Film Opening: Evaluation 7

Camerawork
For our preliminary task we had to include three different things: Match on Action, 180-degree rule and Shot Reverse Shot. I have demonstrated these in separate posts on my blog, with my own pictures as demonstrations and they are all within my preliminary task. We used match on action and the 180-degree rule in our film opening. However, we were unable to use shot reverse shot due to the lack of dialogue and conversation in it. If we were to make the entire movie then it would have definitely been included. Using these three key filming techniques allowed me to achieve continuity editing which is fundamental for a realistic and fluent appearing piece.

 I was acting in our preliminary and so I was unable to film. This made me much more excited to film our actual practical task. I wanted to use a variety of shots in my film opening, we also used a variety of shots in our preliminary task also. This is effective as each shot provokes different feelings in the audience, if used well. We used close up shots to bring more focus on the content or the action within the shot. For example, below are two shots from ur film opening and preliminary task. The shot on the right from our preliminary, shows a character tilting their watch towards them to look at the time. The close up shot brings focus to this and so it emphasises the feelings of impatience and waiting.

We used many low angle camera shots in our film opening when filming religious imagery. This put the religious symbols in a place of power and superiority which fit with our storyline. In both the preliminary task and film opening we used shots that travel in and out of focus. I thought this was effective in our film opening as it suggests a sense of realisation as thing are becoming clearer both visually and mentally. However, in our preliminary task, it was purely for a unique shot.

Editing
I have progressed massively in terms of my editing skills. My editing skills were extremely limited while editing our preliminary task. I have learnt how to trim clips to how I want, edit the sound content of a clip, edit the saturation of a clip to make it look slightly greyscale, which made it look more grungy and so much more. An example of this from my film opening is below. Previously, the green of the grass and trees were much more vibrant and so we dulled it down to suit the theme and genre.

In both my preliminary and film opening, a slow motion effect was used. Example of this are below. We used this effect in our film opening to give the shot more of a dreamy effect. This contrasted against the actual content and intention of the film. However, for our preliminary task it is used to emphasis the throwing of the paper as if it is such an outrageous act. The picture from our preliminary task also shows a filter over the top of the image, making the shot appear as if it is from a security camera of sorts. Ella and I wanted to try and find a filter similar which we could incorporate into our opening. However, we were unsuccessful in finding something that fit our storyline.

Film Opening: Evaluation 6

Evaluation 6 from Millie Turner

Film Opening: Evaluation 5

Evaluation 5 from Millie Turner

Film Opening: Evaluation 4

Evaluation 4 from Millie Turner

Film Opening: Evaluation 3

Directors Commentary
Some of the key features of our opening are the religious imagery and flashbacks. The religious imagery is symbolic in itself and is imagery that is understood universally. It was crucial to the piece that we emphasised its religious background but also that we respected it in our alternative interpretation of religion, Jesus Christ and God. The flashbacks are key features of the thriller genre and we wanted to include these, not only for the affect they have on the audience but because it made the storyline much more mysterious and intriguing.

A production company helps create the film by assisting with budgeting, casting, scripting and more.
Our production company is Grave Productions. Grave Productions are a British independent production company that specialises in the creation of thriller/horror movies. The company is known by its logo of a negative gravestone with the production companies names engraved into it. This is effective as it is a simple logo and isn't overdramatised. The simplicity of the logo makes it memorable and easy to visually manipulate depending on the film, much like DreamWork Studio's does with the boy and the moon. Due to the company being one of the few British independent production companies, it works with independent film makers and helps them get their work, that would otherwise be ignored, noticed.

 The production company being based in England helped us acquire a predominately British cast and crew. However, this meant that our crew was relatively small. This is why we do not have an abundance of names credited in the opening sequence. A variety of jobs appear credited in the opening sequence, such as the Editors, Cameramen and Costume Designers. The actors are the first to be credited due to the fact that shots in which they were in, appeared near the beginning. I thought it would be effective if we credited the actors names while they each appeared on the screen. We placed the Directors credit right at the end because, traditionally, this is where it is placed. Arguably because they have the largest role to play, however I disagree. I disagree because in this instance, the creation of the movie was a team effort and could not have been completed without everyone included.

