Student Film Openings

The Edge

The opening was very unique with the use of wide range or camera angles and shots. This helps to see more of the setting. The editing is at a very high level as the text moves with the images on screen which gives a really professional look to the opening. The sudden upbeat of the music when the title of the film is shown is really effective because it creates suspense. Furthermore when the agents appear in the frame it creates an enigma because you don’t know why they are chasing the boy. The use of close up shots is effective particularly in the scene where the boy looks is waiting for something/one. This is effective because it shows his emotions through facial expressions – paranoid/distress. These shots cause us question what is going on, building tension. The use of music during the chase scene helps identify the genre is an Action. The ending of the further creates enigma as is ends on a cliff hanger. Also by focusing on the gun and blurring  the rest of the shot, it shows how important the gun is to the rest of the film. 

Analysis of Opening Scene

Superbad

Title Sequence Analysis

 

 

Skyfall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pete Farser's Talk

On the second of October Pete Fraser, Head of OCR media study's, came in to give us a lecture on how to make a successful film opening. Within his talk he told us what a opening scene is, the difference between and short film and a trailer and some top tips on how to succeed. He also showed us past film opening from other students, each video was a different level. This allowed us to see the difference between each levels so we could see how to make our film openings better.

Pete Fraser's PowerPoint's

      

Top Tips

1. Take Stock - think about the task set and how it will be assessed, the equipment youll be using and the time frame.  
2. Blog - you should blog regularly to keep a record of everything you do. 
3. Work on Skills - this is so we you get your final piece you are prepared for what it could be and what have as many problems operating things such as the camera and editing software. 
4. Investigate - look at other film openings similar to the genre of the opening your doing. Also looking at openings that received good grades is helpful so you now what standard yours should be at. 
5. Brainstorm - in your groups you should all gather your ideas together a discuss each one going through the pros and cons and give constructive feedback to help develop the best idea. 
6. Planning - list what props, costumes ect. you will need so your not running around last minuet to find items. Also you should carry out a risk assessment so you don't get any unwanted injuries. 
7. The Shoot - make sure you are organised, have all the correct equipment and all the actors are all well rehearsed. This can be helped by creating a shooting schedule so its all in writing what you need for each day. 
8. Editing - remember to take screen grabs whilst your editing for evidence of it being done. 
9. Evaluation - analyse your final piece of work fully and answer the questions correctly and in full. 

Institution

Most of the top grossing, most successful films are produced by one of the 'big six' filming company's. they are...

• Sony 
• Warner Brothers 
• 20th Century Fox 
• Paramount  
• Disney 
• Universal 

From the table below you can see the top films the big six have produced. also you can see the 'mini majors'. These are MGM and LIONSGATE.

Film Company Logo

I created my own film company logo. I came up with the idea quite quickly and checked to see if its was an original idea. it look me a while to find the correct fonts and choose the colours I wanted, but eventually I found ones that went well together and gave me the look I wanted. i made the logo in Adobe Fireworks.

My Juno

Story Board

Evaluation Questions 

Q1. You are editing your own footage, how did the filming go?
The filming went reasonable well. We managed to find good locations for our shots but it did take us a bit of time to find them. Also we had to improvise scenes such as the van scene where we had to wait for a van to drive past, because of this I was unable to get the correct camera angle.

Q2. Was your storyboard accurate?
My storyboard was very accurate and gave specific details of each scene, including camera angles and movements. This allowed me to easily film without the stress of wondering if I had got the scenes correct. My storyboard could have been improved by drawing in 3D and not using stick men. by doing this I would have made filming even easier.

Q3. What are the strengths and weaknesses in the group?
The strengths of the group were we worked well together which allowed us to film quickly and get the task done within an hour. Another strength would be Georgia was a good actor so we were not wasting to filming shots over and over. The only weakness of the group was my camera skills were a bit dodgy. Specifically during one shot I kept zooming out instead of in so this wasted a bit of time.

Q4. Did you get all the footage you needed?
Yes, we did get all the footage we needed for the film but we had to do some on a different day as we didn't have the correct props.

Q5. What technical skills, either camera or premiere, did you learn?
I learnt how to operate the camera but still need some practise as i was still pressing the wrong buttons on so e occasions. Also i learnt how to download footage off the camera onto the computer and where to find the footage.                                            

Film Pitch

White River

Our task was to come up with a film pitch after choosing a genre a random then present it to the class...

 

Film language

Boyz N the Hood 

q=boyz+n+the+hood+dutch+subtitles&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=BCA98CE309ED50662AF4BCA98CE309ED50662AF4

Mise En Scene

The stop sign is important for mise en scene. This is because it has connotations that come along with it, in reference to the context of the film. The prop is good because it makes the audience think ‘why have they got to stop?’. The Stop sign could symbolise the need for in the area because o high crime rates. It could be making reference to the voice over talking about the drive-by shooting and asking for these crimes to stop.
Camera
An interesting piece of camera work in the opening scene was of the Stop sign. The camera zooms in on the stop sign to show to the audience that it is an important prop. By doing this it reflects the importance of it to the whole film.

Editing
The transition shot that moves between the shot of the children looking at the blood to them learning in the picture in the classroom showing how dangerous an everyday thing is in their area. The colour of the blood matches the red of the picture, which is a coffin. The images of death in the shots tell us the world the children live in is extremely dangerous but is what they consider normal.