Film Opening Planning

Today we met up to continue with the work we did the other day, my team mate (George) went back to work with the landscape/ background, on the other hand I moved on to doing an animation of our "Studio" name and left that as my friends job.

With what I have learnt from the previous day I was able to use Photoshop with no trouble although, there are still some little things that I still don't know about. Therefore, I use Photoshop to paint a "white room" painting on shadows and highlights then blurring it to create a lens blur focus effect where the title will be the focus of the shot. After the background was made, I open up After Effects and import the background in,adding the title and the "shatter" effect, making multiple new compositions as things are being added so that I have different layers I can work with, therefore, if I made any mistake or forgot to add something.

After the blank white background was imported I create a new composition adjusting the size of the canvas to my liking and then I added a text on top of it however, it is a different layer and is not merged with the first layer so then I can use this "shatter effect" onto the text. After it has been applied I create another composition to make my shatter effect reverse. Instead of having the text explode in the beginning the text will float from behind the screen and merge together into words.

Over the holidays 1 Film opening planning

During the Christmas break my team mate and I went into school to start the project, since what we choose to do was pretty "ambitious" I wanted to start as fast as possible so if we have some technical problems we would have time to fix it, because I'm sure we'll take longer to do this than other people. Nearly all scene will be make on the computer.

George and I were messing around in Photoshop, we tried to make a futuristic landscape buy using normal landscape of big cities as a base and then we paint on top of it. cutting part and drawing extra buildings ourself so that the "base' photo will be completely covered once we are done.

I have to say that this process for me was challenging because I rarely uses Photoshop because I have this special app on my phone which have the same features as it but in a easier form. Therefore, the tools and short cuts in Photoshop was new to me and seems complicated. However, I was lucky that my team mate (George) uses this program quiet often so I had help when I didn't know what tools to use for certain things. As time passed by it got easier, although I was particularly frustrated with the Laso tool (the tool that cuts the object from the picture so you can move them to a different template) because I had to click every 1-2 seconds to be able to get around the object smoothly and since I was using a mouse moving just a little bit would effect quiet a lot. That is when I went to get a computer sketch pad so I can control the mouse painting pen from this electronic sketch pad instead of using a mouse. It got some adjusting to do but at this point anything is better than using a mouse.

Lesson 1 (Brain storming ideas)

For this thriller opening sequence project my two other group member however was in another class and since we were in different class it was decided that in the first 1-2 lesson we came up with different ideas then analyse to see which was a better concept/plot.

My mind was blocked on that day and so I thought back to our lessons before where we watch Se7en and Dexter opening sequence and so I think close ups should definately be included in our opening. It looks simple although very interesting since what the audience was giving was just a certain angle on a 'main object/subject' so it is a mystery to them, on the other hand it will also be very good if we are trying to hide the age of our actors because they don't see the whole face to be able to judge how old the characters are.



Concept

The aim of the opening is to create this image of a protagonist that is running away. The audience is left without the knowledge of what exactly she is running from, however it is revealed in the end that what she is running away from is a replica on herself. The audience would presume that because of the sci-fi style, the replica is a clone of the protagonist.
After the scene of being caught
We wanted to explore the theme of identity, and so by showing the audience 'clones' of the protagonist, we intended to suggest that they are representations of the protagonist's identity.

Thriller Opening IDEAS 1st/2nd LESSON / STORYBOARDS

Media Thriller ideas

For this thriller opening sequence project my two other group member however was in another class and since we were in different class it was decided that in the first 1-2 lesson we came up with different ideas then analyze to see which was a better concept/plot.

We came up with 3 ideas in general, which was

1. Spy/ Detective

Various close ups inspired by Dexter and Se7en

My mind was blocked on that day and so I thought back to our lessons before where we watch Se7en and Dexter opening sequence and so I think close ups should definately be included in our opening. It looks simple although very interesting since what the audience was giving was just a certain angle on a 'main object/subject' so it is a mystery to them, on the other hand it will also be very good if we are trying to hide the age of our actors because they don't see the whole face to be able to judge how old the characters are.

However, we did not manage to form a solid plan with this, since personally I didn't find it as interesting and fun to shoot compared to the other ideas.

2. Murder (a man wake up going to an anniversary)

Little does the audience know it's his anniversary of killing his girlfriend/wife

The beginning of the opening everything seems normal until at the last moment his dark secret will be revealed

A small section in image above is a plot summary of what happens. It will start off as a very positive and bubbly atmosphere and scenes of the protagonist going through his daily routine (e.g brushing teeth, shower, shaving etc). He then puts on suit and grabs a bouquet of flowers. Preparing for what seems like a date with his girlfriend. The first shot, which is not shown in the story board, will be just be black with the words "it has been a year."

