Group Response :
In Group (in order we are sitting) and Candidate Numbers:
Desiree Boland - 9022
Lauren Webb -9180
Naomi Deane-9053
Sophie Madden- 9118
Friday, 2 May 2014
Evaluation : How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My Response :
Our representation is of younger/teenage groups with some older social groups due to our 2 main characters, our victim and the doctor. We represented the victim very stereotypically in gender and her class/status , she was wearing a dress as if she were going out and was heavy made up. This represented a younger social group as younger people tend to go out more often for party's/ clubbing. The doctor was wearing the top half of scrubs and we never saw his face due to the out of focus camera shots so you couldn't really tell his social class, but you could tell by his voice the he was a lot older than the girl, this represented the older social groups.
Group Response:
Our representation is of younger/teenage groups with some older social groups due to our 2 main characters, our victim and the doctor. We represented the victim very stereotypically in gender and her class/status , she was wearing a dress as if she were going out and was heavy made up. This represented a younger social group as younger people tend to go out more often for party's/ clubbing. The doctor was wearing the top half of scrubs and we never saw his face due to the out of focus camera shots so you couldn't really tell his social class, but you could tell by his voice the he was a lot older than the girl, this represented the older social groups.
Group Response:
Evaluation : What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why ?
My Response :
We discussed that although we had an English film (criteria from BFI) it did have a more Hollywood theme running throughout. Therefore we decided that bigger conglomerate film institution would be more likely to distribute our film as the story line is very Hollywood and therefore has mass appeal to global/ wider audiences
Group Response:
We discussed that although we had an English film (criteria from BFI) it did have a more Hollywood theme running throughout. Therefore we decided that bigger conglomerate film institution would be more likely to distribute our film as the story line is very Hollywood and therefore has mass appeal to global/ wider audiences
Group Response:
Evaluation: Who would be the Audience for your media product?
The genre for our film opening was horror with the element of gore and a sub genre of psychological thriller. Therefore, i think our film as a whole has a very American/ Hollywood story line, even though it will be considered British film due to BFI'S criteria. This may make it appealing to a global audience due to the American feel that it has.In view of this, we decided that our audience would be British with hopes that it would spread globally to America.
We decided that we would like our film to appeal to both gender as we thought that both males and females would enjoy this type of film. However, we did discuss what type of females would like this film, in particular females who like horror films. We appealed to both male and females by using a female protagonist. This attracts females as they are more likely put themselves in the shoes of the main character creating sympathy for them, we also attracted the males by using a younger girl. We conformed to a few stereotypes to ensure that males would like this film, an example of this would be that we put the main character in a black short lace dress thus showing her 'provocative' side and giving her the 'sex appeal'.
Although the age range for our film will be 18+ due to the mount of gore we have in the opening sequence , it is unlikely that anyone over the age of 40/50 will be in the demographic to watch this film, as this age range is not usually interested in this genre of film. I feel as though our intended audience might not be our actually audience as some generations who our outside of our demographic may be very interested in this particular genre of horror and therefore might watch it. Also, we might have intended for our audience to be British, but considering the story line itself has an american feel to, then Americans may want to watch it. Overall i think our film has the potential to have global audiences
We decided that we would like our film to appeal to both gender as we thought that both males and females would enjoy this type of film. However, we did discuss what type of females would like this film, in particular females who like horror films. We appealed to both male and females by using a female protagonist. This attracts females as they are more likely put themselves in the shoes of the main character creating sympathy for them, we also attracted the males by using a younger girl. We conformed to a few stereotypes to ensure that males would like this film, an example of this would be that we put the main character in a black short lace dress thus showing her 'provocative' side and giving her the 'sex appeal'.
Although the age range for our film will be 18+ due to the mount of gore we have in the opening sequence , it is unlikely that anyone over the age of 40/50 will be in the demographic to watch this film, as this age range is not usually interested in this genre of film. I feel as though our intended audience might not be our actually audience as some generations who our outside of our demographic may be very interested in this particular genre of horror and therefore might watch it. Also, we might have intended for our audience to be British, but considering the story line itself has an american feel to, then Americans may want to watch it. Overall i think our film has the potential to have global audiences
Evaluation: How did you attract/ Address your audience ?
My Written Response :
We Wanted our film to be as realistic as possible for our audience to really engage with the film. Although our story line is quite dramatic we used other ways to attract our target audience. We made our victim of our our film a young teenage girl, this really related to our intended audience as they were between the ages of 18 and 30 years old. By using a young girl it created sympathy from the audience as they were able to put them selves into the characters shoes. To appeal to both genders our film,as well as having a young girl, we also had the element of gore which would attract both the male and female genders. We included this modern day crime with gore and thriller as we thought it would most appeal to our target audience.
Group Response :
We Wanted our film to be as realistic as possible for our audience to really engage with the film. Although our story line is quite dramatic we used other ways to attract our target audience. We made our victim of our our film a young teenage girl, this really related to our intended audience as they were between the ages of 18 and 30 years old. By using a young girl it created sympathy from the audience as they were able to put them selves into the characters shoes. To appeal to both genders our film,as well as having a young girl, we also had the element of gore which would attract both the male and female genders. We included this modern day crime with gore and thriller as we thought it would most appeal to our target audience.
Group Response :
Evaluation : What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product.
I have learnt many things when constructing our final product. I have learnt that without some of these technologies we would be unable to distribute it the way we did. An example of this is Digitisation , this process allowed us to become a small independent British company that was able to screen our product globally attracting a larger and wider demographic. Digitisation has allowed us to not only upload our final piece, but also our 1st and 2nd shots to YouTube so that the whole world has now got access to our film opening. By putting our 1st and 2nd cuts onto YouTube we were to not only see our improvements each time, but also who would be more interested in watching our final cut, especially due to our very American story line and now that it is on YouTube everyone, no matter where in the world, can view it for free. This was important for us to do because our story line is so stereotypically American we needed them to view it as it would most likely relate to them.
Another thing that we have learnt through this process is that technology has enabled us to film using the DSLR camera.Not only did this camera enable us to watch back shots that we had just shot but also enabled us to re film some scenes we were not happy with, something that wouldn't have been possible to do with film reels as this would have cost so much to do. The DSLR camera improved the quality of our film as a whole and we were able to change focus on the different size lenses depending in what we wanted each shot to look like, e.g. when the camera is in the P.O.V of the girl,the doctors face was blurred, thus creating tension and enigma for our audience.Furthermore the use of the DSLR camera has enabled us to export it quickly and sufficiently into cutting software such as Final Cut Pro. This software has allowed us to make our film opening more cinematic and much more professional, we were able to cut shots and then undo them if we were not happy with it, something film could never have done. We were able to play around with what worked best and finding tools within the software that could do different effects which really added to the feeling of the piece as a whole.Without the development of technologies in the last 20 years, this process wouldn't of let us make some of the mistakes we did and change them as easily as we did.
By using both the DSLR camera and Final Cut Pro we managed to create a high stranded film opening and by incorporating the internet such as YouTube this has allowed us to distribute it globally to a wider audience
I have learnt throughout this process of constructing this product that the things we did with very little trouble wouldn't have been possible without these technologies we have in modern day society. Technology is always changing and perhaps in years to come they will see the way we did our film making as 'old fashioned' and no longer a desired process to take, like how film these days is in very little use. Without these technologies we wouldn't of had the DSLR cameras which made filming so much easier, the editing software we used also helped a lot with this process as we were able to go back on any mistakes that we had made and change them instantly. overall I think Digitisation has helped us the most, we haven't had to make any hard copies of the film yet the whole world has access to it as it is on YouTube. Technology has helped us to develop our film further into the standard in which we wanted.
