Preliminary Task

In this task we had to record a scene based on anything that we decided on as a group, we mainly had to focus on three different types of features :

• Match on action
• Shot reverse shot
• 180 degree rule

Opening Research

Film	Mirrors 2	The Maze
Title	·         Suggests that the mirrors have an important part in the film, and because it is a horror this builds tension when there are scenes with a mirror in because the viewer expects something to happen because it is a horror with Mirrors in the title.	·         The title shows that there is going to be a maze within the film and it also suggests that there will be confusion with the characters involved, as well as making wrong turns and being isolated. ·         Title sequence has moving images with main cast; the moving images would be best understood if they were seen after the film has been watched.
Music/Sound	·         Eerie middle eastern music that has sudden ‘horror bangs’ at key parts of the film, used to build tension and then allows the viewer to later identify key parts helping them to understand the storyline more effectively. ·         When the first scene starts there is diegetic sounds along with added in cinematic sounds that emphasise the actions in the scene, this helps to create tension for the viewer because every sound is exaggerated. ·         All music and sound stop completely right as the viewer expects something to happen. ·         And then cinematic sounds are added along with diegetic sound again to make the scene continuous	·         Title sequence sound is an orchestra playing fast paced jumpy music. Often heard in horrors to build tension. ·         Diegetic sound enhanced with sounds added in. ·         Music and sound stop completely when a hand is innocently placed on the characters shoulder. This enhances that gesture which makes the viewer jump, causing them to feel more involved within the scene.
Storyline	·         From the opening the storyline has been revealed that the main part of the film is about a man who survived a car crash and started hallucinating, from the opening scene after the title sequence it’s a completely different scene that has no relevance to the title sequence, this adds tension for the viewer because the viewer automatically tries to tie the two unique scenes together, and not knowing about something plays on your imagination making it more of an enjoyable film and more of a cliffhanging opening.	·         The storyline from the opening scene suggests that the story yet to come shows the death of characters that own the props shown in the opening, such as a set of keys and a necklace watch. The opening scene’s storyline has no relevance to the title which leads the viewer’s preconceived theories to appear incorrect with also plays with their imagination, dramatically adding further tension.
Settings	·         The opening scene is set in a museum at night and from the only characters uniform it’s possible to tell he is a night guard at this museum. The reason I believe that it is set at night in an abandoned museum is because this builds tension as the viewer automatically know that when you’re a museum night guard in a horror film the person is isolated and because it’s the opening scene of a horror and with all the music and sounds tied together the viewer knows that something bad is going to happen which adds to the tension.	·         The title sequence is set in an after death lab, this automatically links the film to death which suits its genre accurately. It also show isolation because the doctor is on his own with further ads to the tension that the director would want to create. The scene that fades at the end with a tatty damaged clock charm fading into a scene with a female wearing the charm on a necklace, this links the two scenes and tells the viewer that the dead body seen in the first scene is that of the woman in the opening scene. The second scene’s setting is in a desert with again shows isolation which is important when introducing a horror film.
Characters	·         The viewer is introduced to what is thought to be the main character as a short story is explained as well as a night guard that the viewer thinks two of been killed. ·         Also introduced is a large mirror and although this isn’t a character as such the viewer would then associate that the main horrific parts of the film are going to be mirror based.	·         There are 2 sets of characters introduced in the opening and that is a male doctor that is later accompanied by a female doctor, and a group of friends that appear to be on a road trip. ·         Because the props of the second set of characters are shown along with some bodies and then they are shown in the second scene directly with the characters, the viewer automatically knows that the newly introduced characters have a high importance in the film, and because they are linked with the dead bodies, any tension that is built with these characters on scene will be added to because the viewer already knows that a fatality will happen within the main characters. This is also dramatic irony which makes the viewer feel they are one over on the characters which can create a new sense of how the film is perceived.
Pace	·         The pace throughout the whole of the opening is relatively slow which although fast-paced scenes build tension a slow-paced scene with the music and sounds used in this opening signify that something is going to happen, and because it is slow paced the reader is left waiting which also builds tension.	·         The pace throughout the whole of the opening is slow this pace is chosen because key concepts of the film are revealed and if it was fast paced the viewer would lose track on the key parts.
Camera	·         Throughout the shots that build tension before the shot where the horrific parts happen, mid shot’s to very long shot’s are used, the camera tends to pan with movement with helps to set the scene and also add tension because the viewer is on edge because they are unaware of events to come. ·         In the scene that has been led up to with all the tension building the only shots that are used are close ups as the character has a duplicate in the mirror that chews glass, which then the night guard feels the pain, and the close ups help to build tension still in a sense that it a contrast between a vindictive supernatural character and the naive real character, this contrast helps the reader understand more in the scene and allows them to feel shock and sympathy for the real character as he has no control over the events.	·         The camera work is mainly close ups on the hands of the doctor, this is chosen because the props in the characters hands have a key importance to the identification of characters later on. ·         The camera work is all still throughout the opening as well. This would be used because camera movement would create an unbelieveable effect on the reader because it’s such a serious and important scene, because various themes and props are introduced.
Editing	·         Throughout the title sequence there is a lot of animation with broken glass reflecting newspaper stories about the character who survived a car crash. Although the editing is very surreal, it helps the viewer to understand the context of the title, and allows them to notice key parts of information necessary to understand the film accurately.	·         The key piece of editing that has been used within the opening is the fade from the title sequence to the opening scene, it shows a clock charm falling and the camera focuses on it then it slowly fades to a female character wearing the same charm on a necklace, this identifies the character to come and helps the viewer know when tension is being built.