Sound Techniques

Diegetic- actors can hear in a scene

Non-diegetic- Actors cant hear this sound, background sound

Synchronous sound- sound that matches an action on the screen

Asynchronous sound- sound that don’t match the action on screen

Contrapuntal sound- Sounds that are opposite of something

ANALYSIS OF SCREAM

Scream
How can this be seen as a horror movie in terms of mise-en-scene, camera, editing, sound and its textual analysis of scream?

From the start of scream we get the impression that it is a horror movie from the location as it is in a desolated area, which suggests no one is around creating more suspense.  Furthermore the house has an open plan with glass surrounding it, which highlights how the protagonist is being watched. The protagonist is blonde which is stereotypical as most victims in a horror movie are blonde characters; she is further represented as being naïve and innocent. This idea of her being innocent links into sound from when we hear a diegetic sound of the phone ringing and she answers through an innocent tone, there is a medium close up of her picking up the phone to emphasise on her innocents. In continuation to the adjective ‘innocent’ there is an eye line match of her looking scared when the anonymous voice on the phone says something, which takes her to surprise, at this point non diegetic music starts playing in the background to create more suspense. To create a bigger effect of her fear the camera uses a tracking shot to follow her around the house as she is trying to see who is watching her. There is juxtaposition between the protagonist and the villain as she is wearing white clothing, which signifies purity, and the villain is wearing black to show darkness. Moreover when she begins to feel more fear there is a match on action edit of her locking the door which shows she is worried and isn’t as confident as she makes out to be on the phone at the start.
Around the house are different props which link into a horror movie such as a knife, which foreshadows that something dangerous is going to happen. To create a horror vibe we see a shot reverse shot of her boy friend about to be killed at this point the non diegetic music increases in tempo as the action gets faster which ignites danger however this non diegetic sound starts to slow down just before her and her boyfriends death. To make the movie more uplifting, creepy and frightening there is an eye line match of the girl friend watching her boyfriend be killed.
Finally at the end of the clip when she starts to be chased by the murderer there are lots of quick cuts to show that there is more tension being built up and to make this more intense there is non diegetic music playing in the background.

Opening sequence plan

In the first scene the 3 girls are watching a movie at a sleepover, they then decide to order some pizza. In the next scene the chef is baking the pizza and he slowly adds in the poison, the chef then delivers the pizza to the girls and walks off. After this the girls eat the pizza, however one of the girls is frustrated as the pizza has mushrooms on therefore she doesn't eat any. Suddenly 2 of the girls who ate the mushroom pizza start coughing and both collapse, the girl who didn't eat the pizza is the only one alive it ends with her calling her mum for help.

Script for thriller

Script for media

Section 1

It’s a dark day as the sun has set. The girls are sitting together in the bedroom. The diegetic wind blowing. *Casual speech* when ordering the pizza. Wide shot of the bedroom to show the 3 girls in the room. And then a close up of the phone to foreshadow that something dangerous will happen.

Cross-cut between girls ordering the food and delivery man talking back. Non-diegetic suspicious music playing in the background to highlight the suspense. Medium close up of mans face to show his emotion from his face.

Section 2

Non diegetic suspicious music continues when chef is making the pizza. Close up of ingredients and then low angle shot to show the chef looking down at the pizza. Extreme close up of poison to signify how toxic it is. Then zooms out to a wide shot of the chef finishing the preparation of the pizza.

Section 3

Starts with a wide shot of the house and the driveway with the deliveryman standing outside staring at the door. Diegetic knock on the door. He creepily walks away and leaves the pizza outside the door. Panning shot.

Medium close up of girl opening the door to collect the pizza and looks around confused because the deliveryman has already gone. Diegetic bang of door closing. Non-diegetic music to foreshadow something bad will happen as they open the box. *Angry tone* when Tilly sees there is mushrooms on the pizza when she doesn’t like them.

Section 4

Medium shot of the 2 girls eating the mushroom pizza and then zoom out to a wide shot of all 3 girls to emphasise on the foreshadow. Shot of pizza man *humming* to children’s rhyme ring ring roses. *We all fall down* and then the 2 girls fall. Non-diegetic slow music and a close up of the foam coming out the girl’s mouth.

Props and Costumes for my 2 minute opening sequence

The reason we need costumes is to display who the characters are as different clothing represents someones personality. The main character the chef will wear a chefs jacket. The pyjamas represent the girls which also connotes there young innocents. Furthermore we will use props such as poison to show what the chef will use to kill the girls. A box for the pizza and the wanted sign to show the danger of the chef to the audience.

Similar films to our 2 minute opening sequence

The (2011) the film “Truth or Dare” was released. It is a horror film set in a derelict forest group with a cabin in it. These people got invited for a party and they attend. Someone at the party then suggested that all of the people there should then play truth or dare, so they did. Little did they know that their killer was right in front of them? This killer then dares them to do stuff to torture one another. The killer then kills most of them. This is similar to our movie idea as there is a group of friends ordering pizza from a killer; it is similar as it would be us following laws from a killer

The 2004 film “Sleepover” is a movie about 4 girls who have a sleepover. Although it is a comedy, it was where we got the idea for a teenage sleepover from. Ultimately we made the evil pizza man up ourselves.

Plan for our day of filming the 2 minute sequence

DAY:

11:00 – Start setting up the cameras and make sure we have appropriate props and costumes

11:45 – Film the man kneading the dough as well as making the pizza. Filming his hands – white gloves – whistles a rhyme

12:15 – Close up of the pizza mans face

12:30 – Lunch Break

1:00 – Film the girls having a sleepover. In cinema room, all dressed in pyjamas, teddies, blankets, telling each other gossip, put a movie on

1:20 – Girls will call to order the pizza and say only half with mushrooms

1:40 – see him putting the mushrooms poisoning the mushrooms

1:50 – him putting the mushrooms on the pizza

2:00 – Man driving to the house

2:10 – Man delivers the pizza and tears the wanted poster

2:30 – Girls cuddled up on sofa watching a movie with a lot of suspense

2:45 – Man rings the doorbell = leaves the pizza on the doorstep

3:00 – he walks away

3:15 – girls bring pizza into cinema room

3:30 – Open the box and see it is all mushrooms and Tilly doesn’t eat due to mushrooms

3:45 – The others eat the pizza

4:00 – Shot of pizza man humming to children’s rhyme – ring ring roses

4:00 – “ We all fall down “ – they will fall

4:15 – close up of girls foaming at the mouth

Feedback from our class on our 2 minute sequence

From the feeback from our class it was clear that people liked the idea however there was some reservations that we need to overcome. These are as follows:

1) Our acting needs to be good or it could look quite ammeter
2) Going to have to make it look obvious with the pizza man otheriwse it will be confusing what the narrative is about
3) Very reliant upon non diegetic sound


Therefore we have these issues to overcome and we will do so by doing the following:
1) We are going to film a run through first to practice
2) We are going to look for the right location
3) We are going to look on premier pro for the right non diegetic phone to create the right ambiance

Potential audience members feedback on our 2 minute sequence

From this feedback there was negatives and positives.

I learnt from this feedback that the idea is good as it has a lot of potential but there isn't a lot of tension being shown. This means that to improve my group will try add in non-diegetic suspicious music to create more suspense and tension. Another criticism was that it needs a bit more development however the story line is intriguing. Therefore to do this our group will work out new ways to make the movie sound complete.