Evaluation of Prelim

The assigned brief of our prelim was to shoot a short sequence where a character enters a room, sits down at a desk and exchanges a few lines of dialogue with another character. In ours, we tried to make this as suspenseful as possible by focusing on the 'idea of the unknown' by not showing Emily's (who played the character entering the room) face. We did this through a close ups of her feet as she walked and shooting her from behind but not actually revealing to the audience who she was.

 We experimented with this, first by keeping the camera still and having Emily walk towards it, then afterwards putting the camera on a chair and pulling it along.I thought our attempt at this were fairly effective because it created a variety of outcomes, all the while still making Emily's character quite mysterious to the audience which was what we intended. However, the shots of just her body but not her face were not quite as successful because it didn't exaggerate the 'anonymous' feeling that we aimed for. It could have been more effective, possibly, if we focused more on extreme close ups of her instead of revealing her full body (for example, close ups of her hands or part of her clothing.)

For the sound, we tried to choose something eery to go alongside the camera work. I think this worked mostly because it was quite simple and created a creepy or mysterious atmosphere. We used folley sound to emphasize the sound of the slamming door. Although we matched the timing as best as we could, it would have been more effective had we recorded our own slam instead of using a pre-made one because this way the timing would have been more accurate. Towards the end, as Emily and Denise's character finally come face to face, we tried to create suspense by fading out the music and just leaving the sound of a thudding heartbeat. This wasn't too successful, however, as the sound of the heartbeat was too quiet in comparison to the music beforehand and it gives the impression that the music finishes too suddenly.

We tried to keep the credits fairly simple so that it wasn't too much of a distraction to the work. Also, it was difficult to find the positioning of the text where it could remain fairly visable as we used a variety of shots that we kept switching between. Generally, I think our credits could have been improved because there is risk of them being too unnoticeable to the audience either because of the colour we picked (white) or because the font was too small. However, I liked the outcome of our title because we made it flicker and disappear simultaneously with the slam of the door. To improve the title, I think a bolder font would have engaged the audience more.

Overall, I think we did a good job despite there being room for improvement, our experimentation allowed us to learn what was and what wasn't effective both camera, sound and editing wise.

Initial Ideas For Our Group's Opening

Denise's Ideas:

The first idea I came up with was a chess board. This is because the idea came to me when I was watching Hollyoaks as one of the storyline was of a killer that played mind games with his victims and that would leave chess pieces. I wanted to base the opening on the chess board this is because even though the chess board is very simple, there is a lot of details to it. It has the two colours which is white and black which can stand for light and dark, good and evil. Which is like a oxymoron as it is two opposites put together. Another reason why I came up with this idea it that because a chess board has 6 different pieces and even though people would naturally think that the king and queen are the most important pieces. They are not, this is because all the piece help capture another piece from the opponent or help defend their own pieces. So the idea of defence and kidnapping came into mind.


My second idea was more based on sound rather than a prop. It was the breath of a person. For example some ones breathing pace can mean many things. If you are breathing at a fast pace this can mean the person is in a hurry. In my head I imagined having the screen out of focus most of the time while some one was breathing at different pace. I thought this would keep the audience hooked because as they have no idea what was happening in the beginning of the film. So it would be a cliff hanger 


Emily's Ideas: 
My idea links to the chess idea. Each piece represents one of the "seven deadly sins". However, because there are only 6 different chess pieces, i'll get rid of one sin (gluttony) so there is an even amount. The six deadly sins that i'll keep are: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, and envy and they will be symbolised through the King, the Queen, the Bishop, the Knight, the Rook and the pawns. 


The way that i will show how each sin is represented through specific chess pieces is through a book (prop). I think that getting an old, vintage styled book and having drawings of each chess piece with the corresponding sin next to it would look really effective and be an easy way to show the viewer and help them understand what exactly is happening.


My final idea also has a connection to the chess pieces but is more about sound. I thought of adding foley sound when each chess piece is being moved to add emphasis and exaggeration. I want the sound to be a hard scraping noise as it will help to make each movement more dramatic.

