Week 1 Planning

In our first meeting we discussed and brain stormed potential ideas of what our opening sequence could be. We all mutually agreed it would be a thriller and personally I was very pleased with this because the genre of thriller is a favourite of mine. Lucy was very keen to do a Victorian style film, although I agreed this would be great if we had the time/budget and materials, however we needed to decide on something which would be accessable and viable.

Personal response to the brief

When I initially heard the brief I was excited to do something creative but concerned that if I did badly on this it would seriously affect my media studies grade. I like the idea of producing an opening to a fim because it means we get to come up with a completely new story and haven't been given a specific genre. I am very pleased we get to choose the genre because I would hate to have to do something like sci-fi or romance, whereas genres such as thriller, horror, crime etc...are much more my forte. I am looking forward to coming up with ideas and deciding on elements such as props and costumes. However I expect some aspects of producing an opening sequence will not be as enjoyable, such as making sure each shot is perfect and the editing is 100% smooth. Overall I am very much looking forward to putting some hard work into something creative and hopefully being pleased with what I produce.

Juno (2007) Opening Sequence Analysis

                                     

The first shot we see is a wide shot of a girl, pressumably the protagonist standing outside her house and the word 'Autumn' appears in the top right corner of the screen, this could suggest that the time of year in which events take place are going to be important in this film. After this there is the use of a flashback which shows the audience what has previously happened and is beginning of the issue that the film is going to be focusing on. During the flashback there is the use of a close up to show a boy whispering in the girls ear and this gives an intimate vide to the action. After the flash back the girl is in her garden looking at an old chair and drinking sunny D, during this a voice over comes on where we learn that the chair has some sort of relevance to the plot. 

After this the song 'All I want is you' begins and the protagonist sets of on a walk and this is when the opening titles begin. The style of the editing is very interesting as it is different to any other that I have seen. The girl suddently becomes cartoonized and so does the street that she walks down. She walks through the town and the audience gets a feel of the setting (visuals still cartoonized at this point). The credits appear throughout this scene. After this she walks into a convinience store and the screen returns back to normal editing. In the store she buys a pregnancy test and we find out that she is pregnant. This information makes the flashback at the beginning clear. 

I think this is a very interesting opening sequence as it tells us what the plot is, introduces the protagonist and also the setting. The choice of music gives a feel-good vibe which suggests to me that this film is going to be light hearted and a romantic comedy.

Apocalypse Now (1979) Opening Sequence Analysis

The opening of this film begins with a fade in to an image of a rainforest and the song 'The End' by The Doors which could be symbolic for the end of something. This give an ominous feel. This choice of song also contrasts with the fact that this is the beginning of the film, not the end. It also casts a reflective feel over the audience and causes them to be curious about what's going on. As the opening progresses we see the rainforest burning and we now learn that the song choice is very appropriate for what we are seeing on the screen.

We then see a montage of dissolve and fade transitions used and a mans face overlaps the image of the  forest fire. This introduces the protagonist to the audience. We see a combination of the man smoking a cigarette, helicopters flying around and the fire for a prolonged period of time, with the song still playing. These visuals then slowly fade out and we see the man laying on a bed, smoking and with an alcoholic drink next to him, the camera travels over him and we see a gun underneath his pillow. This triggers curiosity amongst the audience. By this point the music has stopped and all that can be heard is the sound of the cieling fan. The room he is in is very dark and the only light is that which comes through the cracks in the blinds. From what we have seen so far on the screen the audience would assume that the man is not happy and perhaps going through a rought time in his life. When I first watched this opening some questions that arised were, who is this man? What has happened to him? And what is his relation to the rainforest that we have just seen burn?

A voice over begins and the protagonist says "everytime I think I'm going to wake up back in the jungle" this tells us that he has obviously been there for a long time and by the tone of his voice his memories are perhaps not good ones. Perhaps he is an old veteran who has returned home. As he lays back down on the bed he looks at a photograph of a woman who we learn is his ex wife, in his voice over he reveals that he had not spoken to her apart from to say yes to a divorce. This information links to seeing him laying in a dark room on his bed miserably, with the aid of alchohol. 

After this another montage begins of images of him in his room combined with more images of the burning rainforest and the music is playing again throughout this. He punches a mirror, breaks it and his hand bleeds. He then wipes the blood all over his face and he drinks another drink and then breaks down. His behaviour presents that he is in despair and is suffering greatly. The opening sequence ends with a fade out of him crying on his floor. This is a powerful opening and triggers many emotions within  the audience before having learnt much about what is actually going on. This opening is very different to the others I have looked at as it uses many more transitions such as dissolve, overlap and fade, there is also a lot of use of montages to show a series of things going on.

Gone Baby Gone (2007) Opening Sequence Analysis

This opening sequence begins with a variety of shot of an American community. These shots show different types of people, all walks of life, going about their own lives. Meanwhile the voice over of Casey Affleck talks to the audience about his views on community, knowing who you are, family, things he considers very important in life. During his voice over music of a piano symphony is playing quite calmly and in the background. The images shown the screen along with the music and voice over create quite a thoughtful state of mind for the audience and captivates them into watching the film. 

The character giving the voice over I assume is the protagonist and the audience actually learns a lot about him in this opening sequence. A shot of the 'New Testament Church of God' is shown which tells us the community are religious and that is a key factor in their lives. This is also shown when the narrator says "When I was young I asked my priest", which tells us he is a practising Christian. The audience gets to see the narrator walk through his town, looking and talking to people, suggesting he is well known and well liked within his community. We see he is a young man probably in his early 20's. In his voice over he reveals "I've lived on this block my whole life, most of these people have" this contributes the sense of congregation and in my opinion he appears to be the voice of the people of his community. He also says "When your job is to look for people who are missing" this suggests he could be part of the police or perhaps he is voluntarily searching for a little girl who has gone missing. 

