Gantt Chart

Skeleton Key.

At first it starts with dark scenery. A deep voice over (on diegetic),heavy rain and a camera panning along a graveyard. This is the typical conventions of a horror film. What appears to be screaming there at church service. This gives off a spiritual feeling, like a curse or something similar will be involved. It then cuts to a peaceful non-diegetic sound of piano playing. With bright lighting and a sunny scenery. We then get the impression as she’s applied for a nurse job that someone has something wrong. We later discover he’s got something wrong with him and his wife is trying to cover up. Its mysterious and gives off the impression it’s a horror however its actually a psychological film. The trailer shows most of what's going to happen in the film. They've obviously done there research into that area considering the weather,and society's religion/morals etc.

Shutter Island.

The lighting throughout the beginning scene is natural when they are coming to the island on a boat. It is quite a fast opening due to the dramatic non diegetic music. There are quite a few establishing shots to begin with which lets the audience get the feel of the place that they are going to. The island looks dark and scary so these kind of shots help the audience feel like the actors. The detectives look confident arriving to the gates where as the police men are a bit shifty because they know what happens here. The voice over saying ‘ we take only the most dangerous, damaged patients , the ones no other hospital can handle’ this is said whilst the camera is on a character. This is more effective than having the camera on the person speaking. We can tell that this film will be psychological when introducing the patients and the hospital.

Along came a spider.

The lighting is natural, they are driving at night. The sound is non diegetic and as the scene becomes more tense the music fastens. Therefore it’s parallel with what's on screen. There are two people and it’s a mid shot, often the scene cuts to close-ups of Morgan Freeman and what appears to be a secret camera. At the start as an audience It would appear as if its an action moving. The camera then cuts to close up-s of a man touching a woman's leg, she appears un comfortable. He then discovers a secret earpiece, and suddenly she’s got a gun and a police helicopter arrives. This is all in the first 2 minutes, therefore straight away it’s action packed. From the description it seems to be a police film however later it involves a psychological twist.

What lies beneath

This film has a very slow low lighted opening with non diegetic tense music to build up suspense. The scene is very hard to establish where it is set as it is too dark. The music builds up faster when we start to see a character then cuts off when she comes out of the water (bath). The scene is in the bathroom. The woman starts to use a hairdryer, automatically as an audience you assume something will happen or something will appear in the mirror. However nothing happens and the film is a slow start. It goes against the natural conventions of a horror therefore the genre isn’t obvious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WrycZRmIcs

Silence of the lambs.

It starts with non-diegetic, quiet music, Parallel with the outdoor scene. Cameras points upwards and audience can hear birds. Block capital titles/credits appear on middle of screen. This makes the film look a little more lower budget. It was made In the 90s so it may be a little dated. The lighting is natural lighting so the scene looks a bit dark and dreary. Which fits with the genre however at the start we don't know this. The camera cuts to along shot so the scene can be established. Close up of a lady (running?) who looks sweaty. As she begins to run the music becomes more tense and faster. As an audience it's then made obvious that she's taking part on an obstacle course.

Red Dragon

The scene starts at the orchestra with different shots of instruments and musicians playing them. With close ups and side shots. The sound is parallel and diegetic. The camera begins to pan/zoom towards a guy in the audience. As people leave the orchestra, the camera cuts to a long shot of the house. We don't see them walk there therefore it's a match-on-action. The houses are quite tall and big therefore we assume whoever owns it is rich. The next scene is of people round the dinner table. The camera pans to one another as they make conversation. It was made in 2002 however was set just after the 50's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wdT3hs4opw

Scream.

The first thing shown is the name of the film 'Scream' on a black background with a red font, this is typical for a horror. On the same screen as credits,becomes the sound of a phone ringing it then cross cuts to a close up of the phone which suggests its going to be a important prop throughout and the audience make the assumption its the same phone ringing as that's the next thing they see. A Lady answers, They begin to have a synchronous conversation with each other. A man is on the end of the phone however his identity isn't shown its just his voice, as a viewer because you don't know what he looks like it builds up suspense because your imagination builds up his appearance for you. It then shows outside using an establishing shot, this is so the audience can gain a concept as to where she is and what type of neighbour hood etc she is in. The camera cuts back to the girl, who then tracks the character as she moves rooms whilst still on the phone and then pans her talking and eventually gets closer to her face.The audience can now see her expression which looks quite happy.However when the phone rings again,the guy on at the end of it becomes more angry. Suddenly non-diegetic quiet music is added to the scene. It sounds like its piano playing, this adds to the tension however its not something you would normally expect to hear in a horror film therefore it challenges the conventions. The girl is in a cream jumper and denim jeans, this isn't provocative. As the camera tracks her around the house the audience can see that shes in a house maybe her parents and shes on her own at the moment.

Beginning clips- 2 minutes.

To create a 2 minute opening of a new fiction film.