Nevin's Ideas:
One Idea I had, which was inspired from the opening of Citizen Kane (1941) was that we could incorporate the use of extreme close ups, shadows or reflections to add a sense of mystery. In Citizen Kane, Orson Welles flicks from a close up of the snow globe to an extreme closeup on a man's lips whispering "rosebud". Then a nurse enters but we only see her in the reflection of the snow globe. I think it would be an effective way of adding intrigue and mystery.

Another extremely effective opening I saw was in Lord Of War which showed the life of a bullet using POV shots from the bullet. We followed it being made right up until when it is shot until someone's head.

Although the use of camera angling and effects are extremely sophisticated, it gave me the idea that was could incorporate the same sort of technique. Instead of revealing the subject, we could just show it's journey through a series of POV shots.

Billie's Ideas:
Idea 1:  Clocks/Time


I like the idea of time for an idea. I think this idea has potential for great mise en scene, sound and editing mostly, although camerawork could also be used effectively to create this powerful opening.
I found some pictures that show my idea of mise en scene for this idea:

I like this picture because it shows great mise en scene and also good camerawork that could be used. I think the sound that would work with this would be silence, follwed by the ticking of the clock hand.

This then together would build a great atmosphere for a thriller opening. Some shots would include :

•     A close up to the time (shown left)       
•     Footsteps, getting faster, maybe a mid shot or close up here,
•   A hand reaching into the pocket and pulling out a pocket watch.

Aswell, the ticking of the clock could get faster paced throughout which give a great vibe or urgency. Different shots of different clocks would build where the sound of ticking over laps.
Obviously there will not only be clocks in shot, a person would continue to be shown throughout. The fingers reaching into the pocket, a walk breaking into a run, a close up to the eyes i think also would be a greatkey element to use. This would also relate to intertexuality as close ups to eyes are used frequetly in films. I found a really good example of this in the film  Fernand Léger. Not only is this a close up to the eyes, but it is used in a very creepy manner. The eyes are tired and have black all around them. So i think using elements from films like this would be a good way to go.

A shot idea: edited together with time to create tension, someone walking.

Idea 2:  Chess

 

When our group was talking about initial ideas for the opening, we came up with some things that in our opinion we thought would be good to use. These ideas came from talking about what we found quite chilling to watch in films, and ideas around objects we have etc. One idea we found that we kept referring to was a chess board. The simpleness of good and evil, shown in black and white on the board. The pieces on the board will work well with Mise en Scene and Camerawork, but also there is some ideas that would work well with Sound and Editing. For example, when a chess piece is placed onto a new square, the noise can be hightened and made to sound more dramatic for a good effect.

The chess board we thought also symbolises many things. I think this could reallt work well, we had some other idea's around chess which would also come together to create a great opening. For example, we want blood to drip onto the chess board or onto a piece, we also was thinking about another students work we looked at. In this video a murderer always left a piece of arogamie by a murder scene to show it was him. We discussed doing something similar here with a chess piece.

Prelim Evaluation

For our prelim exercise, we were asked to follow a brief with the description being "a character walks into a room, sits down opposite another character and they share a few lines of dialogue". This task was quite interesting as it enabled every one to interpret the brief in their own way. In my group, the first thing we did was discuss and draw out a story board which we then converted into an animatic to upload on the blog.

When we started filming, we came up with additional ideas that were different to the ones we had discussed earlier and put down on our storyboards. If we would have stuck to our intial ideas our final outcome would have been a bit different but we decided that the re-thought version looked better. 

The first thing that was filmed was me (main character) walking down the corridor, but only from the waist down. For our first attempt at this, we had the camera stood still on the tripod and it filmed as i walked by. We were then given the idea of sitting on a wheely chair and carrying the camera so it moved along from in front as the character was walking towards it, this was a much more effective way of capturing the movement and the footage from using this technique was then chosen as part of our final outcome. We took various angled/height shots of me for the opening of the prelim as we thought it would make it look more interesting and also extended that part to help us make up the right time (approximately 40 seconds). Some background music was added in this bit to add some suspense to my walking aswell.

After the filming of this part of the prelim was done we moved on to filming the main character walking through the door of the room she was about to meet the other person in. For this, we used normal mid shots as i walked upto the door and then a close up and match cut as i opened it. When i was in through the other side, we added foley sound to emphasise the closing of the door.