 He then puts on suit and grabs a bouquet of flowers.

My team member (George) haven't included this story board, but we could add a picture of him and a girl - looking like a normal couple.

The purpose of these shots are to convince the audience that the 'one year' is a one year anniversary, or a year of being a couple.

The twist happens in the second page of the storyboards. Instead of walking up to a house, as the audience would expect, he goes to an empty field, lays flowers down, and says " Its been a year since I killed you".

We decided that this idea would become a flashback, and we joined it with another idea that I had.

3. The last and the most ambitious idea that we came up with, include a "Cyborg"

Inspired by game trailers and movies such as:

Cyberpunk

Kara (heavy rain quantic dream)

Ex Machina

Duex

The main focus was on 'Identity' it will make the audience question how did it came to this and fear (robot/machines that rebels against the world(human))

This is the final idea we came up with

Sub Genre/ Psychological Thriller-Film Noir

End result:

Children of men opening

Children of Men

In the opening of the film 'Children of Men', the first scene was located in the cafe where the man walks in without any interest in the news that everyone was so invested in. There was sounds of sobbing and crying in the background about the news that "baby" Diago died, however he was 18 they called him baby which was very odd when I first heard it. He was the youngest person on Earth, no babies were born since the year 2009-2027. Although, the man wasn't at least a bit interested in what had happened,  his facial expression was still, emotionless with no care in the world around him. At one point he did look up but only because he was waiting for the coffee and it was only for about a couple of seconds.

After getting his coffee he walks of against the crowd that is watching the TV, just like how he was different from other people by not caring and everyone else, cares (He's the black sheep in the herd of white sheep). As he walks further away from the TV the voice in the TV distorted in a robotic sound before fading out, indicating that this is in the future. In this whole opening there was only two editing cuts, which is when the man looks up for a moment at the TV and when he looks back down. It is as if we suddenly appeared into his life behind him following him around. As he walks out of the Cafe the camera didn't follow him and instead was distracted by the surroundings.(Panning shot) There were alot of three-wheels motorbike that looks like 'tuk-tuk' in Thai, it is rusty and produce a lot of pollution. Although this was in London it does not look like the 'typical' London as we know right now, there are mixture of cultures in one place. On the side of the street a pile garbage can be seen, meaning that no one has collected it in a while now. There was a lack of employment for this kind of job or there was no money put into paying anyone to clean it.

When the camera attention was back to the man he walks to a stand near the street, setting it down and pouring liquor into his coffee. This might suggest that he his an alcoholic or that the world is very messed up to the point you need to forget about what is really happening. (Throughout the whole opening the camera was handheld) The whole opening the atmosphere was really quiet and heavy at the same time with the death of Baby Diago everyone seemed to be devastated, when the explosion happens out of the blue,  after the man put liquor into his coffee it was really unexpected and always seems to get me every time I watch it. The sound effects also add to the sudden change, the diegetic sound of screaming/shrieking and a fire alarm sound that was really high pitched.

Thriller convention

Thriller convention

The protagonist will be seen in peril
Themes of identity are common
-mistaken identity, doppelgänger, amnesia

The protagonist is fallible
- has an Achilles heel/ weakness that is exploited

The narrative centre upon crime (theft/ murderer)

The antagonist ensnares the protagonist in an increasingly complex web, leaving them helpless and isolated.

The audience is placed in the ambiguous position of voyeur

A series of enigmas are established and resolved at the end.
Themes of seeing, reflection and mirroring.


Micro- element combine in a build up suspense

Extra-ordinary events in ordinary situation



What are the conventions that is expected?
(Narrative, representations, theme, use of micro elements)

- Plot twist
- tension
- fore shadowing
- warnings (impending doom)
- chasing- bad guy--> good guy (weakness)
-dark time/ night setting
-the story starts with happy atmosphere and then something suddenly goes wrong
- task to do objective- solve a situation

Action Films

Less sophisticated plot

Action set place

Explosions and fighting

Horror
Threat is supernatural
Gore--> blood
Extreme [SCARE]

Order of Credits

Psychological Thriller Audience Research

Psychological sub genre audience

Thrillers??? What do Se73n and Rear window have in common?

What do Se7en and Rear Window have in common?
Se7en and Rear window both have:
-The murderer who everyone is trying to catch and figure out his plans
-Suspense keeping the story exciting
-Protagonist, in this case a "Flawed hero". Each of the main characters has their down faults
Codes: system of signs that create meaning.
Conventions: accepted or expected ways of doing things.

What are the conventions expected? (narrative, representations, themes and use of micro-elements)
Difference between horror and thriller films
Difference between action films and thrillers

Rear Window - Marriage

What do these two clips tell us about both Jeff and Lisa's idea of relationship, and the representation of relationships within the film?

