(RESEARCH) Analysing a Students Film Opening

I analysed the student film 'Catechize'

(click on image to view video)

SOUND

 The opeing doesn't use much sound, it's kept simple which has a great effect. It begins with various sound effects which stop to leave the effect of the heartbeat which gives the audience a omnious feel especially towards the ending when the heartbeat slows down, almost as it represents the life of one of the victims ending.


EDITING

Discrete, superimposed titles were used in this opening, it reminded me of the film 'Se7en', we, the audience don't exactly know what will happen in the plot of the film since the opening gives us no hints of actual events of the film. By using a discrete opening, the audience gains more interest in the film because they want to know what the footage used in the opening has to do wiith the content of the film.



MISE-EN-SCENE

Props
 The various props used that I see were: a passport, polaroid pictures, paper+pen, a book, a magnifying glass, scissors, shears, screwdriver, water and a clock

Costume
 One of the costume choices that stood out to ne was the girl with the scarf wrapped around her face like a make shift turban. Because of this, it doesn't allow the adience to relate to anyone seen in the opening, it also has the effect of keeping the audience in the dark. They don't know who is who, is this person a protagonist or a antagonist?

Lighting
The opening is full of quite a lot of shadows and dim footage to emphaises the feel and genre of the film, the dreary look of it reflects that the film is a horror


CINEMATOGRAPHY


The majority of the shoots used in this were close ups to increasr the tension thoughout the opening.

RESEARCH - Further research on Intertextuality

Following on my research on intertextuality, I have came across that there are three different types. These include Pastiche, Parody and Bricolage which are all special types of intertextuality, they involve reference to other media texts in some way.

Pastiche is when a media product tries to imitate other existing ideas without attempting to change its original meaning, for example, in cinematography, a director tries to copy another directors ideas which include the type of shot, lighting and mis en scene.  Here are some images that I have found on google that relates to this.

Parody type of intertextuality is when in a film, a director tries to create a scene which relates to a scene already existed in another movie, but in a comic matter. For example, there are some parody movies created which tries to ridicule the meaning of another movie. "Meet the Spartans (2008)" is an example, in which tries to imitate the blockbuster movie "300", but turning the genre of it to a comedy.

Bricolage is the definition that does not relate to the topic of my study (cinematography) therefore I have left it out.

The type of intertextuality that is more meaningful to my project is the Pastiche type, in which the Parody would be useful if i was creating a comedy/thriller opening, but my theme not based on comedy. Therefore the Pastiche intertextuality will help our group with extra ideas on shot type, mis en scene and lighting, taken from other movies.

(RESEARCH) - Codes and Conventions

- Tracking and Panning is commonly used in Thriller films, especially during the opening.
- Uses a large amount of close ups to create tension and suspense.
- Use a large amount of facial close ups
- A large amount of thrillers are 'Good' VS' Evil
- Is in the protagonist POV to help the audience empathize with the protagonist.
- Is either fast pace and action happens reoccurring or is slow paced and lets then tension build up from every  scene until it reaches the peak.
- The change in camera angles
- Foreboding sound that makes the audience assume something bad will happen later on
- Pitch of the music, fast paced, high pitched music makes everything seem like it is happening very fast whilst low pitched music helps to build up tension and gives off a ominous feel.
- Dreary settings to add more suspense to the film
-  Locations are often abandoned or not used by people often
- Include the use of harmful weapons not usually seen in other film genres
- Quick cuts
-

(RESEARCH) - Analysis of Abandoned

The titles sequence is stand alone. White writing on a black background as well as superimposed.

Mise-en-scene

LIGHTING
The scene is high in contrast, everything stands out from one another.
- Car park

LOCATION
-Hospital?