As the main character takes a few steps towards the table, a mid shot is still being used and the face/head is purposely not shown (to add mystery; this was one of our initial ideas). The other character is then shown for the first time and we had to edit (slow down) the speed of the shots of her because they were too fast, as she was watching the first character enter the door and come closer.

When the first character sits down at the table, her face/head are still deliberately not shown. At this point, we were supposed to include some sort of dialogue but we ran out of time and didnt have the chance to go back to it in the following lesson as we had to move on to our editing, however, we were only 3 seconds out of the suggested 40 seconds.

Evaluation of Prelim

For our Preliminary we was given a brief, which was to film a sequence that included a match cut, shot reverse shot and to show that we understood the 180 degree rule. We was given the outline of everything we had to do. We was given one line "a character walks into a room, sits down opposite another character and they share a few lines of dialogue" to tell us what the prelim must consist of.


We planned our prelim first, we drew out the storyboard and came up with many ideas to make the scene more of a thriller. After we drew out the storyboard we made an animatic of it and started to film.


We filmed Emily, the main person in the scene walking into the room. When filming, we got many different shots of below her waist, we even had a tracking shot. This was done by me siting on a wheely chair and getting pushed by Nevin while Emily walked. It was difficult to do this shot as it was hard to keep the camera steady as well as control the chair. We then took various shots of Emily opening the door and entering the room. As a group we could have done many more close ups to make the prelim have more suspense.


After filming we started to edit the Prelim, we put together the clips and then added credits. The credits were fairly simple which could have been improved. This is because when adding the credits it was difficult to find the right place to put text due to the background. However we still made a good job of it. For sound, we chose something that would of held the suspense like our camera shots. The sound that was consistant through the prelim was right for the prelim because it created an eerie feeling that fitted in with out idea. We decided to emphasize the sound of the door closing by using foley sound. It was difficult to find the right sound, however when we found one it matched well for timing but the actual sound of the door was different. We could have done better to emphasize the sound by making out own rather than using a pre made one. At the end of the prelim we chose to use a faint heartbeat, as Emily and myself finally came face to face. This could have worked better if the heartbeat was a bit louder. As the music ended a bit early to allow the audience to hear the heartbeat but because it was too faint/quiet it made out as if the music ended dramatically. So the heartbeat was not as successful as well thought.


Overall the prelim gave us and idea of how it would be when creating our actual opening and the process of it.

Prelim - The Messenger

Prelim editing

Extra Foley Sound Work.

In films, sound is always under-estimated and usually left until the last minute. Sound is still one of the key eliments to making a thriller movie powerful. So I was lookied into Foley sound and tried to find some of the best ways to create noises for films. I found some great tips and thought i would share. One of the best tips i got was when creating the sound, it helps a lot if you put your finished video onto an ipod first so that whilst you are creating the noise you can create it in perfect time, this makes the sound more lifelike.

• Use foley sound to enhance the movie effect. Don't just throw in loads of sounds ontop of eachother for the sake of it. This will make the movie seem ametuer and it will not work well.

• Get the easy sounds first. During and after filming, start to think about the types of sound you will need. After filming try and create most of the noises there and then so that it becomes more accurate. For example, if you are shooting outside, then come back another time to re create the sound other elements may have changed. It may have been raining when you filmed, therefore recording the sound while you are there would be the most sensible option.

• Capture the more complex and creative sounds in the studio. For example, bones breaking, you could snap celery sticks.

The most obvious movie which use a huge amount of foley sounds is cartoon movies such as toy story and i found a very interesting video of the foley sound used in Toy Story so check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVUgsMRvOeI&feature=related

Prelim Filming

When filming for the Preliminary Clip, we tried to do a tracking shot of the subject which was the feet walking slowly forward. So the person holding the camera sat on the chair so that she could be pulled along once the subject started to move. The difficult thing about this was trying to keep the camera steady.

Storyboard For Preliminary Shooting- Animatic

Analysis of Previous Students Work.

I chose to analyse Angeldust. The reason i chose to analyse this particular previous student work is because its different to the types of fillms ive looked at already therefore i might be able to get some more inspiration by looking at something i havent seen before.

