Planning towards 'Lost but Found'

 

 Mind map:

 

For my media coursework I have to create beginning titles of an opening film. The genre which it has to be is thriller. To start my planning we have decided to individually produce a mind map of our separate ideas which we could later come together and share with each other next lesson. I split my mind map up in section such as, Mise en scene, Characters, Sound, Ideas, Props, Costumes, Locations. I thought that this idea of individually making a mind map of our ideas would  be a great way of using not only one persons ideas as it gave every group member a chance to be able to have an input as we found this was a great idea which worked well in the prelim task.

Location:

 

Originally the location was meant to be at Wollaton park as we thought that would be the best location for our planning but unfortunately as we used young children for our actors it was a struggle to get them there. Also we found it quite risky taking young children to a location which is a distance and being in charge of them. So we decided to chose a location which was closer to where we all lived which was in fact a park in our local area. We decided this would be the best location because if we needed to re film something we could easily do this as it was so close to where we lived.

Sound:
Throughout our opening sequence we're planning to use dialogue. We decided we don't want to much as this could give to much away to the audience but we decided that we wanted to set the scene and make it clear what actually is happening. We're also planning to use diegetic noises but emphasised for instance the sound of the swing would be emphasised to sound more freaky. We also think that some sort of nursery rhyme should be played throughout the opening sequence at some point as it could link in with the young children.

Characters:
We firstly decided that we wanted reliable characters as we don't want to be let down on the day of filming which could be disappointing. So we have decided that we would use young children as the main roles in the sequence as we think that its quite stereotypical which young children are quite scary and freaky but at the same time they could be more reliable as they wont be as busy as people our age. We are also thinking about having an older girl who would be in fact the mum of the sequence which would have to be in our age group but we will have to make sure we chose a responsible friend who wont let us down on the day.
 
Mise-en scene:
For props I thought that a gas mask would be a great prop for an opening sequence as they're quite scary and mysterious as you wouldn't expect it. Another prop I suggested was a teddy which fits in with the whole idea of a nursery rhyme relating to children. The make up I find should change throughout the opening sequence to show some kind of change in a character, so I thought the idea of doing make up related to a toy doll would look good as it would look spooky and original. For costumes I think that because our opening sequence isn't meant to give much away the characters should be dressed in everyday wear for instance the children should be in wellies as they're at the park and there mum wouldn't want them to get muddy and for the mum on the other hand should look sensible.
 

 

Story board:
 

After deciding as a group what we wanted to be the plot of our film we started discussing on what we wanted to film as our opening sequence. We really wanted the opening of our film to be intriguing to the audiences so you would instantly get that want to carry on watching the film. For this we decided that we didn't want to give too much away as from the research we had done some opening sequences had given the plot away to freely which was not an attraction to the audience to carry on watching the film. My group decided that we would do 3 different story boards for filming, editing and sound as we thought that would be much easier to follow whilst filming.

Our plan for our filming was that the location would be at a park where we all live which made it easier to get to but we also thought that this location would be good for our plot as we involved swings also that the location we chose was very public and it was surrounded by the woods which we considered to be seen as quite intriguing for a location to film young children.

The characters we chose was completely chosen around our plot which included of 2 children and a mum figure. We chose our characters as it suited the idea of it being set at a playground/ a park. The two children we chose was a young girl and a young boy who was brother and sister in our opening sequence. We decided that in the story we brainstormed that the young girl would either go missing.

As I was in charge of doing the make up I didn't want to go over the top that much as it could have looked stupid being on a young girl so I decided that if it didn't look that inventive I would edit the young girls face on the computer afterwards. Whilst we was planning our storyboard we all decided that it would be a great chance to show off the young girls face by doing a shot of simply just the girl at the end of the sequence to leave it on a cliff hanger and to show the change in the young innocence girls face.

