My personalised independent study activity

For my own personalised independent study activity for some ideas towards my groups' work, we were set the task to watch some clips/ the trailer of the following films.

MARTYRS 2008

From watching the trailer to this film, it gave me a sense of what the film was all about. The trailer built suspense by using:

• Fast, upbeat, non-diegetic music
• Very fast simple cuts 
• A variety of different shots (medium, long, close up) of traumatic events, including blood in almost every scene, killing and diegetic sound of screaming

From watching this trailer, I could definitely tell that the genre of this film would be a triller/ horror. It has given me more of a general idea of what my group might have to include for our opening scene to a thriller.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

From watching the trailer to this second film, it kept me interested by having a mystical feel about it. The trailer itself did not give the whole film away but gave me an idea of what the film will be based on. This is helpful as we want to have the same effect from our opening scene.
The colour palette of this film trailer is very dark with mainly grey tones, this could also indicate what the film is like; dark and mysterious. These type of grey tones are what we would like to include in our opening scene.

THE MISSING (BBC drama- season 2)

From watching the trailer to the second season of this TV drama, I could tell that the series would be very fast pace and would draw you in whilst watching. The very quick, simple cuts and clips that were shown in the trailer indicated a lot of drama and action would be present in this series.
The fact that this series is about a girl who had been abducted many years ago and has finally returned home is quite alike to our idea for our opening scene we are creating, so it is good to get some ideas of how to make ours realistic and haunting.
I especially liked the stillness and emotionless face of the girl, Alice who has returned home after being abducted, it does not give much away about her character, which is what we would like to include too.

The trailer of this TV drama had me on edge the whole time I was watching it and from watching the trailer, it made me want to watch this series and I have watched it within 3 days!


From watching all of these clips, I found that for our opening clip that we will create, to make it a thriller, we must include:

1. Dark/ grey tones to create a gloomy atmosphere
2. Some fast, straight cuts to create suspense
3. Pale, emotionless face of the main girl in our clip
4. Graphical and realistic cuts/ bruises on the girl to keep the viewers interested
5. Diegetic and non-diegetic sounds that create suspense and thrill
6. Don't give the whole plot away so there is a mystical feel to our piece

I would like to take these certain aspects of the 3 trailers I watched and let these influence our final piece.

Also, when presenting our final idea to our teacher, we described how we would like a slight ringing noise in the background of our clip in certain places, which is slightly headachy and makes you feel as if you have been blown up. I got this idea from seeing and listening to what happens when you play Call Of Duty on a console, when you get blown up or a grenade goes off around you, your sight goes blurry and the ringing noise is present, which could make you feel disorientated and fragile, which is what we want the main girl in our opening scene to experience when she leaves the barn she has been trapped in for a long time and finally sees light again.

Our trip to the BFI, London

For part of our research, and to also gain a bigger understanding on how to create the 'perfect' opening clip to a film, we had a great experience to go along to two separate showings, on two different days, to sit, listen and learn more about Media AS. Although the first trip was only of great help for our coursework side of Media.


On our trip, we had the honour to meet and ask questions to the famous director of Wild Bill, Sunshine on Leith and Eddie the eagle, Dexter Fletcher!

We watched all of the opening scenes to Dexters films, which gave us a sense of how we could create our own opening scenes and what is important to include and also what is not so important. The opening scenes we watched were:


WILD BILL


SUNSHINE ON LEITH


EDDIE THE EAGLE


We also had a man who spoke us through the curriculum of our coursework and showed us some good and bad examples to take note and also get ideas from.
I learnt a lot from this trip including some key things to remember when planning our short opening scene. Tom Woodcock (the speaker) told us to note down some points:

• Don't shoot in too many locations
• Control your space
• Limit your colour palette
• Use lighting to set mood and create atmosphere
• Be consistent with your lighting
• Choose 1 or 2 fonts maximum for the credits
• Keep a consistency of size, colours, transitions and spacing also for the credits
• And finally... Don't make the font too big!

