Planning - 31/01/13 Screenshots, Storyboard, Production Schedule & Further Tweaking.

In todays lesson we focussed on taking screenshots for the storyboard. We took all of our pictures in the park right outside the college called Owens Field. As we didn't have all the props with us we improvised, for example Layla did not have the walking stick we are going to use in our film opening so we used a stick that we found in the park. Also we didn't have any shopping bags so we used Ami's bag  for the storyboard pictures.

Also we found someone to play the role of the jogger as Emma contacted an old friend who attended the college last year. We all agreed that he fit the part well and also he took media as a A Level last year so he has experience with filming and acting in a thriller as he participated in a thriller film opening last year. 

Taking these pictures turned out to be handy as we noticed little things to look out for when filming our film opening. For example to making it seemed like our jogger had actually been jogging we would have to wet his face with water to make it seem sweaty and more realistic. Also when taking the pictures we had to make sure that Layla's face was always covered by her hair or her coat, as in the beginning of the film she is meant to appear as a very old woman.

After taking the shots we came back to class and uploaded them to the blog. When this was finished we sat down as a group and discussed what times we were all free to film. We noticed that this was tricky as we were all busy at different times of the day but we finally came to a decision that our best days to film would be in the evening on Monday and Tuesday. 

We all worked on blogging after coming back from taking our storyboard pictures.

I decided to blog about the events of today.

Once we had worked out filming times and finished our storyboard we asked our teacher if she would take a look at our storyboard and offer some advice. After showing our storyboard to Rebecca she pointed out that we could consider changing our storyline so that the old woman drops her shopping bags instead of bumping into the jogger. Rebecca advised this as the jogger bumping into the old woman would give the old woman a reason to hit him later and this may send the wrong idea to audience as that isn't the reason why she kills him.

Towards the end of the lesson our group discussed how we would prepare for the upcoming pitch with our teachers. We decided to meet at lunchtime before our pitch so that we could run over who was saying what and that everyone in the group was clear on what they were doing.

conventions of a thriller

Conventions of a thriller - Sinister 

The film sinister is actually a horror movie but there are many cross over conventions that link to a thriller movie such as:

• The dark lighting used to create tension
• The use of special effect editing to create a jumpy atmosphere
• The music used is very tense  
• Confusing the audience with the storyline so keeps the audience on the edge of their seat.

(Dark lighting)

(special effects)

Planning - Target Audience

For our film opening we decided to have a psychological thriller as the sub-genre. Due to this we thought that the target audience should be an older audience as they would need to have an intellectual mind to be able to understand the concept of our film.

If a younger audience watched our film they may not understand it and therefore it may bore them which is why a psychological thriller is more suited for an older audience. Also psychological thrillers often have scenes that contain violence and some psychological issues that may be very disturbing for younger audiences.

Through previous research tasks we found that psychological thrillers usually seem more appealing to males and that most psychological films have older males as their target audience.

Females, especially young females, usually don't watch psychological thrillers as they are usually more interested in fantasy, comedy or romance.

Examples of Psychological Thrillers.

Momento (2000)

The Shining 1980

Taxi Driver 1976

Institutional detail.

Institutional detail

which film company would produce your movie and how would it affect

production, distribution and exhibition. 

 I researched companies that produce low budget films and i got:

• rooks nest entertainment 
• wild horses film company 
• the Edison Trust
• the society of independent motion picture producers 
• outside Hollywood

All these film production companies are independent companies that help produce low budget films. Having a independent company produce your film have many cons to it affects the production distribution and exhibition of the film as they don't have a lot of money to finance the film in a great way.
It would affect production because the actors that feature in the film will not be known stars and will be likely to be there first film, the equipment used in filming the movie wouldn't be the best on the market meaning the quality of the picture and sound will not be the best it could be if there was more money into the movie.

It would affect distribution because any advertisement, for example: posters or billboards would be very limited to few and will only feature in the local area of the film, therefor not many people would find out about the film so there wouldn't be much interest in the film.