We tried to avoid attaining financial backing from the BBC as we were afraid that they would edge us towards the route of having our film on the BBC alone. This is not what we wanted as we were aiming for a theatrical release. Therefore, we attempted to get financial backing from the British film council. While waiting for confirmation of the money, we did look into equity investors. However, we did eventually get backing from the film council. A lot of low-budget horror/thriller movies are extremely successful. This is due to the fact that the audience don't want a horror/thriller for the actors, but they do to be scared and unnerved. This can be done on the lowest of budgets and still have amazing effects. Within the last decade, many of the best horror/ thrillers have been low-budget films made by people nobody has ever heard of before. For example, the first 'Paranormal Activity'.

My idea for a distributor would be Altitude Film Distribution. I chose this company because it is an independent company and I did not want my film to be distributed by a huge distribution and media monopoly. Also, because major studios don't make they're own films and they look to independent productions to finance and control distribution, if I went to an independent distribution company, I wold have much more say in how my movie is produced and shown to the public. Altitude does not appear to manipulate a films original cause to benefit themselves. As a low budget independent film, I also don't feel as if it being distributed globally would have had much affect as people who are used to big Hollywood blockbusters would have most likely turned it down. A saturation release would be the last thing the movie would need. Altitude distributed 'Amy' the 2015 movie about the cultural icon: Amy Winehouse. This movie was very popular in Indie Cinemas and subsequently did not have a general release but a select/ Art House release. This targeted specific cinemas, cities and indie cinemas. 'The Witch' is a good example of an Art House release.

Film Opening: Evaluation 2

For the character Christa representing certain social groups, I have decided to compare her to the character Lucy from the 2014 movie ‘Lucy’. Both Christa and Lucy are strong and independent women who have supernatural powers. However, in the beginning of ‘Lucy’, she isn’t always like this and appears very vulnerable and weak in some scenes. This is much like Christa who is seen praying inside of the Church, to a God that will not listen. This suggests that Christa is perhaps desperate and in need of help, however, the tone change in the piece symbolises her transition from a young girl into a strong woman. This is shown by the flashback transitions and her running away from the church, abandoning it. Flashbacks are also used of Lucy when she rewinds time back to the age where humans were apes.

Despite Lucy changing costume several times within the movie, as you can see above, both Lucy and Christa are wearing pretty much the same costume. Neither of the character’s costumes are used to sexualise them which is very common once there is a strong female lead within a movie, ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ is a perfect example of this. Instead, they were very plain clothes (black bottoms, white top) so that the clothing does not distract from their actions.

Lucy and Christa are almost from opposite sides of the religion v science spectrum. Lucy is surrounded by a very scientific environment and gained her powers from a drug. Whereas Christa is very religiously surrounded and subsequently gained her powers by being the second coming of Christ. The two characters are also different in age. Lucy is still a young woman but still older than Christa. Therefore, this suggests that they would attract different age groups however I think that the other defining aspects of Christa and Lucy will attract a variety of ages.

Film Opening: Evalutation 1

I don’t think that this is a typical or very common introduction of characters within a movie opening. Usually characters are introduced gradually by the actions they participate in within the opening sequence. However, we immediately introduce the characters in a rather formal way. Technically there is only one character but two forms of the self from different periods of time. There is a younger version of the character and the present day character. They’re placed in the same position with a transition between the two shots to show one physically transitioning from one version to the other. We chose to introduce the characters like this because it highlighted this transition to the audience and we also wanted our opening to include crucial imagery instead of the audience being focussed on the characters and their actions throughout the entirety of the piece. This is because I felt that the audience could witness this throughout the rest of the movie and the opening was for important and mysterious detail like the symbolic religious imagery. The opening of movies are extremely important as they set a precedent for the rest of the movie. The recent Bond films such as Skyfall and Spectre perfectly exemplify that as they have such intricately placed imagery with no real action from the characters.

