Films such as Project X and 21 Jump street (which have similar storylines and fall into the same genre as our film), usually start with titles interrupting the first scene. We decided to use this within our film to meet this convention.
The first titles flash up in time with the dance music which starts whilst Chloe is still in her bedroom. This was done to shift the mood into ‘party/night out’ rather than ‘school’. The music builds as Chloe gets ready (builds up) to going out.
The jump cuts of Chloe whilst she is on her bed are to show the passing of time (the gap between school and going out in the evening), showing that she is just doing nothing for all that time rather than something useful (gives us an initial idea of the kind of person she is).
As the party starts the colours of the shot are generally ‘warm’. This is because we wanted to present a positive, happy atmosphere. The characters are having fun and ‘kicking back’ after a ‘long week’ at school.
Slow motion is used during the party, with a shaky, handheld camera with shots sometimes at angles. These techniques were used to show the effects of alcohol as the party goes on. The characters are going crazy, they don’t always feel in control.
The party scene then suddenly cuts to black then into Chloe’s bedroom, this shows the how drunk Chloe got that she doesn’t remember going from the party to home.
When Chloe is talking to her Dad in the entrance we used over-shoulder shots, these are conventional of “Drama” films and make the viewer feel like they are with the character being talked too - almost like they are peering over there shoulder!
Shakey, handheld cameras are used at the park, this was done to show how the group no longer care what they are doing or really who sees them. It shows how it is informal amongst the group of friends. Extreme close-ups are used when the characters take the drugs. This was done to emphasise what is happening to the viewer as it is a key moment in the storyline.
The next morning when Chloe wakes up, the camera is placed level to the bed with parts of the frame in the way, a shallow depth of field has been used to blue the bed frame and focusing on Chloe. I did this because I wanted to the viewer to feel like they were ‘peaking’ in on this private moment, to make it feel more realistic as Chloe gets up, she is not ‘performing’ for the camera.
When Chloe ‘sneaks’ to get drinks I chose to film this whole section as one shot whilst following her from close behind. The character looks around as if she doesn’t want to be seen. With us (the viewer) following close behind without any cuts, it feels like we are ‘with’ Chloe. This connects us with Chloe, making us not want to be caught. Once the drinks have been successfully sourced the return journey out of the kitchen focuses on the drinks Chloe has sourced - signifying ‘objective achieved’.
As the group make there way up onto the moor, slow motion and sad music start to play. This juxtaposes the mood of the scene which is supposed to be ‘happy’ or ‘excited’, this was done to foreshadow what was to come. When the shot crops in on the phone (in time with the music), this was done as the ‘first clue’, to what was about to happen between Chloe and her father. As the scene continues footage of Chloe stumbling towards the road is cut in between shots of her father driving, this is to show the two characters coming together (the build-up to the climax).
The film finishes with a sudden cut to black with car crash sound effects - to make it obvious to the viewer what has happened, we were unable to record an actual crash in our film for safety reasons, so we did this as the best way of simulating it.
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