Jeff thinks that you should analyze and learn about your partner before taking marriage into consideration. That there is a intelligent way to approach marriage, meaning that he doesn't use what he feels towards something to decide, he uses and believes in his logic and sense to determine the situation and how he should approach it. When his carer/nurse (Stella) was tell him otherwise he dismisses the idea and ignore her statement. When Stella suggest for Jeff to marry Lisa




When Stella meets Jeff she always has this facial expression of happiness, love and excitement. Her poster is up right and very lively. Whilst Jeff slouches, indicating that he is not as excited to see her as she is to see him. He isn't likely to have direct eye contact with Lisa when he is talking to her showing no interest whatsoever to Lisa, on the other hand Lisa gives direct eye contact every time she talk with Jeff to show that she is giving him her full attention.

Fear

                                            

   Aristotle:

He believed in CATHARSIS 

-a telexes of suppressed emotions 

-we are attracted to what scares us to PURGE emotions

Why do we watch scary film?

-when things go right you feel "happy/relieved"

-the excitement "The Thrill" (Physical Response)

-we want to see evil punished

-we like the knowledge that what we are seeing is not real and that everything is safe (Not scary if it's not believable)

-face fears / challenge yourself

                                                       Zolf Zillman- Excitation Theory

                Negative emotions gained from violent / scary imaginary INTENSIFY the positive

                                                     (We enjoy seeing evil vanquished) 

GlennD Walters

What makes a film scary?

1. Tension- suspense built up with filming techniques

2. Relevance- the fear generated has to be relevant and believed by the audience

3. Unrealism- we have to know there is no real threat. This is a safe space to explore and experience

Rear window

Rear Window

1954

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

(Phycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest, 39 Steps, Rebecca, Suspicion, Marnie, The Rope)

Jimmy Stewart- Jeff

Grace Kelly- Lisa

Thelma Ritter- Stella

Lars Thorwald- Raymand Burr

Tension:-

1. We know the killer is coming. Jess does but Lisa doesn't.

2. Jeff is HELPLESS 

- He can't move/ The Audience can't Help

- We know Jeff can't move

3. We know help is on the way. Are they going to get there in time?!

4. Editing shows us the emotions of Jeff and Stella- the danger is real

5. We know there's a struggle- Is he going to kill her?

SUSPENSE- Give Information 1) Characters 2) Audience 

6. The killer knows he's been watched. What will he do next?

7. Diegetic music coming from the neighbors flat/ sound of the person who is a danger to Lisa

OPENING REAR WINDOW

 The camera shows Jeff's perspective of what he can and can not see, pan and tilt to the resident of where Jeff is living in. The neighbours lives on top of each other, although it seems like they are in their own world (their lives being presented in a box, almost like they are just puppets playing their characters in different stages to create one story) , their personal lives is exposed to those around them but no one seems to care except Jeff, hence the fact that he is the only one who is looking around and taking in information about his neighbours. Jeff is a curious man and he likes to analyze things/situations that is around him.

DEAD DOG

Everyone only came out because something happened that is out of the ordinary but however when the dogs owner finished pouring her heart out about her dog, they didn't seem to have any care in the world. They just walked back in to their (boxes) houses. Dog is known for their loyalty to humans and therefore the dogs dies because there isn't any loyalty and trust.

Mills:

• Aggressive (kicks down the door/ swears 'Detective Mills' 'M.I.L.L.S' 'F**K off'
• He acts on impulse "feeding off emotions"
• Mad/ Angry
• Violent- physically pushes the photographer down the stairs
• Kind / gentle / loving to his wife and dogs (energetic)

• Very emotional/ passion
• Impatient
• His crime is 'wrath'
• He wants to be a "HERO" he is -Confident he can fix things
• Naive

Somerset:

• Calm, he thinks things through/ ahead of the situation / thinks about consequences 
• Patient
• Keeps a grip on his emotions
• Rational
• Neat/ Precise, he gets dressed (picks fluff of his jacket/ cleans coffee jug/ lay out all of his things he needs with him for work)
• Quitting, he thinks the world is too broken/ messed up that it can't be fixed, clean.

• APATHY (e.g. people see a crime and does nothing about it.)
• Jaded and Cynical (sees the bad in life)

                      MILLS                                                                                    SOMERSET

Se7en- Location&Setting

Location& Setting

Director : David Fincher

Movies he has directed : Alien 3, The Game, Benjamin Butler, The Girl with the Dagon Tattoos, Gone girl, Zodiac, Fight Club, Social Network.

