Audience Feedback...

In today's school assembly we showed all of our film openings to the sixth form and a few year 11s from our school.
It was strange to watch our film opening on a big screen in front of other people because I feel like I have watched it so many times now that I no longer know whether it is effective or not.
We got everyone to write down some feedback about the film openings and here are five examples of what people wrote (most people were writing the same sorts of things);

1. "Liked the combination of what was happening to Leyla visually and the voice over of her mother talking to police."
2. "Music makes suspense. Writing looks good and fitting. Good cliff hanger of Charlotte (Leyla) actually waking up."
3. "Interesting. Liked the flash backs and the flashing credits. Gripping - made you want to watch on."
4. "Really good! I liked the cup and the milk! Everything was great, story was good! Gave me chills."
5. "I liked the journey through town in a car!"

All of these were positive and we were happy with the feedback we got.

'Kickass'

Went to the cinema at the weekend to see 'Kickass' and really enjoyed it! It is a film about a teenage boy who wants to help the world by becoming a superhero but ends up getting put in hospital a couple of times and gets in much more trouble than he expected whilst meeting some other - slightly more ruthless/violent - "superheroes" along the way. It wasn't what I expected it to be, I thought it would be thrown on the same pile as 'Superbad', 'Pineapple Express' and the like, but it was quite different in my opinion. Although some of the humour was fairly similar to that kind of film that has grown increasingly popular recently, the content was strange and not what I was expecting at all! Lots of the people that I went to see the film with said that they were quite offended by the way the 11 year old girl was portrayed in the film as she is seen swearing constantly (I can see why people were offended because she did say a word that should never be said by anyone let alone a little girl, this is shown on the clip below...), having a ridiculously extensive knowledge of weapons and even shown as an object of "lust" by the main characters' best friend. To be honest I was more offended by the fact that Nicholas Cage was in the film...
Here's a trailer for the little girl's character called Hit Girl;


There has been lots of debate about the moral issues behind the film and there are loads of different websites that have discussions about it but here is a link to one that I found quite interesting as two guys with very different opinions on the subject discuss whether or not it is right that we - as an audience - find a little girl killing everyone funny. >> click here to read the discussion <<

This man's point particularly interested me; "I don't really think this is going to spur random acts of violence, but it does have me questioning our tolerence for violence in movies, and if we should have a limit. Watching Kick-Ass made me wonder if we've passed the event horizon of mainstream depictions of graphic material. What does it say about us that we enjoy watching a little girl gleefully killing people? And does it even matter that we don't have limits? I don't
know yet."

Here is the main trailer for the film...



I really enjoyed the film and thought it was hilarious (especially when Hit Girl is running down a corridor full of bad guys killing them all whilst a very fitting song plays...) and I thought that it was questioning society about it's increasing naivety towards the influence of violence on kids rather than promoting violence, but that's just my opinion. I would definately recommend this film, and it is so interesting to see how different people react differently towards it.

'The Bank Job'

Watched this film the other day and really liked some of the fast paced camera shots of the cars as they speed off and they reminded me of the shots that we have in our opening.

'This Is Spinal Tap'...

Love this film. Even though it is obviously a completely different genre of film to our film opening, I wanted to put a clip of it onto my blog because I think the way it is filmed is so clever. There is so much subtle comedy in there due to the camera work (for example when Nigel is telling them not to look at one of his guitars the audience never sees it which leaves them wanting to see it) and it is a film that has to be noted! Here's one of my favourite scenes from the film;

Radiohead - Karma Police

This video has a lot of similar shots to the ones we took from the passenger seat of the car.

Here is a link to the video;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uYWYWPc9HU

Arctic Monkeys Video...

I was watching a music channel the other day and this video for the Arctic Monkeys song When The Sun Goes Down came on and it had lots of car shots that are really similar to the ones we have already filmed!
For example the wing mirror shot and the night time, sped up shots at 0:56 and 1:08.

Some more helpful clips...