Throughout the day, we were set tasks and activities to complete in our student packs. We had a macro conventions task which was to watch the opening title sequence to three films; Napoleon Dynamite, Casino Royale and The Wedding Singer. We had to fill in boxes for each film about the genre conventions, narrative, character, themes and atmosphere. From completing this task, I realised a lot of films have little, or no narrative, but make the characters quite an important aspect of the opening scene.


We were also set an activity to complete for a micro conventions task. We had snapshots of some opening title sequences to four different films; My Best Friends Wedding, Raging Bull, Oceans Eleven and Seven. We had to note down the colour, lighting, font, framing, costume, props and setting of all of these separate films. From doing so, I realised that all of the opening scenes are very consistent with these things.


Finally, we were given a sheet of the 10 steps to the best results. These are very helpful when creating our own opening title sequence and are all shown below:

The 10 steps to the best results:

1. Take stock
2. Set up a Blog
3. Build up skills
4. Investigate 
5. Ideas
6. Planning
7. The shoot 
8. Edit 
9. Evaluation
10. Enjoy yourself !

Our ideas

IDEA 1
For our first idea, we created a spider diagram of some of our initial ideas of what we would like to include in our opening scene. The genre of our first idea is a rom com as we thought that only a few people would want to create a scene for this genre as it is quite challenging, and most people would go for the easiest and most cliché; horror.

Feedback for #1

What the class liked: the class liked the idea of using match on action to create a sense of knowing that the two characters are somehow linked and similar.

What they think we could do to improve our idea: the class agreed that this idea of a rom com could be quite cliche and could also be very hard to perfect the match on act

Below is the spider diagram we made of our first idea:

IDEA 2
Our second idea was to create an opening scene to a thriller/ horror film. We created a Prezi
Presentation of our idea to differentiate it from our first idea. You can view our Prezi of our second idea below:


Feedback for #2

What the class liked: The build up of suspense, the video showing the idea of dragging an axe, following a mans feet.

What they think we could do to improve our idea: Not revealing the face may make the audience get bored, waiting for the face to be shown.

Below is a snapshot of our Prezi:

My Moodboard

For part of my research for my groups opening scene, I have been finding photos, video clips, and words that best describes four genres of film that I have chosen to explore. I have chosen Horror, Comedy, Romantic and Action, as these genres are my favourite kinds of films, which I would be interested in using to make my final piece of coursework.
I have created a moodboard of how I interpret films from each of these genres, giving me an idea of what we might need to include for our chosen genre, opening scene clip.

You can view my moodboard below:


When navigating your way around my moodboard, you can click on the 'YouTube' sign on the bottom, right hand side of each of the clips I have as part of my research, where you can watch an example that I have found for an opening scene to all of these genres.

Here are snapshots of my moodboard:

My whole moodboard shows what my idea of the main aspects are, in each of these genres. I have included photos from the movies that are the genre shown, also words/ things that are relevant to these types of films. For example- for Horror; blood, haunted houses, scary masks, abnormal things, dolls, knives and strange, black figures are what I know are shown most frequently in this type of genre of film. Also video clips of YouTube.

As you can see, I named the types of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds that I could think of that are of normal occurrence in a horror movie.
If we were to create a horror movie opening scene, we would probably use some of these sounds to make the genre stand out when viewing.
For an example of a horror movie opening scene, I chose 'The woman in Black' as I felt that this opening scene was very spooky and builds tension, as that is what I think most horror movies are all about.
The idea of having a shot of little children, almost dressed as dolls, playing with dolls at a pretend tea party, gives a sense of creepiness to the scene.
The non-diegetic background music also creates a very 'mystic' atmosphere as the sound of many classical instruments together form a very dark and demented sound. I feel that this music creates suspense for the viewers and keeps them on their seat to see what is about to happen.
There is a vast range of camera angles and shots used, but mainly medium shots, and also close up shots when the girls drop the tea cup, tread on the tea pot and dolls head, and head towards the window, which they all then jump out from. The opening scene ends in a blood curdling scream.