It would affect Exhibition because it wouldn't feature in the main known cinemas and if it dose it wouldn't be in any ones that are in main locations for example: the West end as the prices there are more expensive then a cinema in rural areas, so if the film is only shown in these ares there would be a small number of people who get the see the film.

• 
  

Evaluation of prelim

Evaluation of prelim

before we started filming the prelim we planned what we was going to do, we created a story board to work from what told us what shots we was going to use and what angles they should be in. 

In the next lesson we started filming the prelim what we didn't have a lot of time for. We used a fig-rig to film the prelim to ensure that the camera was still as we have to hand hold the camera to do the shots needed.  When i am walking through the corridor the lighting is very dark and it is not very clear. To have prevented this we could have used a spot light above the camera pointing in the direction of filming.The only other thing i would change for next time would be to take more shots of the same thing even if we think we have got them all, because sometimes when editing it can be a bit jumpy if we don't have the correct shot what happened to us when i walked through the door just before the match cut.

Also when the over the shoulder shot was taken it was very hard because of the small conditions we was in.

(bad lighting conditions)

Foley Sound

Foley sound is the recreation of everyday sounds. These could be the from breathing to the sound of doors. These sounds are used in films, television and any footage which requires sound.

Our re make of the film opening for "Arlington Road" was missing sound throughout so we needed to add sound to create an effective opening. We recorded footsteps which were recorded with the microphone. During editing we had to manipulate the speed of both the video and sound as the pace was off. This had to be done so the sound was in sync with the footage. From this we learned that it would be best to have a hold of the footage so we can mimic the pace and speed of the footage so it's all in sync.

We recorded the shuffling of some tissue to create a windy and eerie sound. The sound was in the background of when the little boy was looking around to portray his confusion and state of mind at the time of the shot. From this we learned that it is good to use weather to portray feelings and state of minds of an individual.

We also recorded doors closing however it didn't work well with the footage so we decided to not include it in the opening. We made the screeching sound of the car by using nails scratching against a wall. This was the closest thing to the screeching of a car we could make as before we attempted to use our mouths. The use of our mouths sounded to fake so the idea was dismissed. From this we learned that it would be better to use the actual sounds of what we want to make it seem more genuine.

Lastly in the future, we plan to have sound or music play throughout the whole sequence in order make it seem consistent and not disruptive.

Re-editing a film opening

Our film opening that needed re editing was the film "Arlington Road". The films opening was splits into different sections which we were told re edit.

Our job was to recreate and find the correct order of the film opening which made sense. We were given two company idents and these were the first clips that were featured in the opening. This was followed by the name of actors which were deemed as popular as they appeared before the film title.

After the film title we included some more actors that were less popular than the previous three. These included the directors, producers, editors and more. The director was last to be featured as thats how most film openings are.

Final edit including Title sequences

All the actors and crew members texts were in the same font which was a white plain font however the film titles was the only text that was different. It was bigger than the others but had the same font and colour. One problem which was realised is that the font colour clashed with the footage behind, thus making it harder to read the credits.

Once we finished re editing the opening and including title sequences, we were told to create some foley sound that matches the opening. We went away with a microphone and went around the area to record sounds. We used doors, paper, walls and ourselves to create the sounds. We came across problems such as sounds being to fast for the footage which resulted in slowing down footage and speeding up sound and vice versa.

Conventional Order of a Film Opening

The convential order of a normal film opening would open with a production companies ident followed by the distribution company. This is followed by either actors or the film title, there is a variation in order depending on how known an actor is. If an actor isn't well known, the titles would appear first. 

After the film title appears, more actors will be credited whether appearing in groups or individually. Shortly after more actors appear, more people will appear such as the;

• casting agents, 
• costumes, designers, 
• music supervisors, 
• editors, 
• production designers,
• producers,
• directors

All film openings have different conventional orders as the people involved may have different statuses in the film industry. Some films with different conventional orders are Memento and The Roommate. 

