Case Study 2

Short film – “The open door”

·         This film is a thriller and has a lot of suspense which is why I have chosen to analyse it in detail as I hope for my film to hold a lot of suspense and other similar qualities to this film.

·         The establishing shot if of a young women walking up an empty road.

·         It begins black and white and in the middle of the scene changes to colour which I could also do in my short film as it gives the film a twist and is quite captivating.

·         The is a close up shot of her opening the door with her keys and then it cuts to an high angle shot of her coming through the door with her shopping.

·         At this point the cutting rate is quite slow as it gives the audience time to digest the shots. I may do this at the beginning of the movie as it will give the audience time to digest the characters and the setting, then speed up the cutting rate when things begin to get a little more exciting.

·         Sound effects of the keys banging together and the shopping bag rustling (Diegetic sound) to help reinforce that it is real and that it is actually happening.

·         She then pushed the front door shut but it doesn’t fully close. A close up shot shows this. Then creepy mood music (non diegetic) sound plays.

·         A mid shot shows her cutting food up in the kitchen quickly cutting to a close up of her cutting up a cucumber. Non diegetic music continues to play in the back ground which is of a piano to build suspense in the audience and also to make the short film almost flow and help the cutting of scenes to also flow as well.

·         This is followed by a screeching sound and a close up shot of a black figure walking through the unclosed door. By using a close up shot we are unable to see who this person is or who he/she looks like which again builds curiosity in the audience.

·         It then cuts to the camera zooming in on her as she’s resting in bed then a pan up as the black figure walks into her room.

·         The next shot is a close up of the man whispering something into her hear before it cuts to her quickly jumping up as he pushes her back down. This is shown through a middle close up shot.

·         The cutting rate speeds up as it cuts to her jumping up in her bed in other clothes and looking scared as they show a close up of her face which they do to show her emotion and expression so we understand how she was feeling at that very moment. It also changes to colour when it cuts to this scene which makes everything seem more real and draws us in a little more as we realise it may have been in black and white before as she was asleep.

·         Diegetic sound of thunder and lightning plays in the background. They use lighting to resemble to flashes from the thunder and lightning going on outside. This gives the shot a creepy feel and haunting atmosphere.

·         A mid long shot shoes her slowly getting out of bed then a close up shows her grabbing some keys off of a dresser in her room.

·         Diegetic sound of her heavily breathing then plays as they again close up on her face as she walks towards the front door.

·         A worm’s eye shot shows her as she walks down the stairs. Then lighting is now very dull and gives a moody feel. It also helps reinforce the fact that it was quite late at this time.

·         It then cutes to a mid-shot of her checking the door. Non diegetic sounds of screeching plays in the background and the lighting remains dark.

·         The final scene is a close up of her face as a white man in a long black coat appears behind her before and lightning flashes. It fades out and the credits begin to roll.