Film Opening Coursework. GENRE OF CHOICE...

Myself and my partner Dan have finally decided on a genre for our film opening.

We have decided to do a social realism/thriller together. We couldn't decide which one to choose in the end so we decided to put them together and we've come up with a really good plot for our film opening.

Plan to follow.

Film Opening Coursework. Film Introduction Planning - Pros and Cons of Film Genre's Openings.

Myself and my partner Dan sat down in a lesson and listed pros and cons of each genre. We have decided comedy is definitely a no go considering as we found it very hard to find any pros for it.

I think we're going to choose either thriller or social realism because we found it easiest to find pros for them and hard to find cons.

This is part of our planning.

Film Opening Coursework. How to Analyse Film Openings.

I have decided to include this in my research because I feel by looking back at this, myself and my partner Dan can make sure there are answers to all of these questions whilst making our film opening.

For example, if we were to make a horror film opening, we would make sure we would use a red font to represent blood etc.

I just thought it might help with the planning process.

Film Opening Coursework. Codes and Conventions - Social Realism Films

These are the "traditional" codes and conventions of a social realism film.

I thought i'd just upload these incase I did decide to do a social realism film opening, even though I doubt I will, it's nice to have some variation and look at other ideas.

Film Opening Coursework. Film Opening Analysis - Enduring Love

This is my film analysis of Enduring Love, a social realism film.

I have to say, it wasn't my favourite film opening. Very dramatic and the director has filmed it VERY well but I don't think I would be able to pull anything of nearly as good as this. When I have watched other social realism films, they haven't had very good openings, this is an exception, other than Trainspotting which has an amazing film opening.

I don't think I'll be doing Social Realism for my genre of choice, but we'll see.

Film Opening Coursework. Film Opening Analysis - Shutter Island.

I have decided to analyse Shutter Island because unlike The Devil Inside, Shutter Island is a Thriller, not a horror. I am trying to get a good perspective of what film openings will be best for my final piece and so far, I think Thriller is winning. We'll have to see. 

Shutter Island's opening is very, very powerful. There is an awful amount of foreshadowing throughout which I only noticed due to the fact that I had already seen the full film before analysing it. It's dramatic, full of suspense and keeps you guessing what actually is happening on that island throughout. 

A very good film opening.

Film Opening Coursework. Film Opening Analysis - The Devil Inside

To help me get a better idea of what film opening genre to decide, I have decided to watch a series of film openings from different genres and analyse them, seeing which one provides the most impact, which ones aren't very good and why, which ones are and why etc.

The Devil Inside's film opening is very good. It's very tense from the start and you are already surrounded by questions such as; is this possession human? where is she now? what is she doing right now? is she dead? It's full of suspense and it's straight in with the action instead of dragging it out for a long time, which I don't think is very good.

Evaluation

What have I learnt:

From this task, I have learnt that working as a team is essential for success. I've learnt all about different camera angles and shots and how to make shots look fluid and realistic using the 180-degree rule. Editing was pretty difficult but once we got the hang of it, it was pretty easy so I now feel like I am able to use iMovie effectively.

What worked well:

We were able to film quickly and edit without too many problems. We worked well as a team and we made sure that we both knew what each other was doing and when to do it so that neither one of us would be sat around doing nothing whilst the other did all the work.

What didn't go well:

From my perspective, I think we needed to spend more time on our story-boards. They do not look professional and are quite messy so we should have spent more time on them, focussing all of our attention onto them for an hour or something to that respect. I think we should have slowed down a little as well as I feel we rushed to finish it a little bit. Another thing would be making the final cut more fluid and make sure that the audience don't work out where each shot has been cut etc.

FINISHED PRODUCT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DHUSTGN56I

Storyboard

I think it's safe for me to say that drawing up my storyboard has been a challenge. I am not the most artistic of people and just looked at my own drawings makes me laugh.

But, despite my dire attempts at drawing from different angles and substituting all my drawings for stick people, I had managed to complete my story board for our preliminary task. Dan seems to be taking more care into his but I've just realised that I don't draw and can't draw and probably never will be able to draw.

In my storyboard, I have drawn out every angle and shot we will be using when filming. It shows which directions actors are going to be walking in and it explains what is going on in that particular shot underneath.

As I have said, please excuse me extremely poor artistic skills.

Script

This is the script that we will follow for our preliminary task.

We found it pretty hard trying to write a script for something with only four lines in but we tried our hardest, making sure it was easy for us to understand and follow.

We also decided to talk about camera angles in a separate document so that we have something for the actors to follow and something for Dan to follow separately (as he is in charge of filming and I am in charge of directing the actors).

Planning the task!

Myself and Dan started to plan our task. We originally drew a mind-map to sort out our original ideas. Luckily, we both agreed on the same idea to start with so we didn't have to sort through loads of different ideas and compromise on one. 

I decided to write up our mind-map onto the computer on a word document as the mind-map got pretty messy with doodles and things which had been crossed/scribbled out and I'd rather present something which is clean and neat. 

Our plan consists of the storyline we have chosen to follow for the preliminary task and any other facts we had to include, like the setting, when we were filming, what the costume will be, what we are going to edit with and who will be doing what work. This ensures that we will be organised with our time and make sure that we are both equally involved in the task. 

Example of 180-degree Rule

Whilst this video is quite long, it is very good at explaining the 180-degree rule in detail. It's quite hard to get your head around but this video has helped and now it makes a lot more sense to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HinUychY3sE

Example of Shot/Reverse Shot

This is a perfect example of Shot/Reverse Shot being used. It shows two people having a conversation whilst sticking to the 180-degree rule.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLkUHZ1qips

Example of Match On Action

This an excellent example of Match On Action in use and it helps me get a good idea of how it is used and how it works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Nx1o7fkVM

Preliminary Task Brief

"Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate MATCH ON ACTION, SHOT/REVERSE SHOT and the 180-DEGREE RULE."