 

Roles:

We originally organised roles for us all to complete during the whole of the filming of our sequence which we thought was very good but in the end we all kind of helped each other with everything as we thought each of our ideas was better than just one idea coming from one person. The roles below is what we originally planned to follow:

 

• Filming - All team effort
• Editing - All team effort
• Casting Director - Laura-Jo
• Directing of the shoot - Chloe
• Make up & Costume & Hair - Nikki
• Props Organiser - Laura-Jo
• Title arrangements - Chloe

Risk Assessment:

Whilst we was planning our filming we decided that we would go through and talk about the numerous of risks which could occur whilst we filming. Because of our location choice we are very public which could be a risk as for one reason we decided that we would have to ask the parents of the children if it would be alright to film where they was and make them aware that it was in fact for our college portfolio. Also another problem we thought may happen is that the public could get in the way of our filming so that we guessed we may have had to wait till no one was on the park which would have further led to another problem as we didn't want it to get too dark as we was filming young children we didn't want them to be on a park too late.
Another risk which could have occurred is the equipment we used. For instance the tripod, as the tripod is very heavy we didn't want to chose a location which we would have to walk too far with the heavy equipment. Also another pointer with the equipment being a risk and a health hazard is that because we was filming young children we had to make them aware of the tripods legs as for instance they could have tripped over them. Another risk is not only that we may get put in danger but because the equipment we was using wasn't cheap we didn't want to break any of the equipment for instance to stop breaking or dropped the camera we hung the strap around our necks so that it was never in danger of being broken.

 

Casino Royale Analysis

 

Casino Royale:

Opening sequence:

The starting sequence starts with showing the company indents such as Dolby Digital, MGM studios and Columbia. These are shown for recognition and credit for being part of that film. The film then starts its main narration with an establishing shot of the building the sequence is taking place in to tell the audience the location, weather and the time of day at this point. The establishing shot is also accompanied by the place name (Prague) in the bottom left hand corner to indicate to the audience what country they are in. This sequence is in black and white to indicate that it’s in the past and has already happened. There is no sound at this point apart from ambient sound such as footsteps and the lift door.

The first thing we notice about the opening is the unusual film noir setting which displays classic elegance and silence and adds the perfect mood, but this set alongside a very modern building gives it an even more unusual mood as the only light we see bounces off the glass walls of the building making it almost spooky. The camera shots at this point range from all different angles and use close ups at the same time to get the audience in a detective frame of mind and forcing them to think about the obvious changes in the environment, this again adds a spooky mood with a tinge of thrilling suspense. It is only until the character we are watching enters his office that we start to look for James Bond.

The scene then develops a darkened mood as the music fades in with spiking violin tunes that excite the audience's senses, as the character moves across the room our eyes are struggling to see any light and start to see things as the character and understand them as the character does. The pinnacle of this suspense is reached when we finally hear the voice of James and the audience is rewarded with a shot of his face but with his body covered. The shots are all slow and mid angled but little do we realise that they slowly reveal where James is sitting.

The effect all this has on the audience is making them search for the light in the room and with clever positioning the light only falls on James's face and the back of the mysterious character. Already the gripping music and mysterious dialogue maintain the film noir background but also start to make us anticipate some brutal action that reflects the gritty mood. Overall this is a perfect example of setting the scene; the soft realism makes the scene entirely believable and prepares the audience for a rocket ride of gritty action that hooks the audience in new way.

The audience's hopes are rewarded quickly with a flash of action completely separate from the setting we received but to keep the continuity of mystery the film remains in black which adds to the flashback's abrupt entrance. This highly basic setting for the action would have very little colour in it but by placing it all in black and white the geometric shapes become very drab and claustrophobic, which is perfect for the realistic edge the scene has to give. At this point we are drawn to the harshness of it all and almost request that the realistic nature of it ends and the man is dealt with but as we establish beforehand this is the first kill and it had to be shocking enough to give the sharp and cold image James Bond has about him. This is critical for me to achieve, if I manage to give the spy a cold hard status the chase will instantly look realistic. This combined with thrilling music and sound effects will ultimately hook the audience to every slight movement and make them feel the danger and seriousness of the situation.

