Filming day 2.

We filmed another flashback which was the locker scene in a corridor at our school. This is where Mary gets bullied including getting pushed against the lockers. The filming was successful and we produced some very good shots. The only problem was partly the lighting but we worked around it by being carful with our camera shots and where the characters were stood.

Planning, meeting stuff from week one.

In week one we got put into groups and I got put with Ewa, Josie and Joe. We brainstormed and decided on the basic plot line of our opening sequence and we drew up some storyboards to get an idea of how the opening sequence would run. We then worked out how we can overcome any problems that may arise in the filming stage. When we gathered the main plot-line and storyboard we started shooting.

Filming day 1.

Here we filmed one of the flashbacks which was located in school. Mary is outside walking to class and one of the bullies, walking in the opposite direction, bumps into her and knocks her folder onto the floor. The lighting and weather was very good in this scene. However, there was a lot of sounds such as the wind so we decided to  mute the sound in the editing stage.

Personal response to the brief.

The brief is based on bullying which I think would put across a message to the audience which would make the film popular because people can relate to it. I think that it would make a good emotional impact on the audience because it it teen based. We see the story generally form the victims point of view and the cliffhanger would make the film more exciting. I think the film would be very successful although I think that the opening may give too much away and so not much can be put into the main body of the film.

Individual response to the idea/thoughts about group choice.

I was happy with the people I got put into a group with and we had a good variety of ideas. When planning  on what our movie will be about we all had a similar idea as to what we were to do for our opening sequence.

‘Have you fed the fish?’ - preliminary task.

For the ‘Have you fed the fish?’ sequence we planned it in the media lessons and once we got a story board together we shot the sequence in an English classroom in our school. Ewa and Lauren played the main protagonists while I filmed. Afterwards I did most of the editing and within the short amount of time we had to do it in, I am quite proud of it.
The sequence could be improved by making the cuts sharper to make the sequence flow more.  Also to be more accurate with the different types of shots i.e medium shot. If given more time then more detail and work would have been put into the sequence and therefore make it smoother. 

Opening sequence analysis- Cleaner.

Cleaner. 

The distribution productions for Cleaner are Millennium Films, Anonymous Content Production and Renny Harlin Film. The music starts as soon as the titles come up. It fades from black to a wide shot of a town and the titles seem to be resting against buildings, etc. We have a low slow tracking shot through a street and whilst the camera is still tracking a voiceover starts to talk about a particular character visiting her mother only to find that she has died through injury in her home. The title of the movie comes up during this voiceover. The music is very eerie and suspenseful at this point. He goes on to talk about death and funerals as the music becomes more short and sharp which turns into a song. He then goes on to talk about his job and we see what he does which is clean up the blood and gore after accidents. We then see him talking to some people, probably at a gathering of some sort, and it continues as a sound bridge which is the same as the music. So we know that the person who is doing the voiceover is the character we see in the scene where he’s talking to the people.

Opening sequence analysis- Dead again.

Dead again. 

This film was made by Paramount Studios and Mirage Productions and the opening credits start with a black background and white writing. Then the title appears in big bold white letters, the first thing we see is a newspaper headline saying murder which gives us a clue that this could be a horror or crime film. We learn that it is a murder of a music star and we are shown the weapon used. It has the credits in between the newspaper articles so it keeps going between the two. We learn who the murderer is and what has happened from the newspaper headlines. The audience questions who Grey Baker and Roman Strauss are as it focuses on their names. We are also told the date,1949, so we know what kind of era we are expecting to see at this particular time. The music is orchestral with a lot of high/low pitched sounds and has a lot of pace. It then stops and we hear a man singing and the sound of a pair of scissors snipping away. It’s sound bridged into the scene where he is in jail getting his hair cut. It’s black and white and there is low key lighting which insinuates dark and evil. Whereas the person in the white suit is under a brighter light which suggests that he is a good character and we learn that he is Mr Baker. Then when he stabs a women we see her wake up and it’s in colour except that it’s very stormy. 

Opening sequence analysis - Children of Men.

Children of Men. 

There is no music, just the distribution companies which as shown were Universal Studios, Strike Entertainment Production and Hit and Run Productions. Then there is a blackout followed by a voiceover of a man and woman presenting the news. 

