OK: Shot by Shot Analysis - Scream (Craven, 2004)

Duration of shot	Camera distance, angle and movement/Editing	Mise-en-scene and sound	Connotation
Shot 1. 13 seconds	Medium close-up, camera focuses on her face to get the detail of her facial expressions	Female character sits up and looks around as she is unsure of the noise she has just heard. Diegetic sound creates fear as the female character thinks she has heard something over the sound of the television	This connotes a sense of curiosity as we see the character turn off the television to discover what the sound was
Shot 2. 10 seconds	Tracking forward as the character moves through the corridor, follows the characters movement, environment widens as the angle increases	The character looks around the corridor as if she is in control of the situation as she is curious of what she may have just heard. Non-diegetic sound creates tension as the character walks through the corridor whilst music builds up to when the character is about the open the door	This connotes confidence as the character immediately stands up and goes into the corridor to see if someone is In the house that shouldn’t be
Shot 3. 7 seconds	Lower angle while second character moves down the stairs, medium long shot into medium shot as the camera tracks her movement	Second female character has her arm bandaged up. Non-diegetic sound cuts as the second female character starts to walk down the stairs, this cuts the tension	This connotes a sense of fear as the two females are alone In the house in the presence of the antagonist
Shot 4. 18 seconds	Different camera angles to see the conversation, medium close-up to see their facial expressions and how they’re scared	Non-diegetic sound is continued to be used to create tension as the two characters are curious if their friends are playing a prank on them in the house
Shot 5. 9 seconds	180 degree rule used between the three characters, continuity editing used to show the door opening from both perspectives, over the shoulder shot to get all three characters in the same shot	Non-diegetic builds up to when the third character enters the scene, the door acts as an entrance for the third character as she explains to the two other females that they aren't safe	This connotes anxiety as the two female characters are unaware of the antagonist being in the same house as they are
Shot 6. 8 seconds	Continuity editing used to show the reaction of the three characters as the fourth character stumbles up the stairs and when the antagonist chases them. Camera follows the character as he falls to the floor	Sound effects as both the injured character appears and falls on the terrace and when then antagonist appears from the darkness and begins to chase the characters
Shot 7. 10 seconds	Dutch tilt at the top of the stairs to show the antagonist chasing the other characters and to show the risk of fighting on the stairs. Continuity editing is used to show the antagonist falling down the stairs and the protagonist getting away from him after running upstairs	Non-diegetic music begins to intensify as the antagonist chases after the three characters. The knife is being held by the antagonist, making it the focus point for the audience to understand that he is going to use that as his murder weapon	This connotes excitement as the audience are want the three characters to escape from the masked character. The music helps with this atmosphere as it begins to increase in tempo
Shot 8. 6 seconds	Handy cam is used to make it seem as if the first character is filming the other two female characters.	The first female character disappears in the shot. Non-diegetic stops as the three characters lock the door creating a sense of reassurance	This connotes safety, as the characters have locked themselves in a room so that they are able to hide or escape through the window from the antagonist
Shot 9. 16 seconds	Continuity editing is used again to show the antagonist trying to break down the door whilst the other two female characters find a way to escape. Medium shot is used to capture the character’s facial expressions as they attempt to escape	Non-diegetic begins to increase in tempo as we see the antagonist tries to break down the door. The door becomes symbolic; if it is broken down, then both characters will be in reach of the antagonist	This connotes a sense of panic, as the characters do not have a lot of time before the antagonist is able to break down the door
Shot 10. 5 seconds	Low camera angle parallel to the female character lying under the bed	Non-diegetic sound stops and tension is built as the antagonist walks around the room looking for the female character. A sound mix may have been used to intensify the sound of the antagonists footsteps to further build tension	This connotes a sense of vulnerability as we see her trying to hide under the bed whilst the antagonist is patrolling around the room
Shot 11. 4 seconds	A handy cam is used over the shoulder of the antagonist as the camera follows himself onto the balcony as he goes after the second female character	Non-diegetic sound is re-built as the antagonist runs out onto the balcony and discovers that the second female character was able to escape whilst he was trying to break the door down

