(firewall, 7th December 2008, BBC1)
Camera shots; long shots expose the location by focusing on the props; the fields, the car, the fence and trees.These features are associated with the country side. There are no people except two pedestrians. This connects the audience to the genre as most horror movies happen in isolated places. The long shot reveals the distance between the car and the two pedestrians. This helps to narrate the story, as there is a link between the car and the pedestrians. The non diegetic sound of the wind during this scene creates a feeling of dread that something bad has just happened. The focus pull makes the audience think that something or someone is in the car? The audience ask; what has happened in the car? Is someone hurt? Are the two pedestrians involved? Did these people own the car? The emptiness and stillness of the car suggest that someone died. The audience ask is someone really dead? Why is the car abandoned? What is the significance of the car being located in a deserted countryside?The helicopter camera movement cuts to the next shot, the audience feel as if they are overseeing this event. Its fast pace suggests that the killing happened very fast. The continuity editing in the beginning narrates the story. The significance of the editors choosing continuity editing instead of montage editing is that it focuses on one storyline and reveals one message. The audience have one thing to focus on. The question is what? Is it the car? Is it the two pedestrians? Is it the setting?
The mid shot taken from behind shows the distance between the pedestrians, the mise-en-scence shows that though they are walking side by side, their body language can be interpreted as hostile as if they had had a disagreement. The opening sequence takes a while to revel the identity of the characters. The audience make a connection between character personality and relationship. The hairstyles of the characters reveal their gender, its length and style is a very feminine suggesting characters are female. Their hairstyle and costume are similar meaning that these girls are close friends that copy each other. One of the characters stands out from the other as her hair is red, a loud colour; a hint to her personality. That she is a loud character; bubbly and demanding. Her costume a leather jacket distinguishes her from the other girl, leather is a trendy material, meaning that she is involved with the emo subculture as the audience recognise people with leather jackets and bright coloured hair as emos. The personality of the girl walking beside her is concealed as nothing is significant about her. This makes the audience think the red haired girl is the main character.The girl is depicted as younger than the red haired girl, almost vulnerable. The costume helps to bring about this message as her jacket is plain and her hair a natural colour, showing her lack of knowledge and rebellious nature, making her seem innocent. The fact that she is with this girl is grabs the audience’s attention. Why is this innocent girl here? How does she know the emo? Is this girl as innocent as she is portrayed? How do these girls fit into the story, are they connected with the isolated car? The innocence of this girl can be argued to explain her presence in this scene. The similarities in clothing and hairstyle can be interpreted as the girl trying to be like the red haired girl. Is the red haired girl dangerous? Has she peer pressured the girl to do bad things? Regardless the girls walk together demonstrating loyalty, as the friends stay faithful to one another. The girl illustrated as vulnerable could be sticking with the red girl because she feels safe and protected. Or maybe she is following her. Perhaps the red haired girl has authority. The red haired girl is walking ahead as if she is leading the way, making the decisions. This creates the feeling of being trapped, that this innocent girl is trapped and has to stay with the red haired girl because of what they have done. The audience ask;What has happen? Was it really bad? Why did these girls do it? There is a non diegetic sound of the girls footsteps. There is no dialogue this is anomalous because these girls are illustrated as good friends. The silence can confirm a change in their friendship, that something bad has happened so that’s why they are silent because they reminiscing on what they have just done. The fast cut edit shows the feelings and emotions of the the girls compared to the bruised man. The audience respond by feeling pity for the taxi driver. The shallow focus on the ID of the taxi driver with splattered blood on it, shows the severance and brutality of their act and the evil nature of the girls. The audience ask; why did these girls do it? The close up of a photograph of a two men, one younger than the other with similar facial features makes the taxi driver appear innocent. As audience recognise the taxi driver as a father with a son, this portrays him a family man.The audience have sympathy for him because he seems innocent. This portrays the girls as troublesome and evil.