Approximately half of movies contain the title of the movie in the opening scene however the other half have the title at the end of the movie. Personally, if I were to make the entire movie, I would have the title at the end of the movie. That way, the title is that last thing people see on the screen, and not only is word of mouth great publicity which is what the movie would want and so the title being close to mind would aid that, but also I just purely love how it makes the movie feel complete by the end of it. We had the title appear on the screen while the action was still occurring, however, we had the screen fade to black to show the ending of the opening sequence and to make the red of the text stand out even more. The contrast of the title on the black background really makes it stand out and makes it much more visually appealing than if it were on a really busy background, or with similar colours in the background that would obscure it. We used the same font for our title as we did for the opening credits. This is repeated in the opening credit sequence for the thriller ‘Enemy of The State’ - https://youtu.be/7Qznsf0i1wQ.  The text font in this opening sequence related to that of code which related to the storyline. The font we used almost appears like it has been written in blood and looks almost medieval. The religious imagery and the ancient appearing font link well with each other as religion has existed from the very first recordings of intelligent human life.

Many films, instead of showing the specific place where opening is held, they show the general area. For example, in the opening credits sequences of ‘Taken 3’, ‘Enemy of The State’ or in the television drama ‘Gossip Girl’. All of these opening sequences show either birds eye view or high angle camera shots of cities. This is due to the fact that the storylines involve different characters from different places, despite it following a central protagonist and antagonist. However, ours does not comply with this as we showed in the beginning where the action is going to take place in the beginning alone. This not only reinforces the prominent religious imagery but also compensates for us not being able to follow a physical antagonist as our controversial antagonist is God. It also doesn’t reveal to much about where the film is heading which complies with what my audience research results displayed and also the conventions of the thriller genre.

This shot reveals the character’s costume. There isn’t particularly any shot where it clearly displays the character’s costume as a lot of the shots are either mid-shots or close up shots. These tend to display the top half of the costume but not the bottom. In many movies, costumes are used to portray character stereotypes to the audience. However, the use of costume for us was to display the contrast between black and white. This may appear to be rather trivial however, when the contrast is further looked into it reveals a deeper message. We didn’t expect the audience to pick up on the contrast and its deeper meaning while watching but we hoped it would leave subliminal messages for them to recognise later in the movie.

 This is an example of the camerawork technique: match on action. We learnt this technique, along with the 180-degree rule and shot reverse shot while filming our preliminary task. These camera techniques are predominately used for conveying a conversation to the audience However, we had no heard dialogue in our opening. Instead we used it to emphasis the closing of the Church door. This is effective as it allows the audience to see both sides of the door and so makes them feel as if they are entitled to the entire story. Almost every film would include these camera techniques at some point. If we were to create the entire movie, then these techniques would have definitely been included.

The opening immediately creates a sense of suspense for the audience as a tracking shot displays empty pew seats and then reveals a character that wasn’t there previously. Immediately making the audience feel suspense fulfils a convention of the thriller genre. The immediate suspense allows it to build up throughout the opening and subsequently builds anticipation for what’s to come. We used flashbacks of the character’s former self to reinforce the thriller conventions. We also used close up shots of the character’s faces, dark lighting and music connoting tension to replicate these conventions in order to create an accurate thriller movie opening. To improve this, I would include series of montage shots as these are popular with the thriller genre and I would also make the flashbacks more important to the piece.

Both of these shots both include special effects as we slowed the shots down to give them an eerie feeling. The slowing of the shot goes against the thriller genre conventions as a convention of thrillers are shots in quick succession. If the shots are slowed, this is not the case, but I loved the dreamy like effect it gave them which is juxtaposed against the tension the audience feels and what the content of the shots suggest. Despite this, the shot on the left does in fact coincide with the thriller genre due to the fact that you cannot see the character’s face. This complies with the convention of mysteriousness of the characters, however this is predominately with the antagonist, it can be used for the protagonist as well as we demonstrated.

