First Draft of Storyboard

by Lauren and Rana

Audience type for our film

by Lauren, Rana and Rebecca

First Draft of Script

1.) Ext        Night

Shots of the city at night. Cars moving, neon lights and traffic.

2.) Int      Night         Inside of club

Loud music plays. People are dancing, standing, carrying drinks and laughing. Lighting is dark but faces are clear. The focus is on the main character as she moves through the crowed. She carries a drink, greets the people that she recognises and moves closer to view.

3.) Ext      Night        Alleyway

Main character leaves nightclub. Walks out of door and down alleyway. The music fades as door closes and we move further away from club. Camera follows her down the alleyway, she slightly stumbles on her shoes and does not pay attention to surroundings.

See dark figure in the background. Main character gets closer to mystery figure. Suddenly, the mystery figure confronts main character and grabs her from behind.

Main character: (confused) "What are you doing?" (becomes more scared) "Stop, get off of me".

Mystery figure tightens grip and tries to pull main character away from the wall.

Main character: (shouting) "Get off! Help me".

Main character turns and after a struggle grabs mystery characters head and slams it against the wall. Mystery character falls to the ground.

6.) Ext      Night      Ransom note and photos revealed

by Lauren and Rana 

Evaluation of Storyboard & Target Audience

by Lauren, Rana and Rebecca

Eden Lake

Eden Lake

by Rebecca

Se7en Opening

The Aural and Visual language helped me gain an insight into the genre of the film. The dull colours used symbolises horror and thriller as no bright colours were used. The tension is built through the music track being played in the background as it becomes louder in some parts of the opening scene. The music puts you on edge and makes you feel nervous as it is quite creepy and daunting. The track ends with a non diegetic sound stating "You bring me closer to God". This connotes that the person could be religious or spiritual. The person seems to be creating some sort of book, this suggests his life. There is an extreme close up shot of the person's hand turning the pages in the book. The person's fingers have plasters on them, this could be from where he razored some of his skin off.

Throughout the beginning of the film, there are lots of flashing scenes. These consist of a number of images which are eerie and creepy. For example, somebody sowing and somebody shaving their finger with a razor blade. This could symbolise his mental, physiological state and that he could be troubled. The instruments used are very small, precise, sharp and dangerous. The person who is sowing is taking their time with it and is being very cautious. The focus of the image is on the person's fingers and this remains the same throughout the beginning of the film. The image is an extreme close up shot which gives the viewers a lot of detail and
insight into what the person is doing.

This non verbal image demonstrates someones eyes crossed out. A few moments later the whole face gets scribbled out. This communicates death and that somebody could be targeted. It also suggests hatred, vengeance and torture. The focus is on the man's face as the background is completly black. The image is a close up of the person's face. This is affective as it links to the genre's thriller and horror. The subjects relative size changes the audience's response to the image. I was quite scared and freaked out by this shot and was intrigued to what was going to happen next.
Red light is used on some of the images. The colour red reprents blood, danger and violence. This links with the genre I assume the film is; horror and thriller.

by Lauren

Opening Sequence of The Prestige

The Prestige Opening Scene from Media Clips on Vimeo.

In this frame, we see the title in a bold white font over a shot of many black top hats lying on the floor of a woods. This odd combination of item and setting indicates that this film may be mysterious; the fact that it is quite dark / shadowy would also support this idea. The hats are not placed carefully, instead seem to have landed there naturally or just appeared, and they also look like classic magician's hats, which might be a hint at the plot of the film.

In the second frame I have selected, we see a male character, who I presume to be one of the main characters of the film due to the camera's focus on him. He is holding a small yellow bird in his hand, and is talking about the steps of a magic trick. I think that there might be connotations in that the small bird is trapped, it may indicate that even the most innocent tricks / acts of entertainment have a victim.

The little girl in this frame is the audience of the other character's magic trick, her expression is curious and she looks happy to be there. Her surroundings are dark, but there are lights and the colours are all warm (yellows, deep browns and red). Her style of dress is very old fashioned - she is wearing a pastel coloured blouse with a full frilly collar and her hair is pulled back neatly - and she also looks quite wealthy. I think she may represent the point of view of the viewer - left in the dark and trying to figure out the mystery.

In this frame, the scene has changed completely and we have another male character which the camera is also focusing on. I think he might be a main character in another story / another part of the story, indicating that this film may have a multi-strand narrative.  He appears on a stage with a spotlight on him, dressed in a smart suit, holding a baton - a typical magician's costume. In contrast to the other magician, who was performing a small scale trick to a little girl, this character is clearly a showman or a performer and is in front of a huge crowd. I think that this is meant to show the audience the difference in their personalities - humble and wise, compare to bold and outwardly confident.

Here we have the introduction of another character, perhaps a third main character? It is interesting that a protagonist and antagonist has not yet been established, particularly since so many characters have been shown. In my opinion, this is part of creating the enigma code of the narrative - leaving the audience wondering why all of these characters are being focused on. There only seems to be the theme of magic connecting the three - maybe this will bring about conflict (or even friendship) later on in the film. The character shown here raises his hand to volunteer to check that the equipment onstage is as it appears. He is wearing a dark suit, but also black gloves which tells me he might be suspicious and have another motive for wanting to go onstage.

In this frame, the magician is performing his act onstage, he gets shocked by blue bolts of electricity which come from the contraption above him. This shows that this magician is a risk taker, and works hard to impress his audience - if he is willing to go to these lengths, he is probably somebody who is also competitive and wants to be the best.

The character who was previously an audience member is now backstage, confronting a man who questioned why he was there. Obviously, he is not meant to be there, therefore the audience is left wondering what he is doing and why he is so jumpy / on edge as soon as somebody gets in his way. The other man pulls his wig and false beard off, leaving us knowing he was wearing a disguise. Previously calm, the character has suddenly switched to being very angry, showing that he has a short temper when people try to get in the way of what he wants.

In this frame, it has switched back to the first scene we saw, with the little girl and the older man who made the bird disappear. He then completes the trick and the bird reappears on his hand. The little girl is mesmerised as he is doing this, and after the trick has finished, she claps and is extremely happy. I think that this scene symbolises the full circle of a magic trick as it is meant to be - the audience is left thrilled and happy, and the outcome was as expected.

In contrast, the last frame I have chosen shows the performer has fallen down into a tank of water and cannot escape. He is silently screaming, panicking and drowning as the other character watches through the glass. The fact that the second character doesn't also panic and try to help shows the audience that the two do not have a positive relationships, and the trick may have failed due to the second character's interference. Maybe they are competitors, or maybe the man outside the tank is out for revenge (he is in shadow, which indicates to me that he may be the antagonist in the narrative and the drowning man may be the protagonist).

by Rebecca