After the initial flashback the action is heated up in the original setting when the enigma of the gun gets more thrilling. As we're so used to James Bond handling these situations with ultimate knowledge and being able to stay 2 steps ahead we start to fear for his life even more and wonder if the danger is going to be resolved. This works by breaking the conventions of a spy thriller and showing a weak spot to the hard shell these characters give off. I will try to replicate this as best I can by showing the spy to make simple mistakes but actually coming out on top afterwards.

 All the action is finally and supposedly resolved with another flashback that finishes with a brutal death and the slow realisation of what has happened. Expecting the scene to end with some more dialogue yet another convention is broken and the man is killed abruptly during his final line. This is yet again realistic by breaking the code of action films and not letting the villain finish his monologue, however it does add to the supreme suave nature that resonates throughout the whole scene.

Trailer:

Overall the areas of the film that I will take away are the film noir setting and how the strong use of black and white photography strengthened the mysterious nature of it. Furthermore I will now look into using longer flashbacks that break up the scene even more and give a more detailed description to the film so it can be as hooking as possible without leaving the audience lost. And last I will strive to use unusual camera shots that incorporate close ups, back drops, pans and slanted angles to grip the audience and show them something new.

I thought that the Casino Royale trailer was very exciting to watch as it was compacted with action. The trailer balances dialogue for instance the black and white scene at the beginning which you see first which is a quick paced action shots towards the end. There are also longer shots throughout the film which show the audience more of the film to get the idea of the plot of the film so that you’re interested.  But on the other hand the fats paced editing and the shots help to excite the action so that the focus is kept towards the trailer. The shot types are similar in regards to what they are showing; mid-shots and close-ups are used when the trailer focuses on characters and their emotions whilst they are shown or speak. Like other trailers establishing shots are used to show the location of the action sometimes this attracts viewers as it could interest you into the films location for instance in this film there are plenty of cites for which you feel this vibe from watching the trailer. Towards the end of the trailer, fade-in and fade-out is used to go from one piece of action to another. 

Throughout the trailer dialogue is used very efficiently. Unusual for an action thriller trailer long shots was used a lot and dialogue was continuously used which mostly in some trailers is only used as a voice over. The music throughout the trailer is very iconic and is largely associated with James Bond which is the traditional 'Bond Theme' which is used towards the end. Before that, the music is low and heroic whilst Bond is seen at the poker table and fighting during the inter-cuts. After that the music is in beats and starts then stops whilst a character speaks; almost as if counting down and Bond is running out of time.

There are titles at the end of the trailer which are stylised to front the Bond following. This is a great way to get recognition from the audiences which could get a lot of focus from audiences who of which may be fans of the James Bond films. This could also be the case in which why the soundtrack of James Bond has been recognized all around the world. 

Se7en Analysis

 

Se7en:

Opening sequence:

Se7en is a psychological thriller about two detectives who are hunting for a serial killer who has committed several murders which you later find out that he uses the 7 deadly sins to commit his crimes. I thought that the opening of the film has been made very clever and well thought out as it looked much planned and organised although at the same time it also came across confusing to the naked eye as there was lot of short clips in one montage. I thought because there was so much happening in such a short space of time there was many questions which the audience would have been asking themselves and wondering why how everything linked together. So I think this is one of the main reasons why the opening of this film is one of my favourite opening sequences as why I would try to bring this into my work.