The first picture, the blood and bruises grab the audience’s attention as they feel sorry for him as they assume that he was innocently beaten up. The audience are then accusing; Are these girls responsible for this? Why would they do such a thing? What has he done to them? The red haired girl lacks emotion and empathy suggesting that she is proud of what has happened. The repeated scenes of the prop 'blood' shows the brutality of the violence, suggesting that these girls have a personal problem with him. Scientific knowledge shows that when a person repeatedly hits a person, it shows how angry they are with them and how it has affected them personally. This changes the way the audience has interpreted the story. Maybe he caused this upon himself? Maybe he provoked them? Maybe he was going to hurt the girls and this was self defence? This shot is sorely responsible for shifting the views of the audience as the audience feel guilty for misjudging the girls and sympathise with them, the anger and blame is relocated to the man as the ‘bad guy.’ The position of his head against the wheel makes him look weak and vulnerable. His head against the wheel shows that he has surrendered. Audience assume that he had abused the girls so they are happy that he has been hurt. The wheel symbolises control because the driving seat demonstrates power, the person driving has the most power in the vehicle because he controls where the passengers go. The audience linking this image to the setting can explain why the girls are in a deserted countryside. Maybe the taxi driver drove here to do something bad to them?
Both the close up and mid shot reveal the girls' distinctive facial expression and body language. Though these girls are united by wearing matching clothes and similar hairstyles, their opinions differ. The girl with natural coloured hair is out of the spectrum, making her seem unimportant. Though she is part of the story, the camera places more focus on the red haired girl. The red haired girl’s guilt free expression contrasts to the facial expression of the other girl, this makes it seem as though the red haired girl dominates her. The red haired girl’s face is very calm as if though nothing spectacular has happened; this is strange as the audience know that she almost killed a man. Her eyes seem to be focused ahead as though she has already put what has just happened behind her. Her facial expression illustrates boldness and strength, the idea that she is fearless and careless. This justifies her behaviour and explain why her face does not show any regret. Instead her face is business-like, as though this attack was just something she had to do, nothing more. Why does this girl feel this way? Did the man do anything to her? Is this all a game to her? Is this the her way of handling the situation? If it was personal issue if so why is the other girl there?The diegetic sound of her panting shows how much energy she put into the attack. The bizarre thing about the body language is that they are walking as if they are calm , they aren’t running to show they want to leave the place as fast as possible. This means that they don't care about the consequences. The red haired girl has her hands behind her sides, links to the normal way of walking. This is her method of acting calm is strange in this story and can be interpreted as her way of trying to get back to normality. This shows what kind of person she is, that such brutal attacks are normal to her. She doesn’t wipe the blood off her skin as the blood on her skin is like a trophy of her hard work? The audience feel disturbed by her mental state of mind. Is this an act of revenge? Why is she so calm about what she has done? Is she mentally well? Why doesn’t she care? The other girl, the one with natural looking hair is silent, her facial expression is kept constant in both the mid shot and long shot. This shows that she is shocked at what she has witnessed. It shows that mentally, her brain is on a stand still as if, all she is thinking about is what has just happened. Notice how she is not focusing on anything, her eyes are looking down yet her chin is up. This shows that her mind is elsewhere. She lacks a connection with her mental self and her physical self. Her face reveals guilt and remorse whereas her walk is confident, her pace is similar to her friend, her chin is facing straight ahead as if she is proud of what she has done. Audience can interpret this as her attempt to act ‘tough’ like her friend .Another explanation is that the natural haired girl is swallowing her grief this could mean that she did know the victim. Maybe she didn’t want him to get hurt, but the red haired girl made do it. This suggests that she may have been peer pressured into doing this act. Or maybe the red haired girl attacked him and she couldn’t stop her? Her silence can be explained as her response to the behaviour of her friend, maybe she did not expect the red haired girl to be so violent? Maybe it was a joke to hurt him, maybe she didn’t believe the red haired girl would do it? These questions suggest that she was just watching but did not take part. These question may be asked due to the fact that there is no blood on the natural haired girl. Despite all this information the audience still don’t know who the girls are. What are the names of the girls? How these girls know each other? Why did these girls hurt this man?The close up picture of a hand holding a knife, is the last picture of the clip,the audience recognise this hand as red haired girl's one as the costume of the black nail varnish fit the emo image. Her tight grip on the knife shows that she is angry and revengeful. As though the brutal attack was a mission, a way of getting even. The forced drop of the knife makes it seem as though she had built a relationship with the knife meaning that she had used the knife on other people. By dropping it she could be realising that this time she went too far, or that perhaps she wants to let go of this lifestyle.