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Horror film analysis
The Shinning
The Shinning is a British/American psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Jack Nicholson, Shelly Duvall and Scatman Crothers. The Film is based on Stephen Kings novel with the same name.
The film follows Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a writer and recovering alcoholic, who takes the job of a caretaker in an isolated Hotel called the Overlook during the winter months while it is closed. His young son possesses psychic abilities and is able to see things from the past and future, such as ghosts who inhabit the hotel, he has 'The Shinning' hence the tittle of the film.Soon after settling in, the family becomes trapped by a snow storm, and jack gradually influenced by a supernatural presence; he descends into madness and tries to murder his wife and son using a axe.
The Shinning is listed among the greatest horror films and some even say its the greatest horror films of all time
The Shinning is a British/American psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Jack Nicholson, Shelly Duvall and Scatman Crothers. The Film is based on Stephen Kings novel with the same name.
The film follows Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a writer and recovering alcoholic, who takes the job of a caretaker in an isolated Hotel called the Overlook during the winter months while it is closed. His young son possesses psychic abilities and is able to see things from the past and future, such as ghosts who inhabit the hotel, he has 'The Shinning' hence the tittle of the film.Soon after settling in, the family becomes trapped by a snow storm, and jack gradually influenced by a supernatural presence; he descends into madness and tries to murder his wife and son using a axe.
The Shinning is listed among the greatest horror films and some even say its the greatest horror films of all time
Director analysis 2
John Carpenter
John Carpenter (born January 16th, 1948) is an American director, screenwriter, producer, editor and composer. Although he was worked in many different genre throughout his career, he is best associated with horror and science fiction films from the 1970's and 1980's.
Carpenter is well known for his lighting,photography, statistic camera, use of Steadicam and his distinctive self composed work.
When filming he prefers to use the 35mm panavision anamorphic format as he feels that this gives the best feel to his films. Carpenter is also known for his love of widescreen filming, using the aspect ratio of 2:35:1 or greater in many of his films
His best known work is Halloween (1978) and The Thing (1982) as well as many other films
Below is the original trailer for Halloween (1978)
John Carpenter (born January 16th, 1948) is an American director, screenwriter, producer, editor and composer. Although he was worked in many different genre throughout his career, he is best associated with horror and science fiction films from the 1970's and 1980's.
Carpenter is well known for his lighting,photography, statistic camera, use of Steadicam and his distinctive self composed work.
When filming he prefers to use the 35mm panavision anamorphic format as he feels that this gives the best feel to his films. Carpenter is also known for his love of widescreen filming, using the aspect ratio of 2:35:1 or greater in many of his films
His best known work is Halloween (1978) and The Thing (1982) as well as many other films
Below is the original trailer for Halloween (1978)
What have I learnt through the whole proccess
Pre Production Stage
As a team, we learnt just how important this stage is, not only for organizing everything, but also when filming. Without the amount of planning and hard work we put into this stage, we wouldn't have got the standards we wanted and achieved on the day of filming. I have also learnt that it is vital to work as a team in this stage, making sure if you have completed anything on your own that you check back with other members of the team t make sure they are happy with it as well, like we did with our script, this may take more time than expected but I have learnt that it makes a big difference in the long run. Our pre production packs also made a huge difference to production and editing stage of the task, they made it possible to run as smoothly as possible and this wouldn't have happened if we hadn't put as much effort in carefully planning everything.
Production Stage
We used everything from our pre production stage to carry this out, making sure we followed it exactly so that we didn't miss anything out. We made sure when doing pre production that we included everything for the production stage even down to what kind of focus we wanted the tools to be in our production stage, so when it came to it we only had to look at it and who knew exactly what we were doing at each step. I learnt a lot from this stage, making sure i listened to everyone in the team with their ideas. Also with the actors, just in case they were unsure of what was happening, I could give them some direction as I had wrote the script and knew what we were looking for with each scene. This gave us the confidence to know that we had achieved a very good standard of film footage, and we were ready to go straight into the next stage of the task.
Post Production Stage
This Stage helped me develop my skills further from what i had learnt from our Preliminary Task. Many of the skills i had learnt from the Preliminary task were basic, and so this stage help me understand the software more as i was doing more cuts, adding in music and making sure it fitted, we also added in tittles which increased both my knowledge and my skills in this area. I was able to make daring changes and was able to make more decisions about which shot fitted best, I was also able to go back if i didn't like a cut as i was getting more confident with the software.
One piece of software that i hadn't used in the preliminary task was colour grading. This allows you to transfer you piece from Final Cut Pro onto the colour grading software on the Apple Mac's and change the main colours in your film giving it a different feel and effect. Due to our film being in the horror genre, we wanted more colder colours, therefore we added more blue and dull tones to give it this feel. This also made other colours stand out a lot more, such as the red from the blood. It gave it a much deeper red colour which made it look more realistic unlike the pink red colour the fake blood had. We decided that we would colour grade our film once it was finished as this gave us time to sort out each scene instead of having to keep going back each time to colour grade a scene at a time. Once we were happy with the colours we had for one scene, the software allows you to save that and add it to every scene so that you don't get different colours each time and so that we had continuity throughout. This was an important skill we learnt in the stage as it gave the overall feel a more cinematic look instead of a piece filmed at home. I learnt a lot from this stage, i learnt new skills which will help with future task, i have also become more confident in the software and how to use it more effectively.
After completing all three stages of our main task, i am pleased with what we have achieved. I now feel the majority of the questions we asked at the end of our Preliminary task i can answer (Shown Below). Such as 'How do you colour grade', from completing this task i feel as though i can now answer this question, as we did decided to colour grade our final cut of our film to give it the cold look we were going for. Also i can now answer 'How do i add music onto Final Cut Pro' as we also did this several times throughout our cuts to make sure it sounded better each time.
Questions form after Preliminary task
How do i colour grade?
how do I add music onto Final Cut Pro?
How to create a voice over on Final Cut Pro?
What is the main Production of a film?
how do you get special effects on final cut pro?
how to get a split screen effect on Final Cut Pro?
how to make a realistic script?
As a team, we learnt just how important this stage is, not only for organizing everything, but also when filming. Without the amount of planning and hard work we put into this stage, we wouldn't have got the standards we wanted and achieved on the day of filming. I have also learnt that it is vital to work as a team in this stage, making sure if you have completed anything on your own that you check back with other members of the team t make sure they are happy with it as well, like we did with our script, this may take more time than expected but I have learnt that it makes a big difference in the long run. Our pre production packs also made a huge difference to production and editing stage of the task, they made it possible to run as smoothly as possible and this wouldn't have happened if we hadn't put as much effort in carefully planning everything.
Production Stage
We used everything from our pre production stage to carry this out, making sure we followed it exactly so that we didn't miss anything out. We made sure when doing pre production that we included everything for the production stage even down to what kind of focus we wanted the tools to be in our production stage, so when it came to it we only had to look at it and who knew exactly what we were doing at each step. I learnt a lot from this stage, making sure i listened to everyone in the team with their ideas. Also with the actors, just in case they were unsure of what was happening, I could give them some direction as I had wrote the script and knew what we were looking for with each scene. This gave us the confidence to know that we had achieved a very good standard of film footage, and we were ready to go straight into the next stage of the task.