After the sequence of his voice over and series of shot of people we see a poster of a missing girl and police in the area, and what appears to be the little girl's mother giving an interview to the police, surrounded by loads of people and cameras.

This whole opening sequence is very different to the others I have looked at, although there is a sense of mystery of who this protagonist is and where the little girl has gone missing, a lot of information is revealed either through the voice over or what is shown on the screen. In my opinion the community look relatively poor in wealth, however rich in love and this is why everyone looks concerned and upset about the disappearance of the girl. 

The way the voice over and variety of shots are presented is through a montage which was able to show all these images in a short amount of time. The montage worked really well in introducing the storyline and characters and themes. 

Constantine (2005) Opening Sequence Analysis

The first thing the audience sees on the screen is a view from a window from a Los Angeles apartment and we can see and hear a kettle boiling. In my opinion the used to seeing/hearing the kettle boiling to build suspense because it is a sound that gets higher and higher until it reaches boiling point, this suggest that something is building up and is going to happen very soon, this would also suggest that the genre of this film could be action-thriller. The use of the radio on in the background and woman making a cup of tea could be to represent normal everyday life and certainly does not prepare the audience for what is coming next.

The woman takes the cup of tea to the next room but when she slowly opens the door we see a girl on the ceiling who has been possessed by some sort of demon, the woman drops the tea and screams. We see the scream echo through the apartment building and then a taxi turns up at the gate and we see Keanu Reeves's character enter the building and light up a cigarette. His dark clothing suggests a mysterious and powerful character and the way he smokes his cigarette expresses that he is preparing himself for something pressing.  We learn his name is 'John Constantine' and the fact the film is named after him tells us he is the main character and the story is going to be based around him. He only speaks when necessary and comes across as quite 'cool' and clearly has a lot of authority, this is shown when the other characters obey him when he tells them what to do. 

In my opinion the editing of this opening is very interesting and adds to the wonder of what is going to happen in the rest of the film. There are a number of interesting shots such as at 48 seconds when there is a very low angle shot of the cigarette being dropped on the floor, this then sharply contrasts with the complete opposite type of shot, a birds eye view of Constantine leaving the taxi and approaching the apartment. The low angle shot of Constantine at 1 minute 9 seconds makes the audience feel as though they are looking up at him which is what suggests he is an authoritative figure. This is also shown at 1 minute 51 seconds when a tracking shot is used showing him walking up to the apartment door and everyone in the corridor immediately jumps out of his way. The lighting is very yellow toned and this could be because the setting is very hot and humid and also because the girl is not very well.

By the end of the opening sequence he has finished his exorcism and has saved the girl and her family, he goes into the kitchen and looks in his cigarette packet to find it empty, he gives a loud sigh which could be a sigh of relief as he has just saved another victim or a sigh of despair which intrigues the audience and creates a sense of unknowing, which is an important factor in causing the audience to want to find out what happens next.

The Cleaner (2007) Opening Analysis

The first thing I noticed about this opening was the intense music that starts at the beginning. This piece of music is a suspense building and similar music is commonly used in films to indicate the build up to events. Hearing this music tells me that the film is going to be a thriller and mystery genre film, it also makes me assume that there may have been a murder/death and that this is going to be an issue throughout the whole film. The music alone provides much information about the film within the first 10 seconds without having actually seen anything on the screen yet. 

The first image shown is an arial shot of a city and then a few shots of a woman approaching and entering an apartment block, this sets the scene. Then a voice over begins from actor Samuel Jackson which suggests he is the main character and we are going to see events through his eyes and opinions. The voice over itself tells the audience a story of a woman visiting her mother (the woman that entered the apartments) and finds her dead. He then tells us that it is up to the bereaved to clean up the mess that a death may have caused and that his job is a professional cleaner specifically for death. During this voice over we see the woman discover her mothers body and see it being taken away to an autopsy. 

After this the song 'Tell me something good' by Chaka Khan begins and this specific song contrasts with the melancholic theme of death that is being presented. Visuals are shown of the mothers funeral and Samuel Jackson's character preparing to clean up the mess while his voice over continues in which he explains the process of cleaning death scenes. After this the action cuts to a new scene where the assumed protagonist is talking to a group of people telling them what we've just heard in the voice over. One of the women he speaks to calls him 'Tom'. His name and his profession are the only details revealed about him during this opening and this suggests he is recluse and contained.

The dim and pale lighting at the beginning of the opening links with the issues being dealt with and contributes to the quite low atmosphere. The cutting of action is slick and well-done and this makes the opening sequence run smoothly and look good. I also thought that the framing used was very good because it showed the audience what was happening without showing us everything, for example, at 1 minute 3 seconds we can see the woman is dead however we do not see her full body, this add to the suspense along with the music. The actual credits themselves appear throughout this opening and are presented in a quite simple form that they do not take the attention away from the visuals that are being shown on the screen.

Did you feed the fish

Have you fed the fish? - Evaulation

For the perliminary task named 'Have you fed the fish' I worked in a team of 4 including Lucy Findlater, Madihah Culasy, Catherine Haggerty and myself. We started by planning our film in the lessons, focusing on where we would film, who would be in it  and what sort of style we would film it in. 


We filmed it on the roof and warehouse of Tudor Williams (a department store on the New Malden high street). I played the protagonist and Lucy played the character asking if I had fed the fish, while Madihah filmed and all 4 of us contributed to the editing and decisions of which shots we would use.


Overall I believe the four of us worked well together and created quite a good film which reflected our efforts. However next time I would like to make the cuts in the editing smoother if possible and ensure that the timing is %100 accurate. I would definitely work with this group on future projects.

Did you feed the fish? Preliminary Task