Most of the opening sequence is a montage of continuous clips and pictures from what we gather as the murderer however it could also be the detectives as there are many props which help us guess this. Instantly the opening grabs the audience’s attention as they have many questions in their minds which may mean they are interested in the film and would want to carry on watching.  Of course everything is meaningful which is why the clips have been used. The sound is very interesting in the sequence as I thought that the sound fitted into the sequence alone as at some parts the sound fitted into the action. The screeching noise could suggest to the audience that it could have been a cry for help from screaming victims. The sound throughout the opening credits is loud, low pitched music, giving a sinister sense to it. The sounds are synthetic, with neglected to classical instruments. The pace of the song picks up as the credits progress and at the climax; there is spoken words and then a loud rumble finish, which goes with the thriller genre style. Throughout the sequence there isn’t much dialogue used as you don’t see many characters other than what we expect to be the main character that is played by Morgan Freeman. 

The titles and credits in the opening sequence are very clear and basic as the editing isn’t confusing at all and very clear to follow. Although I found that the font was very creepy and jerky as the font sizes wasn’t always the same this could portray the important of characters and roles. I also thought that the font of the writing could represent one of the murders and the writing was quite mysterious. As the writing was mostly white on black it didn’t interrupt the opening montage as it didn’t distract me from the other action on my screen which I found was a great aspect to the opening as the graphics was very basic and fitted into the montage well. I also enjoyed the fact that each credit was randomly placed which helped add to the mysterious and confusion towards the audience. 

I thought that the whole of the opening montage was very face paced which caused tension and excitement towards the audience as it kept the audience intrigued on why and what all the short clips related to. I also thought the strobe lighting effect also cause more of the build-up of suspense as it help cause confusion to the audience which could in fact create more question which they wanted answers to which intrigued them to carry on watching the film. Additionally, jump cuts are used to quickly know what he has been doing and they also may scare the audience.

 Camerawork is also used in the opening sequence to portray thriller conventions as throughout the whole of the sequence it helps cause tension and excitement towards the audience. For instant how the extreme close ups are used to show the audience all the different details to the film. Also I thought that by having many close ups it caused more confusion for the audience as they was unable to see the whole image most of the time so they had to use their own imagination. I thought that the shot of someone shaving their fingertips off was a great shot as it made it very mysterious and made the opening very disturbing for the audience to watch which may have intrigued them into the film because I thought it also helped create suspense for the audience as it may have scared them. The camera angles also control the mise-en-scene, as the extreme close ups hide a lot of the locations which makes the whole of the sequence even more secret which could relate back to the detectives as they are very private people and like to keep everything conferential . At the end of the opening, there are lots of jumpy shots and this gives effect because it makes the viewer a little confused about the situation but it also gives a slight insight into what will happen at the end of the movie.

Trailer:

The trailer for the film Seven is 2 minutes and 17 seconds long. I thought the trailer was very imaginative and very effective as I think the reason for this was that it’s very fast paced. I also think that another reason why it’s such a successful trailer is that it has lots of action in it but equally at the same time it doesn’t give too much of the plot away. I also think that the voice over is very effective and adds a lot to the trailer.

The first shot seen in the trailer is the Production Company’s logo for the film which is New Line Cinema. This is a great apple for some people as they may feel that because the production company is so successful the film must also be.  This also shows the viewers that their must also be a big budget for the film, as the production company produce big budget films.

The shot is of Morgan Freeman which is seen to be the main character in the film is in a dark and mysterious place which adds a lot of emphasis to the audience. This shot in the trailer I found was a great thriller convention shot as it added a lot of mystery which may encounter danger. Another shot which is shown in the trailer is the clock which is shown twice throughout the whole trailer. The first time is at the start and the second is in the middle. I thought that the reason the producer did this was to show the epic race against time and as there may be a time limit to the plot. The ticking clock is also the non – diegetic sound which is played for a bit of the trailer. By having shots of the clock it adds excitement and tension to the viewers as it shows everything is happening so quickly within a time limit, they will start to question whether they will be able to solve the case by a certain time limit. A race against the time is something which is seen in many thrillers, it is another code and convention that tells the audience the genre of the film, and they show how the main character has to complete a task of some sort within a certain time period.