Film Opening: Risk Assessment

As our setting was set in a church, we needed to get permission for us being inside. The church is usually locked everyday apart from Sundays and so we needed to obtain a key. The church we filmed was the Ogbourne St George Church which is in the same village to where Ella lives. Ella and I were able to get the key to the church and permission for us being there from the Lady who owns the manor. We were to ensure that when we left, all the candles were definitely put out, all the lights were turned off and to lock the church back up again. After filming, we made sure to meet all of the requests and we then returned the key. When trying to find music that would be suitable for our non-diegetic sound, we had to ensure that the music was royalty free. Or, if we wished to use a produced song, then we were to ask permission to use it in our film opening. However, we did not need to do this as we did not find a song we wanted to include in the piece.

Film Opening: Audience Feedback Results and Analysis

Film opening questionnaire results and analysis from Millie Turner

Film Opening: Audience Feedback Questionnaire

Film Opening Questionnaire

1. Did you enjoy the film opening?

Yes

No

Kind of

2. What genre do you think it would suit?

3. Do you think the sound suited the genre and style of the opening?

4. What was your opinion on the production logo for 'Grave Productions'?

5. What is one strength and one weakness of the film opening?

6. What would you do to improve it?

7. Did the film opening reveal too much or too little about the rest of the movie?

8. Did the editing appear smooth or could it do with some more work?

9. Would you continue to watch the movie? If no, then why?

Film Opening: Final Piece

Film Opening: Credits

While studying other movies opening sequences, it's very common that the opening credits, if there is any, are placed the whole way through the film opening. If a movie does not have opening credits, then it's usually because the beginning is very action packed or the content is too crucial to the story line and it would distract the audience from it. When this occurs, the credits are put at the ending of the film. For example: 'Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl'. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfPYuI1cBpc

In the beginning of our film opening, the credits are evenly spaced. However, when the exterior shots begin, the credits cease. The credits return when the shots are back inside the church, after some crucial religious imagery. This is due to the fact that I didn't want the audiences attention being drawn away from the symbolic imagery and content of the opening. This is because as soon as the exterior shots begin, the tone in the piece changes to a much darker and Gothic theme which is very important for the audience to view if they are to understand the rest of the movie fully and if they are to fully appreciate the Gothic/thriller genre.

Film Opening: Ella and I Finalising Editing

Ella and I were really exciting to finish editing as we could see our final piece coming together quickly. We just had to finish the work on our credits spacing and a few final touches!

Film Opening: Production Company and Logo



We decided the name of our production part way through the editing of our film opening. It was when we were editing the exterior shots of the graveyard when the name 'Grave Productions' came to mind. We wanted to visually represent the 'Grave' aspect of the name as it related well with the genre of the movie. While researching production logo's, I came across 'Twisted Productions' that produced the 'Saw' movies. This independent production company specialised particularly in horror movies. I then had the idea that we should visually represent the production with a grave so it perpetuates the idea that our production studio specialises with thriller and horror genre and gothic styled movies.

When adding the logo to the beginning of our film opening, we accidently added a negative filter over the top of the original image. We loved the outcome as it looked much more apart of the gothic theme. On the left is our final image and on the right is our original design.

Studio Logo Research

The Universal logo is one of the most globally recognised logos. The logo is one of my favourites as it is so different, detailed and interesting. It highlights the universality of their company and shows how it is a company that will affect people across the globe as the Earth is the central image within the logo. This is also highlight in the moving image, of the logo orbiting the Earth. The text of the logo is bold and in capital letters, these both emphasise the studio's name. Universal doesn't specialise in any particular genre of movie, but predominately very popular HollyWood productions. The white aura surrounding the Earth suggests that their consumers are very important to them.