Post Production Stage
This Stage helped me develop my skills further from what i had learnt from our Preliminary Task. Many of the skills i had learnt from the Preliminary task were basic, and so this stage help me understand the software more as i was doing more cuts, adding in music and making sure it fitted, we also added in tittles which increased both my knowledge and my skills in this area. I was able to make daring changes and was able to make more decisions about which shot fitted best, I was also able to go back if i didn't like a cut as i was getting more confident with the software.
One piece of software that i hadn't used in the preliminary task was colour grading. This allows you to transfer you piece from Final Cut Pro onto the colour grading software on the Apple Mac's and change the main colours in your film giving it a different feel and effect. Due to our film being in the horror genre, we wanted more colder colours, therefore we added more blue and dull tones to give it this feel. This also made other colours stand out a lot more, such as the red from the blood. It gave it a much deeper red colour which made it look more realistic unlike the pink red colour the fake blood had. We decided that we would colour grade our film once it was finished as this gave us time to sort out each scene instead of having to keep going back each time to colour grade a scene at a time. Once we were happy with the colours we had for one scene, the software allows you to save that and add it to every scene so that you don't get different colours each time and so that we had continuity throughout. This was an important skill we learnt in the stage as it gave the overall feel a more cinematic look instead of a piece filmed at home. I learnt a lot from this stage, i learnt new skills which will help with future task, i have also become more confident in the software and how to use it more effectively.
After completing all three stages of our main task, i am pleased with what we have achieved. I now feel the majority of the questions we asked at the end of our Preliminary task i can answer (Shown Below). Such as 'How do you colour grade', from completing this task i feel as though i can now answer this question, as we did decided to colour grade our final cut of our film to give it the cold look we were going for. Also i can now answer 'How do i add music onto Final Cut Pro' as we also did this several times throughout our cuts to make sure it sounded better each time.
Questions form after Preliminary task
How do i colour grade?
how do I add music onto Final Cut Pro?
How to create a voice over on Final Cut Pro?
What is the main Production of a film?
how do you get special effects on final cut pro?
how to get a split screen effect on Final Cut Pro?
how to make a realistic script?
Filming Our Film
Filming
After we had decided where we were going to film, we had to make sure that the day we picked was available for the garage, our production team and the actors. After we arranged a date we arranged what would be needed throughout the day and making sure everyone had a role to play for example Naomi and Lauren were the director, Desiree was the creative director and I helped with the set design and what worked best through the camera lens and actors making sure they had everything they needed on and off set., this made sure there was no disagreements or anyone was confused as to what they were doing. We decided that everyone should have a chance at filming to show all of our skills.
On the day of filming arrived at 9 am and we all arrived before the actors so we had a chance to set up the camera and lighting, the original lighting in the garage was strip lights and this wouldn't have looked good on camera as it makes everything seem flat and not to the full quality that we wanted it to be, so therefore we set up a hanging light in the middle of the room with the table under it. We next had to decided which way the table worked best under the light and through the camera. After that, we had to move some furniture out of shot just to give it the abandoned feel to it, we also had to cover up the Toyota sign in the background due to copyright issues and making it look to modern which wouldn't have given the effect of an old abandoned garage.
Once the actors arrived and settled in we were able to do a quick run through marking out each step the doctor would take eg from position 1 to 2 when handling the tools, these were markers stuck on the floor that the camera couldn't see.This made it easier for both the actors and who ever was filming at the time, as we were able to get the actors to stand in the exact same place as the previous shots which gave us good continuity and match on action, this also made it possible to re shoot a scene quicker if needed than if we hadn't marked out the standing positions.
Due to our Pre Production planning, our filming ran very smoothly as we knew exactly what we were doing and what we wanted to achieve throughout the day. As we had done all this planning previously we managed to get all our shots done in a small amount of time with time left over which we were able to re film somethings that we didn't like in another shot, this gave us the opportunity to get the best possible shots for our final piece and we were able to pick out things that weren't great about our first take, fix it and then re shoot that bit. Also we were able to film extra bits that we hadn't story boarded that we thought of on the day while shooting, this was very good for us as it gave us more ideas about how we could make our film better, although we didn't use all ideas as we didn't want to over complicate our piece. The overall filming day was successful,we had time to film as well as have fun with it and i really enjoyed working on set, showing my skills and creative ideas. We worked really well as a team when both filming and making sure the actor knew what they were doing, were comfortable on set and had everything they needed (a coat as it was quite cold, or food and drinks), as well as getting the filming done quickly and to the standard we wanted.
After we had decided where we were going to film, we had to make sure that the day we picked was available for the garage, our production team and the actors. After we arranged a date we arranged what would be needed throughout the day and making sure everyone had a role to play for example Naomi and Lauren were the director, Desiree was the creative director and I helped with the set design and what worked best through the camera lens and actors making sure they had everything they needed on and off set., this made sure there was no disagreements or anyone was confused as to what they were doing. We decided that everyone should have a chance at filming to show all of our skills.
On the day of filming arrived at 9 am and we all arrived before the actors so we had a chance to set up the camera and lighting, the original lighting in the garage was strip lights and this wouldn't have looked good on camera as it makes everything seem flat and not to the full quality that we wanted it to be, so therefore we set up a hanging light in the middle of the room with the table under it. We next had to decided which way the table worked best under the light and through the camera. After that, we had to move some furniture out of shot just to give it the abandoned feel to it, we also had to cover up the Toyota sign in the background due to copyright issues and making it look to modern which wouldn't have given the effect of an old abandoned garage.
Once the actors arrived and settled in we were able to do a quick run through marking out each step the doctor would take eg from position 1 to 2 when handling the tools, these were markers stuck on the floor that the camera couldn't see.This made it easier for both the actors and who ever was filming at the time, as we were able to get the actors to stand in the exact same place as the previous shots which gave us good continuity and match on action, this also made it possible to re shoot a scene quicker if needed than if we hadn't marked out the standing positions.
Due to our Pre Production planning, our filming ran very smoothly as we knew exactly what we were doing and what we wanted to achieve throughout the day. As we had done all this planning previously we managed to get all our shots done in a small amount of time with time left over which we were able to re film somethings that we didn't like in another shot, this gave us the opportunity to get the best possible shots for our final piece and we were able to pick out things that weren't great about our first take, fix it and then re shoot that bit. Also we were able to film extra bits that we hadn't story boarded that we thought of on the day while shooting, this was very good for us as it gave us more ideas about how we could make our film better, although we didn't use all ideas as we didn't want to over complicate our piece. The overall filming day was successful,we had time to film as well as have fun with it and i really enjoyed working on set, showing my skills and creative ideas. We worked really well as a team when both filming and making sure the actor knew what they were doing, were comfortable on set and had everything they needed (a coat as it was quite cold, or food and drinks), as well as getting the filming done quickly and to the standard we wanted.