As hinted throughout the trailer the film is based on the seven deadly sins which appear in and out of the trailer. They appear twice throughout the trailer there is only one scene that separates the two, so the text appears very quickly in straight cuts then there is a scene where Brad Pitt who is another main character who is running after someone who may be the killer, then the same text appears. After the second time the text is shown of the names of the sins, Morgan Freeman says “he is two murders away from completing his masterpiece” so that means two more victims left to kill which then helped to build more tension and excitement. Also I found that because Brad Pitts killer was running other than walking it caused more excitement and may had added more mystery as you don't know why he is running and what for. The seventh sin 'Gluttony' didn’t appear in the list, this could be because the killer already crossed out Gluttony or it could be that the text went really fast that I didn’t see it.

Shots for instance like the one on the right add to help establish the genre and add suspense of a sketch which may help the audience grasp to the detective theme. By creating suspense and mystery it keeps the viewers engaged. The shot on the right is of a sketch to give the viewers an idea of what the killer may look like, this also shows a sense of hope that they may be able to find the killer and stop him. The viewers may start to think about whom he is and by looking at the sketch it shows that the viewers may get excited as they may think they have caught the killer.

Because thrillers are known to be fast and powerful the editing in the trailer is very fast moving as seen in the trailer for se7en. The fast moving and editing in this trailer has worked well as it keeps the audiences guessing and to carry on watching as it looked intriguing. To show the action there were many quick cuts that led to a lot of short clips of action scenes, by adding quick cuts it adds to the excitement of the audience to watch lots of actions one after another. Key characters were highlighted with close up of their faces to show the audience who the main characters of the film are.  The colour red is used for the title this could be symbolic of blood, to show the tally chart is written in blood shows that every line is someone’s blood.

I thought that sound portrays emotions and creates a specific atmosphere. Voiceovers are used a lot throughout the trailer as it creates meaning for the individual characters and helps summarise and follow the story. The voice over says that Morgan Freeman is looking for a way out, then when they showed Brad Pitt the voice over said, he’s looking for a way in I thought this was a great way for the audience to understand the meaning of the characters straight away in a new exciting way.  The voice over also says ‘Now they are caught in a game’ to show that the killer is playing a game with them and they are the ones who have to solve the puzzle and find him before he kills more people, this also shows the audience how clever the killer is, as he is playing games with the police and isn’t worried about being caught. I found that throughout the whole trailer the individual voice over notes all created different meaning as above I mentioned that they created specific atmospheres. But I also thought that the intense music created a massive amount of tension for the audience to get focused on so that they would want to watch the film itself.

Taken Analysis

 

For my media coursework I have to create beginning titles of an opening film. The genre which it has to be is thriller, so for part of my research task I have decided to look at existing successful thriller opening scenes to get ideas and analyse them looking at camera work, editing, sound and mise en scene.  Also as I have found that many people get mixed up between trailers and the opening titles of films I thought it would look further into this and analyse the difference between the two for each film I chose to annotate.

The main point of a movie trailer is to promote and advertise an upcoming new movie. A trailer is a commercial clip of media which is taken from the film which mostly shows the best parts of the film in order to make the audience want to watch it which doesn't always go in order of the film. A good trailer would sum up the plot of the film so that it gets the audience its targeting interested into the movie itself for which it should be interesting and eye catching so that at the end of the trailer it has successfully persuaded you to watch it and go and watch it at the cinema or to buy it on DVD or online. A trailer tries not to give too much away at the same time as the audience may feel as if they have seen too much to even excite them as they may think they've just witness the whole of the film in less than 5 minutes. Most of the time a soundtrack would have been made which would somehow fit into the movie itself for instance Adele recently produced the soundtrack for the new Bond film 'Skyscraper' which is a massive publicity point as it brought massive advertisement to both the movie and the audience. But in some cases the soundtrack isn't always played in the movie itself it may have simply been produced to be on the trailer. The editing involved a lot throughout trailers are mostly cross dissolves as therefore it’s easy to follow and it being the trailer together nicely also throughout trailers they mostly try to concentrate the camera work on the main characters in the film this sometimes can be a massive promotion point as it could have famous actors or actresses in it so they would try to use a lot of camera work on them demonstrating who is in fact in the movie itself.

