Ring ring...

Right. We came back on the Monday and of course non of the group members had a new idea. So it was my opportunity to take a risk. I didn’t want to let go of my idea just yet. So used my skills in deception and seduction to pull them back in, with a motivated and enthusiastic manner, I told the group how "You know what? Matt is just a failed filmmaker who’s just jealous of our sick idea, we should take a risk and do it” and like that they were back on board. Bring someone down and you appear taller. However there was still an insecurity of weather this could actually be an opening title sequence. So we waited for Adam to come to our table and give us his third party view.

And that was it. This is what I needed, to be finally rejected AGAIN by Adam. Ok I know I have been naive and immature with trying to persist with this idea, but I just knew how awesome it would look. But Adam said it again “An opening sequence establishes either the scene, character or context” and he was right. I had been doing it all wrong. Ok we know that, I already told you this last time, but I wasn’t ready to drop the idea. Ok so since the idea is based around a drug that is over proscribed and destroys people’s empathy (the worlds best war weapon)… Prozac. For an opening title sequence you would have to show the production of this drug. As it doesn’t really show you anything but it gives the audience an idea of what the film could be about.

Ok, so obviously it would be impossible to get behind the scenes of a large pharmaceuticals production stage, but why not take the risk. Ok so Hayden knew of local place called Pfizer. So I suggested with give these dudes a ring. However I made an agreement that if they said “NO” then we would drop the idea for good.

Here is a video of that call.

What now?

So what has been happening you may be wondering.
While the dilemma of breaking the mirror became more and more of a block for the group, as more issues to do with breaking it arose. For example, health and safety or weather it would even break.

The group began doubting there master, they were losing there way with the lord. Even with my mastery in deception and seduction I couldn’t maintain there motivation and passion for the idea. It was slowly becoming a dead and demotivated atmosphere. So Dasha rightly suggested that we go speak to Matt.

We walked in to Matt’s office, I am already feeling melancholic at the idea of loosing my amazing inspiring nothing like an opening sequence idea. I grabbed a chair. Matt stared scrutinisingly into my soul. Then he began bringing up all the points why my sick idea was pretty much just a cancer. And he had a point, instead of developing the idea we were just adding to it, making it more and more complicated, as the tumor grew. We needed to cut it off. It told us that most people get it wrong with the development process, and that most people just add to there crappy ideas, but the most effective form of development is to take away, get rid of all the crap in till you find the golden egg.

Ok cools, so what did he suggest. He hated the gimmick of it being backwards, which I had continually argued it is the perfect piece for a thriller, due to things being backwards anything could have due to it not be linear, creating intrigue and suspense, two the biggest factors in the thriller genre. But he shut me down and said no…. it’s just a gimmick. So I argued that the overlord Christopher Nolan had used it in Memento, however he shut me down again, explain that the whole film is backwards so it fits the film, but as well that no other opening sequence is any similar and yeah he has a point.

If we look at example of opening title sequence, they are so lame, and obviously people like me entering the course want to show all the best features and skills at once making an orgy of visual delights. However this doesn’t make it an opening sequence. As Adam our teacher has repeatedly said “An opening sequence establishes either the scene, character or context”. And that’s what I have been getting wrong. I have just been wanting to tell a story. A pretty sick story if I do say so myself.

Ok so where does that put me now. While Matt suggested this really terrible idea, that this dude walks into the scene says some stuffs, then the scene happens again but different till the characters catch on to what is happening. However that is the lamest thing I have ever heard and would hate doing that.

So I guess that was it. The group came to an agreement and the idea had to be cut out. It was draining to much of our time, and we needed to decide on something soon. As we will be filming in January.

At the moment I am super demotivated and ready to give up, my ideas have rejected too many times now, I am going to leave it to the group to come up with something and I will execute it as bad ass
as possible.

7 years bad luck!

After our group discussion with Matt, I began thinking of what would be an easier but more effective opening sequence. With inspiration from Memento and other elements from thriller films, I had it.