I like the use of a bright production company logo as it is bright and the first thing the audience sees therefore it catches attention straight away.

i like the way that the group personalised the opening by including things like "facespace", i also think this is good because of the target audience, which im guessing is young adults, as they can relate to these social networking sites. Another way they made it personal is by filming the main character through a webcam. This way, she is speaking directly to the audience. I thought this was a really creative and effective way to capture the story.

Because the opening is filmed through a webcam, the use of camera is quite continuous which is good in this case because it stays relevant to the theme.

The use of additional graphics as the transitions from one shot to another was something i thought was really effective. It was a more interesting way of switching shots rather than the usual fading to black that i have seen before.

Lastly, i found the use of sound really effective. As the continous theme of the opening was a sort of bedroom use of the laptop, the additional artificial sound to emphasise the tapping of the keyboard buttons and the messages coming onto the screen letter by letter was really interesting and inspiring for my own future work.

Prelim Brief

Analysis of Previous Students Work

I chose to analyse Dystopia, the opening itself was different to many others. It did not contain any credits to the production companies in the beginning but started of with a shot, going straight into the action. This already told me that it would be a narrative opening which tells a story.

The camera angles in this opening is very good. I like how you have the close up of the foot, then a point a view shot. With the camera angles they chose not to reveal their character straight away, which I really like as it adds more suspense to it. Another thing that kept me intrigued to their opening was that they would change the lighting to a negative effect every so often

The sound in the opening was also good, it had a small beat to it, which slowly built to the main action it had. It also have gushes of wind which also helps build suspense. They had also emphasized the sound of the leaves when the person walks over it.

A few things I didn't like about the opening was the credits, it looked a bit amateur as they had written it on paper, I also didn't like the text on screen as you could not clearly read it.

The group had put the title of the film right at the end, there is nothing wrong with putting it there but they could have put it at the beginning as their opening is an narrative opening. However the effect for the title i really liked. It flashed on the screen a few times but in different places.

Limitless Review

For more inspiration for our film opening, I watched Limitless, which is an action thriller. The film, overall, didn't leave much of an impression on me, it did have some noteable camera and editing techniques.

Focusing on the opening mainly (because that will be what we are creating) the credits are shown the audience that immediately draws them in. They flash on a black screen in white font simultaneously to the sound of something banging, which as a viewer, both made me jump but kept me intrigued. There is also the faint sound of  clock ticking in the background which creates a feeling of tension and urgency.

The film then jumps straight into the narrative by showing a locked safe door with someone banging on the other side. It then cuts to an extreme close up of this, the effect being that the audience feel shocked and uneasy but also to draw them in because, as a viewer, it had be wondering what was on the other side of the door.

The camera then starts panning around a high-class hotel room revealing unconcious bodies which is vital within the plot. The camera then zooms straight out and up revealing a building in New York in which Bradley Cooper, the main protoganist, is standing at the top. All of this was intended to create suspense and intrigue.

However, the most noteable part of the film to me was when Bradley Cooper's character was (randomly) being attacked in the subway. The whole fight sequence has the stylized feel of a video game in which "his brain is allowing him to reenact". The scene involves impressive editing with over exaggerated sound effects and slow motion as well as quick cuts to the times he remembers learning the moves. The camera also uses lots of point of view shots to allow the audience to empathize with his character. When the camera intentionally goes out of focus at points, it also allows us to experience the diziness that he is feeling on the drug.

Overall, although the film wasn't particularly my taste, it had some aspects in which we could use in our own film opening, for example the fast cuts and sound of the clock ticking in the background.

Screenshot for Intertexuality

I was just watching Scream 2 and saw another blatent intertexuality media from Psycho:

The blonde short haired girl gets killed in the shower with loads of shots revealing intertexuality from Psycho.

Editing Arlington Road Opening

Foley Sound

Foley Sound is added in after all the shots are taken (post production). These sounds are things like running, footsteps, claps, clothe etc. These sounds are recorded separately to the shots and put in through editing to create a real life sound effect.

