Monday 26 March 2012

Action Plan for 26/03/2012

We should be getting all the filming done during the beginning of this week.
We are also editing at my house on my laptop during the times that we are both free and not filming.
Ermmmmmmm then thats about it!

Monday 5 March 2012

Sunday 4 March 2012

The Vampire Diaries - opening episode analysis

I'm not sure exactly what episode this is; found it on ITV Player: http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=308813

In the episode that I watched there was a voice over saying "Previously in The Vampire Diaries", with tense music in the background already. The editing overall was fast paced which consisted of short shots of the highlights from the last episode again with the tense music; the music is parallel to the dramatic shots that are shown. This part lasted almost one minute, within that one minute there were a lot of twists, cuts and fight scenes.
Then it moves straight into the episode, with a girl walking alone in the forest. There seems to be a quiet but eerie sound in the background as there are series of meduim and long shots of the girl focussing on the fact that she is in an isolated environment; which is conventional of vampire narratives. Again there are long shots of the girl walking towards an old abandoned house, the sounds continue, which again highlights her isolation. She goes inside the house and there is low-key/hardly any lighting, the only light is coming through the windows, which would connote the fact that she is moving from the light, safety, into the darkness, the unknown; thus creating fear not only for the character but also the audiences. The editing at this point is slow paced but consists of many different shots, showing the whole setting and the girl, here the male gaze is apparent as it focuses on the girls face and a long shot of her body. The slow paced editing adds on to the tension and fear created through the lighting, setting and also the sound of weird voices in the background. This all happens within the space of 1-2:30 mins. Then after she opens the coffin she gasps and then there is a cut to the girl in bed opening her eyes, the music still carries on, the blurring of fantasy and reality in here also created fear within 2:30 mins into the episode.

The title of the show appears on the next shot with a boom sound and then fades.

The tension is broken through the change in setting as it is during the day. There are a series of pans around the area again it is not busy but the use of calm music connotes harmony which is kind of random compared to the tense opening. There are again a series of long shots and medium shots as there is another girl character who is jogging through a neighbourhood. However when she stops and turns around there is a change in the narrative where the girl sees a man running after her, again there is use of tense music to emphasise on the fear of the girl. The editing becomes fast paced again focussing on the fear of the girl, there are use of pans, long shots of her running away. While this is happening there are a series of opening credits of the actors, actresses, producers etc. names.

After 4 minutes into the episode there again is a change of setting; both the girls are seen in a bar/restaurant with shot reverse shots focussing on their face, it could be argued that this is to create identification or because of the male gaze. Throughout the conversation although the girls are not in danger they use words like "nightmare", "betrayed us" etc. to evoke fear and panic for the audiences and the girls.

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Name of production...

We haven't really decided on a name of our production, but here are a few ideas...


  • Diaries of Gay Vampire! :O 


  • Blood ties* - already a show in Canada :( 
  • The undead 
  • Living dead



Story board in order.