"Hunted" Continuous Edit Project With Analysis!

“Hunted” is the short-film made by our media group for the continuous editing task. Although I was not part of the group originally during the planning or filming stages, I helped with the editing. The reason for this being that the person I was originally working with left the sixth form college and I was unable to film on my own.

Our short film begins with thriller-style music, similar to that of ‘Psycho.’ This immediately gives an implication of danger and therefore the audience should start to feel tense. The camera is focused on some lockers at the end of a corridor – something which could signify secrets or entrapment - until a character walks around the corner. The mid-shot shows the character walking on the left hand side of the screen rather than in the centre, this shot follows the rule of thirds – an effective way to draw the viewer’s eye to the character. The character is wearing a red coat, a colour which is often associated with blood or again, danger.

There is then a cut to another corridor. The setting of which is quite repetitive and we can see the same poster in the same position repeated over and over again in the background. This could represent a repetition in the situation, implying that something similar has happened before. Behind the character we met in the last shot, we can see the figure of another person – this time wearing a cream or beige coloured t-shirt; the character tends to blend more with the walls than the main character who is wearing bright colours – red and blue, and gives the impression that she is trying to remain unnoticed.

The camera zooms as the main character walks towards us; giving the idea that whatever is happening is fast-paced. It could also create a sense of confusion or disorientation as the camera is zooming the opposite direction to where the character is walking. It may show that there is something about to happen that the main character is not aware of, or that a plan is about to be interrupted.

There is a slow-motion shot as the main character turns her head. In a femme-fatale style, (which this character follows most of the stereotypes of –red clothes, confidence etc.) the character turns her head, which then means the camera is blocked by her hair. This could implicate that the characters have not seen something or again that there is something that we don’t know. The slow-motion, extreme close up shot also gives the impression that that moment in time was of extreme importance – a moment of realisation or where somebody is almost caught out (as the character behind seems to be following.)

There is a space of around a second and a half where we are left seeing only the second character approaching – after the main character has already turned the corner. Again, the neutral colour of her clothes seems to make her almost invisible – therefore a threat. This is a long shot and so we cannot clearly make out any of the second characters features , something that again may create tension as we could not recognise her or see clearly what expression she is wearing.

The camera jostles, and although this may be accidental or an editing fault, it also gives us the feeling that something is not running smoothly – again adding to the tension.

It then switches to another long shot, where we see the departing figure of the main character. This could either be viewed as a Point of View shot; where we are given the eyes of the second, following character or it could purely be giving us another way to look at the character we have so far only seen from the front. At one point, the character steps into a shadow which could implicate that she’s not one of the ‘good guys.’ In this shot, we can also see that the tiles of pillars do not match exactly – this could give a sense of disillusion or mystery.

As the character leaves the corridor, the camera hesitates on the hallway. The second character is nowhere to be seen, and leaves the scene with an eerie tone. The audience cannot be completely sure of what is going on, and although the room has a sense of grandeur (arched ceilings etc.), it also seems a perfect setting for somebody that is being haunted – a word only one letter away from the title.

The camera then tracks the character as they walk up to a door. The fact that the door is closed signifies a challenge or a hurdle that needs to be overcome. It could also imply that the room is private – meaning that other people become outcasts or outsiders.

The tone of the soundtrack changes as the door opens – to a more light-hearted sound. This changes the atmosphere from tense to one of relief; giving us the impression that the character we have been following has made it safely to her destination. There is a cut to a mid shot and we catch the character entering from inside the room – making the outside world look bleak compared to the room we are now situated in (as the walls inside the room are blue compared to the cream outside.)

The character weaves between tables, which shows that there is not a simple path to achieving what she wants, although she walks with some speed. This could imply that the hurdles are easy to overcome. The main character then takes a seat opposite somebody waiting in the room – somebody that looks as though she has been expecting her. The fact that she sits down also shows us that they are equal, and the main character stops moving for the first time since we have met her, at which point the music cuts entirely. This tells us that the conversation we are about to hear is extremely important, and also emphasises the silence in the room other than their conversation; this carries on the ‘eerie’ atmosphere that had been slightly reduced thanks to the change in tone of the music.

At the end of the film, we see the character that has been following the main character through the clip. She finally contrasts against the white walls with her grey clothes and black hair – although the darker colours show her to have a slightly evil or mischievous nature.