Process Of Re-Editing An Opening

As a group we had to edit the opening of Arlington Road this means also adding in text for the credits in the opening scene.

So to add text you click on the small icon, which then shows a drop down list. You then select text.

After you have selected text a new dialogue box will appear that says sample text. To edit the text you click on controls which is at the top on the left of that dialogue box.

Once you have clicked controls. The settings of the font would appear. Here you can change the size of the font, type of font, colour and etc.

Once you have chosen the font you want and so on, you click back on to video, to move the text around.

After choosing the perfect position for the text you drag it down to where you want it in the opening and add transitions.

Analysis Of Previous Students' Work

Looking at previous students' work helped us and inspired us for our own ideas. I chose to look at 'Four Walls' by Czarina Baticos, Dennetta McKain, Kim Nguyen and Thao Ngo because I thought it was a very effective opening.

I liked their use of sound (low horns, gasping breaths, mechanical noises) because it immediately draws the audience in and creates a tense and mysterious atmosphere. A slightly more upbeat drumming then comes in which still creates tension but manages to keep a fast enough pace throughout the rest of the opening sequence.

Through editing, they recreated the same disorientating feeling that the character was supposed to be feeling by blurring shots into eachother.

I also liked how they used mainy close ups and extreme close ups which gave the same effect. As a viewer it made it more interesting to watch because I wasn't quite sure as to what was going on.









Overally, my only criticism of their opening was that it may have gone on for a little too long and could have been much more powerful if the whole thing was a bit quicker. Also, the actual title of the film could have gone closer to the beginning and been more bold as to stand out to the audiences, however other then that I thought it was a very successful film opening.

Analysis Of Previous Students' Work

Typical Order Of Titles In Film Openings

• Production company identity
• Production company titles
• Production and distribution company
• Film title
• Casting
• Costume
• Music Supervisor 
• Music by
• Editor
• Production design
• Director of photography
• Writer
• Director 

This isn't a set order of what comes first in the film openings but most are included in all films. 

The Structure of Thriller Opening

There are three basic structures which are followed for thriller openings:

• Narrative opening - An opening that starts to tell the story. For example, The Shining starts by showing a car driving up towards the mountains and getting further and further away from civilization.

• Discrete opening - Discrete openings start with a separate sequence from the narrative, usually something that gives the audience a feel of the film but without revealing the plot or introducing any characters. For example, the opening sequence to Enemy Of The State starts with clips of CCTV and clips of New York so that it reveals it's a spy movie without revealing the plot.

• Tiles over a blank screen followed by the narrative opening - For example, Donnie Darko or Dead Calm

• Stylised opening - For example, Mezrine which plays around with camera angles by splitting the screen into different parts and showing the audience them from different viewpoints.

Analysis Of Film Posters

Another task i did was an analysis of film posters. I looked at 9 different examples and stated the genre and target audience i thought it was for and what were the key signifiers that made me think so. Some examples of the posters i analysed are:

The Others

Genre: horror
Target Audience: young adults
What Were The Key Signifiers?: the font, the "O" (with devil horns), dark lighting & facial expressions.

In Time

Genre: action and romance
Target Audience: young adults/adults (both sexes)
What Were The Key Signifiers?: intimacy, the gun, the time on his arm, destroyed city in the background.

Fair Game

Genre: political and action
Target Audience: adults
What Were The Key Signifiers?: costume, background (the soldier and the tank), the shape of the font (round like a stamp).

Posters Analysis

The poster for a film is a good indication of what the film will generally be about and the genre of the film. They were also important for attracting the right type of audience to the film. Here, I analysed some film posters.

Pulp fiction is a crime thriller and this is evident through the use of the image of the gun, which suggests criminal activity. The bright red and yellow colours immediately grab the viewer's attention. Red also has connotations of violence, blood and lust. The same ideas are also suggested through Uma Thurman lying on the bed in high heels and smoking. The target audience is probably for young adult males, approximately 18-30.

 Shutter Island is a psychological thriller. This is shown through the use of dark and black colours ans the text 'someone is missing'. It creates a feeling of intrigue and mystery to the viewer and that, alongside the mis en scene used through the rainy mountain, creates the intended creepy atmosphere. The target audience of most psychological thrillers usually tend to be vary wide, usually varying from teenagers upwards and both male and female, however the poster exaggerates Leonardo DiCaprio's name which also target fans of his.

