Annotation of My Bloody Valentine

Annotation of ‘My Bloody Valentine’

In My Bloody Valentine, a number of different camera angles are used to create an entertaining opening sequence. Firstly, on the first bit of the opening, the camera zooms in very quickly towards the numerous headlines in the articles. The fast pace in which this has been done represents a matter of urgency and the amount of different articles shows a progression of time has took place.
The establishing shot of the hospital is quite ironic in my perspective as it is a place of healing even though the movie is about pain and brutal murder and disembowelling of bodies. Also it is a normal everyday location and shows a sense of a normal town before the killer is let loose. The extreme close up on the killer’s eye is both dramatic and slightly off putting to the audience, it conveys his emotions after waking up from a dream which contains memories of the mine exploding. This is also very dramatic as it is done at a fast pace which is a recurring theme in this movie. The tracking shot around the hospital as the police chief is walking about shows the full extent of the massacre that had happened after the killer had struck. It also represents the killers power as the scene is all the way around the hospital making it seem like the killer has brutally murdered everybody with ease, the close up on the bloodied hand shows the blood dripping from it telling the audience that this event had happened very recently. Deep focus is used all the way through the scenes in the hospital to emphasise the full extent of the blood and gore making it more brutal and realistic to the audience. The close up of the heart in the chocolate box also relates the brutality to the actual title which is based around Valentine’s Day. The over the shoulder shots of the two teenagers in conversation adds detail to the scene and makes it more interesting, also the medium close ups shows not only the teenagers facial expressions but also their body language to convey their feelings towards going in the mine, for example the girls worried expressions matched with her vulnerable stance shows that she isn’t sure with what they are doing at the mine. The shot of the teenagers stood behind the metal fence represents them being ‘trapped’ possibly and gives a little hint in what may happen to them.

With editing, there was not a lot to talk about due to the fact that mostly, tracking shots were used to show the full extent of the hospital scene. A flashback was added as the man was having a dream to convey his view of what happened in the mine shaft, the fire and the fast pace made the flashback very short and dramatic to entice and excite the audience.
There was a lot of zooming in, especially on the newspaper articles to show a dramatic headline giving hints of what happened in the mine shaft. Also the zooms of the faces of the bodies and the officers shows their emotions and adds discomfort to the audience. The extreme zoom in on the heart in the box represents the title of the movie and to show extreme gore to the audience to see that the killer is extremely gruesome with the way that he handles the killings.