In today's lesson we were working through the marking criteria for film openings, and were told what factors of our films the examiners focus on mostly when marking our film openings. We learnt what to include in our film openings, and by watching and analysing previous film opening by other students we were able to grasp an idea of what not to include also in our own film openings. Some some of the questions we were told to ask ourselves were;
Is it an opening sequence? Do not give away the whole story is it a mystery? Is the editing done to create meaning?
Just from watching a few film openings we could see that some groups made the mistakes of including text such as 'Starring...' this doesn't portray a film, this mostly appears in television shows or soaps. Another key thing that we need to avoid when making our film openings is making it a trailer rather than an opening sequence. It is very easy to give the whole story away in the first few minutes like we did with out preliminary tasks. Miss gave us the advice to watch a few real film openings and mimic them in the way it is mainly credits. Another factor we need to take into account when making our films, and editing, is including appropriate non diegetic sounds to create the mood and atmosphere for our films to represent the genre, we saw one or two films that included music that did not suit the genre or theme of the film.
We analysed some film openings ourselves;
Roses are Red.
There were many things that i thought went well in the film opening, however some elements could have been improved. I thought that in one of the first scenes, the way that the this group showed the production company as a poster was quite fun and original. In this film, they also incorporated good ways of included the roles of each individual in the team regarding camera work, costume designing etc. In particular i really likes how the costume designers name was showing when the character was pulling up her sock, i thought this was clever. Another good way of writing the titles was included when the character was getting ready using her makeup, and the titles were written in the makeup she was using which i also thought was clever and original. On the other hand i feel that the opening sequence would have been even better if the focus was a bit more on the camera work as it was quite shaky, maybe in the future they could have used a tripod to ensure steadiness. The majority of the class agreed that the genre of the film was not clear. The music was quite energetic and quirky which made the impression that it was going to be a teen/ romance film, however we were told at the end that it was supposed to be a horror film. In the future, this film could have included more diegetic sound rather than focusing so much on the titles at the beginning of film. Also, the music should have more of an eery feel to it in order to portray the genre, maybe with lyrics.
Mother and I.
In the next film that we analysed i felt that the filming included good camera angles such as high angle shots, tracking shots and also still frames, there was a variety. The genre of this film was clear due to the production company being names 'Poison Pictures.' This name instantly gave us the impression that they produced thriller or horror films. The credits also were in red and had a blurry effect on them, which also portrayed the genre well. The simplicity of the opening sequence left us asking questions and wanting to know more about the film, it included enigma codes. However, also there were many things that i thought went well in the film, the location wasn't picked particularly well in my opinion. It was quite boring and not adventurous at all. The nature of the film was a typical film, and didn't stand out by being original.
A Schools Nightmare.
In this opening sequence the camera angles were particularly good. It included a range of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds which made the film feel more life like compared to 'Roes are Red'. When it came to editing the film, the group had chose to put an effect of the film which dulled the picture. I thought that this worked well as their genre was evidently a thriller/horror film. The darkened effect of the film created a gloomy atmosphere for the viewers, which represented the genre well. On the other hand, the title was not relevant to the film. The film showed children walking through the wood, however they were not in school uniform therefore the class could not make the connection between the title and the footage we saw, however we did only see the first few scenes, so the title could become more relevant as the film went on. Another improvement i felt this group could make would be changing the music as i did not feel that it suited the situation, it was more action like rather than spooky. The non-diegetic sound did not represent the genre well as i felt it was a bit too fast paced as opposed to slow and tension building.
The Edge.
The fourth film we analysed was called 'The Edge'. This film opening showed good knowledge of how to use titles in a simple way however still making them effective and intriguing. This group used there titles to mimic the background and the scenery of their shots. We saw a variety of ways the titles were presented such as slanted up against a wall, on the bottom of the roller skates etc. Although the layout of the film titles were good, when it came to mentioning individual roles of the team such as costume designer, director, editor and so on, the name 'Campbell' was repeated very frequently. This gave the impression that the film was unprofessional and not realistic. To avoid this issue they could have improvised and displayed different names even if they were not true as it looked better because it betrays the idea that the film we are about to watch took many people to create therefore represents the mass scale of it. Another positive feature of this film was the variety of different shots and angles they had included in their filming. There was a number of match on action shots, high angle shots, shot/reverse shots and also tracking and still shots. The non-diegetic music in the background suited the theme of the film well, it was very energetic, but wasn't too fast paced. Although the footage than was in the film was good, there overall opening was too long and go a bit boring towards the end as it was a bit repetitive.
Blitz.
The next film opening we looked at was called 'Blitz'. This was my favourite film opening as it was full of enigma codes therefore was very intriguing. The simplicity of the opening sequence and the plain titles was what made it so memorable and effective. In many of the other films that we had analysed, the groups had possibly tried to hard to make it complicated and fancy whereas just focusing on the feel and atmosphere of the film is far more beneficial to the viewers in order to portray the genre. The music this group used in their film opening was well suited to the genre. It created an eery atmosphere with slow paced and frail music. Mise en scene was used well, especially in terms of the lighting and the setting. Another positive thing about this film was the enigma codes leaving you wanting to know more. Nothing was given away too much in the opening scenes whereas in the other films quite a lot of the story was told, this makes the film 'The Blitz.' leaving us to make our own judgments of what we think has happened, and makes us ask questions. The very close and slow camera work gave the film a professional feel and gave the impression that a lot of time was spent producing this opening sequence. Although there are many things that i thought went well regarding this film, i felt that the title was not obviously relevant in the first few scenes. Also, the film was paced quite quickly for example it was quick to say '60 years later..' I feel that if they held this off for a bit longer it would have been better. As well as this, when the character appears with a gas mask on at the end of the opening sequence I feel it is rushed.
I am now going to choose three film opening of my own to analyse against the mark scheme.
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