Audience research

Final Pie Charts

Location research

For the indoor scene's i think my bathroom would be a good location to film in, the light from the shower (to the left of the frame) really gives the room a weird tone when the main lights are turned off. The levels of the room also make it suited for our piece, the low roof and bath create a suspense without anything else in the frame.

My kitchen would also be another great place to film. The wood, marble and brick could provide great mise-en-scene in some of the shots where we need to create a cold atmosphere. There are double doors to the right of the frame past the radiator which will allow us to really open up the room and get shots from any angle we like. 

1. Initial ideas

We brainstormed the initial idea's in class. We explored ideas in separate sections, cinematography, sound, mise-en-scene, editing/titles and the overall feel of the piece.

2. Plot Synopsis

Plot Synopsis

Our main protagonist is plagued by her dark past. We decided to initially see her in her natural environment playing the piano or chopping up dinner, this allows the audience to instantaneously fall for the character's normality.
In order to introduce the narrative we decided to show the character conversing on the phone or talking with another character, this could be a good time to present the plot of the film or introduce the inner feelings of the character.
The character memories then need to be cut into this conversation. She is seen explaining that she was away the weekend, but we jump cut to a memory of what actually happened with her dialogue on top. 

Vox Pops

Analyzing My Genre Through Vox Pops.

I asked fellow students whether they are taking media or not questions on the genre of thriller, there was a mix of different ideas about the genre. In total we asked three questions:
1. What do you expect to see in an opening sequence of a thriller?
2. What sound/music do you expect to hear?
3. What is your favorite thriller?
Each person had a variety of ideas about each question. Fast pace editing, cliff hangers and clues where commonly expected from the people we interviewed. Se7en and the sixth sense were the chosen candidates favorite films.

Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Fincher, 2011, UK).

Se7en (Fincher, 1995, US)

Se7en (Fincher, 1995, US)

These are the first four shots of the opening sequence. They consist of extreme close ups of items that could be seen as creep or deadly. The use of editing is montage as it jumps from one shot to another without a fade in or transition. The titles look like they are literally scratched into the film, showing that this film will be violent. It could also be psychological as the stereotypes of people with schizophrenia carve things into walls or their own body.

The title 'Se7en' appears in a very interesting way. It looks like an old fashioned film reel is rolling and displaying the titles, we can see scratches (linking with the earlier images), it also jumps from corner to corner of the screen - appearing in different sizes, fonts and colours. This could represent that the thoughts inside the main character head are all scrambled and they are psychologically disturbed. The final 'Se7en' that appears link us into another shot of the film.

In the next few shots the editing has been used to a high standard. Subliminal messages appear for a fraction of a second every so often, these messages can be words or images of dead/injured people, this shows that the killer does in fact have a psychological problem. The character goes over and over memories or what he wants to do to someone in his head constantly, meaning this opening sequence is in the perspective of the killer.

The images in this opening sequence are violent, gritty and can be scary, instantly making the audience tense and leaving them to expect that something will happen in the near future. The musical score literally sounds like it has been scratched on the disk, leaving this horrid screeching noise that sometimes appears, this again links with the mental issues that this killer may have. The image of the razor blade and scissors also feed this portrayal of the character by showing that they may have a fascination of knives.

 

Conventions of an opening sequence

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Waters, 2008, US)

Wallander (Firewall, 2008, BBC1)

Firewall uses both cinematography and sound in order to set the scene of the murder in Wallander. The first shot we see is an aerial/establishing shot of the sea from a helicopter. The shot seems to fade in from black as it tracks into the cliff side. The diegetic sound of the wind can be heard and when the cab is seen in the shot you begin to hear a high pitch incidental sound. Opening sequences are vital for setting the scene. Firewall specifically uses sound & cinematography in order to create and isolated feeling within the audience. Delaying when the audience see’s the point of interest of the scene usually creates tension, but by combining an establishing shot with very little variety of sound begins to get the audience wondering what’s going to happen.

The characters are then introduced and Firewall begins linking them to them to the murder through the use of editing. The two girl's are cross cut with the man dieing. Extreme close ups then show the cab/murder scene. By cross cutting between the girls and the cab, by doing so Firewall gives the spectator the impression that the girls murdered him. As well as hinting towards the girls murdering the cab driver he also reveals clues about the narrative/ murder by using extreme close ups to reveal details. Of which include, an extreme close up of a picture key ring which could be the an indication to the motive of the murder, the cab drivers son? By doing so the spectators are able to begin questioning the murder without be revealed to much information.