The Idea....
The sequence will be in rewound. It will begin with breaking glass rising from the ground and from a sink. The glass comes together into a mirror. Which a character is punching repeatedly and screaming spitting. Then the character is grabbing and shaking the mirror. Then the character is staring at the mirror. Then his eyes constrict. the artistic drugs taking shots. Then he takes the pill out his mouth and puts it into the prozac bottle. He then puts the prozac bottle back into the mirror draw. TITLES. Then the character is sitting in a doctor's waiting room, with his mum by his side. FADE TO BLACK

When I initially shared my idea with the group and my media teacher, Adam, he did not like it. He thought it was too short and wouldn't fit the 2 minute criteria. So he suggested that after the titles appear, that the opening titles would continue with the main character sitting in a waiting room. Which I thought was awesome! So I added it too the idea, and the group was convinced.

However one of the biggest and most complicated elements from this piece would be the broken mirror. I mean of course we couldn't have our talent breaking his knuckles in attempt to smashing a mirror, so what I thought we could do to keep the shot somewhat effective, but still sells the idea of the character breaking the mirror with his fist. Of course since it is in reverse we must of course have the glass returning back into the mirror frame because that will look sick, so how this should be done is by filming the bottom few inches of the mirror and then smashing the mirror at the top or middle with a hammer as the talent pretends to punch the mirror (for the reflection), then we will have the mirror glass cracking and falling down. Ok sick so we have the shot of the glass breaking, but how do we make it seem that it broke from the brute force of the talent? Editing, of course! So from the shot of the glass returning back into the frame, we can then have shot from the side of the mirror pointing at the talent acting out violently smashing the mirror while in fact he will be safely punch something... safe. But we will never see exactly what his punching do to the position of the camera, and the audience will assume it to be the mirror. Cools now finally to wrap it all together we will have a shot of him screaming and grabbing/punching the mirror from behind his shoulder. Now through the powers of editing we have a pretty sick looking scene... in theory.

Ok so now the research begins... How do we accomplish the look of the cracked mirror and then as well have shattered glass. Well this is what my group partner Haydon found.


On a filmmakers forum I came across here. They suggested to by a "candy glass" mirror.

However after researching and finding the price of this product.... It would be cheaper to use a real mirror, so that was the process we went with.

As well what we have to keep in mind when thinking about smashing glass is not only keep our talent safe but the safety of everyone on set. When we film the broken glass scene it must be done in a safe controlled environment. That is our next mountain we are going to need to conquer.

Storyboard

This is the storyboard I came up with for the idea. Alen did the write up, this is important as this document should be understood by anyone who comes across it, in theory it could be given to anyone and they would be able to make the exact same thing as if we gave to someone else. This document is important for validity, and accuracy.  But to be honest, on the real day of the shoot, most filmmakers don't follow this frame by frame, but it give them a rough sense of direction.

Cast List

	Name: Ben Radcliffe Age: 17/18 Character: Main role Contact Number: 07936697832
	Name: Adam Grant Age: 39 Character: Dad Contact Number: 07832455121
	Name: Mike Age: 30 Character: Patient Contact Number: 07770823936

Name: Sophie Jackson Age: 35 Character: Mother Contact Number: 07880439123

Name: Charlotte Mcgee Age: 16 Character: Patient Contact Number: 07950482712

MADE BY DASHA KOENIG

Matt (the dude)

Today Matt the man with mind and skills for film, came round are class, and we had to pitch him our ideas. So after making a crappy slideshow we were ready to present our idea. It was simple and easy. I knew he would love it.

So the first group went, now it was our turn. He slowly strolled to are table, with a grin on his face. Ashen’s sales man’s hat was on. So I began, the arm movements were animated, the facial expressions were expressed, the vocals were dynamic. I was a don. After a glorious intense 34 seconds it was all over, we sat back quietly, waiting for the judgments. 

He hated it.

Ok, thats a bit extreme, but yeah he hated it. He loved that the idea was relevant to our society now, but it just wasn’t an opening sequence. He didn’t like the different locations, and he believed my schema (the way I view the world and make judgement and decision, on events I have lived in the past) was too American, and obviously we couldn’t pull that off. 

So here we go, starting from day one again. Adam suggested that maybe the character could be waiting in a doctors waiting room. Which I kinda liked the idea but I had no clue how it would end, and how to make it an opening sequence.

It was time to go back to the writing board, and shoot out some new ideas. 

Thrillers

"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."

Alfred Hitchcock

The thriller genre is one of the most used genres within the film industry, although due to the thriller label being over used, the meaning of what a thriller is, has become diluted.