After starting to watch the first series of 'Six Feet Under', an american tv drama, I realised how much I liked the opening credits for it. I think it is well put together for many reasons. Firstly because of the very interesting shots they use and secondly because of the way those shots have been edited together to match the music perfectly, for example when the viewer is shown some sort of container filling up with liquid (at 0:47), the music changes abruptly and almost sounds like water dripping and splashing. Another example of this is the shot of the dying flowers (at 0:57), the music matches the action on the screen. Although this is not an opening for a film, I love it and hope we can use some aspects of it in our own film opening, like the way that the audience has not really been shown any storyline yet, but they still get a hint as to what the programme will be about.



Here is a clip from the TV soap 'Hollyoaks' which shows somebody waking up (at 0:07) in an unfamiliar place and is a bit a of a dream sequence too, this could be helpful for our film opening idea;

Sherlock Holmes

Saw the latest version of Sherlock Holmes at the cinema on wednesday and really enjoyed it. I especially liked the technique of slowing some of the action down whilst Holmes' voice over explains step by step what he is doing and then straight after the audience is shown the same action at normal speed. I liked the effect this had on the audience and their understanding of his character. We could possibly use some aspects of this technique whilst editing our film once we have the footage. Here is a clip of the film (the slow motion effect I mentioned starts at 0:31);

'Crash'

Watched the film 'Crash' in lesson yesterday and really enjoyed it. It was very sad and quite tragic to me but I loved everything about the way it had been produced, it seemed very simple and to the point which was very effective. Probably more effective than if they had used loads of complex editing techniques etc. It was a great film and I really enjoyed watching it (also, the voice over on the opening credits was very effective).

Pulp Fiction...

Watched 'Pulp Fiction' for the first time the other night and was once again blown away by Tarantino's style of directing/producing (even acting!).
Loved the way the opening went straight into action without giving the viewer any background information/establishing shot. The viewer is thrown into the plot with no clue about what is going on, who these two people are, their significance in the story, the setting, the exact time period, etc.
This fits in with what we want to do for our film opening, as it is very random and intrigues the audience as they want answers to the questions that this opening scene provokes. Here is a clip of the first few minutes of the film;
(I also like the opening credits, as they are simple but effective. Great track playing over the top of them as well - even if Black Eyed Peas did ruin the song later on...)

'New Moon'

Went to see the second film in the Twilight Saga on monday night called 'New Moon'. I really enjoyed it and thought it was such an improvement on the first one. I later found out that 'New Moon' had a different director than the one from the previous film. There seemed to be such a huge difference between the two films, not just because of the content but because of the editing techniques, etc.

This film was a lot more fast-paced in terms of editing than the first one which made the film more enjoyable (this could be put down to the fact that more action occurs in the second book than the first one, not because of the change in director) For example, when showing the character's flashbacks or if a character has just realised something, a few very short shots of things would flash up on the screen in quick succession in order to show the audience that character's thought path (fast-paced editing).

I also particular liked the shot of Jacob's character jumping over the camera as he turns into a wolf. The effects they used in order to create the visuals of these wolves are probably the same/similar to those used in the film '300 (see my last post). It can be seen in this advert at about 1:33;

I loved the film but I still prefer the books, even if they are badly written, I love the story line (apart from the very end which is awfully written) and I'm looking forward to seeing how the producers/directors manage to get the next book from paper to screen.

Special Effects...

On sunday I was watching the film '300' again, and I loved the way they had mixed real footage with incredibly impressive special effects. I'm not sure how they did it but I really like the effect it had on the entire feel of the film. Everything is made to look very dark and moody, and it makes you feel very disconnected from the film but in a good way, because it makes you want to understand more about what is going on in the film. It intrigued me and I would love to know more about how the producers created that effect.
An editing technique that I noticed throughout the film was the use of slow motion in order to build up tension when something momentous is going to happen. For example, in this clip the main character is seen going towards his opponents at normal speed and just as he goes to kill them, the clip is slowed right down so that the audience is eagerly anticipating the kill. This is exaggerated even more for his final killing of the clip and the sound (both diegetic and non-diegetic) builds on the tension even more.
The use of high/low angle shots also came into the film a lot in order to establish the status of the characters. For example, in this second clip, the shots of the character Xerxes are all taken from slightly below him (character of Leonidas is seen to be looking up at him) in order to suggest his superiority.