Memento's Conventional Order:

Production Company 1 at 2 seconds

Distribution Company 1 at 8 seconds

Distribution Company 2 at 13 seconds

Production Company 2 at 17 seconds

Writer at 22 seconds

Actor 1 at 27 seconds

Actor 2 at 31 seconds 

Actor 3 at 35 seconds 

Film titles at 40 seconds

Actor 4 at 48 seconds 

Actor 5/6 at 51 seconds 

Actor 7/8 at 55 seconds

Casting by at 61 seconds 

Music by at 64 seconds 

Costume by at 69 seconds 

Editor at 72 seconds

Production designer at 76 seconds 

Director of Photography at 81 seconds 

Co-Producer at 84 seconds 

Co-executive producer at 89 seconds 

Executive producers at 94 seconds 

Producers at 97 seconds 

Screenplay and Story author at 103 seconds 

Director at 108 seconds

The Roommate's Conventional Order: 

Production Company 1 at 6 seconds 

Distribution Company 1 at 16 seconds

Production Company 2 at 21 seconds

Film Title at 25 seconds

Actor 1 at 32 seconds

Actor 2 at 37 seconds

Actor 3 at 42 seconds

Actor 4 at 46 seconds

Actor 5 at 51 seconds

Actor 6 at 55 seconds

Actor 7 at 59 seconds

Actor 8 at 64 seconds

Actor 9/10 at 72 seconds

Casting agents at 77 seconds

Costume designer at 85 seconds

Music Supervision at 91 seconds

Music by at 104 seconds

Editing by at 109 seconds

Production designer at 111 seconds

Director of Photography at 114 seconds

Executive Producers at 121 seconds

Producers at 125 seconds

Writers at 129 seconds

Directors at  134 seconds

 Comparison of Memento and The Roommate:

Both opening start off with a production company which is then followed by the distribution company and another production company. Memento then has three actors which is followed by the film title unlike The Roommate which has the film title first. This is probably because the actors in one film are more known than the other. In Memento the writers are one of the first to appear whereas in The Roommate the writer is one of the last. However in both film openings, the director is the last to appear in the opening to signify their importance. 

Analysing a film opening 1.

Analysing a film opening 1.

The film opening i have choose to analyse is 

'the taking of pelham 123'

The type of opening for this film is

'stylized editing' 

Sound:

The opening starts off with a deep drum beat and a screatching tyre on road skiddidng sound behind it that is non-digetic. After the production comapanys come up the non digetic sound changes to a much more up beat higher pitched sound that tell us it is a action packed film. Inbetween the sound there is a repeated dialoge sound saying 'whoo' which follows with a male voice rapping which is still non-digetic, from this we get the idea that the film is still action pack and mainly male orientated. When the train is in the shot the sound matchs what is being seen as we hear a fast train sound. The style changes for a few seconds to the narrative so we where diologe of two characters speaking so that we can get a insite to the narrative. it then goes back to the stylized editing where we hear lots of sound like: cars, horns, lots of people talking at once and trains, this tells us that the location is going to be a city.

Mise En Scene:

The first thing we get too see is the location of where the film is set, se get too see the skyline of NYC so we see lots of high building and sky scrapers. We quickly get introduced the city where we get too see it is full of people and transport. After seeing all busy city it changes to one man standing at a train station, it may have stopped on him because he might be the main character or one of the main characters. When the style change it takes sus too a office where the character are smartly dressed, this could tell us that the film also has a very serious element to it after the busy fun life style, The office has large computers covering the walls telling us what happens in the office which is an insite to the movie. It goes back to the city life where two men are standing at a train station with a very serious expressoin on there faces telling us there is either conflict between them or there is a bigger problem involving them.

Camera:

The first shot we see is the skyline of NYC, the camera pan's across it too lead the audiences eye through america and make them feel as if the are getting introduced to the location. The camera shows a birds eye view of the city which changes between a straight on shot and differenciates between angles. There is a close up on one man who has been edited too be at a slower pase from everyone else, this is done becasue he is a main character in the film. The camera dose a close up of four things one after another being; the subway station sign, a bag a man is holding, a logo on another mans jacket and then his face. This is done because all things are most likey to be connected to each other. The majourty of the rest of the film is all in mid shoots apart from when there are close ups on important signs and people in the film.