The thriller genre is the art of keeping one on the edge of their seat as the plot builds to a climax, stimulating the viewer's moods, giving them heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety

So what makes a thriller?

Suspense. Suspense is one of the most important characteristic of the thriller genre, fuelling the audiences fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, anticipation and tension. Suspense is created through the use of camera, editing, sound and mise en scene, but one of the main techniques thriller films do to create suspense is through what is shown and what is note.

The emotions a thriller instigates is from ideas of hope and fear, which are aroused in anticipation for the conclusion.

Audiences experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen they are given a superior perspective on events in the drama's hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening.

For example the shower sequences in Alfred Hitchocks psycho.

The thriller genre is compared closely and sometimes confused with the horror genre. While both of the genre's aim to evoke emotion, the horror genre evokes the emotion of fear, while the thriller genre evokes more of an exciting and exhilarating feeling. For example the horror genre involves a protagonist dealing with terrifying situations or entities. It can include, their own psychological fears, creatures, aliens, ghosts, serial killers, inner fears, and more. The protagonist usually endures psychological or physical traumatic experiences that are unusually strange and/or frightening to them. The focus is on dark, twisted, and nightmarish fears. 

While on the thriller genre involves excitement and suspense and is often plot driven. You may notice that all of the movies movies shown for the horror genre may also be considered thrillers since most horror movies are made to be exciting and suspenseful. Originally, thrillers were reserved for crime, spy, mystery, or espionage. However, the term today has nearly lost its original meaning as the label of thriller has been applied to almost all films for marketing purposes, creating the endless list of sub-genres, for example action/adventure thrillers, sci-fi thrillers, film-noir thrillers, western thrillers and even romantic comedy-thrillers.

One of the earliest thrillers was from Harold Lloyd’s comic "safety last", which to sum it up, is about a boy performing daredevil stunts on the side of a skyscraper. Yeah I know pretty sick. right? However, who really brought the light to the thriller scene was the man known as the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.

The English film maker revolutionized the story telling industry, shaping the modern-day thriller genre. It all began with his early silent film Lodger (1926) which was a suspenseful jack the ripper type story, and since then he came out with the most impressive pieces of cinema till this day.

Hitchcock’s films often place an innocent, relatable, victim into a strange, life treating or terrorizing situation, in a case of mistaken identity, misidentification or wrongfully accused. He would explore the darker side of hum nature through the situation, including sexuality and voyeurism, guilt and punishment, or paranoia and obsession.

While the thriller genre is consistently evolving, directors like Hitchcock and what they gave to the thriller genre, will not be forgotten. And with all the new techniques and ways of doing things I believe the quality and detail that Hitchcock and many more went through to create that final masterpiece is just not as apparent now a days. 

Thanks for reading… till next time...

this has been an Ashen Page essay.

The Group

The other day our media teacher setup our groups for our coursework project. So created this short video to show you what we have got up to this week.
Here is a Prezi created by Hayden on what we got up to, and what ideas we came up with in the group.

Here are the storyboards we drew up.

Opening Titles Sequence Ideas

IDEA 1

My first idea is a story of a young American boy who has struggled with his education. He sort of a class clown, a well-liked character. For example he looks for trouble, as he pressures his friend to take his Dad’s guns with him, but all they do is check them out, however our main character is seen to love the power. However this time he gets down to work, he spends hours and hours revising for his final exams. However he finds the more time he spends isolated and separate from society to study, the more and more introverted he becomes. After his exams his mother worries about his social awkwardness and his constant sadness, so she takes him to a doctor. He is prescribed Prozac, an antidepressant drug. However everything because becomes black and white, as he becomes sedated by the drug the more his empathy decreases. He is unable to relate to people. In his frustration he slips down a road of despair. He begins to identify with the columbine shooters and other school shooting Prozac victims. He begins modelling their behaviour, he is new twisted negative whirlwind of an idea becomes his new hobby. He begins making cheap homemade bombs. Then he goes back to his dads pistols. The story is concluded by the boy walking into school armed with two semi-automatics.

Now the opening title sequences for this piece would be very similar to the style of Kyle Coopers opening to Se7en. The music/sound used throughout the piece would have to be very influential and unnerving. What the opening title sequence would show would be, video of excessive writing, then video of a young boy swallowing pills. There would be a lot of cuts, for example of the Prozac bottles, and then the swallowing of the pills. Then the googling of guns, the columbine shootings, and similar activities. Building interest and intrigue.