The film also tested our knowledge of the 180 Degree Rule. The 180 Degree Rule is a basic film editing guideline which states that two characters in the same scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to each other. This means that the camera can show various shots of the characters, however he must always ensure that the characters appear on the side of the screen that we originally saw them - unless we see them move from one side of the screen to the other. If the camera crosses this invisible axis, it is called "crossing the line" - creating a new shot called a "reverse angle."

"Crossing the line" is viewed as bad continuity and can often create confusion within the audience, as the characters seem to be shifting positions without moving. However, many film-makers use the reverse angle to intentionally create a sense of disorientation.

"Hunted" does not use the 'crossing the line' technique, as we wanted our film to be as smooth as possible. We also did not believe that using the technique to create disorientation would help our film in any way - just become the cause of the storyline becoming unclear. I believe that we stuck to the 180 Degree rule extremely well - even in scenes where the characters were being followed. The rule is most evident when two of the characters are having a discussion, as we changed shots multiple times but always ensured that Phoebe was on the left and Laura to the right of the screen.

We also used the editing to make sure this worked - cutting out any parts that may not have followed smoothly. Without editing, our film would have been extremely hard to make - after we had cut out the unwanted footage, the shots seemed to jump from one to another, making the film difficult to watch. To remedy this, we added in transitions such as cuts and fades to make the film smoother.

Overall, I believe that thanks to editing and the various shots (long shot, mid shot, extreme close up, close up, tracking etc), the film has a slightly thriller-esque feel and also that with the way it has been edited, it is very successful.

Thriller Planing/Synopsis

Our original production group consisted of Adam Ward, Andreas Varhus and myself and between us we began to plan an opening to a thriller for our coursework.

We had completed a synopsis and a storyboard for our idea (although our characters were not fully developed):

Shot 1:
Mid shot of 'Man One' in a parked car, holding onto the steering wheel.

Shot 2:
The camera pans out out the car and tracks him as he walks around to the boot.

Shot 3:
Mid shot from inside the boot. 'Man One' opens the boot and it slowly reveals him bit by bit.

Shot 4:
Point of View, low angle shot of a lift descending.

Shot 5:
'Man Two' POV shot from inside the lift, as the lift doors open there is a silhouette in the doorway, however it's just a normal person.

Shot 6:
Cut back to 'Man One' in the car park, long shot - he is pulling a body from the boot of the car.

Shot 7:
Cut back to 'Man Two.' Low angle shot as the lift opens, the camera pans his feet as he walks out.

Shot 8:
Long shot of the man walking from the lift, closer to the camera.

Shot 9:
Cut back to the car park, long shot as we see 'Man Two' coming closer to the car.

*End*

However, the groups were changed (and now consists of Adam Ward, Andreas Varhus, Sam Cameron and myself) and we decided to merge all of our ideas and ended up with a better idea overall.

NEW SYNOPSIS:

CHARACTERS:
The Rep
Shop-Keeper
Shop-Assistant

Shot 1:
Extreme close up of femme-fatale's ('The Rep') hands turning the keys in an ignition, turning the engine off.

Shot 2:
Close up of her feet as she gets out of the car. She is wearing heels.

Shot 3:
The camera pans (close up) her shoes as she walks to the boot of the car.

Shot 4:
Mid-shot from the inside of the boot as she opens it and picks up a bag. The end of a knife can be seen from inside the bag.

Shot 5:
Mid/Long/Over the shoulder shot of The Rep opening the shop door.

Shot 6:
Mid Shot - The Rep and the shopkeeper show an acknowledgement of each other (a nod, a small conversation, a wave etc.)

Shot 7:
Close up of shopkeepers hands counting some money behind the till.

Shot 8:
POV shot of The Rep watching the shopkeeper behind the till giving the shop assistant some money.

Shot 9:
Low angle, medium shot from the bottom of the stairs as the shop assistant walks towards the camera (into the basement) to get his coat.

Shot 10:
Camera angles are the same, the shop assistant walks past the camera and we see a shadow begin to descend down the basement stairs.

Shot 11:
Cut to a mid shot of a silhouette of the rep stabbing the shop assistant.

Shot 12:
Close up of the femme fatale as she leaves the shop.

Shot 13:
Zoom from a dead body lying sprawled to a dead eye (either zoom in front a long shot to an extreme close up, or vice verca). Non-diagetic sounds of the rep's heels as she walks away.