Engaging the Audience

Engaging the Audience

Camera shots

•   Canted shots: This will be use to make the shot look uneven and disorientated the audience. It'll also connote the feelings of the wife, to show fear, confusion, anxiety and panic.

•   The camera will always be to one side of the husband. The shot will never 100% show the husband face, and will constantly partially show parts of his face. This will create a mysterious, unclear character, making the the husband enigmatic. This links to Roland Barthes' theory, high states that all good narratives have enigma codes, which leaves the audience wanting to continue to watch so everything can be resolved.

•  Extreme close up shots: extreme close up shots will be used on the husband so that you can never see his face clearly. This will contribute to the enigmatic character that is being created. Extreme close up shots will use on the wife to emphasis emotions and feelings. This will create suspense within the audience and will build tension.

All these camera shots will be used to disorientated the audience as much as possible. The camera shots will not reveal anything completely so that the audience will want to continue to watch so that they can find out what is going.

Sound/Dialogue/ music

•   Eery non-diegetic asynchronous sound that does not match with the visual content. This will be used to signify that there is something that the audiences are unaware of. The asynchronous music will also be used to disorientated the audience and confuse them, which will reflect the way the wife is feeling.

•   The tempo of the music will increase dramatically when the husband begins to walk down the stares. This will be done to build up tension with in the audience, and represents the husband as an antagonistic character.

•   The dialogue will be soft and quiet. The character will not speak loudly during the opening sequence to signify that there is a secret that is to be told and that someone is hiding something.

•   The dialogue will be minimal between the wife, husband and wife's sister in the beginning to connote tension between the character, and to show that the wife's sister may know that something is going. The minimal dialogue will also contribute to setting the scene and atmosphere of the opening scene.

•   A dramatic contrast between gloomy slow paced music at the start, compared to the faster paced music to signify danger.

All of these sound techniques will be used to represent to the audience that someone is being deceptive and that there is some thing to be revealed. This will make the ash wince continue to watch so they can discover this revelation.

Editing transitions.

•   Quick transitions from one scene to another. Scenes will end prematurely and will cut to other locations quickly. This will be done so that the audience he find it hard to follow what is going on and will not be able keep up with the storyline.

•   However, in contrast, there will be smooth transitions from one scene to another juxtaposition to the quick transitions used. This will be sued to confuse the audience and it'll make the mood of the opening sequence unclear.

•   Every piece of visual content, there will be a filter that will represent the scene as mysterious and enigmatic. This will be done so that whole entire mood of the opening sequence is represented in the same when and that there is something unclear throughout.

All these siting techniques will be used to create a quick, paced dramatic opening sequence, without bombarding the audience will too many action codes. It'll be fast paced and unclear so that the audience find it hard to follow, consequently encouraging them to continue watching.

Colours

•   A lot of black costumes and coloured objects to connote darkness. The husband will be in a black consume to represent him as the clear antagonist,mysterious, deceptive and ambiguous. Overall represent him as the clear villain in the opening sequence.

•   The wife will be if a red top and a white dress. The use of red will be done to connote love (love for either her husband or the man she has cheated with). However the red will also connote danger to audience, signifying that she is not the innocent character in this film and that she is untrustworthy.

Overall, the colours will represent the characters in a fairly obvious way, however will engage the audience and make them question why they're being represented in this way.

Locations

•   The wife's sister and the husband will be seen hanging "missing" posters around the area in fairly obviously and common locations, which intrigues the audience due to the fact that there are so many locations, that it makes them curious as to which location is the main location.

•   The cellar is the most prominent location in the whole film, and the scene will end there. The opening will end there, along with the revelation that the wife is there. This will engage the audience because it'll make them want to continue watching the film, to find out why the wife is tied in the cellar.

The use of various locations in the opening sequence will add to the confusion of the scene, and will make the audience wonder where she is. Due to the fact that so many common locations are used, it creates further ambiguity as to where she is, and builds tension.

Lighting

•   To add to the enigmatic character of the husband, very little/ dark lighting will be used so that his face is not revealed. This will add to the enigma codes of the husband because it won't allow the audience to see his face clearly, making him even more mysterious.

•   Harsh lighting as the door in the cellar is opened to emphasis the duration the wife has been down in the cellar. This will give the audience the idea that the husband has known how long she has been down in the cellar.

Generally low lighting to emphasis the darkness and gloominess of the film, and to create enigmatic characters, intriguing the audience to continue to watch the film so that situations are resolved.

Planned by Robbie, Jessica, Freya and Jack

Written by Jack