DEVELOPMENTS…

This idea developed could start with him going to the school with the guns. And the rest of the film would show his Tyranny and act within the school lunch hall, while he gets flashbacks to what got him to that place. Every time he gets a flashback he takes another pill. So he begins to puke, and once the medication is out his system he can’t live within himself knowing what he has done. His humanity has come back. He regrets everything. He begins running through the canteen shouting ‘I am sorry… I’m sorry’ as tears stream down his face, he grabs one of the students as a hostages, and takes him outside with him, where he is confronted by the police. He throws her to the ground and pulls out his empty pistol as he is shot to death.

The opening sequence for this would consist of the boy, on his way to school, on the school bus. All the activity around him is ecstatic, however he sits calm and collected. He goes through his bag school bag and the audience gets glimpses of what looks like to be just some metal objects and some highlighted pieces of papers on the columbine shootings. He pulls out a tub of Prozac and pops a pill. Then there are a few pop shots of the pill being swallowed and then everything desaturates to a black and white. Everyone leaves the bus as he solemnly sits on the bus, he grabs his stuff in a controlled manner and walks towards the school. Cuts to titles.

IDEA 2

My second idea is of a CEO for Ford, who indirectly kills thousands a year due to the greed for more profit. The basis of this story is how all who make up this corporation are aware of their damage upon the people, however they don't care to accept responsibility. He lives the high life, while thousands of deaths compensate for his own gain. However after a while his Ford goes under investigation, and he begins to loses his sh*t. The audience believes that at last he is going to get what he deserves. However at the last minute he gets to escape the system. And only needs to spend three months away in another country (pretty much go on holiday) and the authorities can’t get him

The opening title sequence to this idea would be the CEO, narrating his daily lifestyle, him walking the audience through his experience every day. While he throughs out the statistics of people who die by care accidents, compared to the minority of people who die from drugs, however the government do not care to make vehicles more safe due to the corporations lobbying for the government. We finally end the title sequence with the CEO saying how he still wants more of this lavish lifestyle.

The opening title sequence to this idea would be the CEO, narrating his daily lifestyle, him walking the audience through his experience every day. While he throws out the statistics of people who die by care accidents, compared to the minority of people who die from drugs, however the government do not care to make vehicles more safe due to the corporations lobbying for the government. We finally end the title sequence with the CEO saying how he still wants more of this lavish lifestyle.

IDEA 3

My third idea is of a teacher, who is not just motivational but is just a lovely person, however there is always something about him that is not right, as him he has slight autism. He clearly cares for the people around him but as well has this very confident demeanor. While the story develops as he becomes very close to this new female teacher which he continually gives the eye to. And his student consistently egg him on to make a move. Near to the end of the story he eventually gets her back to his place. The a passionately kissing while ripping each other’s clothes off, and as the teacher troughs the female teacher onto the bed the camera slowly cranes down to see tied up dead bodies underneath his bed.

The opening title sequence to this piece would the teachers job interview. We would see him before he goes in, waiting and the camera is dolling in as the sound builds, and then thats cut by the assistant telling him he can go through. We see his charismatic character and his manipulative ways. And while we know something is wrong we begin to love his character. However when the headmaster excitedly announces he is hired, the weird unnerving sound build begins again as the camera dollies towards the teacher. Cuts to titles.

IDEA 4

My fourth and last idea would be a story of the serial killer/cannibal Hannibal Lecter. The story would be based around Hannibal Lecter’s disgusting animalistic behavior to his patients. As a psychologist Hannibal would have the chance to hear about all different types of peoples problems, however if their issues where horrific enough he would invite these patients to dine round his place. While at this point the audience doesn't know about his serial killer tendencies till one patient comes along who continually gloats about raping and killing children, till one day Hannibal can’t take it anymore and he kills his patient. However the audience emphasizes with his behavior due to the patients disgusting traits. When the story builds up to this climatic killing at the end, the story finishes with Hannibal cooking the meat of the patient in a beautiful majestic way, then devouring it with another of his patients.