Summary

As a result of analysing the first 2 minutes of Scream 4 shot by shot, I was able to identify some of the techniques used to convey a horror nature. In my opinion, the camera techniques used in this clip are most effective in showing the antagonist to inflict terror upon the protagonists. The Dutch tilt used whilst the antagonist is chasing the protagonist, enables the audience to understand the motive the antagonist has to murder the protagonist whilst she is being chased up the stairs.

The lack of sound at the beginning of the clip is used to build tension as we see the first protagonist turn off the television as she thinks she hears something in the house, only to find out that it is her friend upstairs getting ready. This is one of the longest shots in the scene, as it is used to build tension before the antagonist enters the scene. The cutting rates start off quite slow however, as we see the antagonist enter, the cutting rates begin to increase as both the antagonist and the protagonists run through the house, changing camera angles as they do so. The length of the shots vary, increasing as two lines of action start to occur in the bedroom. The clips tend to increase in length as tension is built, focusing on slow camera movements to convey distress and anxiety between the protagonists.

In conclusion, this shot by shot analysis has helped me to understand how increasing the shot length and using slow camera movements can help to build tension. In our production, I will take into account how this technique is used to convey distress and meaning in the audience.

FP: Shot by Shot Analysis - Friday the 13th (Cunningham, 1980)

