The Twilight Saga NEW MOON

The first shot is the production logo of ‘SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT’. This shot has purposely been used as the audience will recognise the logo and it creates an expectation for this film. Summit Entertainment produce high production value films and so this also creates an expectation for the audience that they are going to enjoy the film. Another reason this logo is shown is to create a name for the production company, almost advertising it. While the logo is being shown, there is non-diegetic, slow paced music of a piano playing. This continues as it fades to a black screen, then the music gets quiet and then there is a dramatic sound of a drum as a moon appears. The music then continues as the moon decreases in size and changes to the title of the film ‘new moon’. A voiceover of a monologue of the main character Bella starts over the top of the music. As this is a film in a series, the audience will recognise the character’s voice and familiarise themselves with the film. There is then a cut to a sun flare which the camera then tilts and pans down onto a scene showing the main character running through a crowed street. This unusual shot confuses the audience and reflects the character’s facial expressions. The main colour scheme in this shot is red which connotes danger and death, suggesting to the audience that something bad is about to happen.

The music becomes more fast paced and dramatic as the main character gets close to the camera. She stops and we see her shocked, distressed facial expression making the audience even more anxious about what is happening. Then is then a cut to show a clock tower and the clock striking 12, showing us what the character is looking at. This again makes the audience wonder what is happening, pulling them into the film and making them want to carry on watching. It then cuts back to the main character running through the crowd. We as an audience are put into the crowd and it is as if we are in the crowd watching her struggle to get through. This shows us as an audience how crowded it is and shows her desperation to get to wherever she is going. As she is running there is a match on action cut to show her again running but in a different location. This time she is breaking through some greenery. Again her expression is confused, but she is less distressed now that she is not in the previous location. Her green jumper against the red cloaks in the previous scene suggested she didn’t belong there and reinforced her struggle to get to where she was going, whereas now she fits with the green background, suggesting this is where she belongs.

As she comes to a stop there is a mid shot, again showing the female character. This shot last for a slightly longer period of time than the others, allowing the audience to look at her and read her facial expressions to try and work out what is going on. There is then a cut to an over the should shot showing what the female character can see. This shot shows the audience the location and also a faint figure in the distance tells the audience what the female character is looking at. It then cuts back to a mid shot of the female character again, showing her complete confusion as to who this character is. As both the character and the audience do not know who this other figure is, the audience feel as if they are on the same level as the character. They feel involved in the film. There is a cut to show a wide angled mid shot of the other character who we can now see is an old woman. We hear the non-diegetic sound of a clock chiming and then the music returns to the calm, yet slightly mysterious tone from the very beginning of the opening sequence.

There is a shot reaction shot showing the main female character and then the old woman, then back to the female character. This is used to show their facial expressions and reactions as they are looking at each other. The non diegetic music continues and there is also the diegetic sound of the female character saying ‘Gran?’ which tells the audience who the older woman is. There is then the diegetic sound of leaves rustling, signifying the presence of someone else in the scene. There is a cut to an over the shoulder shot showing what the female character can see; a male stood to her right who has just emerged from the greenery. There is a sense of danger as the camera cuts to a high angled wide shot of the meadow. We can see the female character in the middle with the big wide space around her. The high angle makes her look vulnerable and the wide angle shows that she has a long way to go to escape if this figure that has just appeared is dangerous. There is then a mid shot showing the male that the audience immediately recognise from the previous films in the series. They immediately realise that he is not a threat and are comforted by the appearance of such a familiar character. The lighting here is very high key, showing the time of day.