COSTUME
- Nurse Uniform
- Doctors uniform
- Sweatpants and shirt
- Suit

PROPS
- Car
- Coffee
- Phone
- Book
- Balloons

Sound
- Tense music while the character is sneaking her way though the corridors.
Bass beat could possibly replicate a uneven heartbeat.
- When she's being chased by the car, the pitch of the music changes, is more fast pace to show her urgency to get away
- Music becomes muted a bit to show that we are seeing the antagonist in the cars perpective
- Whilst the boyfriend is driving, the music is quite soothing and peaceful signifying that the characters are out of danger for the moment


Editing
- Has quite a slow pace to build up tension.
-pace suddenly fastens when she is being chased by a car
- slows down again once the superimposed titles begin


Cinematography
- Wide shots are used to establish where the character is.
- High angles to show her ovement
- Mid shots
- Interesting how the first minute of so of the film is made to seem like she is being watched.
- Watching her though CCTV camera's
- Establishing shot of the skyscrapers in the city
- Wide shots to show the traffic highway

(RESEARCH) - Analysis of Oldboy

Oldboy's opening is a narrative one, the titles are animated superimposed included whilst the narrative of the film continues. Then it switches from narrative to discrete, images of clocks, and the ticket of clocks appear again and again, keeping the audience guessing about what the film is about.

Mise-en-scene

LIGHTING
The antagonist is kept in the dark when the camera is on his face to accentuate the secrecy of him. Emphasizes how criminals do not usually want to be seen, compared to this, the victims face can be seen clearly.
Juxtopositioning of the hidden antagonists face and the brightness of the day sky.
- The lighting in the police office is quite bright but the scene itself looks dreary because of the colour scheme of the room - reflects the life of the business man character?

LOCATION
- First location is on top of a building roof.
- Second location is in the police station.
- Third location is when 'Oh Dae Su' - and his brother go into the street and 'Dae Su' calls his daughter at a pay phone.

COSTUME
- Blue Collar dressing (Professional looking suit)
- Man and woman in police office dressed casually
- Police uniform
- The three young men dressed in quite intimidating clothing, look like they belong in the mafia.
- Dae Su is wearing a professional suit but the bottom of his dress shirt is tied like a school girls

PROPS
- 'Oh Dae Su' wearing gold watch - shows that he is well off
- His daughter's birthday present, the angel wings
- The guns the police officers have on their thighs
- Handcuffs
- Phone-booth
- Coat hanger 'Da Su' uses to try and protect himself
- Picture of him and his family

Sound
- From the start of the film idents, 'show east' and 'egg films' the music is quite melancholic orchestral music the suddenly breaks out into a fast beat whilst a character is holding the victim's tie to perhaps show the adrenaline of the character or his victim as the antagonist holds him by his tie over the side of a tall building.
- The music for the titles of the film make me assume that the film has something to do with crime. The constant ticking of the clocks and the music is full of tension.

Cinematography
- close up of the antagonist holding the victims tie, antagonist's face is kept hidden to make the audience empathize with the victim.
- Close up of the character 'Oh Dae Su' to establish him as an important character
- Mid shots used to show ' Dae Su's movements and how restless, drunk and disorderly he is
- Wide shot used when he is fighting the police officers when they're undressing him, highlights his movements.
-  Establishing shot from above the telephone box outside to show the audience where they are.

Editing

- The pace of the editing is quite slow, makes it seem like throughout the film, the tension will slowly rise.

EDITING - Vlog

RESEARCH - Intertextuality

Intertextuality is a term to describe the visual concepts and similarities between two movies. Some of these include recognised scenes such as the famous "Psycho" clip of the vulnerable woman getting murdered in the bathroom, in which the movie "Fatal Attraction" has a similar scene to this. The audience will recognise the similarity between these two as the aspects borrowed from "Psycho" were things such as the close up of the knife, the bathroom in which the woman is killed, and the shot of the curtain swimming down. The knife used in "Fatal Attraction" is similar to the one in "Psycho", these are the aspects of mis en scene. The killer however in "Fatal Attraction" is a woman instead of a man which adds originality to the scene. The curtain of the shower falls in both movies and as the victim was getting attacked by the knife, similar camera editing and shots such as close ups were used to show this.

RESEARCH - Collateral Opening Sequence Evaluation

During the filming process of group 46's remake of Collateral's opening sequence, we found how hard it was to not break the rule of 180 degrees, we used various shots such as the close up of kegs, the 'briefcase' and the actors faces to have more of a variety of shots for  when we edited.

When editing, the cutting tools were used to put the clips we wanted to use in chronological order.
We found that some of the cuts from the different frames were sloppy so, we cut out some parts of the footage to make the video flow well.