Editing: 

The opening is edited from the start, when the camera pans through the skline of NYC it is in slow motion so it give the audience time to connect with the location, it suddnely changes to fast motion where you can just about tell what is going on becase of how fast the speed is, this is used so that the audience can tell that life in the center of NYC is very busy and fast going. When the close up on the man happens he is put in slow motion when the rest are in fast still, this happens because it makes him stand out from the rest and is a main character in the film.  

PLANNING - Initial Ideas

Initial Ideas:

 We discussed as a group our initial idea of an elderly lady needing help and being offered help from a stranger. We have looked at different film openings to develop our ideas. One of the film openings that inspired us was Mezrine which used a narrative opening although it had elements of discrete and stylised opening. We admired the use of split screens which we may include in our opening. The opening itself was discrete and did not expose the plot of the film. The titles in the opening used the blank space to create an  intresting yet professional.

Planning - Initial Ideas

In this video I speak of our first film opening ideas and current idea, why we changed it and also I talk about locations, props and costume.

Planning - First Ideas

First Ideas:
As a group we discussed a few ideas about out opening thriller, we came up with the concept of a kidnapping/stalker that created more ideas. These ideas were:

• A child being kidnapped
• A lady being stalked 

All these idea would be used in junction with stylised  editing or a discrete opening. However once we did some research and asked a few people, it became apparent that these ideas are slightly cliche so we had to think of a new idea. 

After a few days, we had another discussion and the idea of an old lady being helped by a stranger was introduced to us by Nyomi. The old lady would be walking home alone with her shopping bags thus needing help from a stranger to carry them. The opening would have to be discrete so it would confuse the audience. 

RESEARCH - Different Types Of Structure Of A Film Opening

There are three most popular title sequences that women are used to seeing, these are:

• Discrete Title Sequences
• A narrative opening with the titles running throughout.
• Titles on a plain background, followed by the narrative opening.

Discrete Title Sequences
Discrete title sequences are separately edited sequences that stand apart from the film opening. They are stylised and heavily edited, and they support nearly all of the opening credits and film title. A good example of this is Seven.

Seven (1995)

Narrative Opening
In a narrative opening, the sequence is part of the film and we may be introduced to the main characters or we may see parts of the location that the movie is set in. A good example of this is in The Roomate.

The Roomate (2011)

Titles Over A Blank Screen
This is the least effective title sequence. It is simply a black screen with text that usually informs you of the actors, directors and production company. This title sequence is the title sequence that is least effective as it is least likely to gain the attention of the audience and draw them in to the film as it fails to create an atmosphere. A good example of this is the film Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko (2001)

A Stylized Editing
A Stylized Opening is usually heavily edited. If done well the title sequence can look amazing and very sophisticated. This is used well in the film The Taking Of Pelham.

The Taking Of Pelham (2009)

RESEARCH - Previous Student Film Opening

I decided to watch the film opening Violet, which was a film opening made by previous A2 students who took media studies.

MISE EN SCENE

Location

The location chosen for the film opening worked very well. The students used a wood for part of the film opening and it helped to create a thrilling atmosphere that had the audience on edge. Parts of the opening were also filmed in a house. The house seemed quite old fashioned which worked well with the openng as I dont think it would have been as scary if it was filmed in a modern house.

Lighting

Low key lighting is used n majority of the film opening aprt from when camera effects are used to change the contrast on the screen. The low key lights creates tension and is often used in many thrillers so it works well when creating a spooky atmosphere.

Costume

The main character was dress in a plan white dress. The colourof this worked well as we could see the blood clearly which would have been harder if she was wearing dark colours. The use of blood on her clothes makes the audience wonder how it got there andimplies someone has been killed or injured.

Props

There weren't many props used in this film opening. The props used were photographs which were on screen when a person was looking through them and this was only a screen for a breif amount of time.

EDITING

Personally I think the editing shown in Violet was the best part of the opening. Layered images and short quick shots are used to create a thrilling atmosphere. A good example of layered images in the opening is the part in the woods which gives a distorted picture. A good example of the short quick shots is shown at the end of the opening and this is used very well as the sequence of shots come to a abburpt end when the person shown on camera wakes up inplying they were having a nightmare.