Scene 1 (Exterior Scene)

• The buildings/ apartment looks worn and old 
• looks like in the 90s
• in the city but in a poorer area
• there are bars separating the building and outside making it look like a cage
• Colour palette are not very colourful/dull (e.g. green, brown, grey)
• The atmosphere is gloomy due to the lack of sunlight and rain. 
• It is unsafe/ busy
• there were people walking pass them(workers)
•  there are also police in the scene that was bringing out a dead body and guarding the apartment entrance door to where the murder happened.
• Aggressive- people pushing through when walking by
• Diegetic Sound of cars/ amulance 

Scene 2 (Somerset's Room)

• Old fashioned cloths
• Lacking of colour
• White
• Brown
• Beige
• Diegetic sounds
• cars
• the outside sounds of neighbors talking, even though he is in the walls of his house he is still being disturb by the 'city' (it's presence is there, he can't escape it
• Violence- Flick knife, which is seen is that the world outside is dangerous to the point where you need to keep a knife incase you are attacked)
• He's a very clean and organized person, he has the control over the house and his belongs of where it should be.

Scene 3 (Tracey Somerset scene)

• Violence/Cruel world - Somerset and Tracy were talking about abortion and what Somerset said basically says that this world is terrible. He made his partner abort his child because he doesn't want the little being to born into this world.
• Reaction shot - sad/lost of hope
• Diegetic sounds of plates/cutlery clanging - its crowded, not clean, not very appealing  

DEXTER credits

Dexter is an American TV crime drama mystery series. Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a blood spatter pattern analyst for the fictional Miami Metro Police Department who also leads a secret life as a vigilante serial killer, hunting down murderers who have slipped through the cracks of the justice system.

Denotation	Connotation
Daily Morning routine Sauce dripping (ketchup) on the knife Floss   shaving throat t shirt cutting bacon fried egg knife	Murder Blood dripping  Strangling  throat cutting suffocation slicing flesh Egg being puncture

Sound Mix

Today as a class we were given many scenes to put together so that it makes sense, however there were no sounds and therefore we also had a file of different sounds to put the video and the sounds together. We were shown of a version that was completed by our teacher (Mr. Harrison). He then taught us some basics about premiere, premiere is a software to edit videos and off we go for the whole lesson trying to put everything together.

Western credit

Premiere

So the THEME was: Western!!! 

Today we were experimenting with premiere, we were tasked to making a opening credit sequence with a reference to, 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' 1966 credits. We watched it together as a class and identify what theme it is, fonts and was it good or not.

Firstly we were given a file with many pictures of a cowboy riding the horse, then on our teacher (Mr Harrison) show us the tools in which can enable you to animate the cowboy and the horse around the page. So after I put the files in premiere I started by drawing a mountain ( a very bad mountain tbh XD), then I move the cowboy figure around by putting a keyframe in the beginning then every 5 seconds or so I adjust my rotation, x and y axis etc so that the horse jumps into the middle of the screen and then stop abruptly. Keyframe is the "key" tool for animation since it allows you to move the figure little by little and instead of staying in the same place for the entire opening if it was not on a keyframe you'll be moving it as a whole. Each keyframe is specifically in a place that you want it be and during keyframe to keyframe the figure will move smoothly to transition to another keyframe position. 

To be honest, it was really hard to understand for me and to explain especially how the process was. However, by the end of class I learnt so much more about the software and therefore the next time I use this it'll be a lot easier and faster. Hopefully *fingers crossed*.

We were struggling a bit compared to the other groups since we all had different ideas on what kind of film genre we wanted to do. In the end, after about 30 minutes we compromised and decided to do a Disney movie which turns out to be 'Snow White'. However, the actual film as our main inspiration was the re-make of Snow white called, 'Mirror Mirror'. 

During the process of filming Ploy and I had the majority time over the camera especially me because, my role of this project was mostly camera work and editing. Other team members was always there to commenting / giving ideas on what kind of shot they want to make it more interesting nonetheless. To conclude I think we worked well with putting the ideas on the plate so we can show more of what we have learnt in class.

Mirror Mirror

This is the first time ever that I have used  premiere, to edit on anything longer than 15 seconds on my  social media and also to make a 1 minute  film. I got to experiment with how to  edit and doing the camera in this project. It was a very tiring task since I stayed up until late a night to edit, but, to say for the least at the end when was I finished the editing I had a very satisfied feeling since I am not experienced in using this program but however, managed to finish the editing on both footage and sound effects.

Inspirations

For the 1 minute film I use the movie called, 'Mirror mirror' as my main inspiration.

'Once a LION, always a LION.'

'A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.'

'A beautiful sunset is seen, how much more beautiful is WHAT is seeing it?'

'Let the sea set you free.'