Another extremely recognised studio logo is the Metro Goldwyn Mayer's logo. The logo is a famous classic and is very well established. The gold reinforces the idea of class and also links well with the name 'Goldwyn'. The moving image of the lion connotes power, strength and dominance. The lion itself is also a rich gold, which reinforces the idea of luxury and extravagance. This is accompanied by the powerful roar from the lion (diegetic) and rich,layered orchestral music played (non-diegetic). The text font appears to be a very traditional and formal font which aids the studio's well established and classic appearance.

Twisted Pictures is the studio that produced the Saw movies. The logo's text is in bold, however it doesn't include any capital letters and is written all in lowercase. This suggests a sense of informality, which makes sense as it is not an extremely well known, 'mega' studio. It is an independent American studio. At the end of the letters, the colour of white begins to fade, thus giving the impression that they are partially submerged in dirt, imitating that of being buried. This idea connotes death and horror which the production company specialises in. In the centre of the logo, is a metal pole with bloodied barbed wire winding around it. This is an image that connotes horror, gore and suggests and speciality in the genre of thrillers.

Titles and Personnel Timeline for 'The Place Beyond The Pines'

The 'T' before a number means that it is 'Text one' etc. So it is the first text to come on the screen and 'T25' is the 25th text credit to appear on the screen. The numbers below that are the time they appeared on screen. Each credit shows someone who played an important role in the creating of the film and as you can see the Director is the last credit to appear on screen. This is because the Director is seen as the most crucial individual on set and within the creation of the movie. This timeline was helpful to Ella and I when looking at how to space our credits and which order to place them in.

Film Opening: Sound and Editing

Sound

The non-diegetic music we played in the beginning was a techno-classical orchestral and electrical mixture. The orchestral high pitched strings create and maintain suspense throughout the piece. A lot of the electrical sounding notes are in major chord and so give the piece an eerie feel to it. This is very similar to the music used in the opening of the apocalyptic thriller 'World War Z' which is linked below. As the piece proceeds into the external shots of the graveyard the techno-classical music fades out. Metallic sounding music is used, these metallic sounds connote physical sharpness like knives. This ultimately has connotations of fear and keeps the audience on edge. A prominent example of this is when the centre of shot is consumed by a large crucifix at a slight low angle shot, placing the crucifix in a position of superiority. A very metallic ring is heard, evoking the feelings of fear, thus making the audience feeling unsettled. This sound was specifically placed over the top of this shot because the crucifix connotes Jesus Christ and God, which are the two main characters in the movie and are the primary focus. The battle between the two is what the audience should feel worried about, also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQaSS1_EnI0

The change of non-diegetic music when progressing into the exterior shots is  effective because it highlights the change in scene. Over the exterior shots, you can hear the diegetic sounds of wind. These sounds were actually from the original footage and weren't added over the top for emphatic purposes. However, we did increase the sound of the wind so it wasn't overpowered by the sound of the non-diegetic music and subsequently unheard.

There is no dialogue heard however the characters are shown praying. This is because God is trying to destroy mankind, and so their voices will not be heard. It is to symbolise this.


Editing
At the end of the opening we used obtrusive editing, also known as a jump cut. This is when the younger version of Christa is shown to leave the church in a hurried fashion. The editing then jump cuts to her running down the path, out of the churchyard. This makes the character appear to move in a very abrupt way, which can be quite unsettling for some audiences. It also creates a sense of disorientation of time. However, this is also evoked by the first shot in the opening. The first shot displays every church pew as empty, but when the camera turns around, the younger version of Christa is shown to be in a church pew. This is also creates the sense of disorientation of space and time. However, this was not a jump cut as it was one continuous shot, with no cuts whatsoever.