SOUND

The loudest sound used is the music which is played throughout the whole film opening. There also scratching sounds and sound effects such as the wind which is used when we see the girl in the woods, also we hear an owl noise which gives a realistic feel to the opening. The sounds also work well together when merged into one sequence and the use of multiple sounds has been done well.

CAMERA 

Long shots are used when the girl is in the woods so that we can view her whole body and track her movement. This changed when we see her body in the house and we have medium shots of her face as the camera tracks down her body.

RESEARCH- students film opening

Students Film Opening

The students film opening i looked at was 

"STROKE".

Sound:

The sound used at the beginning of the opening sounds like a a record being continuously scratched while the first set of titles are coming up, this creates a creeping atmosphere, the non diegetic sound is strongley edited. When the titles fade off the screen the sound suddenly stops what gives the viewer a tense athmosphere; they have edited the sound to fit in with the titles for example, when the production team title flickers the sound is jumpy. When the filming of the opening starts a heavy violen non-digetic sound appears, the music is slow but at the same time very loud and statmented which now gives a mysteroius athmospher as the viewer is unsure in what to expect.

Mise En Scene:

The mise en scene is  quite mimimal but proves the point it is trying to make, we first see a glass of water with a paint brush being mixed in it, the red paint that comes off the brush and mixes with the water instanlty made me think of blood, this is becase of how slow it was being mixed and i could tell that there is already a strange mood set, this contines for roughly 10secs untill all of the water turns red. We then see a paint pallet being held with a distinctive red paint on it, the red stands out because everything else is in a gray scale. The title if the film comes up in white paint stroke wrighting whilst a red paint stroke is being painted behind it, again symbolysing a blood mark. We knowit is symbolysing this because of the following shot which is a person wiping there hand over there mouth and there leaving a red stain, it seems as if the expression on the persons face is worried as you would be woth blood on your hands. After seeing a selection of home painted pictures with alot of the colour red used it makes us think that the person could be innicoent. The whole opening is in grey scale except the red what tells us that it is a important colour in the film. 

(this is where the glass of water gets filled with red paint)

Camera:

the first shot we see of the glass in a mid shot with it to the right of the screen, this dosent tell us much about what is going to happen, we then mid/close up of the paint pallet leading our eye to the blob of red paint. While the title of the film is coming up we get a close up of the red brush mark being made, this create quite a scary mood as we think the red represents blood. When the person is shown we get a extreme close up of their mouth where the red mark has been made this is becasue it could be a clue to the rest of the movie. When we see the paintings it is a mid/close up and pan's across them so that our eye leads through them and makes us want to contine looking through them. We get another close up of someones head as the camera pan's down there face, this is used so we can see concentration in his eyes and the reflection of him painting through the glasses. The camera then goes onto a birds eye view shot of painting materials, this shot is used so that it looks like a crime scene and susspicious. 

(this is the birds eye view)

Editing: 

There is a lot of editing used in this opening, the first peice of editing we see is that everying has been converted into grey scale apart from the colour red, after the first shot the second shot faids in what is a transition the second shot also faids out to introduce the next, this continues through all the shots. 

(this is the transition from one shot to another)

Prelim- Final Opening with Titles

Below is our final version of our Prelim along with our ordered titles.

Here are some screen grabs of editing our prelim while adding titles.

PLANNING-first ideas

First ideas about how the groups opening will be about.

Layla Farrugia.

We have spoke about different scenario's for our film opening, firstly we thought about having a young innocent looking girl in a dark, night time setting who's looks can be deceiving when she causes a mind twisting horrible crime; we decided not too do this idea because it is very a typical scenario that has been used many times before, we want too do something unexpected so that it will shock the audience and  make them want to watch on.

