Previous Student Film Openings

I was able to look through the hall of fame and analyse previous student film openings in terms of sound, editing, mise en scene, and filming, they each individually had certain aspects that really stood out for me. Personally some were better than others but overall they all had something that stood out.

Victoria



For this particular opening I liked the whole ballerina concept and the music box soundtrack wich gave this really creepy feel to it. The editing itself was quite nice and reminded me of Black Swan! I just felt that the narratives could have been slowed down slightly.

Rex's with No Name 



I really liked the mise en scene of this sequence with it's high tech business feel to it and it really suited the music which showed the audience this was an action-thriller. I particularly liked the text font and how they edited it on the screen adding more of a futuristic mood. I was very impressed by the shots in this filming especially when we saw the same clip from perspectives and the different high and low angles.

Signature 



This I felt was the best over all. The music was brilliant, very gripping and I liked how it flowed with the titles. It reminded me a lot about The Stepfather and I felt it was unpredictable, I wasn't expecting a dead person in the bath. I loved the mise en scene, how it was set in the bathroom and majority of the props and costumes were jet white. I wanted to find out more and I wished it had carried on!

Structure of Film Openings

When looking at film openings there are 3 basic types of structures :

• Narrative
• Discrete
• Titles over blank screen 

And an additional fourth style what we like to call 'stylised editing' 

Examples of Narrative : I Am Legend, The Shining, Panic Room

This type of opening usually has the setting of where the film may be set and just has the titles running throughout. This opening in particular conveys a very calm feel to the audience yet the music gives off a slight twist, showing that something is not quite right and creepy.

Examples of a discrete title sequence : Final Destination 5, Seven, Enemy of the State

Discrete sequences have nothing to do with the actual film itself but is a separate piece of filming that is completely edited. It may give off a hint of what genre the film may be but doesn't show the storyline, who's the main characters and what might happen. This particular type of sequence our group liked because it leaves the audience wanting more and constantly questioning what the sequence has to do with the film.

Examples of Titles over blank screen : Psycho, Donnie Darko, Sleeping with the Enemy

Titles over a blank screen is simply what it says in the title. You have the titles followed by the narrative opening on top of a blank screen. Depending how you edit this sequence can become quite boring for the audience but I believe with a good soundtrack you can opening quite gripping and you may find it can build a lot of tension.  Donnie Darko is an example of this.

Examples of stylised opening : Mezrine, The Taking of Pelham 123

Stylised openings tend to be edited and filmed as if they were music videos. They can be quite fast paced with a lot of cutting and editing. In a sense it can come across quite glamours and suave having a very huge impact on the audience. It may at times give the whole story line away but at least it leaves the audience satisfied, enjoying just the opening resulting in them wanting to watch more. This particular opening inspired out groups ideas on soundtrack and techniques in editing and will take most of this title sequence into account.

Prelim Final Cut

Prelim: "Its a Wrap"

Rebecca and Hannah discussing the process of making our video. This video was recorded at the end of filming of our preliminary video.

Video of Rebecca discussing our video and Berkay running away.

Prelim: Edit.

Screenshot of our Prelim. 

In today's lesson we recorded our prelim and using Final Cut Pro we edited our video.
We finish our editting, thought about Foley sound and two of the members of used Soundtrack Pro to add a background music for our prelim clip.

In the process of putting our prelim clip together. 

Previous Students Work.

I particularly admire this film opening and have chosen it to discuss because the structure of the opening is similar to Se7en (1995) and uses a discrete title sequence. An opening that i'm particularly interested in and might use in my film opening. 

The opening follows a discrete title sequence with a stylised font. The students however, did not follow the title sequence convention, they did not include any production company logos in the beginning or any names of cast or the directors name. The title of the movie was left to last which is not your average film opening title sequence. 

Just watching the clip we can instant tell its a horror thriller because of the mise-en-scene. We had blood, knifes and chopping boards. The character introduce had heavy makeup on to portray a scary girl which we often see in horror movies like The Ring (2002).  Long black hair, slight covering the characters face with pale skin. The film opening also tells me that they have spend more time in the editing room that filming. There are a lot of effects added on to transition the match cuts and extreme close up shots of the objects. The background music is quite scary and sounds like violins being played, which suits the atmosphere of the sequence. 

To conclude, I like the concept of the structure of the film opening and how they took a risk by not following the convention and choosing to follow the discrete title structure.  

Target Audience.

A target audience is a specific group of people within the target market at which the marketing message is aimed at.

All films has a target market at usual aimed at specific film audiences. How do you identify the target audience of a film? Personally, I think Genre and sub-genre plays a huge role in identifying a target audience. For example, we often associate a romantic movie with a specific demographic, usually women aged 17+. 

Not all thriller films will appeal to the same demographic. No Country For Old Men (2007) is a drama/crime/triller and the actions, violence and crime will appeal to men more than it does to women.

Also, the fact the film is rated 15, the target audience of the film is more likely to be young men. 