Costumes,Props and Location for our film
Characters Costumes:
Victim
When deciding what we wanted each of our characters to wear, we first discussed what we wanted our characters to look like (You can find this on a blog post titled 'Developing our ideas,Treatment and Casting'). Once we had decided this, we then talked as a group about stereotypes of what the Doctor and the victim should be wearing. We discussed horror films that we had watched for research and took down notes. Next we then had to link in our costumes with our story line. Therefore we decided to put the victim in a short black body-con dress, this emphasized the age and the situation the victim was in (she was going out clubbing),however we could only do this due to our story line and we had to make sure it fitted with our target audience and overall piece throughout.
We really wanted to keep her costume simple, therefore we went with the black dress and a pair of high heel shoes. Furthermore, we knew when discussing the ideas that we would have to buy this dress, we also knew from our story line that the dress would be cut open to reach the stomach of the victim in our piece, therefore when buying it we knew we had to find a cheap one so that we wouldn't be ruining an expensive dress. The picture below shows the final dress which we brought.
Doctor
When discussing what the male should be wearing, we all agreed that we wanted him wearing something that shows that he might know the profession, therefore we decided that he would wear scrubs, however due to us wanting it to look unprofessional, we only had him wearing the t-shirt half of the scrubs and not the trousers, we wanted to show that he wasn't bothered about hygiene, we also gave him a stethoscope to show that he knew the profession well and to indicate this. Moreover, we gave him some blue rubber gloves, but to show the unhygienic location we put dirt on them, this really emphasized the danger of not only the man but also the unhygienic location and that he was about to operate in bad conditions showing the high risk of infection etc.
Overall i was very pleased in the costumes that both characters were wearing, i think we manged to portray them both in the genre of our film very well, by sticking to the typical horror conventions we were able to create the typical main characters the audience would expect.
Props
When it came to our props we were very lucky that our location was already set up and we didn't need to do much with it. this helped us a lot, as we were able to focus on what we needed on the day. By using this sheet (See picture above) we were able to sort things out quickly and efficiently, we used people who had those specific things, this made it easier so we were not spending money and time on trying to get these things together for example Desiree brought the make up and we all knew this as it was on the sheet that everyone had making it a lot easier to get organised.
When it came to writing this list we put down the most obvious things that we would have with us such as our camera equipment etc. Some of the props were essential to the final piece, for example the table and the light as this was the main focus and most of the filming happened around both props and the victim was lying on the table with the light hanging down above her. Furthermore we wanted to keep the props to a minimal so that our piece wouldn't look to over the top and so that we could focus on getting the finish we wanted on the final piece. overall i was very pleased with how we organised our props and manged to arrange it so everyone knew who was bringing what. The props we used in our filming were very helpful to the look and feel to the piece as a whole and they helped create our genre.
Location
When it came to deciding our location we had to make sure it fitted our theme and genre of the film. As we wanted the location to look and feel as though it was somewhere abandoned, we decided to use a garage. By using this location it would give the film an unhygienic and abandoned feel which we really wanted to create. Once we had a rough idea of what we wanted our location to be like and what would fit our story line best, we discussed our ideas and Lauren said that her family owned a local garage. We then visited the garage and decided that this would be the perfect location to use for our film.
Below is a picture of our chosen location:
By using this location it really helped as we knew the owners and didn't have to hire it out for the day which really helped budget wise. Due to us knowing the owners we were also were able to find out the best days for both our team and the garage, and what part of the garage we were able to use (shown in the picture above). Furthermore by using this location we were also able to identify all the possible risks quickly which helped as we didn't have keep going back to check certain things, this made it easier when writing the risk assessment.
Overall i was very pleased with our location, it was exactly want we wanted and in the film highlighted the ideas and themes we had discussed
Victim
When deciding what we wanted each of our characters to wear, we first discussed what we wanted our characters to look like (You can find this on a blog post titled 'Developing our ideas,Treatment and Casting'). Once we had decided this, we then talked as a group about stereotypes of what the Doctor and the victim should be wearing. We discussed horror films that we had watched for research and took down notes. Next we then had to link in our costumes with our story line. Therefore we decided to put the victim in a short black body-con dress, this emphasized the age and the situation the victim was in (she was going out clubbing),however we could only do this due to our story line and we had to make sure it fitted with our target audience and overall piece throughout.
We really wanted to keep her costume simple, therefore we went with the black dress and a pair of high heel shoes. Furthermore, we knew when discussing the ideas that we would have to buy this dress, we also knew from our story line that the dress would be cut open to reach the stomach of the victim in our piece, therefore when buying it we knew we had to find a cheap one so that we wouldn't be ruining an expensive dress. The picture below shows the final dress which we brought.
Doctor
When discussing what the male should be wearing, we all agreed that we wanted him wearing something that shows that he might know the profession, therefore we decided that he would wear scrubs, however due to us wanting it to look unprofessional, we only had him wearing the t-shirt half of the scrubs and not the trousers, we wanted to show that he wasn't bothered about hygiene, we also gave him a stethoscope to show that he knew the profession well and to indicate this. Moreover, we gave him some blue rubber gloves, but to show the unhygienic location we put dirt on them, this really emphasized the danger of not only the man but also the unhygienic location and that he was about to operate in bad conditions showing the high risk of infection etc.
Overall i was very pleased in the costumes that both characters were wearing, i think we manged to portray them both in the genre of our film very well, by sticking to the typical horror conventions we were able to create the typical main characters the audience would expect.
Props
When it came to our props we were very lucky that our location was already set up and we didn't need to do much with it. this helped us a lot, as we were able to focus on what we needed on the day. By using this sheet (See picture above) we were able to sort things out quickly and efficiently, we used people who had those specific things, this made it easier so we were not spending money and time on trying to get these things together for example Desiree brought the make up and we all knew this as it was on the sheet that everyone had making it a lot easier to get organised.
When it came to writing this list we put down the most obvious things that we would have with us such as our camera equipment etc. Some of the props were essential to the final piece, for example the table and the light as this was the main focus and most of the filming happened around both props and the victim was lying on the table with the light hanging down above her. Furthermore we wanted to keep the props to a minimal so that our piece wouldn't look to over the top and so that we could focus on getting the finish we wanted on the final piece. overall i was very pleased with how we organised our props and manged to arrange it so everyone knew who was bringing what. The props we used in our filming were very helpful to the look and feel to the piece as a whole and they helped create our genre.
Location
When it came to deciding our location we had to make sure it fitted our theme and genre of the film. As we wanted the location to look and feel as though it was somewhere abandoned, we decided to use a garage. By using this location it would give the film an unhygienic and abandoned feel which we really wanted to create. Once we had a rough idea of what we wanted our location to be like and what would fit our story line best, we discussed our ideas and Lauren said that her family owned a local garage. We then visited the garage and decided that this would be the perfect location to use for our film.
Below is a picture of our chosen location:
By using this location it really helped as we knew the owners and didn't have to hire it out for the day which really helped budget wise. Due to us knowing the owners we were also were able to find out the best days for both our team and the garage, and what part of the garage we were able to use (shown in the picture above). Furthermore by using this location we were also able to identify all the possible risks quickly which helped as we didn't have keep going back to check certain things, this made it easier when writing the risk assessment.
