RC - Technical analysis on teen horror film 'I know what you did last summer' (Gillespie, 1997):

I decided to look at the first four minutes of the film's opening sequence, as the first two minutes did not include enough for me to complete a full technical analysis...

-The film starts with a black background with the film's credits, which are of a white font, appearing and then disappearing, this cuts to a high angle, following pan of an ocean, where rock music begins to play

-The film title then appears and the pan continues, showing us black rocks in the deep blue ocean.

-Now two layers of sound are being played, which we hear as being the rock music and the amplified sound of the waves crashing; this happens when the names of the actors and actresses appear.

-The pan still continues and we then begin to hear vocals in the soundtrack, as the pace of the music slightly decreases. The camera movement allows us to see the glare of the orange/yellow sun and more rocks in the background.

-The following pan then takes us closer to the rocks in the background, as we hear that the singer in the soundtrack has a low, husky voice, as this happens more credits are appearing on the screen in the bottom, right hand corner.

-There is then a very high angle panning shot, which twists around so that we are positioned to face the sea and then twists around further, whilst at the same time getting lower, so that we see a man sitting on a rock looking at something.

-This then cuts to a close up of his hand holding a metal object, at the same time the music quietens slightly.

-This cuts to a low angle shot of the man, still holding the object, looking windswept and upset.

-This cuts to another close up of his hand holding the object, but then his other hand comes into view and then hits the metal object so that it swings around. The only thing that you can hear now is the sound of him hitting the object, as the soundtrack has stopped playing. The noise the metal object makes is quite high pitched and is amplified.

-This cuts to a medium shot of him sitting on the rock, with his hands on his lap, looking down.

-This cuts to a POV shot of him looking down at the waves crashing against the rocks he is sitting on and at the same time another soundtrack begins playing.

-This cuts to a low angle shot of him still sitting, as he turns his head to his right, as a noise of birds flapping their wings is heard.

-This cuts to a POV shot of him looking at the view to his right, which is of more rocks with green grass on it and another view of the blue ocean. The music here is quite slow and high pitched.

-This cuts to a medium shot of him with his body twisted round to his right, which then cuts to another medium shot of the back of him, twisting his body round to his left to look behind him.

-This cuts to a medium long shot of a road, the music playing here is still the same.

-This cuts to another medium long shot of him sitting on the rock, with his legs dangling. The rule of thirds here shows us to be looking at the ocean, whilst he is positioned more to the right of the screen.

-This then cuts to a low angle medium shot of his face and upper half of his body, looking distressed and then bringing up the metal object to his eyesight.

-This cuts to another medium shot of him from behind (slightly to the left of him) looking at the metal object.

-There is then a slight high angle shot, which pans so that we are looking over his left shoulder at him looking at the metal object still.

-This cuts to a POV shot of him looking down again at the sea, where you notice that the music is now of a higher tempo with still quite high notes.

-This cuts to a medium long shot of the right side of him, sitting on the rock and taking a swig out of his drink. The music then starts to build up.

-There is then a cut to a long shot of him again sitting on the rock drinking, but this time we see the left of him and the rule of thirds show him to be to the right of the screen.

-This cuts to a low angle medium shot of him looking drunk and out of place, with him still holding on tightly to the metal object in his left hand. He then suddenly looks up, as the soundtrack reaches its climax and stops and the sound of fireworks is then heard.

-There is then a motivated cut to a long shot of the fireworks, where you can still hear them all exploding and where the different colours, which appear after each explosion contrasts nicely against the night sky.

-Throughout these first four minutes there seems to be a blue filter put in place, used as an editing technique to create a dull like sequence.

How many layers of sound are there? How does it help to establish enigma/create dramatic tension?

In this opening there seems to be two layers of soundtrack playing at the same time, at the most. The music in this helps to establish enigma, as in the first minute or so the genre of music seems to be rock, which could intrigue many viewers. This is because some people may feel that rock is not suitable for the opening of a horror film, so would want to stay put and carry on watching out of curiosity. On the other hand, many may think that rock is suitable, as it has quite a dark, edgy feel to it. These responses to the rock music can be seen as why enigma is established.

Further on, you could argue that dramatic tension is created, when the style of music changes into a more softer, high pitched soundtrack. This can be seen as more suitable to a horror/slasher film, as this type of soundtrack builds up suspense, by having the audience at the edge of their seats. This could again apply when you hear the noise of birds flapping their wings, on top of this soundtrack already playing. Another reason for why tension could be created, is because the character that we are positioned with does not speak, and therefore is silent throughout this opening sequence. This silence could build up suspense for the audience because by the character not speaking it is hard to decide, as an audience, whether or not you can relate to this person.

What have I learnt from this technical analysis?

-I have learnt that it is not necessary for there to be dialogue within the opening sequence, for tension to be created. This is because silence can be seen as suspense builder within itself.

-I have also learnt how different camera shots can help establish fear for the viewers, a prime example of this would be when a POV shot is used to show the man looking down from the cliff to the ocean. This type of shot meant that the audience was put in the position of this character, so felt just as scared as him when looking down.

-I have also learnt how music soundtracks are key in establishing enigma, whether if it is just the one or two layers of sound. This is because if you were just given an opening sequence, which played no music it would be hard to understand what kind of film you are about to watch without being told.

-Through this analysis I have also come to understand how mise en scene also plays an important role in conveying the genre of film. I believe this is so because if the lighting is dull, and the location isolated, you immediately identify that this particular film is meant to be scary. Also, if the NVC of the character(s), portrays loneliness, distress, etc. you can again recognise that this particular use of mise en scene has been used to make the audience aware that this film is of a horror genre.

Altogether, I have learnt a lot from this technical analysis, which will aid me and my other group member in creating the best possible opening sequence we can.