We then came up with a second idea in the group that was un-usual so there straight away it was different and original from the first idea. This new idea involves a typical dressed elderly looking woman who looks as if she needs a genuine help in hand after struggling with a load of grocery shopping, we was thinking that she could walk down a road and suddenly have a fall or drop her shopping, when a genuine helpful man passes and helps her get up. When then a unexpected turn happens and the grandmother attacks the man, we then realise that this has been set up all along.
We will be making a narrative opening but we do not want it to be a straight forward filming, we want there to be a fair amount if editing and transitions used to help create the suspense that is needed.

timeline of roomate title sequence

We watched the beginning of the film "The Roommate" and analysed the placement and timing of the titles in the opening sequence. This film opening lasted just over 2minuets and was a narrative opening what is the begging of the movie with the titles going over the top.





The Title Sequence:

• production company 1 (6sec)
• distribution company (16sec)
• production company 2 (22sec)
• film title (25sec)
• actor 1 (32sec)
• actor 2 (37sec)
• actor 3 (42sec)
• actor 4 (46sec)
• actor 5 (51sec)
• actor 6 (55sec)
• actor 7 (59sec)
• actor 8 (1min4sec)
• two actors at once (1min12sec)
• casting crew (1min17sec)
• costume designer (1min25sec)
• music supervision (1min31sec)
• music by (1min44sec)
• editing (1min49sec)
• production designer (1min51sec)
• DOP (1min54sec)
• executive producers (2min1sec)
• produced by (2min5sec)
• written by (2min10sec)
• director (2min14sec)

The order in which the titles appear on the screen are in a very strict order and have to follow a certain pattern. The first title seen when the opening started was the production companies, reason being is because they are the most important people in the film as they are the ones where the money comes from and funds the film. The second title that comes up is the distribution company because this is nearly just as important as they are how the film gets to the audience so with out them the film wouldn't be seen. The film title was next too be seen before the actors, this is because there are not no major known actors in the film so they are not as important as the film title. The other people who come up after the actors are not as important to the film for the audience as they are all behind the scenes workers but they come up because they made a important contribution towards the making of the film.

Prelim Final Sequence

This is our final piece of our filming.

PRELIM - Evaluation of Filming.

Today we filmed our prelim which was planned on Thursday's lesson.

This shot was difficult to film due to the size of the figrid.

We followed our storyboard to ensure that we remembered to add a match cut and reverse shot. We also used a figrig to film Layla, this made the tracking easier as it prevented my hands from shaking while walking.

Some difficulties that we challenged was filming in the small kitchen in college. It was difficult to get a good over the shoulder shot of Layla that followed the rule of thirds as the figrig was quite big. 

Bad lighting conditions.

We also had to wait until other students had stopped talking/walked past before filming. From this we learnt that it is important to choose an appropriate location for filming, in future we would have to film somewhere quieter.

The lighting in the corridor was quite dark, in our actual thriller we would have had to use extra lighting to ensure that the footage came out clearly.

PRELIM - Evaluation Of Filming

After we had planned what we were going to film and looked at the different shots we started to film our prelim. During filming we made sure to remember things such as the rule of thirds as we noticed that we forgot to apply these in the screen shots that we had taken the previous lesson.

Whilst filming we made sure that we were constantly looking back at our pictures we took so that they made sense and kept to our original plan. Also we were told by our teachers that we must include a match cut and reverse shot.

We decided to film our prelim using the figrig instead of a tripod as there were many tracking scenes in our prelim and the tripod is more used for still filming. Whilst filming we found that we often had to film parts of our prelim more than once as certain shots were hard to film such as over the shoulder shots due to the space in the room. 

If we were to film this again it would probably be best to change location as this particular corridor didn't have the best lighting so when we first filmed Layla walking into the room the lighting was very dim and she was hard to see.

Also when filming we spent a lot of time trying to avoid other people as there were classes nearby who we're quite loud as they were having discussions so this meant that we sometimes had to film a scene again due to loud background noise.

Prelim Screengrabs of Editing

These are screen grabs from our editing duration, we have a screengrab halfway and a final piece of our editing.

Halfway of Editing

Final edit

PLANNING -

We have been discussing as a group ideas for our opening sequence of our thriller. We had some ideas about using a discrete title sequence with flashing images and non-diegetic sound, the main part of the opening would be a girl walking through an alley. This would have left the audience to make assumptions about the film and the variety of shots would help to imply what the film would be about.

