Monday, 25 January 2016

The Stepfather - Opening Sequence Analysis


One way the sequence creates interest in for the viewer is through the use of the camera shots. We see this when there is dutch angle shot of the main antagonist and a child lying dead on a table. To me, this is an effective shot as before hand everything seems quite calm and relaxed, as if he was the only one in the house getting ready for work. But, then we realise that he's walking amongst dead bodies, presumably his family (or family by marriage since the family is called 'The Stepfather'), and it changes the whole tone of the opening. We see that the male is actually  very sinister and twisted. The fact that hes nonchalantly walking through the house adds to  the sense of creepiness and presents him as a very powerful and violent man. I like the idea of present the man as a normal guy and later showing his dark side as, for the audience, it doesn't show all of the narrative in the opening but it sets up the rest of the film and gives us a little bit of background as to what devastating things this man is capable of; It creates tension and mystery which is what all good openings should have in my opinion.

The opening introduces the main male antagonist by presenting him as a completely different looking man. We see him shave his face, take out his contact lenses and dye his hair. The appearance change at the start of the film makes us question what he gets up to in his life. We find out later that he does it to avoid getting caught by the police since he'd killed his family. In a sense, the fact that his tool kit for grooming himself is neatly organised tells me that he not only has planned the killing of his family from the moment he met them, but that this isn't the first time he has done it. Also, the colour of the kit is red, which clearly indicates that he is a murderer since red can be associated with blood. This subtle addition to the film is one that is clever and would be a very good thing to include into my opening sequence.


Tuesday, 19 January 2016

Starting Ideas & Plot Synopsis

At first, our group decided to come up with a film in the crime genre. This is because we wanted to try and demonstrate the seriousness and harshness of gangsters in London. This was inspired by from films such as Kidulthood and Bullet Boy. However, overtime we found that this genre was very limiting in terms of the fact that we wanted the actors to be predominantly teenagers, which we thought would be difficult to cast and manage. Also, we felt as though most films based around teenagers growing up in a tough area are often portrayed in a more light and funny way, whereas we wanted to make our opening the opposite.

As a result of this, we have decided to go with the idea of a psychological thriller film portraying the life of a boy who becomes obsessed with a girl that he sees around his local area on a regular basis. He becomes obsessed with her and begins to stalk her. He takes & collects pictures of her all over his room and has possessions of hers, such as a lock of her hair or lipstick.

Moreover, we are going to start our opening sequence by beginning with a few seconds of darkness, and then the moment between the girl and the stalker that eventually spirals into something more sinister and eerie. This will then be followed by a cork board littered with photos of the girl he's obsessed with.

Throughout the film, the girl will slowly begin to realise what's occurring; She is warned by one of her friends to be careful of him as he has a history of being eerie and too personal.The girl will then have to face the boy and explain to him that he cannot continue acting the way he does. He becomes more and more jealous because of events taking place with other characters such as relationships and friendships that he longs for, which eventually could lead to death.