Constructing the production-technical decisions and revisions

Throughout the opening sequence I used fade-ins in some clips to represent time from one scene to another for example from where Sam arrives it then fades in to Sam sleeping. This helps imitate the time since Sam’s arrival to him sleeping.
The opening shot is a establishing shot and this is used to introduce the audience to the hill by giving the audience a view of the whole hill and it's surrounding from a long view shot, this way the audience sees the whole area that the next scenes are filmed in. After that a slow right to left pan follows of a road sign that is named St. Anne’s hill this helps the audience to see what the place is called and helps introduce the audience to the hill that the rest of the film will later take place in and also lets the audience see a bit of the scenery and what type of area it is. Then pan shots and mid-shots are used to capture Sam’s arrival and journey to the hill and again help the audience to get a picture of what the area and scenery is like. This is important so that it sets the scene for the audience because a big part of our film opening to introduce the hill as well as the characters due to the woody dark hill playing a huge part in the thriller/horror along with the Monk. Then there is lose ups of Sam’s face as he sleeps this helps the audience to see reactions and expressions in his face to the haunting images in his dreams. The Images of the Monk are darker to create a more scary, gloomy and dark effect to help scare the audience and keep them interested. A low shot of the Monk is used to help make the monk look bigger, overpowering and dominant. This creates a impression of the Monk being important, overwhelming and controlling. A jump cut is used of the Monk in the mirror behind Sam this helps the audience to be drawn to the Monk and help to make the audience shocked and scared. The Monk is seen wearing a hooded outfit that drops over his head making his face hidden, this makes the Monk appear mysterious and the audience will now want to find out what’s behind the hood. Mid shots are used to show the Monk in his hooded outfit this is the first proper image we get of the monk and the audience are able to see the Monk and his outfit properly for the first time in the opening. All the shots of the Monk I edited to be darker to show the contrast between Sam and the Monk how it resembles good and bad and helps the audience to see that the Monk is the bad character. The cuts at the beginning are slow and fade out and in to help the audience feel relaxed so they are not expecting the sudden change in mood making it more shocking and jumpy for the audience watching. The cuts then become faster create more excitement with the audience while the chase scene is playing and imitating how determined Sam is to find out what’s wrong with the man. I opened the next scene with a left to right pan of Sam walking to the hill; this helps to set the scene for the audience for the next set of clips. A mid shot is then used to show the audience how Sam is drawn to the man in distress and why he ran after him that helps to make sense of the later suicide. I then used a steady cam to capture the man running from a side angle, this helped the audience see the wood and the area while also showing the man for the first time. This type of shot helps to create the feeling that you are following the character while he runs and it helps the film to seem more realistic and helps the audience feel involved in the chase therefore exciting them. After climbing a tree I was able to capture an Arial view of Sam and the man running. This helps give an Arial view of the chase in action so the audience is able to see Sam is chasing after the man. A mid shot is used of the man finding the ledge helping the audience to later make sense and realise its importance of the ledge. The a mid-shot is used of Sam out of breath trying to find the man this lets the audience know that Sam is looking for the man and has lost track of him in the chase. A slow pan follows which shows the view of Thorpe all the way o Heathrow and beyond from the ledge then slowly showing the mans feet and legs this tells the audience the man is now standing on the ledge and the audience are able to see the great view and large drop below the man. This is followed by a mid shot of Sam. He runs into view to find the man watched closely by the calm Monk who is sitting next to him. This gives the audience the impression he is influencing the man to jump. We now know as the audience that the man is now going to commit suicide, Sam shouts "don't do it" and the man replies "I have to" this again suggest the monk is influencing him. It then cuts to a close up of Sam’s face to show his reaction to the man jumping. Then back to the man as he jumps the monk has disappeared to resemble the end of this man being possessed as he falls to his death. The man falls in slow motion, this helps to make the scene more dramatic and the audience are able to slowly witness this making it more shocking and help the clip fit the slow music better. It then cuts to a shot I filmed of a bird flying away to suggest the man landing and the bird flying away scared. The last shot is a pan upwards to the crucifix and Sam picking it up making sense of the title and showing the audience that the suicide had a link to the Monk with the crucifix being his holy sign.