In contrast, psychological thriller movies like Memento (2000) requires the film audience to think and acknowledge whats going on in the film. The target audience of Memento is more likely to be aimed at a more mature audience than No Country For Old Men. Judging on the content of the film and it's genre I say that the target audience of Memento is Men and Women aged 18+.

 Tower Heist (2011) is a crime comedy. The key signifiers of Tower Heist, judging just by its international release poster is definitely that fact the characters are standing on top of a tower show theres action. The characters (excluding the maid on the far right) are all dressed in black that can signifier their jobs as detectives. The actors can also give alway the genre, Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller are often portrayed in comedies.
The target audience of Tower Heist is I believe young men, age 15+.



There is no right or wrong answer in identifying a target audience because its up to the individual's taste. However, there are obviously boundaries. A 10year old boy will not enjoy watching a romantic-comedy.

Prelim: Prep, plan, storyboard & animatic.

Prelim (short for preliminary): an event that is done before head to prepare for the real thing. 

In todays lesson we was act to plan a preliminary match cut exercise. We was given a brief to work with and pick a sub-genre (thriller being the primary genre). The sub-genres was out of Psychological, supernatural and action. After planning we must do a storyboard and transform it into a animatic ready for us to film.

Brief: Film the following sequence, making sure to use at least 1 match cut, shot reverse shot and show your understand of the 180 degree rule. 

"A character opens a door, walks into a room, sits down opposite another character and they share a few lines" 

As a group we decided to go with a Psychological Thriller.  The plot is there are two characters, one walking into a top secret investigation room where a women is been held for questioning, the topic of questioning is to do with a top secret organisation (illumanti).

Storyboard:

 

            

Animatic: 

Other students' work

Our task is to create a thriller film opening. It has to look like an opening and not a trailer of some sort. Before deciding on the concept of our opening, we had a look at past years students' thriller openings.



I chose this students' thriller film opening because I felt the overall concept of it was good. The idea of a serial killer leaving behind a trail of origami birds was a brilliant idea as it leave the audience wondering who will be the next victim as they know it will happen again.


It was set in a small room beside a window, this was a good choice as it creates good lighting and ensures the footage filmed will not be dark or unclear.

Film audiences- thriller genre

The audience of a film can differ according to the genre of the film or the age rating it is given. Thriller films are targeted at a very wide audience. Like all genres, there are sub-genres which can tell you in more detail of who the target audience are.

For example, the film Bridesmaids is aimed at 15+ females.
We know this because the film is classed as a 'chick-flick' and most of the characters are female.

The Inbetweeners Movie is aimed at males aged 15 to approximately 25 (mid-20s).
The genre for the film is comedy and as the main characters are male,
we can assume the film is aimed at males.

The Stepfather is classed as a thriller film.
It is aimed at teenagers and adults from roughly the age of 15 to about 25, late 20s.
The film is aimed at mainly men as it is a thriller,
a genre which appeals to a majority of males rather than females.

Structure of Thriller Openings

We learnt about the different types of film openings: 

1) A narrative opening with titles running throughout

The opening title sequence of The Shining. The film opening follows the conventions of a narrative opening.
The opening gives the audience information about the film immediately. We can see someone driving towards a mountain with the use of a bird's eye view. This makes it seem as though the person is being watched on. The audience immediately know where the film is set.


Like: the audience are shown where the film is set.
Dislike: the blue running titles over the footage and the font which seems
to have no relevance at all to the film.

2) A discrete title sequence

Se7en uses a discrete title sequence.
The opening is not part of the film and is individually it's own piece. The audience are not told the setting of the film but are given little peeks of scenes which may be linked to the actual film. The film does not carry on from the end of the opening credits.


Like: the extreme close-ups of the objects and the quality of the footage.
Dislike: the font seems quite unclear however the font style looks quite spooky and mysterious.

3) Titles over a blank screen, followed by narrative opening

Donnie Darko is a great example of using both titles over a dark screen as well as a narrative opening.


Like: the simplicity of the entire piece. The character simply riding his bike sets the scene
and familiarises the audience with the characters.
Dislike: the footage seemed fairly dark and the opening, quite slow.

4) And what we call 'Stylised' opening structure with heavy editing

The taking of Pelham 123 uses what we have called a 'stylised' opening. It involves using very heavy and detailed edits and effects.

Like: the text blends into the film footage as if it is there. Required very intricate work and a lot of planning.

Genre & Sub-Genre

Film in which contain Sub-Genre means they have more than just a single genre. Many cases in the modern world do this in order to catch a wider audience target therefore to increase their revenue. A good example of this is the "300" movie. This contains a main genre of Action due to all the war action in the film, however sub-genres also follow because in this film the sub-genres are Drama and Romance due to loved ones going to war.

Here's an example of the sub-genre of Romance being inflicted to attract a female audience.

Here's an example of all the war, drama and action being implemented onto the film which for sure attracts a huge audience of men.