Romantic genre films, such as 'Valentine's day' which I used as an example for an opening scene, are filled with kisses, flirting, laughing and being all 'loved up'.
In a lot of opening scenes to romantic films, you see a romantic gesture being done such as a proposal, an amazing gift being brought for the loved one and flowers being brought. All of these things could be said to signify love.
The non-diegetic sound in romantic films are normally quiet, mellow songs, or songs actually about love. These songs give a romantic feel to the film and makes the viewer feel the love that is being shown throughout the film, or in a specific film. The typical scene that would need that type of music is when a couple kiss for the first time, or dance together under the stars, or even just lying in bed together.
The mes en scene present in most romantic films are light coloured clothing, suggesting happiness, also props such as a wedding ring, or massive teddy bear as a gift. These things are what a typical romantic film would include.
The 'male gaze' theory by Laura Mulvey suggests that women are seen as sex icons for men. In most romantic films, this theory is demonstrated by a lot of women being shown in little clothing and propped in sexual positions.

When I researched some action movies, the diegetic sounds that came to my head were loud and fulfilling sounds, such as gun shots, explosives, car crashes etc. These sounds best describe what happens most in an action movie... Action!
For an example of an opening scene to an action movie, I chose James Bond- Quantum of Solace, as this film has lots of action present. The opening scene shows close up of fast cars racing, mens face, and people shooting guns out of their car windows. These types of actions shown create suspense and thrill for the viewers, as everything is happening so fast and is shown in fast shots, mainly close up shots, but also medium and long, continuous shots. All of these camera shots are acceptable when filming an opening to a film and this gives me a rough idea of how we could piece together an opening scene to an action movie.

Comedy films are made to make people laugh so the main aspect, I think, of an opening scene to a comedy is to draw in the viewers straight away by having lots of laughable moments right at the beginning.
An example of this is the video that I implanted onto my moodboard of Bridget Jones lip singing to "all by myself". This is funny because of the irony- she is alone and doesn't want to be. She is also very dramatic which is what the viewers enjoy seeing when they watch a comedy film. A lot of comedy films are full of hidden jokes inside of what people say, that only some people may understand, and thats what makes it more humorous! The main camera shots used in comedy films are medium shots, and a few close ups if the actor is doing something funny, or even to show a facial expression. Depending on what the comedy is about, a lot of comedy films feature adults acting like children and sometimes children acting like adults, the abnormality of this creates a comical atmosphere. A lot of the diegetic sounds present in a comedy film are disgusting noises, which people might find funny- such as burps and farts. Again, because people tend to be quite discrete about these types of noises, some people find it amusing when they hear them regularly in a film.

Preliminary Task Eloise, Grace, Max and Ruby

Storyboard for our Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task, we were asked to plan and create a continuity clip showing our vast range of skills, from camera work to editing skills, with straight cuts to all run smoothly. 

We worked in our groups that we will also be working with for our final 'opening scene of a film' piece of work. Working in these groups allowed us to show what we were all strong in and what we can all work on throughout this year. We all had equal participation for this task, taking turns in drawing the different shots on our storyboard, also using the camera and finally, each taking part in doing the editing.

Before anything, we decided what were going to include in our preliminary task. We chose to use a long shot, different medium shots, from different angles, and close up shots. We also used a shot reverse shot during the conversation between Max and Grace and match-on-action throughout the whole clip.

The first box of our storyboard shows a long shot of Grace walking up the stairs. When we planned it we agreed that the duration should be 6 seconds but when we came to filming and editing the clip, we needed a few extra seconds as we felt that more of the clip was needed and without it, it wouldn't match up with the next shot. The second box shows Grace walking up the stairs, from the step she stood on in the last shot, but from a different angle. This showed our skills of using match-on-action. When we came to edit this clip, we cut 1 second as we felt like the clip would not match properly with the next shot.