The opening title sequence for this piece, would be a cooking sequence. There would be a man in a kitchen cooking really majestically and beautifully. The reds within the seen would really pop as this character would cook really rare meat. The title would come in at the end of the cooking sequence when the whole meal is put in the oven to roast and the oven closes.

Video

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source. Both preliminary and main tasks may be done individually or as a group. Maximum four members to a group.

Preliminary Task

First we were briefed about our task. My group was given a few story boards to follow by, we had to re-create these scenes, this limited our creativity input, however this task was more focused on learning the process rather than creative flare.

We were sent to the studio, there was a set already setup, all we had to do is abide by the story board, shoot the scenes and act them out. We were using my trusty friend the Canon 5D mark III, we started off with a 70-200mm lens, this made it very difficult to get the establishing shot in such a  small space. However we slipped  the camera onto the tripod, bubbled it, got the required height and focused the lens. I was in charge of the camera work, however I hate using a tripod. Why you may ask, because it limits your creativity, because for me, personally, I ran around with the camera like a crazy person until I find an appealing composition, while with a tripod it’s slow, because you have to change, then re-adjust, then change and re-adjust, it gets really tedious really quick. Anyways, in this scene I found it difficult working with the director due to her desire to control but the lack of communication, so I abided by the boring shots of the story board.

Once the director and I walked through, with the actors, what we wanted to see. We began by establishing the shot, in film an establishing shot is used because it explains to the audience where the characters are, if an establishing shot is not used this can confuse the audience. However since I was using this 70-200mm lens I had no choice to back up around 10 meters away from the set to fit it in. Once I got that shot done all the other shots came quite easy, however it wouldn't of been possible if it wasn’t for the experienced actors we had with us, their timing was precious so it worked to benefit the continuity of the scene. Every shot we did, we would run it from the top, this means we could use multiple shots throughout the edit. In this shoot we were constantly aware of the 180 degree rule and we made sure to not to break the rule, except for one shot which was suggested by one of the actors, however after discussions we doubt we are going to use it in the final edit.

The task however may of seemed mundane, but it was very important for the understanding of not just continuity but following a story board, and what personally stood out to me is that to be able to direct you must be clear with your vision and to be able to express it, because no matter how it is written it means nothing compared to how it is said. 


Once we got into the editing bay, it was my time to shine! I teamed up with Vogue to edit the clips, as I thought she would want to do the least work. Anyways first we began by organising the best clips and pulling them into the Premiere Pro's timeline. We began cutting away, closely following the story boards. Then I was pushed to the side and Vogue took control. I should of stood my ground and taken control, but I was out, quickly our cut turned to crap.

Here is the final cut our group created

180 Degree Rule

This is a short video I made, demonstrating  and explaining the 180 degree rule that we learnt about in our lessons. Due to the rule being visual, I didn't no any better way then making a video displaying how this rule can be used and how it can be broken.
The 180 degree rule, is a necessity for delivering consistent continuity and for eliminating the audience from getting confused or disorientated.
The basic principle of the rule is to establish and maintain the screen direction of your actors or action within a scene.
Once you set your line of action, according to the rule, once you place your camera on one of the sides of the line, you must keep all your shots within that 180 degree arc of the line. 
I hope you enjoy my short video of this in the youtube video above.

Spider-man 2 (Kyle Cooper)

After working on the 2002 Spider-Man, Kyle Cooper came back to create the Spider-Man 2 title opening sequence. Spider-Man 2 has a really unique way of telling the previous story of Spider-Man just in the title-sequence, and this wouldn't of been if not for the unique works of Kyle Cooper.

When Kyle Cooper went to go work Spider-Man, he as well created Marvels logo sting, which is a really expressive and simple way of summing up Marvel. It fades to black. Boom! And the title sequence begins. The editing style within this piece is very unique, first we are introduced slowly into the title of "spider-man" boldly in front of the web, then this is when things get interesting. Instead of ending there, the webs start moving across each other, displaying images/artwork of the last film. This is done in all sorts of shape, creating a really dynamic piece.

In all of Kyle Coopers work he is really expressive with the camera movement and movement in general throughout any title sequence. In the beginning of this title sequence  the camera is following the string of the web. Then the camera feels as if it is flying through 3D space through the webs and we get shown a story from the previous film, however the dynamics of the camera swinging through the webs really pulls the view into the scene.