Duration of shot	Camera techniques	Sound techniques	Mise-en-scene
0:00-0:05	Panning shot following the car: Emphasises the speed at which the vehicle is travelling. Also shot is from a stationary point, so the speed of the car going past shows how hard it would be to exit the vehicle whilst it is moving.	The engine of the car makes a sound resembling that of a growling animal, hinting at an unforeseen evil.	The road on which the car is driving is surrounded by trees, suggesting a woodland setting. Also the pan finishes on a mailbox and the car speeds past. This suggests that the passengers are now leaving civilisation.
0:05-0:24	Shaky POV shot from point of view of the driver: Shows the fact that the driver has power over the girl. The shakiness is unsettling and hints towards an upcoming turn of events.	Minor key string music playing. Short staccato cello notes are abrupt and jumpy, as are the shrill higher notes. The dialogue of the girl is delivered nervously and she is clearly uncomfortable. When she says ‘I think we better stop’, we hear the engine of the car speed up, suggesting that the driver does not want to let her escape and possibly intends to hurt her.	The girl in this scene wears a brightly coloured shirt and has long curly hair, suggesting she is an ‘innocent’ type character. She also has  a very concerned expression on her face which shows her discomfort and fear. The way she compulsively rubs her leg suggests that she feels the need to get out of the vehicle but can’t. She is trapped.
0:25-0:30	Second panning shot following car. This time from behind: The camera follows the movement of the car briefly but then stops and the car continues. This emphasises the fact that the car is getting further and further away from salvation.	Disappearing sound of engine again shows salvation getting further away for the girl.	This shot reveals more about the woodland setting. However now there are no signs of civilisation whatsoever. (alone)
0:31-0:33	Second POV from driver’s perspective. Again, energetic and nervous.	The volume and tempo of the music is increased, making the scene more stressful and suggesting something important is going to happen.
0:34-0:35	Static shot from road of car. Slight shake as car nears	Engine noise of car gets louder as car approaches.
0:36-0:37	Static shot from same angle, but closer, showing more detail of how she throws herself from the car.	Feminine scream: more a scream of pain than fear. Conventional of horror
0:37-0:42	Mid shot of girl struggling to her feet: high angle showing vulnerability	High pitched jab notes in string instruments evoke fear in the audience and show that the girl is in danger.
0:43-0:51	Shot from inside the car, reversing: Again, high angle from the car makes girl seem vulnerable and conveys the power of the antagonist.	‘Scary’ music continues, as well as struggling sounds of girl.	The victim is placed on the floor, showing she is unable to defend herself at that point and therefore is vulnerable.
0:52-0:56	Mid shot following the girl as she runs into the woods: Shows her leaving behind the road/any hope of salvation	‘’	The trees surround the girl as she goes deeper into the forest, showing she is isolated and alone.  The lighting is unconventionally bright for a slasher film
0:57-1:09	POV shot from antagonist’s perspective: following the girl through the woods as she tries to escape. Shows that the antagonist is chasing her and poses a threat.	Girl continues to make frightened struggling noises.	The girl continuously falls over which is frustrating for the audience because it means she is closer to being caught. Also it shows that she is afraid and unable to function properly.
1:10-1:13	Tracking shot from slightly in front of the girl: shows the fact that she is struggling to get away because of her slow pace. Also shows that her speed is hindered by an injury.	‘’	The foliage appears to become denser as she gets deeper into the forest, reducing her chance of escape.
1:14-1:16	POV shot is repeated: Shows that the antagonist is persistent and keen to catch her. Also, they do not move particularly fast, suggesting that they expect to catch her.	Music becomes more urgent and matches the pace of the girl’s running.
1:17-1:18	Close-up of the antagonist’s legs/shoes: this is the first glimpse we have of the antagonist.	‘’	We Only see a brief glimpse of the antagonist’s feet, so very little is revealed about them. This adds to the ‘fear of the unknown’ factor.
1:18-1:20	POV shot of the antagonist turning around	The music stays fairly constant at this point, as if it has reached a false climax	The motion of this shot suggests confusion and could mean that the antagonist has lost sight of the victim. (false hope/sense of security?)
1:21-1:29	mid shot following girl to static shot of her running away: Shows her becoming more desperate and then showing her becoming more isolated and lessening her chance of escape.	The music becomes repetitive, which could be representative of the fact that she is going in circles and getting lost.
1:30-1:33	Close up from in front of girl: reveals open space behind her and suggests she might be safe after all.	Music calms down slightly: False sense of security.
1:34-1:42	Low angle: suggests that she might no longer be vulnerable.	Music quietens and eventually stops, suggesting the threat is gone
1:42-1:47	Follow cam in front again.	Ambient sounds suggest all is calm again	Girl looks around nervously, showing she believes there is still a threat
1:48-1:52	Low angle again, convincing the audience she is safe and no longer vulnerable.	Distinct lack of sound, luring audience into false sense of security, until end of shot when high strings suddenly re-enter.	Girl bumps in to tree, showing she is dazed and shocked, antagonist suddenly re-renters, shocking and frightening audience. Stands over Girl-vulnerable.
1:52-2:01	High angle, showing vulnerability of the girl	Re-entry of high pitched, disturbing string music. Girl begs ‘No’	Girl is on floor, completely vulnerable to antagonist, who stands over her.
2:02-2:03	Close up	‘’	Knife, conventional of slasher, murder.
2:03	Close up	‘’	Knife is raised, tension
2:04-2:08	Mid shot, almost from position of killer	Gasp of air as throat is cut. Short, low, ominous note in the strings almost coincides with the cut.	Prosthetics used to create gory wound and trickling blood. Cut-throat conventional of slasher. Identity of antagonist still not revealed.

This research process has been extremely useful for giving us ideas as a group for how to use certain shots, characters and locations. Similar to our original idea, the protagonist in this sequence holds prevalence for almost the entire thing.

In this scene however, there is far more extensive use of close-up shots than we were originally planning to use, so perhaps we will now consider using more close-up shots in our film. Also in this sequence, the identity of the antagonist is kept entirely secret all the way through, as we were planning to do with ours. In our project we were hoping to increase the cutting rate as the sequence progresses, with the intention of building tension. However in this sequence the cutting rate remains fairly inconsistent and shows no significant patterns of increasing/decreasing, so perhaps we will have to re-consider our options, as clearly there are other ways of building tension without focussing on editing. For example, the other ways in which tension is generated in this scene include the use of high-pitched, minor keyed string music, which is conventional of this genre. If we can find some appropriate music that we are able to use for our project, it is a definite possibility.

