Detailed Story Outline
The first shot starts off black; Amy is tied to a chair blindfolded. The only noise is her heavy breathing, which evokes sexual acts. Her blindfold is then torn from a P.O.V. angle to reveal a shadowy figure. The camera will be out of focus (as it is meant to be her eyes) which shows her being on the brink of consciousness, or adjusting to the newly seen light. It then cuts to a close-up shot of Amy’s face which will start off blurry but slowly adjust. It will be on a high angle to show the power the captor and the audience have over her. We then have an over the shoulder shot on the victim. It pans around to follow Alex as he gets his gets his tools. There is diegetic sound of Amy screaming at the figure. This shot is meant to put the audience in Amy’s position. It is a Freudian shot as it shows a strong man dominating a weak woman. They have taken their natural order roles. The next shot is of Alex inspecting the tools he may use on Amy. This again asserts his power and (as many weapons are phallic in nature) objectifies her as she could be abused with a ‘phallic object’. He chooses to use the knife. The next shot is an extreme close up on Alex smoking a cigarette, which again follows this phallic dominance demonstration. We then show Amy in the foreground struggling to look behind her to see what Alex is doing; we will also blur the background. By doing this, it shows Alex in a distorted manner, so audiences know that he is the antagonist. We are trying to use binary opposition all throughout the piece, and this is a clear example of this. Amy is also going to be more lit up than Alex (light/dark being representative of good/evil). The final reason we included this shot is that it shows (through positioning of bodies) who has the power. As she is tied to the chair she is lower, and Alex is higher. It shows he has a higher power over her. We then cut to another shot of the knife so audiences are aware of its importance. This then cuts into a shot of Alex looking down onto Amy. He is higher over her, yet again showing the power he has over her. It also demonstrates the voyeurism that many audience members would expect from a film. It puts the audience in the eyes of an immoral character and makes us either more sympathetic towards the protagonist or enjoy the power we give them over her. Alex lifts the knife up to Amy’s face (a phallus as previously said) to objectify her further.
We then transition from this to a previous time. Amy is in her kitchen and she is holding a knife in the same position as before. This is a contrast as she now has the power. We then have a shot of Amy from outside. It is P.O.V. and really demonstrates the voyeurism of the character, and the audience. This is partly to guilt them as they have seen how vulnerable she is in the garage scene. Next she walks past her fridge, which the titles are on. This is to make it feel more domestic and make it seem more like part of the scene. We then have a shot of Amy opening the fridge; the camera is placed inside of the fridge. This gives the impression that wherever she goes she will be watched in some way, like Big Brother, some-one is always watching. She then goes to pick up letters off the table, which again have titles on them. We are doing this for the same reason. She puts down the letters in the next shot and walks over to the oven. We show her hand turn on the hob and the next shot shows the fire in a close-up. It is a demonstration of the dangers that can occur in a domestic environment such as this. To juxtapose the feeling of safety often found at home, we cut again to Alex looking into her house watching her. He will be heavily breathing. This is to show his longing for her, and it sexualises the spying, as heavy breathing shows physical exhaustion (such as sex) has occurred. The next shot is of Amy putting meat into a pan and we hear it sizzle. Sound bridge is used to transition back to the garage, as the next shot is a close up of Amy’s leg as Alex puts out a cigarette on it. He is actively marking her as his and putting a phallic symbol upon her without consent. It shows extreme power over her, and is a showing of the natural order according to Fraud. Women are meant to be weak and men dominant. We then have a shot of Amy’s head coming back and her screaming in the air. This could be a sexual movement, and so further sexualises her.
We then transition from this to a previous time. Amy is in her kitchen and she is holding a knife in the same position as before. This is a contrast as she now has the power. We then have a shot of Amy from outside. It is P.O.V. and really demonstrates the voyeurism of the character, and the audience. This is partly to guilt them as they have seen how vulnerable she is in the garage scene. Next she walks past her fridge, which the titles are on. This is to make it feel more domestic and make it seem more like part of the scene. We then have a shot of Amy opening the fridge; the camera is placed inside of the fridge. This gives the impression that wherever she goes she will be watched in some way, like Big Brother, some-one is always watching. She then goes to pick up letters off the table, which again have titles on them. We are doing this for the same reason. She puts down the letters in the next shot and walks over to the oven. We show her hand turn on the hob and the next shot shows the fire in a close-up. It is a demonstration of the dangers that can occur in a domestic environment such as this. To juxtapose the feeling of safety often found at home, we cut again to Alex looking into her house watching her. He will be heavily breathing. This is to show his longing for her, and it sexualises the spying, as heavy breathing shows physical exhaustion (such as sex) has occurred. The next shot is of Amy putting meat into a pan and we hear it sizzle. Sound bridge is used to transition back to the garage, as the next shot is a close up of Amy’s leg as Alex puts out a cigarette on it. He is actively marking her as his and putting a phallic symbol upon her without consent. It shows extreme power over her, and is a showing of the natural order according to Fraud. Women are meant to be weak and men dominant. We then have a shot of Amy’s head coming back and her screaming in the air. This could be a sexual movement, and so further sexualises her.