Once we finished, we exported the video via out of Final Cut Pro but found that the file was to large so we used MPEG Stream Clip to make the file small enough to put on Blogger.com.

RESEARCH - Collateral Opening Sequence Remake

RESEARCH - Collateral Opening Sequence Remake

RESEARCH - Health And Safety

Health and safety from Huy Nguyen

RESEARCH - Title Sequences

There are 3 different type of film opening structures (title sequences)
- Discrete title sequence
- Stand alone titles
- Narrative opening

What is a title sequence?
A title sequence occurs right at the beginning of a movie in which shows the audience about the information of the production companies involved in the making (e.g. Distribution), the cast members and director. During the showing of the title sequence, clips will be shown that relate to the movie itself, for example, in Inception (2010) the title sequence presented looks complicated and seems like a puzzle in which gives the audience a sense of the genre, that the movie may contain puzzles in which it does.



In the title sequence, the audience will see:
- Directors name
- Cast members (E.g.Main character)
- Music and sound (non-diegetic) that links to the genre, if it is a thriller, an upbeat suspense type of music/sound will be expected.
- The title of the movie
-  Some sort of visual experience that shows snippets of the film, to give a sense of genre clues to the audience

Discrete title sequence
A great example of a discrete title sequence would be the opening of "SE7EN". I believe it is a brilliantly made opening as it is unique, original and powerful in engaging the audience. Discrete title sequences are usually heavily edited and stylish. They include shots, images that stand out from the film in which these clips give the audience a little taster about the plot. The mis en scene portrayed in the opening of "SE7EN" is very unique as it suggests that there is violence in the film, there are images of things such as blades and photos of people who look like victims, all this could signify signs of crime, torture and mystery. The non-diegetic sounds portrayed in this opening sequence is very intense, spooky and unusual. Some of the intruments used sound like drums with a very high bass to create suspension. There is sounds of clashing of equipment (mis en scene) used as this could show there is physicality involved in the film and also give the audience a thought that the antagonist might be a serial killer or a psychopath.

Here are some of the shots below:

Narrative title sequence:
A narrative title sequence is an effective way of introducing the film title, director, and cast members while simultaneously andcontiniously introducing the story of the film. This is done by superimposing the titles so the audience can see both the background and the titles at the same time. The shots in the background are usually to give a basic idea of what the films about, for example, the setting is shown to portray the atmosphere. "Panic Room" is an example of a narrative title sequence. Comparing this opening sequence to "SE7EN", the non-diegetic sounds used for "Panic Room" is more type of an action suspense type while "SE7EN" is more of a horror type. The instruments used for the non-diegetic sounds in "Panic Room" are the violin, in which quick paced sounds of violin are used to build suspense but in an action way rather than horror. This may suggest the type of genre it is, that it is not based on murder. Narrative title sequences in my opinion looks wonderful to look at as it looks more attractive and natural than the heavily edited discrete title sequence.

Stand alone title sequence:
Stand alone title sequences are basic, straight forward and the least interesting of the two mentioned above in my opinion. Titles are shown on its own, usually on a black plain background. "Donnie Darko" is an example of a stand alone title sequence. There is no indication or clues about the plot in the sequence.

RESEARCH - Collateral remake story board

RESEARCH - Camera shots

  

This is a BIG CLOSE UP.

This is useful for expressing facial expressions and it creates tension when used appropriately and correctly. To improve the shot we could of shot it further away from the subject to make it a tighter shot.

This is a WIDE SHOT that wasn't very successful.

This shot is useful for establishing the scenery. To improve this we could of place the camera further away from subject. 

This is a TRACKING SHOT of someones feet. 

This shows that the camera is following the subjects movement.

This is a shot expressing RULE OF THIRDS. 

This is normally shown via OTS shots. To improve we could show Whitney filling more of the 2/3 of space

This is an OVER THE SHOULDER shot.

This is normally used when the subject is engaging conversation.

This is a shot that establishes light.
we took a shot that shines bright on the subjects face. We think that this shot is taken very well and emphasises on the character via natural lighting.