However, we realised that this would be a common choice and that we should have some ideas that would not have been thought of before.

Nyomi suggested using an elderly woman as the main character of our film. The woman would be walking home/to her house and drop her shopping. A man would then offer her help but at the end of the sequence he would be filmed lying on the ground and the woman would continue walking. 

This type of opening would be a narrative opening. 

One of the locations we were thinking about using is Brick Lane as there are many alley's and bridges that would help to create a mysterious atmopshere for our thriller opening.

This idea appealed to all of us as it isn't a typical opening to a thriller, and we could develop this idea further and alter it in the future.

Types of film openings

Different types of film openings.

Layla Farrugia.

 

 

There are four different types of film openings, they each create a different affect on the audience and they each follow a certain order, these are:

 

A narrative opening with the titles running throughout:

Is the beginning of the story where you get to meet the main characters and the location of the story. This starts with the film starting normally and the titles come up over the screen in a certain order.

With this type of opening to a film the names that come up can co-inside with the person that is in the shot at the time, this usually happens if the actors are well known big stars or if they are the main character/s in the film, this dose not happen with all the characters in the film. When the two minuets of a narrative opening is done the rest of the film just continues with not disconnection. In this opening the titles are not usually in a bold font or in the middle of the screen, they are usually very plain and at the bottom of the screen or too the sides of the screen this is so that the audience don't get distracted from whats going on in the start of the film.

 

A discrete title sequence:

Is when the first 2minuets of the film is completely spereat too the rest of the film, in this type of opening you don't meet any character's or don't find out the location too the film, however in a discrete opening there are many clues that could lead to the location, character or the main story line but you can never know for sure what the clues are about this is a good way to get your audience wanting to get into the film. In a discrete opening there are usually a lot of transitions to cause confusion with the audience.  

 

Titles over a blank screen, followed by the narrative opening:

In this type of opening there is just a black screen (usually) with a plain font for the type, there isn't any images, or no clues to what what the film is about. This type of opening in my opinion is the worst opening that can be used for a film as it is very boring to look  at therefor there isn't any aspects that keep the audience wanting to continue watching. When this type of opening is used it is usually fairly short as there isn't anything else shown but the text.

 

 

A stylised editing opening:

Stylised openings are similar to discrete opening's as you get to see some clues about the film but as there is so much editing and transitions effects used you cant get a good idea what the film will be about like a narrative opening. Stylised opening's are usually used for action films as there are at a very fast passe involving the quick transitions and and fast effects.

 



Film Opening Analysis #2 - The Taking of Pelham 123

This film opening of The Taking of Pelham 123 is a stylized edit as it consists of a lot of heavy editing,

Camera:

 The opening starts of with a pan of a city skyscrapers as well as a high angle view of pedestrians in the the city.  The audience also gets a close up of some possible characters in the film, although they are not introduced properly, the audience is left curious about who they are. There is also some back shots of characters in the opening.


Editing:

Cross Cut of Sign

Plain Text with Transition

Radiant text/Yellow T

This opening is enriched with editing as it consists of speeding up, radiant text complex transitions and a bunch of cuts. The transitions are the first type of editing we see, the transitions are used with the text credits. Once all the important credits are passed, there is a huge shift in pace and the opening is sped up. The text of the credits is also changed from plain to a radiant text. This creates an upbeat and jumpy feeling for the audience. Throughout the opening there are lot of cross cuts and jump cuts of objects, signs and characters. There is also the use of ellipsis which is used to with individuals in the opening to speed up time.

Mise en Scene:
 The location is set by the opening of the city and tall skyscrapers and the audience is able to identify it is New York. Also the Yellow taxis and subway also play a part in it's identification. When we see the individuals that seem like key characters, we associate them with being ominous and bad as the costume and body language highlight our assumptions.

Sound:
The opening of this film starts off with a calm and controlled sounds however once the pace of the opening is changed, the music changes into an upbeat and jumpy song which is parallel to the editing of the opening. Also you get sounds from a car horn, a train, a laser sound and swoosh sounds.