Shot Types and Scripting

Shot Types and Scripting

Equilibrium

1         Establishing shot of the school. (fades)

2         Medium shot of students in the corridor (socialising)

3         Close up of one of their faces

4         Long shot of students outside the gates of school

5         Cut to medium shot of the group.

6         Close up of their faces (happy)     X3

7          Mid shot in the classroom showing Derrick sitting down, and Ashley standing talking with her friends

8          Point of view shot in a classroom from Derrick looking at Ashley

The equilibrium of our trailer will show establishing shots of our location, a school. This is so the audience know where our horror film is set. Also in this scene are shots of our main characters, Derrick and Ashley. This first scene allows the audience to know who the characters are and establish the beginning of the story. From the last shots in the scene, we know that something will happen between the characters Derrick and Ashley.

Locker Scene

1        Medium shot from behind Derrick at his locker.

2        Cut to medium shot from the side of his locker.

3        Cut to close up from inside the locker, showing Derrick looking inside.

4        Close up of inside showing a lot of pictures of Ashley.

5        Close up from the side of the locker door about to close, when Ashley is revealed standing nearby.

6        Tracking shot of Derrick walking towards her.

7        Tone card of “What You Doing Friday?”

8        Medium shot of Derrick slamming his locker and an image falling down

9        Cut to a close up of the image falling. (With the sound of laughter)      (CONTINUITY EDITING)

10     Close up of Derrick’s face looking angry.

11     Close up of his eyes, the screen then fades to black.

This locker scene is still apart of the equilibrium as everything is as usual as it should be. The scene is shot by lockers to go with our school location. It also adds to the teenage student feel which is relatable to our audience. At the end of this scene, the character Derrick is angered by the other character’s reaction, this is when we see the moment of disequilibrium. This is when an audience knows that things will not be the same and something is about to change the characters lives.

After School (disequilibrium)

1        High angle of the group studying in a classroom.

2         Mid shot of Jay leaving.

3         Close up of Jay’s hand opening the door handle.

4         Fade to black, then close up of Sasha’s face.

5        Close up of Brad’s face.

6        Mid shot of Sasha in the hallway.

7        Shot reverse shot of Sasha in the hallway (looking forward, turning back then looking forward).

8        Two shot of the villain and Sasha as she turns around.

9        Close up of Jay’s hand frantically trying to open the door handle.

10    Mid shot of Jay banging on the door to show that he is locked inside.

11    Mid shot of Brad in the hallway looking back and forth.

12    High angle of Brad looking back and forth

13    Close up of Jay’s hand frantically trying to open the door handle.

14    Two shot of Brad and Jay, Jay banging on the door, Brad reassuring he will get help   -(no speech just acting)

All of these shots are divided into different scenes such as the bathroom scene, the revision scene and the hallway scenes. The thing that all these shots have in common is the pace in music. A horror trailer builds suspense and tension in the audience by using harsh and fast paced music to accompany the shots. The shots are jump cuts which add to the trailer to make it scarier and to make the audience feel like they haven’t got a chance to get out of it.

15    Point of view shot from the villain looking at Sasha through the door. (handheld camera)     (slow)

16    Close up of Ashley listening to her music.  (slow)

17    Close up of Ashley’s phone showing missed calls    (slow)

18    Close up of Jay’s phone showing low battery     (slow)

19    Close up of the villain’s feet on the stairs

20    Medium shot of Sasha inside a cupboard

21    Point of view shot of her looking through the door (heavy breathing)

22    Medium shot of her turning her head to look on the other side

23    Cut to a point of view shot of the villain appearing

24    Mid shot of Brad turning around

These shots involve the non-diegetic music being played to abruptly stop, thus only hearing the noises of the characters in fear. Shots such as heavy breathing will make the audience feel uneasy as they know something is about to happen. The last scene will see the return of the harsh music being played.

25    High angle of Brad looking up in fear

26    Close up of Brad’s face in fear

27    Mid shot of Jay who bangs his head on the door (as if in defeat)

28    Pan upwards to the mirror which shows writing in red

29    Close up of the writing on the mirror

30    High angle of Brad in the school yard running to escape

31    Tracking shot of Brad running

32    Close up of Brad’s hands trying to open the gate which is locked

33    Over the shoulder shot of the villain behind Brad.

34    Two shot of the villain behind Brad, the villain holding a knife out

35    Close up of the knife, which then moves towards the camera

36    Over the shoulder shot of Ashley using her phone

37    Close up of Ashley in fear

38    Mid shot of Jay trying to break the door, which eventually breaks open

39    Mid shot of Jay falling on the floor    (continuity editing

40    Point of view shot from Jay looking at someone’s feet in front of him.

41   High angle shot of Jay in fear   (fade to black)

These shots are divided into scenes such as the continued bathroom scene, the gate scene and the knife scene. All of these shots have non-diagetic music being played to make the trailer feel chaotic which people are uncomfortable with. All characters are featured in different a scene which creates slight confusion but for a horror trailer is useful. The feeling of the unknown is a paradigm of the horror genre.

Ending

1.      Medium shot of Ashley in a dark lit room

2.      Close up of Ashley’s face (hear heavy breathing)

3.      Full body shot of Ashley in the room (hear voice over of someone calling her name)

4.      Mid shot of Ashley turning around

5.      Mid shot of her in shock

The ending of our trailer is the scene with our main character Ashley being trapped by the villain. The non-diegetic sound has stopped, thus only hearing Ashley’s heavy breathing which makes the trailer dramatic. This scene leaves the audience wanting to see more which encourages them to go and see the film. This type of ending is used in all trailers and shows a glimpse of what the ending may be like but leaves the audience thinking.