Bridget Jones Diary (Maguire, 2001, UK) 

Bridget is seen breaking the forth wall and addressing the audience directly, by doing so the audience recognizes her now as the main character.
Building a relationship with the audience this early on is key to a movie of this genre. By doing so  Bridgets relationships throughout the movie will seem more realistic to the spectator.

Again Maguire is trying to affix the spectator with Bridget, instead now with the use of sound. Her addressing the audience is key to the narrative of the film. He cleverly uses cutaways that reflect the state of mind she is in, combined with the whimsy dialogue of her situation. This leaves the audience warming to the character wanting to know more about her depressing life.
 Another technique Maguire has used to allow audiences to asphyxiate themselves to Bridget's depressing life is editing. A cross dissolve unfurls Bridget carrying out mundane tasks in her bedroom. The cross dissolve shows time passing by which creates a sense of her not being satisfied, this dissatisfaction brings the audience closer to Bridget.

A mid-shot is used and Bridget is placed directly in the middle of the frame when she is singing her song. This allows the audience to see her directly in the middle of her natural surroundings and by placing her in the middle it reinforces her loneliness as she performs actions to the song that relates to loneliness.
Lastly, the titles reflect the diary entry nature of the film. Maguire has chosen to use the font of Sans Serif with an inconsistent font style. Their are two words in bold and one normal which conveys to the audience its doesnt follow the structure of a normal film but instead a more diary type entry format.

The Sixth Sense (Shayamalan, 1999, US)

Here's my Screencast-O-Matic:

Brick (Johnson, 2005, US)

Brick (Johnson, 2005, US) on Prezi

Memento (Nolan, 2000, US)

A clear starting point of this analysis is the editing; the focal point of the opening sequence lye's fully on the fact it is in reverse, leading me to believe the film has a non- linear narrative. This reversed opening is titled the "beginning of the end", which will cause the audience to spark questions as to why this shooting has occurred, Nolan will then get the pleasure of answering them. The editing shocked me as a spectator, it went from a really slow pace as he was flicking the Polaroid to a really fast pace, the shooting. This speeding up of cuts to create a startled audience is a common form of a thriller, and Nolan probably aimed it toward raising the audiences heart rate before the movie began.

A close up reveals only the main protagonists hand and the point of interest, the Polaroid. This limiting of the Mise-en-scene allows the audience to focus only on the picture and why its going backwards. A high angle long shot is used when the man is being shot, this is to show him at an inferior status to the main character.

The focal point lye's fully on the Polaroid picture. This means the mise-en-scene is lacking depth, drawing the audiences eyes directly towards the Polaroid. Nolan has chose to introduce the Polaroid the way he did because it must have a strong link to the narrative, and by doing so he starts getting audiences thinking about whats going on.

The lugubrious score in Memento contains drawn high pitched, slow pace strings, which evoke memories of sadness within the audience. Nolan combined with a great opening sequence which overwhelmed me as a spectator and i believe the layering of sad aspects was aimed to reel in the audience, forcing them towards this strange main protagonist.

2. Comparing A Trailer To An Opening Sequence

Trailers

Film makers use this short amount of time to hook the audience into watching the film. Trailers normally consist of a montage of shot to display the conventions and highlights of the film. A trailer is great way to give a brief summery on the plot and attract the audience they are targeting. Main Characters are often introduced in a way the audience could grow a liking to them, ensuring they come and watch the film.

Opening Sequences

Opening sequences differ due to the opening sequence not giving much away about the film. The opening sequence often contains establishing shots and voice overs. The opening often builds a certain amount of atmosphere and tension this ensures the audience is hooked into watching the film from the beginning.

1. Brief

Foundation Portfolio.

For our foundation portfolio, we are going to make an opening sequence of a fiction film. Our opening sequence needs: Titles, Two company logos-One is a Distributer logo and the other is a Production Company logo which we create,  To be a maximum of two minutes long All video and audio material must be original with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright free source.

We attempted to make the first classroom scene in Donnie Darko. Here's my annotations :-

Embedding a video.

Samsung's rip on Iphone:-