1. Directors Commentary
This is a breakdown of the scenes of my short film, The Replacement which I created with my
friend Annalise Johnston and edited on Premiere Pro.
SCENE 1: The opening scene is a panning long-shot of the two bullies walking down the path
which then uses the edit, cut to the beat to dip to black when the music comes to a beat.
SCENE 2: One second of the music is played and then the title of the short film ‘THE
REPLACEMENT’ fades onto the screen for 4 seconds and then fades away.
SCENE 3: There is another cut to the beat edit of the clip where the antagonist drops his
weapon and walks away off camera. The shot is a stationary, close up shot and the scene
appears straight away on the screen. I did this by dragging the clip on Premiere Pro to where
the beat dropped so it was linked together and played at the same time.
SCENE 4: The fourth scene is introduced by another cut to the beat from a dip to blank from the
previous scene. This scene consists of another stationary shot which goes from mid to long-shot
as Lexi starts walking down the corridor and disappears. This shot had problems with the focus
as it was focusing on both the floor and Lexi moving.
SCENE 5: A quick dip to black from the previous scene and shows the clip of Lexi’s phone lying
on the desk as the beat drops once again. In this scene, we can see that an unknown caller
starts to ring Lexi’s phone and she hesitantly answers it. This makes the audience wonder who
it could be and what exactly Lexi is up too.
SCENE 6: Here, Lexi is looking at herself in the mirror and then she suddenly turns around with
a basket and goes to throw it but before the basket leaves her hand the scene cuts and dips into
black to lead onto the next scene. By cutting the scene before she throws the basket, it could
make the audience why she is angry all of a sudden and who or what she was going to throw
the basket at.
SCENE 7: A longshot which slowly goes into focus of the antagonist hiding in bushes and trees.
This scene is only short as it could indicate that only a small amount of the antagonist's identity
is revealed as the audience wants to know exactly who it is.
SCENE 8: This scene enters from a wipe from the left hand side. I used this effect because it
follows the direction in which the weapon of the killer is being dragged. In addition to this, the
camera is also following the movement of the weapon using a close up shot so that the viewer
can see the image clearly. He is dragging the weapon over a picture of a forest which could link
back to the previous scene of him hiding in the bushes and could possibly also link to the
opening scene.
SCENE 9: A short close up of Lexi on her phone talking to someone. This scene is short as it
could foreshadow that her supposed friendship with the two bullies will be shorter than what
2. they expected by the person who she is on the phone too to which the audience are still
wondering who the unknown caller is and suspect that something is going to happen to Lexi and
not the bullies.
SCENE 10: A close up of the antagonist but the camera slowly moves up his body to reveal his
identity but not his face. By doing this, it gives the audience an idea of exactly who the
killer/antagonist is.
SCENE 11: Here, we reintroduce the scene where Lexi is throwing the basket by using a
midshot and and the camera to follow her movement. By showing this scene it is showing the
anger she has built up in her and it makes the audience wonder once again what has happened
and why is she so frustrated? The audio is also speeding up here which could personify her
heart rate as she gets more and more angered.
SCENE 12: The audio is still sped up and the scene shows a close up shot of the antagonist
cracking his knuckles but the audience might not be aware of who it is exactly due to hands just
being shown but also the use of mise-en-scene in the background of the bushes could jog the
viewers mind back to previous scenes of the killer hiding in the bushes. By using this, it
indicates that there will be violence and someone is about to get hurt, but who?
SCENE 13: This scene shows a close up shot of one of the bullies walking around the corner
and the antagonist purposely bumps into her. This could show that the bullies are about to get
hurt by the antagonist by his actions towards them and the viewers may have realised by now
that the unknown caller was actually the antagonist and him and Lexi have been plotting
together to get revenge.
SCENE 14: As the audio slowly starts to slow down, this scene slowly goes into focus to reveal
Lexi and when she has been revealed sitting on the stairs on her phone, the audio at this point
is screaming so this could point out who the antagonist actually is and she wasn’t the victim of
bullying at all and she was possibly a psychopath. The audience will be shocked at this rate as it
was an unexpected turn of events for the narrative and characters.
SCENE 15: The music starts to speed up again as it shows a flashback of the two bullies and
Lexi together watching a film together and Lexi is sat away from the two girls on a separate seat
and then one of the girls started talking to the other girl as she points at Lexi therefore the
audience can see that they were talking and making fun of Lexi as she was just sat there
innocently watching the fim.
SCENE 16: Another addition to the previous scene but this time one of the girls is handing Lexi
the rubbish for her to take away. Here the girls are signalling Lexi out and it shows that they are
bullying her too. The audio is still sped up as it shows the quick change in events.
3. SCENE 17: A longshot of Lexi walking out of the room and slamming the door. This can show
the audience that she is sick of being bullied and with the music being at a quick pace, it also
shows her anger once again which leads to something dangerous and the scene dips into black.
SCENE 18: After the dip into black is over, it then dips into the next scene of a close up/ over
the shoulder shot of Lexi walking behind a container towards someone and until she gets closer
you can see clearly that it is the antagonist and then Lexi hands money over to the antagonist.
Here the audience is wondering whether she has paid the antagonist money to hurt the two girls
or for something else. When she hands the money over, the audio has gradually stopped which
could connote the ending is near not only for the film but for the two girls.
SCENE 19: The audio is quiet in this scene as it gradually dips from black into the clip of blood
dripping. By adding this clip, it shows the audience that someone did get hurt and they want to
know not only who but what for too. To get this scene, I had to download it from the internet as I
was unable to film this scene myself due to health and safety regulations.
SCENE 20: After the blood dropped the scene cut into a black screen and then the next scene
where it is a longshot of two empty computers which then slowly pans out using a dolly to show
the empty chairs and the antagonist beside them. By showing this, we immediately know that
the two girls were either hurt or killed as they didn’t turn up to their class the next day. The audio
is silent in this scene which could connote the death as “In an ideal world no one would anger
another person and thereby peace would be natural. Once one person has angered another,
they have created two possible paths for themselves; 1) Violence. ... If people can think and act
as individuals, rather than as parts of opposing groups, then peace is possible without
violence.”
SCENE 21: The director and producer names slowly fade on screen so that the audience is
aware of who created the film and if they want any more information they can go to them and
ask.
SCENE 22: The directors and producers name then fades away and then the cast members
appear on the screen.
By creating this film, I was hoping to achieve it being a typical thriller and easy to notice this.
Furthermore I was also hoping that I could get the message across that bullying hurts others
and that it isn’t the right thing to do. To edit the scenes together I mainly used cut to beat as I
thought that it matched perfectly with the sound used and it creates the effect of suspense for
the viewers and it keeps them on the edge of their seats. I believe that I met the typical codes
and conventions of a thriller as I created suspense and excitement for the audience, I made
sure that the antagonist wore black or dark clothing so that he was easily recognised as the
villain and I used disorientating shots (unfocused shots) to create discomfort for the viewer.