The sound and the mise on scene in this title sequence is epic! The sound used here is unlike what Kyle Cooper is used to, but it shows his ability to adapt his style. While his music used is usually very dark and unnerving, this music is epic cinematic, which is perfect for the action/adventure theme. The mise en scene like the music is very expressive with the popping red colors and the flashes of artwork, catching the audience up from the previous film. The artwork throughout the scene really highlights the main scenes and characters, bring together a beautiful opening title sequence.

American Horror Story (Kyle Cooper)

American Horror Story is an American television anthology series, with each season conceived as a self-contained miniseries, following a disparate set of characters and settings, and a storyline with its own "beginning, middle, and end." The unnerving bohemian storytelling is perfect for the unhinged style of Kyle Cooper.

The title sequence was composed by Kyle Cooper and his group of creative specialists, to bring together this artistic masterpiece. With a very similar style to Se7en's title sequence Kyle Cooper captures mysterious lab of sorts with disturbing substances and jars, to instigate the feeling of uneasiness.

How Cooper pulls these feeling from his audience is with his unique style. In the opening titles of American Horror Story he uses his choppy editing style, which keeps the view on the edge of their seat, due to the spontaneity of the pace of the cuts. The audience is made to hold there view for too long, till there is montage of many image images spliced together, flashing into the audience's eyes, not exactly knowing what they have seen. This can make the audience more and more intrigued due to our brains not liking us knowing what we just saw. While to a third part the title sequence clips seem very random, however it's the complete opposite as Ryan Murphy said about the opening credits "The title sequence is almost like a mystery. By the time you see the ninth episode of this season, every image in that title sequence will be explained." This mystery will keep audience's clinging on to each episode wanting to know more and never happy with what they are told.

The sound within the opening title sequence is key to all of Coopers work. The song in the background was created by Cesar Davila-Irizarry, who is a friend of "Prologue" editor Gabriel Diaz, and musician Charlie Clouser, formerly of Nine Inch Nails and is called "American Horror Story". The song heightens the unnerving feeling and sense to the opening sequence, and they especially emphasis this with the interesting use of Foley that disorientates the viewer.

The camera use and mise en scene within the sequence is used in particular ways that evoke many emotions from the audience. The shadows of someone but never seeing someone, the flicking through different clips and the film burns create a shady unnerving feeling within the audience. The mise on scene is mostly centered around the taboo of babies, making theme look evil, burning the pictures and suggesting their death, demonstrates what kind of television show American Horror Story aims to be. The film burn effect used on the clips, is a process used back in the days of when projector work was an art, and if you didn't look after the projector the light within the projector could burn away the film, this effect is used throughout the opening title sequence, however the audience never gets bored of it. This emphasis the unnerving and intriguing scenes. All these techniques used creates another Cooper masterpiece.

Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper (Born July 1962) is an American designer of motion picture title sequences.

Originally studying and earning a BFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (in interior architecture design) and a MFA in graphic design from the Yale School of Art. With a background of arts he dived into the advertising world, as a creative director. And soon after that was picked up by David Fincher to create the title scene of the psychological thriller "Se7en" a seminal work which received critical acclaim.

almost single-handedly revitalising the main-title sequence as an art form

David Finchers film catapulted Kyle Cooper into the world of title sequences and he is now souly responsible for 150 film title sequences.

He partnered up and co-founded Imaginary Forces, while quickly becoming 'one of the most successful creative agencies in Hollywood' he didn't feel creatively fulfilled and left. Then in 2003 he founded Prologue, which with a small team of creatives which concentrates on creating title sequences.

Here is his demo reel from 2007 alone...

Se7en - Opening Titles

Throughout the opening sequence the pace at which it is edited is choppy and fast pace, it uses this jagged style through of cutting to one shot then a cut to another angle and back in snappy sort of feel. The whole title sequence is a montage of clips and images that build tension and interest. The soundtrack begins quite slow an so does the amount of cuts but when the soundtrack increases so does the amount of cuts increasing tension and creating what feels like a build up. The transition used through out this short title sequence is mostly cuts, but with the artistic use of fades and crossovers. They have used a film effect on top of the clips, as well the use of stock footage to instigate a manic feel building more tension. The clips will cut to black to display the titles, with the titles having a sketchy ADHD feel, as they zoom off in all directions.