The third box of our storyboard shows a low, close up shot of Grace's legs and feet, walking from the top of the stairs, where we cut the last clip, to just before the door in the corridor. We also cut 1 second off of this clip to allow match-on-action to be correct. The fourth box illustrates a medium shot of Grace, pushing the door open, which leads straight onto the next box (box five) which shows her coming through the door from inside of the classroom. Using a perfect match-on-action, we filmed and edited this perfectly. We did not break the 180 degree rule whilst filming these separate clips but we did made a slight mistake when drawing out this shot on our storyboard, as we showed this shot being filmed from the wrong angle, which would have broken the 180 degree rule. We were quick to realise this and take action, but did not change our drawing on the storyboard, just noted that we needed to change the camera angle from where we would film this clip.
The sixth drawing of our storyboard a shows the start of a conversation between Grace and Max from where the last clip ended with Grace sitting down. The shot is from behind Grace, facing Max, showing eye line match, which makes the video seem more realistic. The script we wrote before filming was slightly altered when it came to acting it out, as the dialogue used instead was more realistic and made the conversation seem less 'forced'. We cut this clip when editing by 1 second too, as the last second was not needed.

The seventh drawing of our storyboard shows a medium shot of behind Max's head, showing Grace's face and Grace talking to Max. Again, we showed eye line match between our two actors. When we drew our storyboard, we planned for Grace to speak for 8 seconds, but when it came to editing we had to cut 1 second off the end as it was not needed.
The last box (and the two previous shots) demonstrates our knowledge of camera angles, using a shot reverse shot from showing Max's face, to Grace's and then back to Max's.
All of our clips in our Preliminary Task video use diegetic sound and only that. You can only hear Grace's footsteps in the first, second and third clip. Then the sound of her footsteps and the door opening in the fourth clip. In the fifth clip you can hear a slight sound from the door closing and her footsteps walking towards the chair. The last three clips all have diegetic sound of the conversation between Max and Grace. We felt that using only diegetic sound would be more realistic.

Film opening scene charts

 As part of my research I watched three opening scenes to three different movies, all different genre's and sketched the different diegetic and non dietetic sounds heard throughout, and also different shots that I felt stood out to me whilst watching each clip. 

HALLOWEEN OPENING SCENE (1978)



The first clip was of the film Halloween (1978 version). Whilst watching, I noticed that there was not much diegetic sound, more non-diegetic, such as creepy music, which set a haunted mood and atmosphere to the clip. 

The shots that stood out to me were ones which created tension and a sense of horror, which describes what the film is going to be full of, such as the shot of the murderer pulling the knife out of the drawer. I roughly sketched these scenes, as shown to the right.

AMELIE OPENING SCENE

The second clip was of the French film, Amelie. From watching the opening scene, there was a weird and unusual feeling to the film like none I had ever seen before. There was a lot of diegetic sound, a man speaking french almost throughout the whole clip, but also non diegetic sounds - gentle music being played in the background, played mainly by a piano. 

There were nine different shots that stood out for me, which I sketched as I watched the clip. The majority of the opening scene was showing strange things happening, for example - a time lapse of a woman's stomach growing from pregnancy, sperms swimming towards an egg, and a girl (Amelie) playing with dominos and her hands, making weird noises. 

TRAINSPOTTING OPENING SCENE


The last clip was of the opening scene to trainspotting. I created the chart, showing the different sounds; diegetic and non-diegetic, also showing some of the different shots that stood out as being interesting to me whilst watching the film opening scene. I sketched the sound movement and a rough sketch of the shots that I felt were the most important to what the film is about. The opening scene for this film was very heart racing, noisy and all based upon living life on the edge; taking drugs and so on. This is all shown from my chart I created.