 

   However, due to the fact that this film was made several years ago, and there have been drastic progressions in the production of horror films, there are several aspects of this sequence that I believe are not as effective for building tension as other alternative techniques. For example, there are several long cuts used, some up to 19 seconds. If there are long periods of time in which nothing much changes (e.g walking scenes), it has no effect on the tension of the scene. Therefore we will have to take into consideration the length of our cuts and make sure they are not becoming too long. Also, longer cuts are harder to film.

 

In conclusion, what we can take from this sequence is that the use of  sound is very important and effective and important for building tension. Also it shows that continuity editing (as we plan to use) is sufficient for this genre. 

LH: Shot by Shot Analysis - The Shining (Kubrick, 1980) "Here's Johnny!"

Duration of shot (seconds)	Camera Technique	Mise-en-scene	Sound
0:00 – 0:07	Camera is tracked backwards, character is shown in the middle of the screen. The shot is a mid-shot showing characters upper body.	Character walks limping, clutching onto an axe. His facial expressions connote a psychotic nature about this character.	Sharp scratching non-diegetic sounds are put over the top, this is typical in the horror genre. The sound gets louder to promote tension, this sound is used as the soundtrack.
0:07 – 0:11	A static shot, shows woman in the middle of the screen.	Woman is struggling to climb out of a window, to escape the psychotic man. She is unable to escape and has to resort to climbing back inside. Her character blocking shows her fear.	Soundtrack
0:11 – 0:13	A mid-shot is used to show young boy, in the centre of the screen.	Young boy shown to be in safety outside the house, yet it is clear by his panting and facial expressions he is still scared.	Soundtrack
0:13 – 0:19	Walking shot, behind the back following character.	There is no emotion shown by the character. The prop used is a huge axe which promotes ideas of violence.	Soundtrack. Dialogue “Come out, come out wherever you are” – shows psychotic humour.
0:19 – 0:22	Static mid-shot showing the woman from the back opening the window.	Woman shown from inside this time, is frantically trying to escape, still with no success, her body language is rushed showing fear.	Soundtrack
0:22 – 0:26	Shot is taken outside the window still central. A low angle is used to show how the drop is dangerous	Woman is struggling to pull herself out of the window.	Soundtrack Sound mix is used to increase the volume of the woman panting to show fear.
0:26 – 0:41	The shot is a medium close-up. It shows the psychotic character by the door side on.	The characters facial expressions still connote a psychotic killer nature about this character.	Soundtrack This is paused on two occasions, sound mix is used for both, trying to unlock the door and the knocking.
0:41 – 0:44	An outside shot of the female’s upper body.	Woman now fearing for her life, has given up on getting out of the window.	Soundtrack Dialogue is also used “I can’t get out!” This shows panic and fear, by the trembling voice
0:44 – 0:54	Long shot shows the outside, with woman and boy outside. Rule of thirds is used with the child and his mother.	We can see the child running off the screen in panic, the mother has to be left behind.	Soundtrack “run!” “quick!” this dialogue shows the danger in this situation and the panic in the woman’s voice.
0:54 – 0:59	This is a central medium close-up to show the expressions on the male characters face.	The psychopathic character still maintains the scary smile on his face as he speaks through the door.	Soundtrack “little pigs, little pigs, let me come in”, this is spoken in a scary manner.
0:59 – 1:05	This is a tracking shot to show the characters movement around the bathroom.	Woman is locked in the bathroom; she finds a knife (prop) and cowers into the corner. Her facial expressions show her fear.	Soundtrack Sound mix is used to increase the volume on the knife being picked up.
1:05 – 1:14	It goes back the central medium close-up of the male characters face, still showing scariness on his face.	His facial expressions as he is talking connote a deranged nature, which promotes the horror theme.	Soundtrack “Not by the hair on my chinny, chin, chin” “Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff”, he is quoting a child’s fairy-tale, showing psychopathic nature. Asynchronous.
1:14 – 1:16	A mid-shot is used behind the male antagonist.	He begins to swing his axe into the bathroom door.	Soundtrack “And I’ll blow your house in!” this gives an idea of destruction.
1:16 – 1:23	A side on mid-shot is used to show the characters torso.	The side on view shows the axe hitting against the door 3 times, the door begins to crack.	Soundtrack Sound mix increases the volume of the axe crashing into the door. The woman inside the room can be heard whimpering in fear.
1:23 – 1:47	A still frame shot of the woman inside the bathroom. Mid-shot.	The woman’s facial expressions connote extreme fear. The axe is shown to get progressively further through the door. Woman is cowered in the corner.	Soundtrack Woman’s screams are piercing. Axe creates loud thudding sounds on the door.
1:47 – 1:54	Shot through the hole in the door is used to show the danger.	The males facial expression is angrier at this point, he is shown aggressively hammering the door.	Soundtrack Axe thuds.
1:54 – 2:01	It goes back to the side on view on the antagonist striking at the door.	The hole in the door has grown in size. He axes still aggressively.	Soundtrack Axe thuds The woman screams in the background, and pleads.
2:01 – 2:03	A close up of the male antagonists face through the crack in the door.	His face is shown through the hole in the door, his facial expressions are a psychopathic smile as he speaks.	Soundtrack has gained volume “Here’s Johnny!” is said in a psychopathic tone.
2:03 – 2:05	Medium close up of the female in the corner.	She is clutching the knife in her hands, her facial expressions connote fear.	Soundtrack Woman screaming
2:05 – 2:08	A close up of the male antagonists face through the crack in the door.	He is shown smiling through the crack in the door and he begins to step back.	Soundtrack
2:08 – 2:09	Extreme close up of antagonists hand.	He reaches through the crack to put his hand on the door handle.	Soundtrack
2:09 - 2:10	Panning shot of woman in the corner	Woman swings her knife at the antagonist’s hand.	Soundtrack Sound mix increases volume of the knife hitting man’s hand. The male character screams