RESEARCH - Title Sequence Analysis

Analysis of Se7en

The frame we see is a a book, giving hints on what the film may be about and the production company 'New Line Cinema' it the far right bottom corner, because of this,the audience can assume that this is some sort of thriller as 'New Line Cinema' are known to make thrillers.
This could also be assumed because of the tensious non-diegetic music which consists of deep boomings and a high hat at a slow pace, this could imitate the heart beat of a person as it.and gives of a omnious feel. Towards the ending, the pace suddenly fastens, this could represent the change in mood in the film, from building tension slowly to sudden action.

Sound fxs are also used in the opening sequence, these add more tension to the music because it kind of makes the audience assume that a criminal is at work when linking it to the quick images and flashes if props such as blades, books, pens, drawing etc.

Normally in the opening sequence we would see:
Producers indent, Distributor, Director. Stars. In Se7en it instead goes Producers indent, director, stars because they have known actors such as 'Brad Pitt' and 'Morgan Freeman' in the film.

RESEARCH - Analysing opening sequence of Limitless

I am analysing a thriller film called 'Limitless' it is an action thriller and contains the main conventions that consist of an opening sequence in a film.

The very first frame we see is an image of the production companies logo 'relativity media' (independent company) . This is a studio as well and the producers of this film. This information could also establish the genre of the film because Relativity Media produces a mostly thrillers/ horror films.

Virgin Media also produced this film and due to its world wide conglomerate status the film is more likely to be a success because it is a trusted and known company.

This is the producers ident of their company name. As this is shown a loud sound (like a bang) is heard, this causes the audience to jump and get a shock off of it because it is rather loud and intimidating. This is suitable for a thriller film because it is key to keep the audience surprised. Also the text slowly zooms towards the screen then suddenly is replaced by another ident, this keeps the audience on edge and tense.

After the producers, director and main film stars are named a blank black screen appears with a narrative voice over it. This is useful for creating tension as the audience doesn't see what is happening but can only hear. the black screen is then cut to this long shot of a door and some one banging on the other side, this shot is linked to the previous one via sound bridge which in this case was the narrator talking.

RESEARCH Opening of films research - Butterfly Effect

This is a phscological, thriller, named 'The Butterfly Effect'. It uses a range of film opening conventions..

This is the Producer Ident. New Line Cinema is the production company responsible for the butterfly effect. This is a screen shot taken from the opening of the film.

This is the moment we are first introduced to the main character of the film. We see him in a frantic state, sorting through papers and searching in the dark. We are introduced to him within the first 30seconds of the opening, automatically letting the audience know that he is the main character. All lighting on his is dark, accompanied by fast paced, tense and high pitched music, setting a depressing, chilling and dark atmosphere.

This is the title of the film that appears in the opening sequence. This has an obvious function.. reminding/telling the audience the name of the film.

RESEARCH - Conventions of a Film Opening

The conventions of a Thriller opening consists of:

Music and Sound Effects.

Builds Up Tension/Mood of the Film
Tension is created through the pitch  and pace of the music. E.G. if the music is starts of low and gradually becomes high pitched goes into a crescendo, tension will be raised as the increase in volume could make the audience assume that there is a danger that will effect the characters in the film. By doing this, the audience is given a insight on the mood of the film.
An example of this would be the opening of the film Se7en.

Introduction of Characters, teasers from the plot, locations, provides a 'hook'
These provide the audience with something yo engage them and make them want to continue to watch the film.

Editing
Through the editing of the opening, a pace is created for the film.  through pace and montage tension is built, either the film will be slow and build up tension via that or it will start of with action that will be constant in the film.

Titles
go in the order of:
- Producers indent
- Distributor
- Director
- Stars

RESEARCH - Conventions of a film opening

 Conventions of a film opening includes:
-Sound FX and Music
- Editing
- Titles/Logos
- Introduction to key characters


