An early attempt of trying to analyse screen shots from horror films

1. BLAIR WITCH
PROJECT

2. This is the title page of the opening of the film, the
sans serif font shows that the film is modern and
up to date. It is blog and is white, which means it
stands out of the black background. White has
connotations of safety which is the opposite to the
narrative of the film. It also makes the audience
think of the enigma code out what is their project
about and who is the Blair witch. It also give away
the genre as it talks about a witches and they are
normally related to horror.
This shot is a close up as you can see her facial
emotions and the audience can tell exactly what
she is thinking. close ups are a common shot
type in the horror genre as you can see exactly
what the character is doing and there emotions.
The purple colour of her shirt connotes mystery
and calmness, it suggests this shot was taken in
the calm before the storm that is about to
happen in the rest of the film. The emotion on
her face suggest excitement and her scraped
back hair shows she is ready for business, this
goes with the narrative that she is just starting to
film their documentary on ‘The Blair witch
Project’.

3. This screen shot is taken during the
filming of their documentary. It is a
typical mid-shot as you can only see
form her waist up but you can also see
behind her is a grave yard which is
common mies-en-scene in the horror
genre. The shot is also in black and
white to increase the feeling of a horror
film and to also make you feel it is a real
documentary they are filming.
This is an insert shot used to utilised to
emphasise on a relevant object, they do this
because the certain object could be lost in the
grand mise-en-scene. They usually fill the
frame and connect to the narrative, even if
they do not reveal any new information they
are still important in the editing stage. This
shot shows three book and the top one in main
focus is called ‘How To Stay Alive In the
Woods’ this links to the narrative and gives a
sense on enigma as the audience will be
intrigued why they need help to survive as they
could encounter something they do not expect
when filming there documentary. As the
audience don't think these shots are that
important they secretly make you start thinking
whats the relevance of them.

4. 27 DAYS
LATER

5. This is the opening to the start of the film, as this
shows the production companies logo. The
reason this is the first thing the audience see is
because without the production company the film
wouldn't of been made, so without it would be no
film. The production company that is shown is
‘Fox Search Light pictures’. Fox Search Light
Pictures usually make comedy-drama, horror, art-
house, and foreign films. This can also be seen
as a mark of quality, because if the audience
have enjoyed one of the past films then they are
more likely to watch another one of their film
because they enjoyed previous ones.
This is a crane shot taken from above of the
police trying to control a riot or some kind of
protest. This shot is taken from the televisions
that surrounds an infected chimpanzee, the
chimp is infected with rage and the only things it
can see when it is strapped to the bed is around
six televisions all showing different types of
rage and violence. The use of the police and
horses all in dark colours suggests mystery and
power, but there is a bog contrast in colours
against the bright orange flair that had been set
off, the colour orange connotes happiness and
warmth which is the direct opposite of the place
where the chimp is being kept. The amount of
violence is common to the horror genre and the
darkness of the opening scene really puts the
audiences senses on alert.

6. This shot is a long shot but is also uses
rack focus to show all of the phones are
disconnected, which suggests he also
feels disconnected from the outside world.
The use of focus means you can not see
the main character properly which give the
audience a sense of confusion and it also
could be interoperated as his mind is also
in a blur like the he is in the shot. .The
main chapter is wearing a classic
turquoise hospital top and trousers which
tells the audience that he is in a hospital
as he is also stood next to a wheelchair.This is another crane shot which is taken from a
high angle of the streets of London. This shot
shows the main character confused picking up
litter on the streets and looking at an
abandoned car on the middle of the streets.
This then gives the audience enigma as they
want to know where is everybody? why is the
car left in the middle of the road? why is nobody
o the busy streets on London? This also gives
an unnerving feeling because the streets of
London are never empty and they are all ways
filled with many people and cars. This shot also
suggest that because he is very small in this
shot that he is also only a small part of the
puzzle of what has happened.