Bitter Sweet: The Loved Ones Scene Deconstruction #2

Drawing

The scene begins with a close-up shot of a fork covered in blood. This is a cleverly used shot as the last line of dialogue in the previous scene is ‘I’ll feed you.’ It also doesn't show what’s happened to Brent straight away but merely suggests and hints.

A close-up of Brent shows his face and again not what’s happened to him straight away. This increases the tension and is appropriate for the genre.

The next shot shows Lola and Daddy standing facing the camera. This angle suggests they’re facing Brent; however there aren't ever any shots of all three of them in shot. Having them both face the camera makes the shots more confrontational and puts the audience in Brent’s position causing discomfort and terror which is appropriate for the genre. This is particularly effective when Daddy throws salt as it immerses the audience in the scene. This shot is inspirational because of these reasons and is something we’d look to using in our coursework.

A mid-shot of Brent is then revealed which shows what Lola has done to him. This type of shot is used multiple times as well as close-ups of his face as Brent is shown writhing in pain. The mid-shots allow the audience to see stark reality of their sinister torture.

There is a close-up of the salt as Lola opens the lid. This emphasises the increasing tension of what she’s about to do with it.

An extreme close-up of Lola’s face shows her grinning as she throws the salt. This shows her evil, psychotic nature of wanting to torture boys. The fact she’s looking right into the camera also has the same effect as the mid-shots of Lola and Daddy.

The angles of the shots are low looking up at Lola and Daddy and high looking down at Brent. This shows the positions of power in the scene. This simple camera angle is great to use for suggesting such and so is an inspirational example that we could use.

As the shot of the fork comes into focus, a creepy high-pitched synth sound like chimes can be heard as part of the non-diegetic soundtrack. This then fades out as the scene continues.

Daddy’s diegetic dialogue: ‘Your drawing gets better every time’ is a good comment on how she’s done this several times before. This also shows how he’s proud of her committing these tortures and he thinks it’s something to be encouraged/complimented/awarded.

When Brent’s body is revealed, a deep sound that sounds like a chair being dragged across the floor can be heard as part of the non-diegetic soundtrack. This is to accompany the reveal in a way that shocks/horrifies the audience.

Lola commands her dad once again to ‘throw it’, showing who has the power in their relationship. This converts conventions that the male is in power as in this case a young girl is.

Brent squeals in pain and shakes the chair, as his body goes into spasm. These noises sound animalistic and show the intensity of pain that he’s experiencing. There are also sounds of him gasping for air and struggling to breathe.

Lola teases Brent by saying: ‘Not too much. It’s supposed to be bad for you’, referring to the salt. This is another example of how she finds these acts amusing showing her twisted personality.

When Lola removes the lid on the salt, the sound effects of this action are very loud and harsh. This increases the tension and emphasises Brent’s fear. The same ‘chimes’ sound effect from the beginning plus a eerie bass note can be heard.

As she throws the salt, what sounds like a bell chiming can heard. This could be because it means that he’s times run out and what he’s been waiting for has hit him.

Once the montage begins, various warped sound effects can be heard including camera noises (lots of pictures are taken at prom plus Lola usually takes pictures of her victims for her scrapbook) and warped versions of the torturers laughing, whooping and teasingly chanting ‘we can't hear you!’

The first shot of Brent shows him with his head down and his lip dripping with either saliva, tears, sweat or water but it’s unclear. It’s also unclear at this moment exactly what he’s been through.

Behind Lola and Daddy is the disco ball still turning and reflecting light on the walls keeping the prom element into the scene.

When Brent’s body is revealed, it shows that Lola has drawn ‘LS’ inside a love-heart on his chest with a fork. This type of behaviour is inspiration for our coursework as it’s reflects the kind of character that’s performing the torture, in this case a crazy girl obsessed with love instead of tortures in body horrors like Saw.

The fact he’s got his shirt ripped open exposing his body adds a sexual element to the scene. The torture is being to become intimate and personal which is something we really want to focus on in our coursework as characters like Lola would demonstrate acts like this because of their issues.

Before the montage the editing consists of shot-reverse-shot which is a good choice because of the camera angles (both parties facing toward the camera rather than sharing a shot).

When Lola opens the salt and throws it, the shots are in slow motion for the same reason that they are close-ups. It is to emphasise Brent’s fear and create tension and discomfort in the audience.

During the montage, the editing pace increases a lot and becomes a lot more disorientating, emphasising the insanity of Lola and Daddy. These are important examples of inspirational techniques that we could use to demonstrate our antagonist’s crazed antics: