Analysis of AS media film opening.

The embedded link is another film opening made by other Media Studies students. I will be analysing and comparing the opening to the mark scheme.

Holding shot steady.
The majority of the scenes were filmed with a steady shot, however the beginning shot as the cameraman walks towards the character when he is laid down does shake quite a lot as he moves forwards.  
Framing shot appropriately.

All shots felt like the right distance away and included a lot of the scene, thought this was done well.
Variety of shot distances.
By making the beginning shot slowly draw in closer they already have a variety of shot distances with this one long flowing scene (especially as character walks away) flashbacks add to this to make even more shot distances.
Appropriate material to task.
All material felt appropriate and as though they were parts of a film opening.
Selecting mise-en-scène.
I felt that the beginning scene could have been better selected as it didn't seem to link with the flashbacks, perhaps simply by adding some props that were visible in flashbacks also would have helped in that scene. However other scenes did have appropriate mise en scene with a lot of them linking together (train tracks theme) and scene under railway bridge was good with graffiti behind.
Editing for meaning to viewer.
I thought this scene was edited very well, the scene easily played with continuity and it was obvious to the viewer that we were seeing glimpses or flashbacks of the night/day before. The order of the scenes worked perfectly how it switched through many flashbacks before returning to main character and music returning to normal.
Varied shot transitions, captions and other effects.
Only shot transition was just a simple cut and then the next scene played often cutting between one or two before returning to original shot, not much variation. Two different types of font and only true effect I noticed was the scene playing backwards. I felt this contributed towards the scene and the lack of effects enhanced the part where the music and images were playing backwards.
Use of sound with images and editing.
I thought that the editing in this film opening was really good, the way it started with almost no editing whatsoever really made me feel as the audience that I was seeing this scene in front of me, and the effect of making the music go backwards as the film does to represent the character recalling previous events is a really original and effective technique.
Using titles appropriately.
I feel the film opening uses a very realist approach, the whole scene appears realistic and believable and not out of the ordinary, I think that the titles accompany this and therefore a direct link between the titles and the rest of the opening are linked and work very well together. In the final scene as the character walks away a very distinctive font is also used to repeat the directors name which draws particular attention towards the director.

Story Narrative - 3 Act structure

As a lead group member in the story narrative I have started to look at the film as a whole. Almost all films have a three act structure, a beginning middle and end and although plots may be a lot more expansive than purely a start middle and end you can establish the three acts in a lot of modern films.

The three acts are known as the Setup, which in a broad sense means the introduction of characters (responsibilities, personalities, relationships etc), locations which dependent on whether or not the location is set in a foreign or unknown world can need extra attention. However if it is set in a present day world, with similar practices to the audience, the audience can assume what they know of their own world. Any other aspects within the films universe that will effect the reception of the film are usually established at this point also. As we have been given the task of creating a film opening this is the act that is most important in our current project. At some point during this introduction an on-screen incident will often occur, which affects the main character (protagonist). Often the protagonist, or relations of the protagonist, or other members of the cast will attempt to deal with this incident. This often leads onto second more dramatic situation, known as the first turning point or plot point, which (a) signals the end of the first act, (b) ensures life will never be the same again for the protagonist and (c) raises a dramatic question that will be answered in the climax of the film.

 

The second act is known as the confrontation where a character/group of characters is/are faced with a dilemma often caused from the attempt to solve the previous lesser problem. The characters will often have to develop new skills in order to overcome there dilemma at some stage during this act something dramatic will happen which will motivate the character's total commitment to deal with the problem. The third act is known as the resolution where the character/group of characters solve the problem previously faced often becoming enriched by the experience this is often started with a second plot point which will begin the build up to the hero and villain's final confrontation.

Missing - 3 Act Structure.

Act 1.

The film begins to follow the path of a young male character named Sean, who disappears with his friend James. Sean was recently moved to a boarding school as his parents were worried he was not achieving the grades he deserves due to involvement of petty crimes with his friend James, behind his parents back with the excuse of a school residential trip he returns to meet his old friend, who has since moved onto more hardcore crimes. Upon arrival Sean is greeted with a phone call from his friend, he promises to meet him at the canal and Sean begins walking to meet him. Unknowingly James has recently acquired a new drug which allows the user to teleport at will, while holding this package for a local drug lord he becomes a target and is being followed by a hardcore user of the currently hard to find drug. The user has mastered the powers of the drug and plans to steal the large stock at any costs. Sean arrives at the canal to find his friend James killed, believed to be the one that is storing the drug he is chased down and captured.

Act 2.

After waking up in captivity Sean is subjected to torture as he is believed to be acting dumb, in brief moments between the interruption of the drug addict the other prisoners reveal to Sean the story of the extremely addictive substance and how the person who first developed the drug was a previous prisoner and refused to create any more seeing the damaging effects of the drug, he was thus killed by the drug addict. The last substantial stock is rumored to be held by the drug lord who James became involved with. Meanwhile Sean's schoolmates arrive back from residential with no sign of Sean his protective parents become extremely worried upon questioning the school they are told that Sean never attended the trip. The police and media are revealing that a huge number of disappearances have been reported within the area of Oxford. The parents attempt to contact James however they cannot contact them. Soon they are used as hostages in an attempt for Sean to reveal the location of the drug. Sean attempts to use the drug to his advantage to escape and destroy the last stock of the drug to prevent the addict analyzing and creating or duplicating the extremely damaging drug.

Act 3.

Sean escapes and begins hunting down the drug stock, he fights not only the villains who are attacking him and attempting to locate Sean and the addiction of the drug which he has to use in order to combat the group of drug addicts hunting both him and the drug down.

Logo - Created by Eric Hesselbo

We have renamed our group "Infinite Productions) and we now have a logo, Eric created it on photoshop and here is a speedart of him making it

The logo fuses the symbol of infinity with a film reel, my blog's colours have now also been incorparated with the logo and I have situated the logo at the top of my blog, it will also be shown during our film opening.

1st Draft- Missing

Evaluation of first draft,

Overall I was pleased with how all the clips linked together, I thought there was a really good flow to the film opening and for the majority of the time I think that the audience could follow what was happening throughout the opening, the shots all linked together and there was good continuity; this was a worry when we were filming. However we went back and reshot some linking shots between the running. I also think that there are a few establishing shots that may not be needed (01:18). The final point I think we can improve on (without comparison to the mark scheme) is that while watching it I feel that it didn't feel like watching a film opening, it looked more like a music video with the continual music over the background. We have discussed this as a group and for the next edit we plan to focus a lot more on the soundtrack.

Feedback from audience.

"I love the moments in it like when Sean puts his headphones in.I think you could probably use some other shot transitions because at the moment it sometimes seems like you use that blurred transition a little too much."


"You could add more sound effects."

"I liked your video a lot!!!"

"All the shots were steady and the continuity was very effective.  The soundtrack was good and it faded in and out nicely. I liked it when time passed by and you sped it up, however sometimes the shots stuttered."

"Would've liked more ambient sound to create atmosphere and build tension"

In comparison to the mark scheme.

Holding shot steady.
I think that the majority of shots fulfill this area of the mark scheme, the only one in which I can see any problem with the steadiness of the shot is the scene 1:04-1:14, however I don't think that this is a big problem and even if we re-shot the scene (which we may do) it may not make a huge difference as it is so hard to get a completely steady shot while moving with the camera (without the use of equipment we don't own). Other than this scene and the point of view shots (where the camera is meant to be shaky and unsteady) every scene is very steady.
Framing shot appropriately.

Variety of shot distances.


Appropriate material to task.


Selecting mise-en-scène.


Editing for meaning to viewer.


Varied shot transitions, captions and other effects.


Use of sound with images and editing.


Using titles appropriately.

What we need to improve on..

• Wider range of shot distance's and camera angles
• e.g at the start of the chase scene when Sean reached the canal, we could use a dutch/cant angle to create a feeling of something being wrong
•  I feel like we had a majority of medium shots it would be good to shoot a few extreme close ups or extreme wide shots
• Variance of shot transitions, established from feedback some different transitions other than the blurred transition.
• A more realistic soundtrack, as opposed to just a constant song we need to add more ambient sound such as footsteps, cars, breathing e.t.c

Basic Deadlines for Group - [Completed]

A while ago I set some basic deadlines for the group up until our first edit was to be completed. We have been given new deadlines and I will create a similar blog post shortly of these deadlines, below is the deadlines reposted with the dates that we completed them.




8th November - Decide which pitch we will create our film opening for, acquire possible locations/cast, review basic storyboard of pitch.


 < Completed: 8th November >


[Storyboards Reviewed and Pitch Missing chosen possible locations and cast discussed, pictures of locations will be uploaded soon]




10th November - Decide cast members and locations for first weekend of filming.


< Date of completion : 9th November >


[Casted Sean Kim as character predominant character in film opening, decided on location of Radley Train Station/ Oxford Train Station, we will be purchasing a ticket to Radley in order to get some scenes of Sean on the train before filming any scenes with a combination of both Radley and Oxford train station] 






11th November - Confirm cast are aware of filming dates and confirm availability of suitable locations, complete detailed storyboard and complete script for first scenes.




< Date of completion : 11th November >




[Decided which scenes are to be filmed this weekend and basic script drafted for these scenes, detailed storyboard has been made, however we may add to or change aspects of this as we film] 






12th and 13th November - Begin filming first scenes.




< Date of completion : 13th November >




 [Me Daniel, Eric and Sean (actor) bought train tickets to Radley, all scenes for journey filmed and of the arrival from the journey, however after reviewing footage there may be some extra scenes to be recorded next weekend, overall successful day.] 






 16th November - Confirm cast members and locations needed for scenes filmed at coming weekend, ensure cast are aware of where and when the filming is taking place.




< Date of completion : 16th November >




[Unfortunately cast and majority of group were not available for filming this weekend so we decided to postpone any remaining scenes until following week.] 




 19th and 20th of November - Film remainder of scenes. 




< Date of completion : Postponed to 23rd of November due to cast and group availability >






 22nd November - Review footage and confirm if any scenes need to be shot / reshot, schedule filming dates and location




< Date of completion : 17th November>




[We still need the all the shots from the chase scene, we have also decided that a few shots of Sean arriving may need to be re-shot.]






 23rd- 30th of November - Film any left over scenes (If required)




[Refilmed some scenes on the 23rd and on the 28th of November, see other blog posts for further info.]






 1st December - Upload all clips.




< Date of completion : 28th November >




[All clips uploaded on to portable hard drive, for next edit we plan to make sure every group member has a copy of the clips however for the rough edit Eric Hesselbo will be doing the majority of the editing] 






 6th December - Rough Edits completed


< Date of completion : 30th November  >




[Eric Hesselbo completed Rough Edits see blog post for further info]

"MISSING" - 1st edit Presentation

Below is a presentation that I have created on www.prezi.com, it shows my personal roles within the group and what I have done, besides actually directing while we were filming which I believe was equally spread between all members in the group.

"Missing" - Film Opening. on Prezi

http://cherwellmediamgrant.blogspot.com/2011/11/typography-for-missing.html

Filming (30/11/11)

We have successfully filmed all shots for the journey in the first day, this has been uploaded and we are happy with everything we have done in this scene of the opening. We also filmed most of the arrival. I decided to complete a really detailed set of events, including pictures of what we have remaining to film, we brought these along with us on the day and it really helped us establish what we were to film and allowed us to visualise the end product more clearly wasting less time on the day. However once we started filming as we found new locations and planned locations were found unusable (the end scene had to be completely rethought as the bridge where we planned to film it on was pitch black with literally no artificial lighting) the film was changed slightly I still feel that creating this storyboard really helped us on the day.

Above is the storyboard images including shot distance, Mise en scene and other aspects. Below is a detailed explanation of each section of the storyboard.

1. Sean arrives as station, ago zooms out to extreme wide shot of whole train station. Sean then walks towards camera (possibly sped up) and turns corner.

2. Sean is sat down waiting for a phone call from James. Shown as a time lapse with medium over the shoulder shot. Possibly switching or having an overlay on top of the scene of Sean texting James, things such as "Where are you?", "Ring me" and "No credit".

3. Sean gets phone call, James asks him to "meet him up the canal" and asks "do you know where that is?" Sean agrees to meet him and begins walking to the canal

4.Sean  hangs up his phone and starts walking towards the canal, as he is walking he plugs in his headphones, the music which begins playing as he presses play goes from almost unnoticeable to being the dominating sound within the scene.

5. Sean reaches the canal when his friend phones him, it is possible we could include another phonecall or perhaps even the friend is visible at this point. Either way Sean ends up becoming very nervous and eventually flee's (however not during this shot) due to him being told to by James, or sight of his friends dead body or sight of the beast.

6.The camera now switches to a point of view from the beast he stands up from the body and begins to look around it is blurry so not much can be seen however. The scene switches to Sean nervously looking around, this is shot not as a point of view scene but from a similar shot as the scene where Sean reaches the canal, it is shot in the same place.

7. The scene switches to the beast now and it is looking through leaves (or perhaps a gate). Sean comes into view and the beasts breathing becomes heavier. Sean looks into the camera or the eyes of the beast and at this stage runs away.

8. A chase scene starts and the next few shots are Sean running from the beast

9. The beast is scene out of focus and disappears with effect similar to that scene in harry potter. We found a tutorial of how to do this effect:



10. The beast reappears in front of Sean as he is running away, he is checking behind him but turns round to be shocked to see the beast in front of him.

11a) The shot then switches to a point of view shot of the beast and Sean puts his hands up protecting his face when the beast attacks. (similar effect seen in another AS media studies film opening)

11b) A wide shot shows the whole scene as the beast attacks the camera then falls up or down (similar effect seen in opening of Scott Pilgrim vs the world

12. Rest of titles proceed on showing our names e.t.c

Below is the original storyboard that we took with us while filming, it has slightly more detail, however above the main aspects are included

Filming

On the 23/11/2011 our group set out to begin filming our final chase scene. We brought along a tripod

 and a longboard, which we used as a dolly to keep the shot steady as we moved with the camera.

At first we had planned to set this scene in the daytime

 however we felt that a dark scene would add to the eerey mise-en-scène we are trying to create during this scene. So we waited until the sun had set and begun filming again,

 we had to re-shoot any arrival scenes and then we begun filming a time lapse of Sean waiting for his friend to ring him.

We then moved on and begun the chase scene,

 we recorded a couple of the scenes however we ran out of time so we still have a few more that need to be filmed we plan to do this in the near future.

Sound Presentation

Examples from real texts..

The last samurai.


Above is an example of a tense soundtrack. We are looking for a similar soundtrack for use in our project.




Green Street




Above is an example of ambient sound, Ambient sound is the sound heard in the background of the scene. It's a very important part of the scene and sometimes goes unnoticed by audiences unfamiliar with the notion of ambient sound. However if removed the scene would seem quiet and eerie and is occasionally used to create this effect, even in these examples often a soundtrack is added to enhance this atmosphere. Below is a link to some ambient sounds we could be using in our projects.


Audio Network
http://goo.gl/GFnh8

This weekends plan for filming.

This weekend we have planned to begin filming the first clips for our project. We have established a cast member in Sean Kim and we have selected from the possible locations that the journey will be filmed on a train (we plan on purchasing a return ticket to the nearby train station of Radley) we will then film the arrival of the journey at a combination of both Radley and Oxford railway station. We have decided to film the final scenes (where Sean is chased and caught at another time)

[Photo inserted after filming was complete]

Detailed Storyboard/ Script

After creating a storyboard for each pitch as a group (rough) we then proceded onto making a more detailed storyboard which is shown here:

[Drawn by Eric Hesselbo]

Locations

Our opening for the film requires us to select Mise en Scene which therefore makes selecting possible locations an important aspect of our project. We have 3 main scenes in our opening. Which basically out are; The Journey, Arrival from journey, Place of attack (somewhere out of site of public where character has to travel.)


The Journey. The opening begins with a character travelling to meet a friend/relative (We have casted this role and it will be player by Sean Kim, a student who attends our school, so I will now refer to this character as Sean throughout the following posts). So we will need to find somewhere to film these scenes on, this could be on a train, bus or perhaps a Taxi.


Arrival from Journey. We also need a location to film Sean arriving from his journey, this of course depends on the first location however the train station is a great location that is situated in Oxford and this may affect our choice of the first location. As well as trains both bus's and taxi's also arrive here so we can effectively use this location with whichever journey the group decides.

Another possible option is "Gloucester Green" a square in the city centre that acts as a hub for Taxi's.

A third location choice would be a bus stop of sorts, obviously there are hundreds that are available options however the following would fit nicely in with our feeling of remoteness required in the following scene.

The final location needed in our film is for the scene where Sean is chased and effectively captured/killed. This location needs to be a remote area and needs to have aspects relating to the previous scene so we can create a match on action. Here are some possible locations.

[Insert Picture]

[Insert Picture].

Decision.

It was time for our group to make a decision on which Pitch to take forward we have now completed basic storyboards for each pitch so we are all clear of what each pitch's story is.

We had a meeting and as a group we narrowed the pitches down to either Missing or Escape. We decided this because of cast issues (such as finding a large enough group for two hooligan firms) we felt that we could focus on directing and achieve a better project. Another reason we removed this option is because the locations will only be populated during home games which again adds another complication.

We had narrowed it down to two options from the storyboards, we talked about possible locations and casting for both pitches. We could think of a few places for the Escape pitch but casting was once again an issue as we would need a large gang. As a whole group we were constantly being drawn to the "Missing" pitch the advantages outweighed any of the other pitches and we thought that we could get a better project as we thought it was the best pitch and story in the first place.

So we have decided to take forward the pitch "Missing". We each divided up tasks between ourselves (detailed storyboard, cast and locations). We have planned to film this coming weekend.

Pitch 3 - United

Pitch 2 - Escape.

Storyboards

Here are the basic storyboard for each pitch these just show the openings of the films. Here is the first pitch (Missing)

Basic Deadlines for Group.

8th November - Decide which pitch we will create our film opening for, acquire possible locations/cast, review basic storyboard of pitch.

10th November - Decide cast members and locations for first weekend of filming.

11th November - Confirm cast are aware of filming dates and confirm availability of suitable locations, complete detailed storyboard and complete script for first scenes.


12th and 13th November - Begin filming first scenes.

16th November - Confirm cast members and locations needed for scenes filmed at coming weekend, ensure cast are aware of where and when the filming is taking place.

19th and 20th of November - Film remainder of scenes. 

22nd November - Review footage and confirm if any scenes need to be shot / reshot, schedule filming dates and location

23rd- 30th of November - Film any left over scenes (If required)

1st December - Upload all clips.

6th December - Rough Edits completed

Mark Scheme, Construction - Selecting mise-en-scène / Variety of shot distance / Framing shot appropriately.

Once again all three of these aspects can be planned for by storyboarding, which really highlights the importance of storyboards in this project. A variety of shot distances will be fairly easy to do and will not require much planning pre-production however we need to make sure we include varied shot distances in our storyboards so that we carry this out while filming. Selecting the mise-en-scène and framing the shot appropriately go hand in hand and other than storyboarding we can't really prepare for these aspects. We need to remember to make sure that everything in the scene is relevant to the scene including props, locations and costumes.

Mark Scheme, Construction - Editing for meaning to viewer/ Varied shot transitions, captions and other effects.

When editing the clips there are 3 main aspects we need to consider, the first is the length, order and transitions between the different shots. We can use a combination of Sony Vegas, After Effects and iMovie to edit the film. The music used can sometimes dictate the length and order of shots to a certain extent as they have to work in sync with each other. The order will be established with storyboards and shot transitions will vary however for the majority of the time I think we will try and keep a fairly natural feel to the editing with the use of simple shot transitions. The length of shot in accordance to one another is not easy to analyse until we have the shots filmed and uploaded however I like the idea of a difference in shot length to add effect (i.e starting with short quick changing shots as the tension builds up) as seen in the film opening of City of God (which is similar to one of our possible pitches).





I think that the editing in this is amazing, the whole film is about a photographer who lives in the slums of Rio de Janeiro which is heavily populated by gangs, it shows a scene of meals being prepared cutting quickly between this process and a scene of a chicken who is trapped and then escapes at which point the transitions become less often and the scene calms down a lot. I think that this could be a metaphor for the trapped feeling that can come from gang culture, and even when the chicken escapes its death a group of 10+ men chase the chicken through the town violently threatening anyone who gets in their way or fails to catch the chicken. The main character is briefly shown. I think that we could possibly use a similar sort of feeling with shot transitions being fast and quick with perhaps a trapped animal for a metaphor.

Mark Scheme, Construction - Using titles appropriately / Use of sound with images/editing.

Sound is an important aspect of modern day film, another video made by my group member indicates how music and editing can change the feel of a short clip and even the whole genre.

Daniel was in charge of typography in our project and he found various fonts that could be used for our titles, another thing to consider with titles is where they are placed within the scene. By examining other clips of film openings similar to our three pitches I examined The Nightmare on Elm street opening for the Supernatural/Beast pitch. The youtube video has been disabled for embedding by request but the link is here. This is particularly good for analysing titles as almost all of the oppening uses titles in a unique way. Without going into too many details the film is about a murderer who kills his victims in their dreams by stabbing them. A fairly plain font is used in the foreground of the scene however over a dark backgrond the same thing is scratched into the background in a lighter colour. These are often anchored with a scratching sound and sometimes carry on into another clip, showing short clips of children playing and elm street. If you watch the film then you realise that these are clips of the main characters who are being hunted by this murderer's childhood. These clips are sometimes photos or sign's which are scratched up so the typography does really well to link itself with the film. Focusing on where the credits are placed in the film the director has decided to split the clips and credits into two seperate scenes, as opposed to placing the credits on top of the clips he has seperated the two.

Mark Scheme, Construction - Holding shot steady / Appropriate material for task.

Over the next few posts we have been set the task of planning how we will achieve the highest possible marks for various aspects of the mark scheme. One of the sections of construction is how we will keep camera shots steady. Although this is a fairly simple task when using still shots as a tripod can help achieve this, when using a tripod the shot is steady. However when walking or filming a moving shot holding the camera steady is a lot harder, obviously attempts can be made to keep the camera as steady as possible, however without expensive equipment the recording will always have some shakyness.

Example of a stedicam.

A member of our group is considering purchasing a stedicam however as the equipment is expensive we needed to examine alternative methods of keeping the camera steady, many editing programs include an option to "stablilise" the footage, for an example of what this looks like Eric recorded a video with an example of unstabilised and stabilised footage.





We need to make sure that we keep all material appropriate for the task, the task is a film opening for one of three possible pitches. I have looked at many film openings and analysed several by doing this I can hope to get a wider range of knowledge of film openings and this will help me decide whether a certain shot would fit into a film opening or whether it is more suited to later on in a film. Another important way we can keep the material appropriate and relevant is by storyboarding, this can help us plan ahead and make sure that all material links together appropriately.

Shop.

The short film above was a piece I made, we were instructed to focus on editing and particularly in what order we placed our scenes. I chose to edit it in a chronological order, stating with walking up the street followed by picking up items and then paying for them. I used the same Point of View camera angle throughout the film because I think this was the most effective way to portray the task. I decided to use the lively music because it juxtaposes the mundane task of going to the shop and this was done as an attempt to make the film seem more interesting. I synced the music with the film so that it speeds up as I reach for the first item. I chose to refrain from using any special effects as I think that it would look out of place, I did use some colour correction and also stabilised the footage, however it still remained very shaky. This could have added a more realistic feel to the film but I think that it may have been too shaky for this to come across as a realistic point of view.

Story Narrative - Possible Pitches

Below are three pitches for possible films for which we could create a film opening to, I will present these idea's to my group and we will decide which one we feel will be best to continue and develop the opening scene.

Pitch 1 - Missing (Supernatrual/Beast) - People begin mysteriously dissapearing from area (perhaps near train station), supernatrual forces believed to be behind the unexplained dissapearences.

Pitch 2 - United (Hooligan Film) - Swindon Town and Oxford United meet for the first time in 20 years, specialist detective warns police force that there will be more trouble than expected and relates this meeting to the recent Millwall, Westham clash that had a disastrous outcome, however his warnings are dismissed as hooliganism is believed to be a thing of the past.

Pitch 3 - Escape (Gang) - Leader of a youth gang wishes to pass on leadership to his younger brother. Shows the struggle of this younger brother to escape the gang culture with the help of his musical talent.

Initial Ideas for Opening Film. - Gang Culture

Another possible genre for a film opening that I believe we could possibly explore is the idea of gang culture. These films are on an increase in popularity reflecting the real life events and gangs, modern audiences are interested in believable story lines and as the increase of coverage of gangs by the media increases..

Example - The London Riots, below is a clip of a gang of youths robbing another injured man during the riots



The gang mentality was most likely adopted from America, gangs such as the Bloods and the Crips are famous for gang warfare and the increase in gangs in England has been mirrored by an increase in "Gang films" for example One Day..


Another example of a film involving gangs is "This is England" a film following a group of friends who get involved with a number of skinheads who support groups such as the English Defence League and other racial groups.



This is interesting to look at as it shows the change in gang mentality but also the similarities accross all gangs. The switch in This is England from friends to gang is very noticeable and it is an interesting subject to examine, when do a group of friends become a "gang" something that is considered very negative recently and even making new laws allowing gang members to be banned from wearing certain colours if the police feel that it relates to a gang.

Initial Ideas for Opening Film. - Supernatural/Beast

Another idea we had for our film openings was a presence of something supernatural, a death and perhaps the solving of this death, or witness of it. Something that we were keen to intergrate into the opening was the idea of viewing the scene through this evil beings eyes. It's seen in many films for example in the "Witness" opening film. Although viewed in a different context, the basic idea of the shot is still the same (you may want to skip to 2:00 minutes if you only want to view the camera angle).

Initial Ideas for Opening Film.

In the first meeting we had as a group we decided that we would split up the responsibilities between the group I have been given the task of both Casting and Story narrative. We briefly spoke as a group as to what type of film we were going to create an opening to possibly a hooligan film, similar to Green street, The Firm or the Football Factories, etc. We chose to head towards this sort of genre of film because we felt it had an original and recognisable style. As well as previously analysing some other film openings I decided to have a look at two hooligan film openings to try and draw some inspiration to help decide what type of film we were going to create an opening for...

The Football Factories


I really like the way the film shows surveillance images, newspaper cuttings and similar short clips strung together with opening titles, it puts the audience in the position of a sort of inspector trying to decipher who the hooligans are, this led me to consider creating an opening for a film like this following the life of a detective who specialises in tracking down football hooligans.

Green Street Hooligans


The opening of the train station being dominated by the football fans who treat it as if they own it having no regard for other users of the trainline was a really good location, I liked the way the football fans really treated it as there home. They sung at the top of their voices kicked cans about and showed no respect for other users. The whole location was taken over by this group of individuals. This then comes to a clash of two groups, something that rarely happens and I feel that hooligans (or the more broad term of gangs) gives people a reason to fight and argue amongst each other. It creates a tension when people are seperated into two groups and whether or not it is moral to fight for nothing more than belonging to different groups of people, the notion that some people find it acceptable and do carry out fights because of this is not one that is impossible to imagine amongst modern audiences.

Saving Private Ryan - Omaha Beach Scene Part 1 - Super High Quality

I chose this clip because I really like the way it is edited, the way the camera shakes to emphasize the fear shown by the soldiers really creates an atmosphere at the very start of the clip. It puts the audience in a position where they can really consider what might have been going through the soldiers heads at this time. The camera angles and lighting are chosen carefully to keep the enemy anonymous and unseen, this makes them seem less human and enhances the fear of this unknown enemy. Another aspect I particularly liked was where everything slowed down and the sound completely cuts out, this is an extremely effective edit and creates tension, fear and isolates the character from the scene, allowing both the character and the audience to really take in the horror happening in the scene. The transitions are clean and smooth, with a good mix of both shaky camera shots and still shots really makes the audience feel a part of the action. Although not to do with editing another effective aspect of this scene is the background noise, it makes it hard to hear the characters and really creates a feeling of chaos and terror.

Film opening Project.

We have been given a basic idea of what our final task will be, we have been told it must be a short film opening. A mark scheme has been shown to us and there are three main areas we need to focus on, Research and Planning, this is the stage we are currently at, Construction, which refers to the actual filming, editing and creating the opening, and Evaluation.

Cherwell Pre lim

The above embedded video is our updated preliminary task, the main change made was the difference in length between the two videos (this one is shorter)

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince --- Opening

The first shot is a 3D animation of the warner brothers logo, it is surrounded by clouds and is slowly being brought closer towards the viewer and the virtual camera, this opening shot is related to harry potters theme as magical conventions are shown even with the logos. The mise en scene of the lightning in the clouds also enhances the magical aspect. Sound is also enhancing the drama in this opening animation, an eerie sound of voices can be heard and the volume is increased as you are once again getting closer to the 3D logo, the screen goes white and the viewer is transformed into the next shot. An ECU of an unknown characters eye is shown interrupted by Loud camera flashes which are projected in sync with the flashes projected onto the main characters face. From the sound and editing really enhance the theme and give a clear target audience. The combination of sound and camera shots accompany each other to produce this seamless opening, the target audience is probably 16+ as it has scary aspects even within the opening.

By Eric Hesselbo

8 Mile - Intro

8 Mile is a 2002 American hip-hop drama film, directed by Curtis Hanson the budget was $41 million, a fairly low sum of money in producing such a large film the box office gross was $242,875,078. The film opening begins with some hip-hop music playing, presumably Non-diegetic however once the title has finished and the actual scene starts it is noticeable that the character on screen can hear the music, through headphones. The mise-en-scene shows a lower-class bathroom graffiti litters the wall, the mirrors are cracked and "Rabbit" (the character on screen) is shown in cheap, brandless clothes a plain hoody, hat and jeans. He is mouthing/dancing along to the music, he is not affected by his surroundings, this all contributes to the connotation that the character is of a "lower class". He is of a white ethnicity which, slightly after this scene ends is shown as unusual in his surroundings, where the characters are predominantly African-Americans. He is shown as the only character in the scene, the music reinforces this feeling of isolation with the lyrics "you all alone in these streets cousin". The character is obviously preparing for something, he is stretching his neck and practising rapping as he is about to go and "battle". Another point to notice with the character's race is that he is miming to an African-American male, perhaps connoting that he desires to fit in as at the time this film is set there were no successful white rappers, of course this displays irony within the film as the actor (eminem) is now one of the most successful rap artists of all time and has proved this prejudice wrong.

C.G

Sound, Doctor Who

During the first two minutes of this scene, sound plays a key aspect in helping the audience derive meanings and decode the scene. The scene starts with a woman entering and some non-diegetic sound being played, the music sounds like something from a western/cowboy film perhaps parodying a stand-off. This is followed by a male character speaking, perhaps identifying his superiority in the scene, he commands the female character who obeys, the sound is clearly heard as she unstraps a device, chucks it to the male character and he catches it. He then once again commands her to kneel, this truely shows his ultimate control over the her. He continues to announce his plans to the room, showing his arrogance and certainty of his plan. He turns round and futuristic beeping and voices communicate with him. This shows he is technologically advanced, he turns a ticking clock on which causes the audience to be aware of time, he continues to talk and something that is noticeable is that he is the only person to talk for the whole scene, this singles him out as the only important person. However she interrupts him by laughing, he is shocked and he suddenly seems weaker, the woman is suddenly in a higher position of power, although she is in such a vulnerable position. He begins to worry and his voice is a lot less firm re-establishing power in the scene. This shows how important the sound and dialogue is, purely by talking the whole scene is directed upon him and as soon as someone else joins in he does not seem powerful.

Analyse How Gender is Represented in this Extract of Prime Suspect.

Analysis of the first 5 minutes.


In this extract there is a strong connotation that being male is somewhat of an advantage in this workplace, or at least that the men in the extract believe this. However the main character is female and she is shown as very important, the camera regularly tracks and pans following the main character. However the male characters seem to consider themselves superior to the main character. This is shown in the first scene and throughout the rest of the extract, the camera first shows the male character starting the dialogue. He refers to the female character in an angry, condescending tone, dismissing her rights by saying that "now is not the time" to discuss them. As the audience we are led to believe that to fit in the character, who is female attempts to make herself more masculine, this is shown immediately as she has short hair and little make-up, she is smoking as is the man perhaps trying to create a connection between her and the "boss".

The following scene is of two male characters, they speak to each other as friends and equals despite the difference in rank. Their tones are helpful they are anxious to contradict each other. Once again another reference to the female character attempting to be male as referring to her one of the characters says "She's got balls". Hellen Mirren (the main character) is then shown walking out of the Commanders office, shown together with a plaque on the door it tells the audience that she is important appearing in the same shot as the words "Commander". She has got a smile on her face and has obviously just received news of promotion.

The following scene shows the rest of the office, the whole room is filled completely with men, many of them complaining about a woman being placed in charge. The boss character from the first scene associates himself with them, this creates a seperation between all men in the office and Mirren as earlier on this very character dissociated himself with Mirren.

During the next scene close-ups of both pictures and Mirren showing a connection between the character and victim, she shows empathy with a sad expression on her face you can see that she has a passion for her job whether other characters believe she is capable or not. She speaks quickly but respectively to people of a less superior rank than hers, she knows what she is doing and what she wants.

Preliminary Task - First Video.

The embedded video is our first attempt at our preliminary task, overall I was really pleased with how the video turned out the music worked well and we had a wide range of shots and managed to include all three requirements (180 degree rule, Match on action, Reverse shot/Shot). However if I were to do the task again I would make sure that it had constant continuity. In many of the scenes the main character is wearing different clothes to previous scenes, some "morning shots" were shot at night. We did re-shoot some scenes to attempt to fix this with the most obvious examples, however due to a lack of time a lot of the shots were kept. Another thing that I feel we could have improved on was that the ending could be slightly confusing. What is meant to happen is that the character is thrown against the wall falling through the wall before waking up in his bed, although I feel that it worked out however I am aware of what is going on and it is possible that the audience may find this confusing. Once again due to a lack of time we did not have the opportunity to re shoot this scene but I do not think that it would have made much difference. Finally the last point that I think could have been improved is that it drags on, I think there are too many days and it gets repetitive and boring, for the final shoot however we have reduced the film to just 3 days as opposed to 2 and I think this has fixed the problem.

Preliminary Task.

We have started filming and editing our preliminary task, we have decided to make the film a short loop of an average day, this day continues to repeat itself before the main scene of the short film. This is where the main character is robbed which allows us to fulfill the requirement of a shot/reverse shot with dialogue. The following scene is the start of the loop again.

Anchorage

View more presentations from charlie94.

If sounds and images do not work please follow this link
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B08Ig_w3wZo_ODc0ZDM0YTQtMTlmYS00MWRhLTgwNmQtYTc5OGM1MmE4ZDk2&hl=en_US

Preliminary Task.

We have been set a preliminary task with 3 requirements they are as follows:

1. Match on action (continuity editing)

2. Obey the 180° rule

3. Shot / Reverse shot (convention of dialogue)

Match on action means that the film should run smoothly and appear to not jump from different places for example you could open a door and cut followed by the other side of another door, this may be a completely different place but with a match on action you can trick the audience into believing that what is behind the second door is actually behind the first door. This can be used in many instances and on a basic level is means that every action should be followed by a relevant reaction.

For example in the following clip from Casino Royale it appears the whole sequence is set in one place, however each shot could have been filmed in different places, even different countries to get the desired effect. However a match on action and successful editing can trick the audience into believing that the whole scene is filmed in one place.

http://youtu.be/m5M5R2pcPJ0 


The 180° rule is about camera angles and how the scene is filmed, when filming the director should imagine that there is an imaginary line cutting across where the scene is filmed from, this line should not be crossed while filming this scene so as not to confuse and disorientate film audiences.

Finally the shot/reverse shot refers to when two or more characters are having a conversation it is the most typical way to shoot dialogue and it films one person from a certain angle before switching to do the opposite side but similar angle, zoom, focus and position for the other person while he talks before switching back to the previous shot.

Camera movement research.

How is ethnicity represented in this scene through camera movement?

In our media studies lesson we have been given a homework to analyse a scene from spooks. Giving particular focus on camera movements and how these represent ehtnicity within the scene. The scene starts with a crane shot and although all characters are seen as silhouettes on screen, it is noticeable is all characters are in different positions on screen, none seem connected and this could be interpreted as signifying racial separation. The shot then changes to reveal a white female, a black male, and an Iraqi as well as a bodyguard who is also presumable Iraqi. The Iraqi without a balaclava is lecturing the two captives. A panning shot followed him accross the room where he is shown stood up compared to the two captives who are sat down. This immediately gives a feeling of importance to the Iraqi character as he is shown higher up than the two captives. A close up on a photo shortly followed by a tilt shot leading up from the table to the Iraqi reinforces this feeling of power and importance.