The camera manipulates our visuals, to create tension and intrigue. The whole scene mostly uses either close up, or an extreme closeup. This means the audience can't see the whole picture and gives us the full emotion of what the camera is looking at, this builds interest and tension due to to its ambiguous nature. The first shot is of a book however the hand movements in the background out of focus this use of selective focus makes the audience wonder what is going on, building not only interest but anticipation due to the audience wondering what is going to happen next, and this technique is used throughout the whole sequence.

In this title sequence the use of sound is very unique. The non-diagetic sound has a very urban feel, while slow they used foley sound effects, for example like the screeching and other machine elements, this creates a disorientating feel and instigates the unnerving feeling as tension builds. Around the one minute and 12 seconds the impact of the sound increases as the guitar hits in, while the hirling and razor sound effects continue throughout making a very effective use of sound effects.

Finally and most important the mise en scene. This is what makes this sequence so chilling. While the scene begins and there is no establishing shot so most of the mise on scene is bases on vague assumption. Due to the ambigous nature we begin believing that the set looks like it could be a workshop, office or a detectives office. However what extinguishes this thought is the clip of the razor blade cutting off the finger tips displaying that it is a criminal, due to this being the method of removing your finger prints, and only skilled or committed criminals would make this painful sacrifice. There is cutting of picture and film strips, which suggesting whoever is in control of the hands are plotting something and from the finger tip clip we can incinerate anything good. It appears that the person is doing some sort of research due to all the documents scattered around. The camera focuses on the character crossing out things like 'intercourse' and 'transsexual' from a book, then the vigorous crossing out of a picture of a face. Creating a tension filled intriguing title sequence.

First Practical Lesson

So after breaking down and analysing different opening sequences and learning about different camera shots, we where ready for our first practical lesson in the world of cameras.

Firstly we where introduced to the tripod. A tripod is a three legged stable prop for the camera, with the tripod you can determine hight and angle. However what tripods do is isolate the hands from the camera, this eliminates any camera shake. To level the tripod we would ‘bubble’ the tripod head which would create a level plane for the camera. Once we had set up the tripod it was onto the cameras.

We where taught about three different cameras, the Sony NX5, the Sony FS100 (the one we used for the majority of the time) and finally the Canon 5D mark III. I know what does this all mean? Don’t worry to sum it up the Sony’s are ponies… While the Canon is a black stallion of a device, with beautiful crisp image quality toping the majority of cameras in the game… except from the REDs… I apologising for blaspheming.

Anyways, since we mostly used the Sony FS100 we are going to talk about that one. Once we clipped the quick release into place and the camera was secure we begin playing with that tank of camera. We slipped in the battery which the arrow on the battery would link up to what the direction it would go in. Then we plugin in the lens to the body and we where ready. Firstly we zoomed into a static object and twisted the focus wheel on manual focus to eventually it was sharp. Once it was sharp, we could zoom the camera back out and that is how we would get the possibly sharpest image possible. Now the camera is focused we used the white balance button on the side of the camera which looks like ‘WHIT BAL” and we would press that while the camera is focused upon a white static subject. Now it would automatically adjust the settings so that the lighting appeared as it did for our eyes, but know on the camera. We would be able to view this from the LCD display which would flick up from the camera, here we could make all our framing adjustments and determine weather the camera was in focus or not. 

The sony FS100 is a camera that would be mostly used for music videos because it is less run and gun than the NX5 however the Canon 5D mark III is taking over that game.

Till next time,

Ashen

Analysing the opening title sequence to 'Dead Man's Shoes’

In the opening sequence to a ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’, the editing technique used throughout this sequence in reference to the music is that it is cut against the beat, this means the cuts flow, instead of when a cut is on the beat it has a more pronounced feel. Aside from the cuts the director uses a cross fade, which is the technique of merging two shots over each other, this transition can be used to contrast the two realities. The fade begins with the two young children together then ends with two grown men walking, which the audience presume is the young children grown up. The use of this transition could, arguably, emphasise the vast difference between the reality and the memories of the two characters  The director chooses an old-film effect, for the baby videos, which increases the feel of nostalgia, these effects aren’t when the shots change to the men walking, this emphasis the years passed to when these men where small children to now. The final shot is a fade to black, together with the subtle approaching silence, bringing a close to the opening sequence of the movie. 