The conventions of a film opening consists of many such as Sound FX and Music which helps, for example, fast paced music would help create and build atmosphere to the opening as it signifies excitement while a slow paced music would signify a dark depressing tone. It also gives an indication to the audience of the sense of genre and mood. Overall, it helps the movie to develop a relationship with the audience, to keep the audience at the edge of their seats until the end of the movie.
         Our thriller will evolve around fast tempo kind of sound as it will create major suspense which links to the genre of our thriller. The genre of our thriller is horror/thriller, about a psychopath expressing his desire to kill and torture, therefore a fast tempo kind of sound/music will portray the suspense and tension throughout as this will keep the audience at the edge of their seats until the finnishing line.
         In order to create our sound we will use a program called Garage Band in which will allow us to combine different kind of sounds from instruments to fufill originality to our piece. Some of the instrument sounds will include sounds of violin, this is effective as it sounds dark and evil, the pitch of the violin will be extremely low. Drum beats will be added to create suspense as it signifies a persons heart beating, it may start off with a fast tempo to indicate the trepidation and anxiety of an individual, especially the victim. A slow tempo drum beat could signify the slow pain of a victim or maybe when the victim is almost about to die, therefore the slow drum beat could show that the victims life is fading away.

Here is an example:


The editing is very important in an aspect of establishing characters and plot. A face paced editing montage would avoid giving away the plot to the audience but it will give the audience a sense of the plot instead. This is effective as it identifies certain mis en scene or characters that will be involved in the movie. The use of mis en scene in the opening is vital as it also signifies the expectations of the movie, for example, if there is blood shown, it is likely that the movie will have some sort of violence involved. Inspiring my knowledge of conventions of a film opening, I will take editing as a very important role in creating the best thriller opening possible. Final Cut Pro will be the program that will help us edit our opening, using various of techniques learnt by our teacher and also our own knowledge. For example, we can change the speed of our clips, making them faster or slower to create meaning to the scene. Increasing the speed of a clip will create quick visuals to the audience while decreasing the speed of a clip will portray strong detail.

The Title alongside the names of the production company, distribution will be shown in the opening. The title is important as most of the times it gives the audience a hint of what the film is about, for example, "Dead Silence" may indicate the terror included in the film as the word "Dead" sounds evil.

The distribution company will be shown in the film opening. The Distribution company is responsible for the marketing side of the film (E.g. Advertising, TV, Posters) while the production company handles the film budget, scheduling, and organisation of the product itself. This often tells the audience if the film is mainstream or not. 

An example of a mainstream movie, Skyfall. Distributed by a big company called MGM and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The budget for this movie is estimated at $200,000,000.

 An example of a non-mainstream movie, My Brother The Devil. Distributed by a low budget company called Rooks Nest Entertainment. The budget estimated is a very small budget of $100,000.

My Brother The Devil is a successful film and has won many awards regardless of its low budget. This research that i have done is related as we are creating an opening of a film with a small minimal size budget.

RESEARCH - Conventions of a film opening

One convention of a film opening is music. The type of music that features in the opening film is vital. If a fast paced, exciting song plays in the opening of a movie, it will set an exciting, fun mood. Where as if you was to play a slow, melancholy song, it will set a dark, depressing mood or tone. Therefore music is important in order to establish moods, tones and themes of the film.

Another convention of a film opening is the introduction of main characters. The people that appear in the opening are usually the main protagonists. This is important for the audience to establish the main characters etc. The opening also gives a teaser of what the plot of the film may be, engaging them mentally, providing the audience with a hook, encouraging the audience to continue watching.

The opening of a film establishes the genre in which it belongs to. If the audience see guns, knives and a fight they will establish that the genre is action. It may also set the location in which the film is set.

Another convention that may be included in the opening of a film is a title sequence. This provides the audience with the names of actors, the director/s, the producer/s, casting team etc etc. It is usually ordered in the following; Producers Ident, Distributor Ident, Stars/Cast, Director.

RESEARCH - conventions of film

The conventions of a thriller film consist of :-

- Music and sound FX to build tension and give an indication of the mood/tone. Adds to the atmosphere and plot and maybe give away hints from the film for example the music may rise in dynamics when something scary is going to happen.

- Editing, including montage and fast pace. Fast pace increases the tension in the sequence. Montage also increases the tension and increases the pace of editing.

- Camera angles for example extreme close ups to express the suspense. extreme close ups add mystery to a film for example in the film "Seven" close ups were used to engage the audience and make them want to continue watching.

- Establishing genre of the film to identify the suitable mise en scene.

- Introduction of the characters and teasers to make the audience want to continue watching. Identifying the genre is key if you want to create a suitable atmosphere and theme for the opening sequence.