Taken:

Opening sequence:

Even though Taken is seen to be an action film I also think that it could be classed as a thriller and as it is one of my favourite’s films I thought it would be a great chance for me to analyse it and look deeper into the film itself. The film titles start with a black screen with the traditional 'twentieth century fox presents' which is in white writing this instantly hints danger and mystery to the audience. Throughout the whole of the opening sequence there are credits which are shown overlapping the action on screen. The opening sequence further goes into an old video of a girl on her 5th birthday which suggests to the audience that it’s a happy home video as you can hear a voice over of a happy father although the sound on the other hand suggest suspense as it does not fit into the happy cheery video. The camera work makes the audience pay more attention to the innocent young girl as it mainly filming her.

Later on in the sequence you get to see who it is who is watching the video and after guessing it’s the young girls farther you begin the guess that he misses her and guessing that he may not see her as much as he did when she was younger guessing something has happened which instantly you begin to start guessing and start to feel sorry for him. Whilst the father is in shooting the lighting has gone from high key lighting which helped suggest to the audience of joy to low key lighting. The lighting at this point help give the audience the feeling that the character is alone sad and worried as it makes the audience feel as if he is depressed. Whilst the name 'Liam Neeson' comes up in the titles the characters head come up from looking down suggesting maybe to the audience that he is a main character in the film and that you should pay attention to him even though at this point he is still looking powerless and alone. 

At the end of the opening titles it shows an ECU of a photo frame which had a picture of a girl on a horse suggesting that it could have been the girl in the video clip he was watching which suggests to the audience he is missing someone. At the same time the title of this the film’s title comes up 'TAKEN' this could get the audience guessing that the girl in the photo frame in in danger.

 Trailer:

I think that the taken trailer is one of my favourable trailers as I especially enjoy that they have their indents at the beginning of the sequence so that it doesn't disrupt the other filming as sometimes I find that it can take your attention away from the rest of the trailer.

Throughout the trailer there is a non-diegetic soundtrack quietly playing throughout its which is also played beneath the layer of diegetic sound. The diegetic consists of a lot of speech which I found to build tension for instance the screen from the daughter when she's dragged from under the bed.

The mise-en-scene at the beginning of the trailer suggests a typical setting and normal as the locations throughout the trailer doesn't look different from everyday life at the beginning demonstration normality as the main locations are houses. 

The body language and speech throughout the trailer help to recognise the characters relationship with one and other as for instance the body language between the father and the daughter is very happy and caring for her and also with the daughter and her friend they are very excited for something as they had planned something for them to enjoy. Throughout the trailer there is many props used to help build tension. One major prop is a phone because throughout the whole clip many characters use a phone to contact each other which could suggest that communication is a massive key throughout the film and that they may not in fact know the other person on the end of the phone.

The trailer uses a lot of fast cuts, particularly in the second half of the trailer, to group together the action sequences, which are shown at an extremely fast pace. Split-screen is also used throughout the trailer, to show both sides of the phone call. This is to show various scenes from the film, in as short a time as possible, whilst also creating a narrative.

 Throughout the trailer there are many different camera shots and angles which helps draw the audience into the action. In the trailer there is an establishing shop of Paris which helps show the audience the different location which is used through the movie. As there is many conversations throughout the whole trailer as well as the movie so shot reverse shot is used a lot to demonstrate conversations as well as over the shoulder shots. Also in the trailer there is a close up of the phone which shows points out to the audience that it may be a very important prop and may have a big impact throughout the movie.