Overall i was very pleased with our location, it was exactly want we wanted and in the film highlighted the ideas and themes we had discussed
Saturday, 5 April 2014
The Organ Player - 1st Cut, 2nd Cut and Final Cut
The Organ Player- The Dreggs Productions
1st Cut
There were many things that we disliked with our first cut. The first being some of the starting tool shots being a bit too out of focus, although we said that we wanted them to be out of focus some are too much out of focus and ruin the effect we wanted, so we knew that this is something we wanted to change.Another thing we had to change was the time length on the roles of each of us as they were too short,also the fong for each of these was wrong and we knew we would have to change them. The next thing we disliked about this first cut was how it suddenly get louder at 0:26 seconds, from the start its quiet and then the sound comes in and it didn't sound right, again this is something we knew we had to change. We very much liked the POV shots from the girl, as it shows well how she is drugged and cant really see what is happening, I especially like the one at 0:36 seconds where she can just see the head of the doctor but not clearly enough to see his face due to the drugs. This was the effect we were going for and we were all really pleased with this shot. At 0:54 there is a problem with her breathing as it overlap and you can hear it twice, another problem with the sound that we would have to fix in our next cut, furthermore at 0:59 the girls line 'What are you going to do to me' gets cut a bit short when the shot changes to her dress being cut and again the sound levels drop in this scene. At 1:13 the music starts but it comes on quite loud and takes the suspense away all through till the end. We discussed this and decided this would be a key issue we would have to go back on in our next cut. Also our cuts at the end were too long and therefore didn't add any suspense
2nd Cut
We were much happier with this cut then we were with our first. we had added in music in the begging to stop the big sound jump that was discussed in our first cut section above. There were still some issues with shots going from one to another and sound being cut out and layered over the top that is quiet easy to here. We changed our font and length of time on our tittle which make it look so much better than just a normal font. Although the sound is bliping throughout we couldn't do anything about this as it was the software we used and to transport it. Sound was a key issues running throughout our 1st and 2nd cut they we had major difficulty with at the moment our sound was very much chopped and moved all over the place which made it sound overlapping. to sort this out in our final cut we eventually had to remove all sound and dialogue and replace it back in to the right place so that we had 3 lines of sound : 1 for dialogue 1 for back ground noises in the garage and 1 for music, this cleaned things up and made it sound much better in our final cut
Below is a drawing used to explain our sound in our 1st and 2 nd cut, and then the one on the right is what it looks like in our final cut.
Final Cut
On or Final cut, like explained above, we had to remove all of our sound and re build it into 3 separate layers to make sure we didn't have any over lap. we also colour graded our final piece and letter boxed it to give it the more filmic view, we managed to sort out the key issues from our 1st and 2nd cut which we were really pleased about. Unfortunately the blipping is still noticeable in the music , however again there was nothing we could do about this as the software we used created this after we transported it and uploaded it to final cut pro.
Overall i am very pleased with my team The Dreggs production in our team work and our skills to make such a promising film opening that we are very proud off. There were some issues along the way but we manged to pull together and overcome these problems.
1st Cut
There were many things that we disliked with our first cut. The first being some of the starting tool shots being a bit too out of focus, although we said that we wanted them to be out of focus some are too much out of focus and ruin the effect we wanted, so we knew that this is something we wanted to change.Another thing we had to change was the time length on the roles of each of us as they were too short,also the fong for each of these was wrong and we knew we would have to change them. The next thing we disliked about this first cut was how it suddenly get louder at 0:26 seconds, from the start its quiet and then the sound comes in and it didn't sound right, again this is something we knew we had to change. We very much liked the POV shots from the girl, as it shows well how she is drugged and cant really see what is happening, I especially like the one at 0:36 seconds where she can just see the head of the doctor but not clearly enough to see his face due to the drugs. This was the effect we were going for and we were all really pleased with this shot. At 0:54 there is a problem with her breathing as it overlap and you can hear it twice, another problem with the sound that we would have to fix in our next cut, furthermore at 0:59 the girls line 'What are you going to do to me' gets cut a bit short when the shot changes to her dress being cut and again the sound levels drop in this scene. At 1:13 the music starts but it comes on quite loud and takes the suspense away all through till the end. We discussed this and decided this would be a key issue we would have to go back on in our next cut. Also our cuts at the end were too long and therefore didn't add any suspense
2nd Cut
We were much happier with this cut then we were with our first. we had added in music in the begging to stop the big sound jump that was discussed in our first cut section above. There were still some issues with shots going from one to another and sound being cut out and layered over the top that is quiet easy to here. We changed our font and length of time on our tittle which make it look so much better than just a normal font. Although the sound is bliping throughout we couldn't do anything about this as it was the software we used and to transport it. Sound was a key issues running throughout our 1st and 2nd cut they we had major difficulty with at the moment our sound was very much chopped and moved all over the place which made it sound overlapping. to sort this out in our final cut we eventually had to remove all sound and dialogue and replace it back in to the right place so that we had 3 lines of sound : 1 for dialogue 1 for back ground noises in the garage and 1 for music, this cleaned things up and made it sound much better in our final cut
Below is a drawing used to explain our sound in our 1st and 2 nd cut, and then the one on the right is what it looks like in our final cut.
Final Cut
On or Final cut, like explained above, we had to remove all of our sound and re build it into 3 separate layers to make sure we didn't have any over lap. we also colour graded our final piece and letter boxed it to give it the more filmic view, we managed to sort out the key issues from our 1st and 2nd cut which we were really pleased about. Unfortunately the blipping is still noticeable in the music , however again there was nothing we could do about this as the software we used created this after we transported it and uploaded it to final cut pro.
Overall i am very pleased with my team The Dreggs production in our team work and our skills to make such a promising film opening that we are very proud off. There were some issues along the way but we manged to pull together and overcome these problems.
Sunday, 23 March 2014
Risk Assessments and Logistics
Risk Assessments
A risk assessment is anything that could be a potential risk when carrying out a project and evaluating these risks. Therefore we had to discuss and evaluate the potential risks when carrying out our project which was set in a garage. We had to make sure that every risk was evaluated this could have been from water to equipment hazards. Below is our Risk Assessment which we created to be put into our pre production pack:
On the Risk Assessment we were able to put what the risk was, who was going to be effected if it did happen, whether the danger was high medium or low and the control measures we would put in place to make sure none of these things did happen. By doing this we were able to solve any problem which happened quickly and sufficiently so that we were able to continue filming.
The Risk Assessment was useful as it made us work as a team on what could happen and what could be done to prevent it from happening.
Logistics
We made a document of Logistics to keep track of everything we needed on set. This was: Props,Makeup, Equipment, Costumes, Location and anything else that was needed for the film or cast, each member was in charge of certain things on set and were in charge to ensure that the necessary items were on set when anyone required them to be. Below is the Logistics document
We made sure that everyone kept to the logistics list bringing everything to set that was necessary so that we didn't have to go and collect something that we might had forgotten. We decided that instead of going out to buy the things needed we would ask in our group if anyone had them and if they did then they could bring them in on the day, or ask someone who would have it and borrowed it from them, We also asked the actress playing the Victim to bring in her own shoes as none of us had her size and we thought it best if she was comfortable on set. The only thing we did end up buying was the dress as no one had a cheap dress that they minded getting cut up.
Overall I think the logistic list worked well as it made sure everyone had everything they needed and other people in the group new what others were bringing.
