slight heartbeat. As you hear the heartbeat, a red light flashes around the letters, in time to it. This all builds up the suspensful and tense atmosphere. Then, the same as before when the letters were stretched out on the screen and then slammed together, the word 'Scream' in red then shrinks and slams on top of the white one. As this happens you hear screaming and another bang as it gets the the right size. This one sounds more like a knife slicing at something or hitting something metal. The letters then come towards the camera, the heartbeat and screaming still going, and you then see a medium close-up of a phone ringing on a small round, brown coffee table. The heartbeat carries on going until a hand reaches out and picks up the phone. As the phone is being picked up, the camera pans up - following the phone as it does - to a girls face. The girl is then showed in a medium close-up as she answers the phone. The girl is wearing a creamy coloured knitted jumper. This could show she is quite casual, but also shows that she is innocent and pure. The walls are also white, also showing her purity. To the left of her is a bookshelf filled with loads of books. This could suggest that she is quite intelligent and has a lot of knowledge. The room is quite light and to the right of the bookcase is a lit lamp, The lamp is causing a circle of light to shine onto the wall and ceiling which is right above the girls head. This makes her look angelic and innocent, almost as if it were a halo. Whilst she is on the phone in her house you can hear the slight sounds of crickets and ambience, giving away that it is night time and very quiet outside. When the phone rings again you once again see a medium close-up of the table as she grabs the phone. Once again the camera pans from the phone, to a medium shot of the girl. This time the camera is at a slight dutch angle. This signifys that something isn't right with the phone ringing again and that something is going to happen, linking to the phone call. Once again the light from the lamp is creating a halo above her head but this time you can see the back doors to the left. This makes the audience think, "Is the killer out there?" and creates suspense to hook them into the film. The camera then tracks along towards the girl and turning more to the left. This then gets rid of the lamp and bookcase and you start to see more and more of the dark back doors. Eventually, all that is behind the girl is the dark doors and windows. This could represent that she has gone from being safe and is now going into danger and that something is going to happen to her. As she puts down the phone and walks off the camera stays on the doors for about a second, making the audience feel as if there really is someone out there staring in. There is then a cut away of a tree outside in the dark. You can hear the ambient sounds. The camera pans down from the tree to show a big, white house. This makes the place look quite scary and the audience can see that there is quite a big space of emptiness around the house. It also makes the house look like an abandoned haunted house, because of the quietness outside of it. There is a swing attached to a branch in the tree that is slightly swinging. This could show her childish side as she has a swing in the garden. The fact that it is swinging could represent the lonliness in the house and the emptiness in the garden.