There is an effective trailer that i uploaded below, this trailer mainly targets the main genre which is action to attract Male's to come and watch this film in which the trailer is brilliant for that. However it does lack to show the sub-genre's of love and romance to such extent therefore looses out on trying to attract a female audience as the trailer is mainly based up on the main genre of action.

Foley Sounds: Editing

After recording our Foley Sounds  to go in exact timing with the video of title sequences we arranged in a previous lesson, the editing had to be crucial. In approximate we had to import around 7 Foley sounds which as a group we managed perfectly. Here's an example of one of our group members attempting to manage the title sequence with the Foley sounds.

Foley Sounds

 In our lesson this week, we learned about how to place Foley sounds in our edits. In doing so we made an attempt to make sounds such as; Footsteps, car acceleration and heavy breathing. We found out that this was not so easy as we fought it would be. Hard-work and dedication was vital to bring perfection, however me and my group managed the recordings and sounds perfectly therefore was successful in recording Foley sounds.

Here's an example of one group member taking footsteps whilst watching the video so we can get the timing correct, meanwhile another member was recording the sound with the camera and I was recording them carrying out the process.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is taking an idea from a piece of media and changing it to form a new piece. Like taking inspiration from a text and mould it to making a new one. Many different types of media use intertextuality, for example Disaster Movie (using inspiration and remaking fairytales and stories etc.) or even music videos.

 

The Simpsons used ideas from Ali G's show opening to create their own video.

Here, I compare the Ali G show with The Simpsons.

           Ali G's show opening                                  Homer Simpson (The Simpsons) copy

The Structure of Thriller Openings.

In today's lesson we learnt that there 3 different types of structures that film makers tends follow:

1. A narrative opening with the titles running thoughout
2. A discrete title sequence
3. Titles over a blank screen, followed by the narrative opening. 
4. .. Or a 'stylized editting' opening structure. 

The Shining (1980) follows narrative opening with the titles running thoughout.

Set up the story straight away, a car during into the distance, a very long journey because of the long title sequence opening. Birds eye view camera angle: Eagle (predator) trapping its prey. The high angle of the camera gives it a 'someone is following and watching' effect.

We have identity the narrative of the story: a man driving up to a hotel for an interview. Overall, the opening structure is very dull. However, there is a lot of narrative once analysed in detailed.

Se7en (1995) follows a discrete title sequence. A discrete title sequence features a stylised and heavy editted and the sequence is not part of the actual film itself.

stylish and discrete.

 Watching the opening sequence to Se7en, it tells us the state of mind of the character. The title sequence
is also shot in all extreme close up.

Donnie Darko (2001) has the titles over a blank screen, followed by a narrative opening. 
The tile sequence for Donnie Darko is extremely long and boring. However, title sequences are not ment to be exciting, the movie is supposed to escalate and building up into something exciting. Choosing this particular opening structure requires a critical soundtrack.




Stylized Editing is the fourth structure and The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 follows the structure. Edits are very sophisticated and the style of editing usually links to the film. Stylized Editing definitely requires more time in the Editing room than filming and every shot must be planned out!

The high speed editing and fast moving motion reflects the exciting thriller.

Out of all of the title sequences, I personally like the concept of a Stylized Editing opening because it looks sophisticated, not too clique and the editing can reflect the film!  

Re-edited film opening.

This is the re-edited fim opening for Arlington Road.

 
We followed the title sequence structure by putting the production company's logo first and the first title sequence repeats the name of the production company with the words "presents".


As for the choice of font, we used Century Gothic because the style was sharp, simple and just what we was looking for.


  The positing of the title sequence in the frame of the opening was just placed where we thought was convenient and did not over-write the figures or objects in the frame.

Re-editing opening : Arlington Road

Using Final Cut Pro to piece Arlington Road clips together. 

Adding the Title Sequence. 

During today's lesson we were set the task to edit the opening to Arlington road by piecing together seperate clips then adding it's conventional sequence using Final Cut Pro. Putting clips together wasn't as hard this time round but cutting and inserting text with transitions took some time to get used to.

It took longer than we excepted! The part that consume most of the time was deciding where to put the sequence on the screen so it flows with the clip!

In the making of our re-edited ver. of Arlington Road. 

Intertextuality Example

Disaster Movie (2007)

An american spoof about a group of young adults bombarded with a series of natural disasters whilst mimicking the acts,scenes and characters from the film and music industry such as Batman, Juno, Miley Cyrus and Alvin and The Chipmunks. The film contains a lot of intertextuality but weren't precisely using the techniques of the film as influence to create a more established film, just merely to use as comedy ideally exaggerating a characters persona. 

  Disaster Movie                                                                                                     Giselle Enchanted  (2007)                                                                                                                                      

                Disaster Movie                                                                                     Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007-2011)

Disaster Movie                                                                                             Juno 

Disaster Movie                                                                       Sex and the City