 Alien vs. Predator is a sci-fi thriller which shows immediately through the imagery of the inhuman creatures. Simple black, white and grey colours are used which leaves the viewer questioning more, but the familiar characters of the creatures from previous films also attracts fans from the well known Alien and Predator franchise. It targets an audience of 18+ males who are already fans.

 The Skeleton Key is a supernatural thriller. This is evident through the fact that the eye appears to be having some sort of vision, adding to it's supernatural elements. Also, the complete lack of colour adds to the creepy atmosphere of the poster and leads the viewer intrigued. This poster could be targetted at anymore from teenage age and upwards, both male and female.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality - is a term to describe the visual referncing betweens films or in other cases books (text).


In this case, intertextuality is when films "borrow" from each other, this can be type of shots, mise en scene or even sound.  A common case where intertextuality is taken place is within the film Psycho, many other films borrow from Psycho such as The Stepfather, What Lies Beneath, The Room mate and Fatal Attraction.

On the left is the shower curtains snapping of the pole in The Stepfather and on the right is the also the curtains snapping off but from Psycho, this is and example of intertextuality. As The Stepfather has borrowed the idea of a close up shot of the shower curtains snapping/breaking.

The two shots above are also an example of intertextuality. Both shots of the shower heads, the left one from The Room mate and the right one from Psycho. So here you see The Room mate has borrowed the idea of the shower head.

The film Psycho has many elements that other films have borrowed, mainly:

• The white bathrooms
• The shower head
• The stabbing
• The twitch in the hand or foot
• The shower curtains break,snapping 

Intertexuality

Intertexuality is the word for visual referencing between films. Films 'borrow' from eachother certain angles, mis en scene, snippets of sound or editing that appear in other well-known films.

Psycho has many elements that other films have borrowed from. The most recognizeable are:

- The white bathroom
- The stabbing
- The dropping shower curtain
- The victim's feet at the end

Many of these have been mimicked in other films.

TO BE CONTINUED

Audiences

A target audience is the primary group of people that will be in mind when creating and marketing something.In film, the target audience is important in gaining people's interests; an example being that when releasing a Rom-com, the film makers won't be targeting elderly men.

As we are looking at thrillers, the main target audience will be to a younger demographic, however the specific age will vary depending on the subgenre. For psychological thrillers, the target audience may be older than for an action thriller.

Genre and Subgenre

To make a successful opening to a thriller, we had to know what was expected for that type of genre. A genre is the category that something would fall into; in film, for example, some of these might be horror, comedy or romance.

However, there are also sub-genres to each of these which are basically something that falls into that category, but are mainly have something distinctly different.
In thrillers, there are many of these:

Action 

Crime

Psychological 

Supernatural

Scifi 

Knowing the specific genre of our film opening will help us because it will allow us to bring traditional elements that most thrillers have. For example, where action thrillers focus around weapons and fighting a supernatural thriller will focus on the fear of the unknown.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the term used to describe the visual referencing between films.

Many films quite literally "borrow" aspects from one another, wether it be parts of mise en scene, pieces of music (or any sound), editing techniques/methods, or camera angles, all of which are often recognisable by the audience.

One film that i looked at in detail as an example of intertextuality is Psycho and five other films that have borrowed aspects from it which are:

1. What Lies Beneath

2. Fatal Attraction

3. The Stepfather

4. Succubus (student thriller)

5. The Roommate

KEY ASPECTS BORROWED FROM PSYCHO.

The white bath and shower.

Person creeping up from behind to attack.

The stabbing.

The shower curtain being pulled down.

The toes of the dead person.

HOW INTERTEXTUALITY IS USED.

What Lies Beneath 

As shown in the screenshot to the left, this film borrows the white bathroom and the running shower during a killing from Psycho. 

Fatal Attraction

In this film, the white bath/bathroom are both used and consequitive stabbings take place like in Psycho.

The Stepfather

The aspects borrowed from Psycho in this film are the white bath, the stabbing and the curtain falling down.