Technical analysis of the opening 2 minutes of 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' (Derrickson, 2005) 
Fade from black into a MS of a barbed wire fence, title of the film written in red dissolves in, title dissolves out, fade to black, fade in to a MS of crops blowing in the wind, cut to a MS of pumpkins in a field, cut to a LS of a desolate house and a man walking towards the house, name of actor written red fades in on the left hand side, cuts to a CU of a shoe stepping in mud, ped up to show person walking, name of actor fades out, cut to LS showing a figure walking up the stairs to the house, cut to MS of an old man knocking on the door, name of another actor written in red fades in on the right hand side, name fades out, cut to LS of house shows man going down stairs, name of an actor written in red fades in on the right hand side, name fades out, cut to MS of man looking out, cut to LS of a rusty tractor, cuts back to MS of the man, cuts to MS of a weather vane moving in the wind, cuts back to MS of man looking to his right, cut to MS of a small animal running away, cuts to a MS of the man's back, 3 actors' names in red fade in on left hand side, names fade out, actor's name in red fades in on top left hand corner, name fades out.
Sountrack in the opening 2 minutes of 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose'
- At the beginning when the screen is black there is music playing. This music has a low pitch and is monotone. This music begins to build up and another sound layer is added of some kind of an animal making a strange noise and then a woman shouting Emily. This creates dramatic tension as the audience does not know what is making the sound or why the woman is shouting as the screen is black.
- The music keeps playing throughout the first 2 minutes of the film, however different layers of sound are added and amplified such as the man knocking on the door, the weather vane creaking and the wind blowing to match what is happening . This creates dramatic tension as the creaking and the wind blowing are iconographies of the horror genre.
What I have learnt from the technical analysis?
From the technical analysis I have learnt that there are more shots and editing techniques than I first thought. I thought that there would be only a few cuts in the first 2 minutes, however from my technical analysis I can see that there are 14 cuts. This number of cuts hooks the audience because the action does not stay the same for too long. This shows me that when drawing our storyboard we need to think carefully about how many cuts we will use in order to keep our audience engaged.
Fade from black into a MS of a barbed wire fence, title of the film written in red dissolves in, title dissolves out, fade to black, fade in to a MS of crops blowing in the wind, cut to a MS of pumpkins in a field, cut to a LS of a desolate house and a man walking towards the house, name of actor written red fades in on the left hand side, cuts to a CU of a shoe stepping in mud, ped up to show person walking, name of actor fades out, cut to LS showing a figure walking up the stairs to the house, cut to MS of an old man knocking on the door, name of another actor written in red fades in on the right hand side, name fades out, cut to LS of house shows man going down stairs, name of an actor written in red fades in on the right hand side, name fades out, cut to MS of man looking out, cut to LS of a rusty tractor, cuts back to MS of the man, cuts to MS of a weather vane moving in the wind, cuts back to MS of man looking to his right, cut to MS of a small animal running away, cuts to a MS of the man's back, 3 actors' names in red fade in on left hand side, names fade out, actor's name in red fades in on top left hand corner, name fades out.
Sountrack in the opening 2 minutes of 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose'
- At the beginning when the screen is black there is music playing. This music has a low pitch and is monotone. This music begins to build up and another sound layer is added of some kind of an animal making a strange noise and then a woman shouting Emily. This creates dramatic tension as the audience does not know what is making the sound or why the woman is shouting as the screen is black.
- The music keeps playing throughout the first 2 minutes of the film, however different layers of sound are added and amplified such as the man knocking on the door, the weather vane creaking and the wind blowing to match what is happening . This creates dramatic tension as the creaking and the wind blowing are iconographies of the horror genre.
What I have learnt from the technical analysis?
From the technical analysis I have learnt that there are more shots and editing techniques than I first thought. I thought that there would be only a few cuts in the first 2 minutes, however from my technical analysis I can see that there are 14 cuts. This number of cuts hooks the audience because the action does not stay the same for too long. This shows me that when drawing our storyboard we need to think carefully about how many cuts we will use in order to keep our audience engaged.
I agree about thinking about the number of shots, I noticed in my opening that I analysed the camera remained static for long periods of time whereas it doesn't seem to in this opening. Depending on how gripping and enigmatic we want our opening to be we ought to have substantial numbers of shots.
ReplyDeleteWell done - excellent technical breakdown. I would have liked to see more reflection on what you have learnt in terms of music, mise-en-scene, generic conventions.
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