This has proved very useful as research, especially when it comes to giving us inspiration and ideas for our groups work. For example the usage of shots used which we can use in our production. This film is slasher, which we use in our own film opening so it can give us ideas for this. We  can take inspiration from the usage of characters, shots used, editing, sound and many other factors.

In this scene, personally I think one of the shots that Stanley Kubrick used particularly effectively was a close up. This was used extensively to show the antagonists face, in most cases showing a psychotic smile, I think that this shot was very effective when it comes to creating tension and causing the audience to take the side of the woman and child. This would be very useful in our work, the antagonist could have the effective usage of the psychotic smile, which can scare the audience in itself.

A clever use of editing I noticed throughout this scene, was an effective way of creating tension, this was the increasing speeds for the cutting rate. The beginning of this scene contains slow, fluent shots. Longer takes are used at the beginning, it creates tension through slow moving, like the calm before the storm. Gradually, the cutting rate increases, the shot lengths become shorter raising tension for the audience.

In the background of this scene constantly throughout a soundtrack is used. This sound used, is very similar throughout a high pitched minor key noise. This is very conventional in this genre, the noise itself produces tension, as it is not pleasing to the ears. This has the potential to be used in our film, it could be very effective, if we can find a suitable noise for the background. 

Overall from analysing this scene in depth I have got lots of new ideas for our group, this includes the sound usage. The usage of sharp high pitched strings was very effective in my opinion especially when it comes to creating tension in the scene. Also, the editing, camera and mise-en-scene has created many new ideas, including the psychotic smile.