Textual Analysis of Saw 3D Opening

The film starts with quite sharp, screechy music. It starts quiet and gets louder as the titles 'A Lionsgate Release' zooms into view. This makes it sound like the titles zooming into view as the music fits in with the speed of it coming onto the screen. You can hear sounds that sound like knifes scraping on metal. This gives it a scary feel. The background of the titles looks like a long dark metal tube with little bits of light here and there giving the impression that maybe someone is inside something like a drain and there is a couple of holes in which light is seeping through. There are blood splatters on the screen showing that it is a scary film that will have loads of blood and gore. The titles are white and have a bright glowing effect. Some of the letters sometimes light up a bit more and flashes of white bright light feels the screen in certain areas.The letters now and then start shaking fast, almost as if an electrical current is running through them. To add to this there is also a slight sound of fuzzing electricity whenever they shake of light up. As the titles have first appeared on screen they stay there for a while and slowy start moving towards the screen. When you can first read them, you hear a non-diegetic voice over of Jigsaws voice. Whilst the titles are on screen he says "Hello Mr Hindell. Or as your friends called you around the hospital..." after he says that there is a slight pause in which the camera zooms down the pipe, past the titles and towards the darkness. As the screen goes completely black and the music pauses for a second, he then finishes with "Zepp." The music then kicks back in at quite a fast tense pace whilst a clip appears on screen that doesn't completely feel the screen. This is a kind of flashback that isn't from someone in the movies point of view. The reason why it isn't like other flashbacks where there may be a slightly different colour or in slow motion and with the sound being quite odd and quiet is because it is just a reminder of the end of the first film as it is relevent to know for the film. The small screen shows you that it is not part of the new film. It goes through the scene quite fast, skipping unimportant little parts so that you can understand the main point. At the end of this very quick clip, Jigsaw closes the door to Adam which then makes the screen go black and the music quietens down and is just a slight bit of music in the background which then carries it on to the next clip. This separates this part from the next part of the film which is when it actually properly starts. As the clip is about to come onto the screen the music gets slightly louder and sounds quite sharp and fierce as the clip suddenly appears. The music is very tense at this point but not fast, just quite breezy sounding. In the clip we see a medium shot of a green looking floor. Across the middle of it is a very wide smear of blood. In the blood is part of a bit of material soaked in blood which looks like a T-shirt. To the sides of the smear is a couple of spots and small smears of more blood as well as a bloody handprint to the right. The lighting is quite low and green looking which gives the illusion of it being quite sickly and ill looking. As the clip starts the camera immedietly starts tracking along the trail of blood. As the camera tracks along, we see more of the T-shirt and more bloody handprints. The tracking shot and the line of blood makes you feel like you are following or looking for someone/thing, as the blood is leading towards it. You can hear noises that sound like something scraping along the floor as well as the sounds of someone breathing quite heavily and struggling. Eventually, as the camera is tracking along the blood trail, you then see, at the top of the screen, a blood covered foot and to the right of it a black piece of material dragging along the floor in the blood. We see that there is a person dragging themselves across the floor. We then see more titles like the first ones. This time we can here some noises that sound a bit like water dropping on the floor slowly. When the shot goes back onto the person, we now see a medium high angled shot looking down onto the bottom half of a person. They are led on the floor and you can now clearly see that the blood trail is coming from the right leg. The light is still green giving out an ill look and most of the light is coming from the top left corner. The light highlights part of the persons left side, so you can clearly see his bent left leg and side. The injured leg is in the dark keeping what has happened and how it looks a mystery for the moment. The camera than pans up to reveal the rest of the persons body as they crawl and struggle to move across the floor. The floor looks hard and cold and represents how the person if feeling. The person now and then grabs the wall with his right arm which you see is also covered with blood. The music is still quiet and tense with a few 'tings' that sound like they are being slowly played on a keyboard. the music sounds echoey, which make it fit in with the room. The room he is in is from what you can see a long corridor. The walls looks hard and cold just like the floor and look like they are made from stone or brick. The sound fits with this room as it looks quite big so that any noises would bounce off the walls and echo around the place. This also gives the impression that the guy is alone in this place and also that it may be a abandoned. This automatically signifys that the film is a horror as the setting is dark and cold looking, and an injured character is alone. The tracking camera could give the impression that it is a point of view of someone following the man but doesn't need to rush as the man can't really go anywhere because of his injury. This makes the audience feel quite scared as they don't know if the guy is actually alone or if he isn't and is in danger as well as being badly injured. We then see some more titles. Just like before, as the titles go away and the camera zooms down the dark pipe, the screen goes black for a second and we then see a long shot of a corridor. As soon as we see the shot we see a hand appear on the floor from behind a wall. In the middle of the screen the walls are very dark and you can't see anything. This signifys that it is a scary place. There is a light on the wall in the top right corner, highlighting the wall in which you can see is very filthy with loads of cracks in it. The edge of the light is framed in green which also connotes that it is quite sick feeling. There is a slight bit of light on the wall to the far left, highlighting a pipe, showing that it isn't in a house but in some kind of warehouse or basement. The third section of light is in the bottom middle of the screen. From this bit of light you see a section of the floor and the edge of the wall in which the hand is coming from, so the light is also highlighting the hand. The camera tracks towards the wall and hand, as the man starts to appear from round the wall and into the light. The light could connote that there is hope for him as well as it finally revealing who is whereas before it was a mystery. As he crawls along we see that he is covered in blood and is wearing a white t-shirt with blood stains and is wet. His hair looks wet with sweat and his face is pale. The camera tracks along until we see a medium close up with the guy looking beyond the camera. His face is extremely white, signifying that he has lost a lot of blood. The light is now highlighting the right of his face, still keeping part of him in the dark. The blood on his t-shirt is highlighted showing that it is a horror film and there is a lot of green tinge on parts of his face, body and on the walls. He is wearing a plain white t-shirt and black trousers which shows that as well as being casual he was probably taken whilst at work or after work, signifying he has a good job. This signifys that he is a nice, innocent man who is one of the victims of the film.

My Genre

I'm going to do horror as I like horror films like saw and it has very specific and different codes and conventions for it. I will enjoy filming with the right mis-en-scene for a horror film. For a horror I need to make sure it is set at night. The setting can be anywhere from a scary, haunted house, to an abandoned warehouse or even just a normal everyday house. I need to make use of blood and weapons, mainly knives as knives are more commonly used in a horror. In certain settings the lighting has to be right to make sure some spots look dark and scary whilst others are very lit up so the audience can see certain things in the room.

Code And Conventions Of Horror

Generic Conventions:

• Victim has innocent look.
• Set in quiet place. House, Warehouse etc.
• Male and Female victims.
• Killers identity is normally hidden.
• Suspicious person - Hotel Owner, Neighbour etc.
• Low key lighting.
• Shadows and suspicious dark shapes.
• High angle and low angle shots.
• Close-ups of victims scared reactions and emotions.
• Medium shots.
• Long shots.
• Reflections in mirrors.
• Usually dark - set at night.
• Woods and forests.
• Knifes.
• Blood.
• Fire.
• Violence.
• Suspense.
• Thriller.
• Gore.
• Some humour.
• Isolated area - no one to help.
• Whenever there is a group of people, you always get the one annoying person who messes things up and is hysterical.
• Twists

Opening Sequences

Opening sequences are important because it helps the audience to get to know the characters and establish the setting. They can also sometimes help the audience to know what the film is about. It can be a marketing tool for the rest of the film as most people decide whether they are going to like a film or not from the beginning so it is important for it to grab the audiences attention.

This opening sequence of Saw 2 gives you an idea of what the rest of the film is about.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

I think my video went quite well. We included many different shot types, including high angle, low angle, dutch angle and close ups. We had a problem when changing to the dutch angle as it was of the same scene as the clip before so we ended up with a jump shot. We solved this problem by removing the clip before the dutch angle as it wasn't a very important clip. From this task I learnt about more shot types and I learnt what the 180 degree rule was. We broke this rule as we had a shot showing my right shoulder and Joshs left shoulder. The shot then changed and showed my left and Joshs right. We include a match on action when I passed Josh the phone with the photo of Mr Palmer.

If we were to do this again I would make sure we didn't break the 180 degree rule and also include shot reverse shot as we forgot to include this.