The movie begins with a close up of two young children filmed in a home-video style, this unique style establishes the past of the two characters creating a nostalgic feeling.The home-videos continues on for around fifty seconds till we get a long shot of the two characters grown up. This establishing shots displays that the two characters are going somewhere, however unlike the home-videos the camera now lacks that previous amateur home-video camera shake, now the camera is isolated. There is a sense of isolation and a feeling of an absence of life that is portrayed due to composition, having only one tree in the centre of the shot as the characters walk from right to left. There is little head room for the characters and more field then sky, this portrays a feeling of claustrophobia, making the audience feel trapped. The two characters are walking, one behind another, along the road, their unique features are unapparent at this distance, creating intrigue. The following shots follow a pattern of the ‘present’ and a flashback home-video style shot, this compares the to realities, building the story creating an interest from the audience.

The opening sequence uses an old folk non-diegetic sound, with an almost melancholic tone of reflection. The artist of the song compares himself to a ‘vessel in vain’, which is a metaphor for feeling lost in life.Therefore, the audience already draws certain conclusions about the characters. This as well is backed by the camera work of the two older characters walking along a road which relates closely to this metaphor, demonstrating that they are on a journey. 

The mise on scene through out the opening sequence is very telling. The remote surroundings could demonstrates the isolation of the two characters, while in contrast to the home videos which are all inclusive family loving, these two scenes juxtapose each other throughout the opening sequence. For example the two young children in the family videos are close together and are having fun while in the ‘present’ picture the two are walking a far distance apart from each other and are looking very serious, complement with the gloomy dark and un saturated colour grade.

Throughout the opening sequence the director is teaching the audience of the past and the present of these two characters which establishes the characters to the audience. The overall impact of the opening sequence is thought-provoking, it leads to an arousal of interest in the film, which results in the viewers desiring to continue watching it.

Pleasantville

As a class we studied the opening sequence to the film 'Pleasantville' starring actor Toby Maguire. In the lesson we went through what the industry standard for the different names of how much something is within the film frame.
Shot by shot we analysed the mise en scene and the positioning of the camera used, and why.
For example at the beginning of the film the camera pans zooming outwards, which finishes as an establishing shot. We came to the conclusion that this was included to allow the audience to become accustom to the surroundings of the scenes, and the characters reality.
Overall this exercise was eye-opening for me, because personally I didn't think that Media Studies would be based on a lot of assumption/reasoning behind each shot, making it very subjective subject.

a bit about me

Media. Yep I chose media. Why media? That’s a good question. So here is a brief explanation why. First of all here is a brief catchup to what type of person would choose media studies. While ever since a young age of was fascinated in story telling. Yes I was a big fat lier… to be fair not a very good one. And filmmaking was the artistic tool that I could create these stories, while not very good ones, it became my passion very quickly. At the age of around seven it was the first time I had properly picked up a camera, directed and constructed a story, however at this point I didn’t realise this was going to be my passion. Throughout the years I made a few travel films and little sketches, and it wasn’t more the process that I enjoyed but the reaction’s I would get from something I made. 

It wasn’t till I was thirteen where it quickly became serious. When in  Arizona, somewhere in the united states, I had a moment of awakening. I had been brought over to do some filming and assist another cinematographer, on a horse racing project… I am not that type of person… I don’t play polo and I don’t like horse riding. Anyways this is when I realised I loved capturing beautiful moving images. I was ready. That whole summer of 2012 I immersed my self in film. Especially visual effects, because to me it was like magic, and magic impressed people. It was a day before I started my secondary school and I quickly made my first visual effects test, check it out.

Now I was at this secondary school I received more work, and my time for film slowly disappeared… Until near the start of the summer of 2013 my mental english teacher who was actually a media studies teacher had enough of the GCSE curriculum and started teaching us film language. He set us on the task to make a film with a noir theme so I made this. He wanted us to make more. So with two other students who wrote and acted in the seven minute short, which I can’t show you for copy right reasons… God damn you Hans Zimmer!

It was the summer holidays and with the kickstart motivation from my media studies it wasn't difficult to shoot out the short fun skit here. But then GCSE’s got real and well… my creativity was shut away. Until I some how persuaded my teacher to allow me to slip in a short video for my Graphic Design check it out here, as well you can check out the creation process here.

And I am working on a few films now.