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Storyboard and Shot List
Storyboard
Throughout our pre production process we made sure that we drew many different storyboards to keep up to date with changes in our screenplay or treatment. In each storyboard we made sure to include every detail to make it precise and ensure that when we come to film we wouldn't have any problems on set as we wanted to make sure it ran as smoothly as possible. When writing our first storyboard we wanted to make sure that certain shot would work, we did this by filming some mock shots in the classroom using a pencil as our scapulae to just an idea if these shots would work or. By doing this, we were able to see that some shots,although good ideas, were not going to be effective in our final piece and we had to think of a new way to create the look. our final story board looked like this :
In our story board we also had to include what type of shot we were using for example over the shoulder shot. We also had to add in if there was any dialogue in that scene, or any sound effects as we had a slapping sound effect for when the doctor hit the girl . Furthermore we also had to state whether the focus was in soft or sharp on certain objects, again we had to do this by some test shots to see what worked and what didn't and then added them to the storyboard.
Although the storyboard took time, i think our final piece followed it well, even if some where sjot differently to how we imagined them it followed the storyboard well.
Here are the shots we did in class with the pencil to see if certain shots would work.
Shot List
To make sure our shots matched up, we completed the shot list at the same time as the final storyboard was being completed. Making the shot list really helped on set as it showed everyone were we were and what shot we were doing next. By following the storyboard and the shot list at the same time it allowed things to run smoothly as everyone knew where we were and what we were going to shoot next. It also helped when it came to our editing process as we could rename each shot on Final Cut pro to the exact name on the shot list and therefore helped when piecing the sequence together.It also ensures us that we don't need to go out and re film any shots as we know that we have them all. Below is a picture of our shot list :
We decided on 9 shot types to stick to the horror genre conventions but also to give the opening the right feel that we wanted to create . W also need to ensure that we had included enough shots so that when it came to editing we had enough to work with , by filming the whole film opening in each set up we were able to achieve this as we knew we could take bits from each set up.
I feel as though our shot list helped us a lot when filming as it made sure we had everything done and that we could tick each shot off once we were happy, without it we wouldn't have known what scene we had just shot and therefore it was useful to our team.
Throughout our pre production process we made sure that we drew many different storyboards to keep up to date with changes in our screenplay or treatment. In each storyboard we made sure to include every detail to make it precise and ensure that when we come to film we wouldn't have any problems on set as we wanted to make sure it ran as smoothly as possible. When writing our first storyboard we wanted to make sure that certain shot would work, we did this by filming some mock shots in the classroom using a pencil as our scapulae to just an idea if these shots would work or. By doing this, we were able to see that some shots,although good ideas, were not going to be effective in our final piece and we had to think of a new way to create the look. our final story board looked like this :
In our story board we also had to include what type of shot we were using for example over the shoulder shot. We also had to add in if there was any dialogue in that scene, or any sound effects as we had a slapping sound effect for when the doctor hit the girl . Furthermore we also had to state whether the focus was in soft or sharp on certain objects, again we had to do this by some test shots to see what worked and what didn't and then added them to the storyboard.
Although the storyboard took time, i think our final piece followed it well, even if some where sjot differently to how we imagined them it followed the storyboard well.
Here are the shots we did in class with the pencil to see if certain shots would work.
Shot List
To make sure our shots matched up, we completed the shot list at the same time as the final storyboard was being completed. Making the shot list really helped on set as it showed everyone were we were and what shot we were doing next. By following the storyboard and the shot list at the same time it allowed things to run smoothly as everyone knew where we were and what we were going to shoot next. It also helped when it came to our editing process as we could rename each shot on Final Cut pro to the exact name on the shot list and therefore helped when piecing the sequence together.It also ensures us that we don't need to go out and re film any shots as we know that we have them all. Below is a picture of our shot list :
We decided on 9 shot types to stick to the horror genre conventions but also to give the opening the right feel that we wanted to create . W also need to ensure that we had included enough shots so that when it came to editing we had enough to work with , by filming the whole film opening in each set up we were able to achieve this as we knew we could take bits from each set up.
I feel as though our shot list helped us a lot when filming as it made sure we had everything done and that we could tick each shot off once we were happy, without it we wouldn't have known what scene we had just shot and therefore it was useful to our team.
Monday, 17 March 2014
Screenplay
Both I and Naomi were in charge of the screenplay. We initially wrote down our ideas of what we thought the victim character was thinking at the time. here are some of our ideas:
Victim
Victim
- scared
- confused
- anxious
We also thought about the doctor and what he might be thinking. we thought that me might be wary as he doesn't want to get caught.
We then focused on the screen play and what we were wanting to write, we able to use the proforma which showed us how to lay out our screenplay effectively so it didn't look messy. We both knew what we wanted the characters to say but we found it difficult to make sure it didn't sound cheesy as this would have ruined our final piece. Although the screen play took a while to write as once me and Naomi had finished and talked back to the group we found that somethings didn't go in the write place, which meant we took it back to re write it. I knew this was for the best of our film as we wanted it to be as effective as possible and didn't want it to sound cheesy. I felt that although it did take some time to write our final script was very effective to our film and portrayed what we wanted it too. overall i am pleased with everyone's efforts into making the script and realistic and effective as possible
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Developing our ideas, Treatment and Casting
Developing our ideas
After we had decided on our idea of Organ trafficking we had to develop a story line and characters for our film opening. We also had to decided the story line for the rest of the film, even though we weren't actually going to make it. By doing this, it gave us a better understanding not only for our film opening but also the genre and how we were going to portray and link the characters further on in the story. We also decided on the name of our film 'The Organ Player'.
Treatment
Once we had our idea, our treatment became very useful to us as a team. The treatment aloud us to write down everything in one place which stopped people from having a rough idea in the head, it aloud all us in our team to put down our ideas and thoughts on to one document which mean t everyone knew the same things. We decided to make a list in what we should include on the treatment:
below is a picture of our treatment
We also came to the conclusion that everyone should write a part of the treatment each, this made it easier once we met up again to add bits in. This also made it easier for us as a team,as we didn't have 1 person write it then have them explain every part of it. This also speed things up for us as we knew that we wanted to start filming straight away, not only as we knew what we wanted to achieve but also to ensure we had plenty of time to edit our content in post production.
Casting
Once we had Decided on our ideas, we then went straight to our characters and who we were going to cast in these parts,we all had an image in our mind of what we wanted them to look like. We also wanted to keep the characters stereotypical to a certain extent. We wanted the girl to be weak but not a dumb blonde like in most horror films, so we decided to go with a brunet hair colour. For the doctor we wanted an older man and being creepy and scary. Below is a list we came up with, which is a description of each character should look like
Victim
We decided to use a friend of ours to play the victim as well as being a good actress she also fitted the description well and offered to help us out. The role of the Doctor was played by a family friend of Lauren's, who again fitted the description very well and was also willing to help us out . By using people we knew and trusted this benifited us out hugely as we were able to contact them at any time to arrange filming times ect.
After we had decided on our idea of Organ trafficking we had to develop a story line and characters for our film opening. We also had to decided the story line for the rest of the film, even though we weren't actually going to make it. By doing this, it gave us a better understanding not only for our film opening but also the genre and how we were going to portray and link the characters further on in the story. We also decided on the name of our film 'The Organ Player'.