While filming all the religious imagery, smooth transitions are used which contrast against the unsettling music. We used black fade outs to break up some of the shots. This is replicated within the 2013 trailer for 'Silence of the Lambs' which is linked below. The editing style replicates that of someone blinking. This suggests that someone is watching the character and their actions. This creates a sense of suspense as the audience do not know who is watching, if there is anyone at all. It also replicates the idea that 'God is always watching'. The blinking could also be viewed as the audience's blinking. This therefore makes them feel much more apart of what is occurring inside the movie and emphasises the feelings of tension, unsettlement and anxiety that they feel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuX2MQeb8UM


If you don't wish to watch the entire extract, skip to 1.27.

Film Opening: Character Profiles

Character Profiles

Protagonist

The genre of our practical task is a thriller. While looking into the conventions of thriller movies and the characters featured, I found that the central protagonists were predominately male. I didn't want to conform with this convention as I wanted to represent a female protagonist as strong and not the stereotype of the 'one in need of aid'. The female protagonist will be the heroine and will not need saving. Unlike in the thrillers 'Taken' and 'Gone Girl' and so many others where women have become the victims.

The gender of the character chosen, can be considered quite controversial. The main character for our movie opening is Jesus Christ. However, in this alternative representation, they are a female. Despite the global biblical depiction of Jesus being male, which he most likely was.

Our alternative representation of Jesus is a white female named Christa. Personally, if I were to redo the practical task but with the ability to have all the resources needed, I would have chosen to have Christa be played by a black woman. Despite Jesus being born is Jerusalem and most likely being black, the westernised white depiction of him is the one that has been globalised.

Within the practical task, there are two portrayals of Christa. One is from a previous time but in the same place, where Christa is younger. The second is Christa in the present where Christa is slightly older. Christa is portrayed as a young woman. The age of the protagonist is also important, much like the gender. Christa is a smart wise young woman and this goes against the stereotype that older individuals are wiser.

Antagonist

Our potentially controversial antagonist is the Christian God. This idea is replicated in the apocalyptic supernatural movie 'Legion'. Within the movie opening, a depiction of God isn't shown. This conforms to the thriller convention of not revealing the antagonists identity/appearance early on in the movie. It is left as a surprise to the audience.

Ella and I were unsure as to whether we would actually include a human form of God within our movie or his presence would be acknowledged by the crippling natural disasters he would force upon the world. Either way his masked appearance would have added to the thriller suspense and leave the audience curious.

Film Opening: Mise En Scene

Setting

There was a variety of setting that we could have chosen which would have emphasised the gothic theme we were aiming for. For example, a forest, an abandoned building or an old barn, as featured in The Exorcism of Emily Rose. We eventually decided that we would set the film opening in a church and graveyard setting. This not only tied in well with the religious plot line we envisioned for the movie, but also could be nicely manipulated in order to create the gothic theme.

Costume

I decided to choose a costume that was simplistic: black trousers and a white floaty top. The contrast of the colours was effective as it replicated the religious contrast of heaven and hell and also the moral contrast of right and wrong, both of which would have been prominent aspects of the movie. The colour white has connotations of purity, innocence, light and goodness. Jesus Christ is also primarily depicted as wearing white. However, the colour black has connotations of power, death, evil and mystery. The colour is still considered as a very prestigious colour, despite its negative connotations and associations of fear and the unknown. 

Religious Imagery

To aid the prominent religious theme throughout our film opening, we decided that it was fundamental to include a lot of varied shots, with differing camera angles, of religious imagery within our setting: the Church. Images of religious scripture, candles and crucifixes. Also, panning shots of stained glass windows.

Lighting
In the two shots which include the before and after versions of the character Christa, we used natural light from the windows behind and either side, to fill the dark space. This made the character appear more central to the frame and creates an angelic aura around the character. We used lit candles to create a sense of warmth around the religious symbols within the Church.

The warm ambient lighting contrast against the dark and cold natural lighting being let in through the windows, as you can see from shots used in our film opening above. The contrast symbolises the religious contrast of heaven and hell. However, the warm ambient lighting makes the crucifix (center photo) appear as a silhouette.