From the voiceover we learn that there has been a siege in Seattle for 1000 days about which there are  demands for it to stop.  There is a reason why British borders will remain closed after 80 years which we discover is because of illegal immigrants. Then we get the lead story which is that the youngest person on the planet was killed. This is a sign that there has been a humanity disaster for several years. As soon we are told this we are shown a crowd of people in a cafe yet the news keeps going as a sound bridge. 

From this frame we see that it’s very dark and depressing because of the colours used like blues, reds and blacks. The peoples facial expressions are very sad, shocked but some are neutral. This is obviously a tragedy happening for the world and questions are raised as to why. The people in the scene are all adults who are looking up presumably at a TV screen watching the news and we see what they are seeing because there is another screen in the frame. 

Then a character walks through the cafe and orders a drink. The audience would look at this character with interest to see what he is doing and we then follow him with a tracking shot. The camera switches to the screen they are watching and back again, then tracks the man. As we track throughout the crowd there’s people crying and wailing. We learn that the youngest person was 18 years old; this gives across the idea that some sort of disaster has been happening for 18 years. 

When we track out of the cafe onto the street we get a view of a busy street with cars, people, shops and the sky looks quite gloomy, although some of it is quite modern with big moving screens on the major shops and buses. The date is shown to be 16th December 2027, so we know it’s in the future. It says London so we know where it is set. We pan around through the crowded street following the man who the audience will assume to be the main protagonist of the movie. There are no signs of children as it is very adult dominated which raises more questions. When the man stops the camera pans around him to a reverse shot while he is putting something into his coffee. There is suddenly an explosion from the cafe and there is destruction on the street and a lot of screaming. The camera tracks past the man toward the smoke where a woman carrying her severed arm comes out. This raises more shocking questions. Then there is a blackout and the title of the movie appears. 

Opening sequence analysis- Legally Blonde.

Legally Blonde. 

The main company/ distributor ‘Metro Goldwyn Mayor’ is shown before the other key companies for this film and are shown again in the main opening titles. The titles show the actor names followed by the film producers, casting director, music director/supervisor,   costume designer, editors, production designer and screenplay. We see the directors name last before the main action starts. Then we see that it is based on a book so those who have read the book and enjoyed it would probably be keen to see the film version.

We see Metro Goldwyn Mayor’s logo then it fades to black and backs out again until we see blonde hair swaying. In front of this blurry background are the credits which are white with a pink glow. There is also music which is very upbeat and jolly because a girl is singing and the lyrics give us a clue to the type of film. The background may be blurred out so the audience only pay attention to the titles; only when the title of the movie appears does the background come into focus enabling the audience to see what is happening. In this case the camera backtracks and we see a girl brushing her hair from behind. 

The titles and the music continue over the action; here we see the actors names like Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson and so on. We then get a shot of a card being carried on a bike which clearly says ‘Elle’ and switches back to the original frame which the audience should guess is the main protagonist of the film. Then it switches back to the girl on her bike, it is a tracking shot to establish the location. It’s very summery and youthful so it could be set in America because of it’s exaggerated happiness and perfection. Through out the opening it switches back and forth between the main protagonist getting ready and the person on the bike. There’s a lot of tracking, point of view and wide shots to establish the place whereas the shots of the main protagonist consist of extreme close ups. 

We also get an impression of what she may be like via the pink coloured top, blonde hair, bling jewelry, heavy make-up, perfume, etc. These identifications clearly state that is a girly, teen movie. When we arrive at her destination we see that it’s a campus because there are young people, big dormitory houses, etc. We get a shot of the main protagonist’s name, Elle Woods, before we see her fully and another shot which is of a folder with CU Los Angeles; so immediately we know that this is a campus at California University. We get more tracking shots, some of which are in slow motion, of everyone passing around a card and signing it. During this sequence we see what the characters get up to like working out in the gym, cheerleading and doing make-up.  

It’s not until the end of the opening sequence that we see what the character looks like when Elle receives the card under her bedroom door which a small dog, presumably Elle’s, fetches to her. We see that it’s a card wishing Elle luck her and Warner, which we presume is her boyfriend. We know that this relationship is likely to be one of the main plot lines of the movie.