Treatment
Once we had our idea, our treatment became very useful to us as a team. The treatment aloud us to write down everything in one place which stopped people from having a rough idea in the head, it aloud all us in our team to put down our ideas and thoughts on to one document which mean t everyone knew the same things. We decided to make a list in what we should include on the treatment:
- Film Title
- Production Company name
- Film Duration
- Roles within the team
- Casting
- Details of each character
- Costumes
- Setting
- Synopsis (idea of the whole film)
- Lighting
- Sound
- Props
below is a picture of our treatment
We also came to the conclusion that everyone should write a part of the treatment each, this made it easier once we met up again to add bits in. This also made it easier for us as a team,as we didn't have 1 person write it then have them explain every part of it. This also speed things up for us as we knew that we wanted to start filming straight away, not only as we knew what we wanted to achieve but also to ensure we had plenty of time to edit our content in post production.
Casting
Once we had Decided on our ideas, we then went straight to our characters and who we were going to cast in these parts,we all had an image in our mind of what we wanted them to look like. We also wanted to keep the characters stereotypical to a certain extent. We wanted the girl to be weak but not a dumb blonde like in most horror films, so we decided to go with a brunet hair colour. For the doctor we wanted an older man and being creepy and scary. Below is a list we came up with, which is a description of each character should look like
Victim
- A Girl
- Innocent
- Young
- Teenage
- slim
- black/short dress
- medium height
- brown hair
Doctor
- Tall
- Male
- A lot Older than girl
- Psychotic
- Creepy/Scary looking
- Stereotypical
We decided to use a friend of ours to play the victim as well as being a good actress she also fitted the description well and offered to help us out. The role of the Doctor was played by a family friend of Lauren's, who again fitted the description very well and was also willing to help us out . By using people we knew and trusted this benifited us out hugely as we were able to contact them at any time to arrange filming times ect.
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
Brainstorming our ideas
Ideas
After we were put into our teams, we had to decide what film genre we would make.Firstly we came up with 4 main genre we thought of doing, these were Romantic, Horror,, Thriller or action.We then decided to brainstorm our ideas our ideas for each genre. below is a picture of our brainstorm.
We thought very carefully which genre we were going to do, as we wanted our film opening to be as effective as possible. When thinking about making a romantic film we thought about how we could convincingly portray this in our opening 2 minutes, we concluded from all our combined thoughts that it would be difficult to make a romantic film opening. We also concluded that action would be difficult to create as we were thinking along the lines of police chase and this would have been impossible for us to make. This then left us with the Thriller and horror genre. we had similar ideas around both these genres and we came up with either a kidnapping in the woods or organ trafficking. after a lot of thinking and discussion we came to the agreement of organ trafficking as we thought about previous horror films we had seen or heard about and found that the woods in used quite a lot in this genre and we wanted to be different and unique.
We knew from the start that organ trafficking would be a risk, we wanted the opening of our film to look and feel as realistic as possible and we wanted to pull it off effectively. Therefore we knew that we would have to focus very hard in pre- production to make it as effective as we could.
Furthermore we thought ahead to our casting and how we would do it so it would be effective as possible, casting will be discussed in a later blog post..
I was very pleased with our idea of our film opening, once we got our initial ideas i could really see it coming together. One thing i was worried about however, was if we could make it look as realistic and effective as possible, as there are not many organ trafficking films been made so i was afraid of how we would do this, but we talked about this and decided all we had to do is plan our film well, stick to the horror conventions and watch horror films and this will be our guiding point to go from.
Sunday, 23 February 2014
Director Analysis
Looking at our genre of horror/thriller for our final task, we decided to look at Director's who have specific styles in the same Genre as our Final task.
First of all I looked at Alfred Hitchcock who is very well known for his films such as 'Psycho' and 'The Birds' We looked at his specific style and saw a few things that he had in common with his films. Hitchcock often uses close up on faces to show more emotion rather than wide shot angles
First of all I looked at Alfred Hitchcock who is very well known for his films such as 'Psycho' and 'The Birds' We looked at his specific style and saw a few things that he had in common with his films. Hitchcock often uses close up on faces to show more emotion rather than wide shot angles
Another Thing we found Hitchcock does a lot in his movies was Camera is not a camera, He often uses this technique to show how someone maybe panning the room for something as if the camera was some ones eye.
Another thing Hitchcock does is how his characters break the cliche, for example Make all of your characters the exact opposite of what the audience expects in a movie. Turn the dumb blonde into a smart blonde, and all the criminals must be rich and successful. They should have unexpected personality's which makes them more realistic for the audience.
Saturday, 4 January 2014
Enigma
We looked at the use of enigma in films and how it was used in film, to begin we looked at the connotations that go with enigma and came up with a list:
- unknown
- questions
- curiosity
- Mystery
We were also asked to define what enigma meant. Mr Lucas showed us a dictionary definition of enigma:
- A saying, picture, question, etc, which has a hidden meaning
Enigma is something that is puzzling or hard t work out. It is a mystery that is created by the use of a person,object or question, which true meaning is hidden from the audience, it will be later revealed to the audience and then the enigma will no longer exists.
We then thought about ways in which we could create this enigma:
- Editing.
- Sound.
- Camera shots.
- Mise-en-scene.
- Changing the conventions of the narrative.
- Framing.
- Not introducing characters until later on.
- Hidden meanings running throughout the film.
Thursday, 2 January 2014
Film Opening : The Blair Witch Project
From 0:00 to 0:10 seconds the Artisan entertainment logo comes on to the screen, followed by the Haxon Film logo until 0:14 seconds. This is then followed by a blank screen until 0:17 seconds. The tittle of the film appears onto the screen at 0:18 and lasts until 0:24 seconds. Again , this is followed by another blank screen for 5 seconds. Due to this film being a documentary style film, it was meant to look as realistic as possible, therefore a short review of what the film is about comes on the screen from 0:29 to 0:39 seconds, the review says ' In October 1994 three film making students disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville,Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found'. this is then followed by another blank screen until 0:42 seconds. The film starts at 0:43 seconds as documentary introducing the first 2 characters Heather and Josh, although we don't see Josh's face until later in the film. As this film is done in the style of a documentary, it is always done from the point of view of the characters, perhaps making it more intense and realistic because getting lost can so easily happen to anyone and although the witch is said to be just a myth, our imaginations can easily be tempted that we actually believe it is true. We first see Josh at 1:15, when both him and Heather are packing up equipment into the car, the third and final character's name Mike is first mentioned at 1:42 and then at :151 we see him for the first time. Our first thoughts on Heather is that she is very bossy and controlling, we also get the impression that this school project means the most to her as she is very determined to get get things done as quickly as possible throughout the film. The other two however seem more laid back at the beginning, however as the movie unrolls we see that all three become a little more involved with the Blair Witch then they first imagined.
What the film does well:
- Introduces characters within the first 2 minutes
- Introduces what the film is about well. eg the review that appears on the screen
What the film dose not do well:
- Due to it being a documentary, we don't see the 2nd character Josh until later into the opening even though we hear him and his name is mentioned. This is one of the main down falls to this style of filming
Film Opening : The Woman In Black
At 0:00 to 0:06 seconds the Paramount logo and the soundtrack can be seen on the screen, this is followed by a blank screen until 0:09 seconds. Next the Hammer logo appears on the screen until 0:18 seconds, again followed by a blank screen for 2 seconds. At 0:20 seconds the national lottery logo appears on the screen until 0:21 seconds, followed by the UK Film Council until 0:27 seconds. This is then again followed by a blank screen until 0:36 seconds. The film begins at 0:37 seconds, and the eerie music starts at 0:39 seconds. the stetting fro this opening is a children's nursery where 3 girls are playing with their dolls, the music quickly builds up tension leading the audience to feel on edge as something bad is going to happen. the scene continues to play with various different shots of the children playing their games.