Both the close up and mid shot reveal the girls' distinctive facial expression and body language. Though these girls are united by wearing matching clothes and similar hairstyles, their opinions differ. The girl with natural coloured hair is out of the spectrum, making her seem unimportant. Though she is part of the story, the camera places more focus on the red haired girl. The red haired girl’s guilt free expression contrasts to the facial expression of the other girl, this makes it seem as though the red haired girl dominates her. The red haired girl’s face is very calm as if though nothing spectacular has happened; this is strange as the audience know that she almost killed a man. Her eyes seem to be focused ahead as though she has already put what has just happened behind her. Her facial expression illustrates boldness and strength, the idea that she is fearless and careless. This justifies her behaviour and explain why her face does not show any regret. Instead her face is business-like, as though this attack was just something she had to do, nothing more. Why does this girl feel this way? Did the man do anything to her? Is this all a game to her? Is this the her way of handling the situation? If it was personal issue if so why is the other girl there?The diegetic sound of her panting shows how much energy she put into the attack. The bizarre thing about the body language is that they are walking as if they are calm , they aren’t running to show they want to leave the place as fast as possible. This means that they don't care about the consequences. The red haired girl has her hands behind her sides, links to the normal way of walking. This is her method of acting calm is strange in this story and can be interpreted as her way of trying to get back to normality. This shows what kind of person she is, that such brutal attacks are normal to her. She doesn’t wipe the blood off her skin as the blood on her skin is like a trophy of her hard work? The audience feel disturbed by her mental state of mind. Is this an act of revenge? Why is she so calm about what she has done? Is she mentally well? Why doesn’t she care? The other girl, the one with natural looking hair is silent, her facial expression is kept constant in both the mid shot and long shot. This shows that she is shocked at what she has witnessed. It shows that mentally, her brain is on a stand still as if, all she is thinking about is what has just happened. Notice how she is not focusing on anything, her eyes are looking down yet her chin is up. This shows that her mind is elsewhere. She lacks a connection with her mental self and her physical self. Her face reveals guilt and remorse whereas her walk is confident, her pace is similar to her friend, her chin is facing straight ahead as if she is proud of what she has done. Audience can interpret this as her attempt to act ‘tough’ like her friend .Another explanation is that the natural haired girl is swallowing her grief this could mean that she did know the victim. Maybe she didn’t want him to get hurt, but the red haired girl made do it. This suggests that she may have been peer pressured into doing this act. Or maybe the red haired girl attacked him and she couldn’t stop her? Her silence can be explained as her response to the behaviour of her friend, maybe she did not expect the red haired girl to be so violent? Maybe it was a joke to hurt him, maybe she didn’t believe the red haired girl would do it? These questions suggest that she was just watching but did not take part. These question may be asked due to the fact that there is no blood on the natural haired girl. Despite all this information the audience still don’t know who the girls are. What are the names of the girls? How these girls know each other? Why did these girls hurt this man?The close up picture of a hand holding a knife, is the last picture of the clip,the audience recognise this hand as red haired girl's one as the costume of the black nail varnish fit the emo image. Her tight grip on the knife shows that she is angry and revengeful. As though the brutal attack was a mission, a way of getting even. The forced drop of the knife makes it seem as though she had built a relationship with the knife meaning that she had used the knife on other people. By dropping it she could be realising that this time she went too far, or that perhaps she wants to let go of this lifestyle.
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