My response to the group decisions

I am enjoying working in a small group of 3 it means that the communication between us is better and there are less misunderstandings, it also helps that Lucy, Catherine and I are all good friends so we aren't shy around one another or afraid to express our own views.

I am very pleased with our idea I think it is practical, accessable and plausible. I am happy with each role we have assigned each other - Lucy playing the murder victim (Mandy), Myself playing the 'stalker' and Catherine will not be in it but is doing the majority of filming. This way I feel that everyone has an equal amount of responsibility and contributes and equal amount, this keeps everything fair and prevents disputes.

So far I believe everything/everyone is working well and things are going to plan.

Week 3 Planning

We spent this week creating a rough storyboard which I had the majority of control over, though I made sure Lucy and Catherine were on the same wavelength as me to make sure there were no mix ups or disputes. We also did some research into what each character would were, and for me this was straightforward because I am playing the 'stalker' and will be wearing the stereotypical mysterious character clothing (long black coat, black jeans, black shoes and jumper and dark eye makeup). We also decided we would film on Sunday 29th of January.

Week 2 Planning

We continued to brainstorm more ideas of what our opening could be and we all really liked the idea of setting our project in the 80's. Finally we agreed our storyline would focus on a jealous stalker who watches the boy she obsessed over through his frontroom window and she sees him with his girlfriend. She waits for the girlfriend to leave, follows her, and kills her with an axe. We decided who our characters would be and who would play them. In my opinion all our planning so far had gone very well, we all agreed on our idea and felt comfortable enough to question anything. We began story boarding and discussing what props/costumes we would need.

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.