This film builds up tension very well in this opening scene as it leads the audience into the creepy story of an old ghost lady killing the children of a small secluded town in England.
what the film did well :
- builds tension
- sets the date,as children are in old fashion clothing
What the film didn't do well:
- dose not introduce leading actors.
Film Opening : Captain America
0:00 to 0:18 the Paramount logo and soundtrack appears on the screen, this is followed by a blank screen until 0:21 seconds. From 0:21 to 0:33 seconds the Marvel logo appears, followed again by a blank screen for 3 seconds. At this point the film starts, it is unclear as too what is happening as the scene is foggy suggesting to the audience that the climate is cold, at 0:47 seconds headlights can be seen coming closer towards the camera until they expand to the full screen at 0:52 seconds, it then cuts to a POV shot from the car and we can see a man holding a stick with a light on it, presumably to find his and the people in the car's way to what they have discovered, seen as this is super hero movie we expect it be to be supernatural and big, however it it is still unclear as to why anyone is out in this climate. At 1:12 dialogue starts and they have been introduced as 'the guys from Washington'. The scene continues with various different camera shots and angles. At 1:47 the zooming effect starts on the spaceship and here also the music becomes louder as the space ship is reviled on camera
What it dose well:
- use's good camera shots to set the scene
- good use of zoom to make the audience aware of the scale of spaceship and just how big it it.
- good use of suspense as to why they out in this climate.
What it dose not do well:
- Although we can see they are in a cold climate thy never actually introduce the setting.
- A lot of time is spent on creating the suspense as to what is out there and not enough time introducing the spaceship. Although enigma is being created i feel that they should have spent more time on the subject of the spaceship rather than the men talking and walking in the snow.
Film Opening : Love Actually
At 0:00 to 0:21 seconds the universal logo and soundtrack can be seen on the screen. At 0:21 to 0:38 the Studio canal logo and soundtrack can been seen. After this Working title logo can be seen which lasted until 0:49 seconds. This is then when the music starts which is relaxing and soft to go with the genre of the film. the film starts and it is set a t the arrival gate at Heathrow Airport, showing how happy people are greeting each other as they arrive . At 0:49 until 0:54 seconds the words' Universal pictures and studio canal presents', then after this ' A working title production' appears on screen from 0:54 to 0:59 seconds. ' In association with DNA films' is the next thing to appear on the screen. All of this is printed in a white font, suggesting to pureness of love and happiness, which is what the film is about. At 1:13 Hugh Grant's voice can be heard which continues until 1:58. at 1:50 ' Love actually is all around' appears on screen at the same time as Hugh Grant says it, and at 1:58 the words dissolve off the screen leaving only 'Love actually', the title, on the screen.
Things it did well :
- i like the speech hugh grant makes along with the footage. it shows what the film is going to be about, and makes us think about it in perhaps a different way to what we first might have thoughts
Things it didn't do well:
- it didn't stick to the conventions of film openings as it didn't introduce any characters or leading actors, however i really like this film opening as it provokes emotion from the audience and is very heart warming. You can tell from this opening that this is going to be a very good heart warming family film for all to enjoy and that's what makes it so appealing to me.
Film Opening :Se7en
In the beginning of the opening of this film from 0:00 to 0:15 seconds there is a man sat in his bed at 0:15 seconds a ticking sound starts and ends at 0:46 when the music starts, unfortunately this is not shown in the clip below as it is only opening titles. At 0:51 seconds ( when the clip below starts) the words ' New Line cinema presents' appears on the screen in Gothic style font suggesting to the audience that this film is eerie and scary, this last until 0:53 seconds. 1 seconds later at 0:54 the words 'An Arnold Kopleson Production' appears on screen which last until 0:55 seconds. Again the words are in a style of font which reminds the audience of the horror genre this film is, along with the music its gives the audience the feel for the scary 'factor' this film has. The next words to appear on the screen are 'A film by David Fincher' at 0:58 to 0:59 seconds. This film has a very good cast, with well known actors such as Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman playing the main parts. At 1:01 Brad Pitt's name appears on a blank screen this last for 2 seconds. At 1:05 Morgan Freeman's name appears,again lasting for 2 second. The tittle of the film appears at 1:11 until 1:15, the unusual spelling of the film title intrigues the audience as to what the film is about.
Other big name stars such a Gyneth Pathrow, Richard Roundtree and R.Lee Ermey also star in this film
What the film did well :
- creates suspense
- creates enigma
What the film didn't do well:
- it did not introduce all main characters that star in the film
Film Opening :Angus, Thongs and perfect snogging
In the beginning of this film opening we can see from 0:00 to 0:20 seconds the paramount logo can be seen on the screen. the movie sound track starts between this at 0:15 seconds and continues until 1:01. after the first logo has appeared on the screen, Nickelodeon movies logo then appears straight after lasting between 0:20 to 0:33 seconds. At this point the film starts and the dialogue comes in 2 seconds later at 0:35 seconds which last until 1:57. The film continues to play and at 0:50 seconds the words ' Paramount Pictures International and Nickelodeon movies presents' appear on the screen which last 3 seconds. At 0:54 the words 'a Gurinda Chadha film' appears on the screen letting the audience know that this film was directed by her.Tthis last for 4 seconds until 0:58. At 1:01 (as above said) the soundtrack stops and at 1:06 it starts again up until 1:24, when backing music can be heard from a radio/CD player in the background of the scene which stops at 1:50. 1 seconds later and the well known pop song 'She's So Lovely' by Scouting For girls comes on and continues to the end of the full 2:00 of the opening scene.
What the film did well
- sets the scene well, with the running through the town and the ocean shots
- keeps to the theme of the books, incorporating some lines from them
What the film dose not do well
- dose not introduce all main characters.
Film Openings:The Wedding Date
At the start of the film between 0:00 and 0:21 seconds the Universal logo along with the soundtrack is seen on the screen, this is then followed closely by the Golden Circle film logo which last from 0:21 seconds too 0:29 seconds. After this the screen goes blank for exactly 2 seconds.The blank screen is then followed by the writing 'Universal films and' from 0:31 - 0:35 seconds, after this for one seconds the screen is blank. At 0:36 seconds the words 'Golden Circle films presents' this last 4 seconds until 0:40 seconds, again for one seconds the screen is blank and then the music to to the film starts at 0:41 seconds,at this time 'a 26 films production' appears on the screen for 4 seconds. the film then starts at 0:45 seconds. At 1:11 the words ' In association with visionveiw LTD' appears on the screen.
Later at 1:19 too 1:23 the lead actress Debra Messing's name appears on screen. 6 seconds later at 1:26 her co star Demote Mulroney again lasting 4 seconds on screen. The title of the film then appears on the screen at 1:34. The first dialect of the film begins 6 seconds later at 1:40. At 1:53 other leading actors/actresses names start appearing on the screen including Amy Adams which can be seen on screen from 1:51 too 1:53.
what the film does well:
- introduces all actors who star in the film well
- sets the scene well, by having shots of the iconic New York skyline
- provides context well through the use of the phone message and by the invite. we understand from the begging that the main character is going to a wedding and she has hired a date for it
What it does not do well
- dose not introduce characters very well, we know their names but not them fully
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