Watching 'Se7en'...

In yesterday's lesson we watched the film 'Se7en'. Directed by David Fincher, starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey this thriller definitely gave us the shock of our lives!!

I loved the storyline and thought it was incredibly effective, but only due to the effects the producers used with the camera shots, sound and general mise-en-scene of the film.

(I have already written one post about the opening credits of the film and how much of an impact they have on the audience)

For example, when the first murder is discovered and the two detectives (Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) go to investigate the death, the non-diegetic sound adds so much dramatic tension to the scene that without it, the audience would not have been very scared at all.

The lighting in this scene also builds on the dramatic tension as it is very dark in the room and the only light they have is the light from their torches. The way they keep flashing the torches around means that the audience only really gets to see tiny parts of the scene for a very short amounts of time which makes the audience want to see the whole thing, they are waiting in anticipation to see the full horrific image of what has really happened.

Right at the end of this scene one of the detectives lifts up the victim's head to reveal a close up of his face and his white eyes wide open with the torch light shining in his face.

The fact that the audience has not yet been shown the whole picture up until that moment means that it shocks them to be shown such a horrifying image at a moment when they least expect it.

Clever methods such as this are used throughout the film in order to scare the audience and another example of this is when the murderer kills his third victim; sloth. The audience is led to believe that the victim has been dead for a whole year and whilst the viewer is still reeling from the close up shot of a years worth of pictures of the victim on the bed, another close up shot appears of the supposedly dead man's face and he suddenly gasps for air and dust pours out of his mouth.

Our entire class jumped about 10 feet into the air and were still recovering ten minutes later! I couldn't believe how much it made me jump because in thriller/horror films, it is generally quite easy to tell when something out of the ordinary is going to happen because of the build up of scary music but in this scene I had absolutely no idea that was going to happen! This was probably because there was no music behind it, just the detectives talking over what seemed to be a corpse. This proved to be another clever way of catching the audience when they least expect it.

I think the film is very clever and the story line seems quite unique, but I wasn't completely persuaded by the ending. I thought it was very predictable that he would have killed Brad Pitt's wife and it seemed to be a bit of a tame way to end the film when you compare the ending to the graphic images shown nearer the beginning.

On the other hand, I can see how the ending could be more terrifying in some ways, because the audience doesn't get shown any horrific images, it's all implied so your imagination is left to run wild.

In those last few minutes of the film where the two detectives are driving John Doe to the location, I found myself getting really angry with the killers character for the obvious reasons but also because of what he says about why he kills these people. His character completely contradicts himself with his values/morals.

He thinks he's doing the world a favour by killing these people and that he has been called by God to carry out this awful killing spree but by doing so isn't he breaking one of the ten commandments himself?! The smug grin on his face really got to me as well and I felt myself empathize with Brad Pitt's character as he clearly wants to make him realise what a hypocrite he is.

Another interesting point about this car scene is the metal grid that seperates the killer from the detectives. When there is a shot of Brad Pitt or the killer, the grid covers their face. When there is a shot of Morgan Freeman there is no grid over his face. This is to represent the part the two characters play in the seven deadly sins murders and also to show Morgan Freeman's innocence in it all.

When the time came for Brad Pitt to find out his wife had been killed, as an audience member I responded to what was going on by hating the killer even more because he told Brad Pitt about his unborn baby and then went on to enjoy the fact that he had no idea that his wife had been pregnant.

The complete anguish on Brad Pitt's face leaves the audience feeling quite unsatisfied with the fact that he shot the killer, although they know that it had to be done. (Pitt's thoughts are confirmed by the extremely short flash of a picture of his wife just before he shoots).

I loved the effect that Morgan Freeman's voice over right at the end had on the audience too.

The techniques the producers/directors used were clearly very effective if they left me feeling so angry that the murderer only got killed, it didn't seem like justice to me and this is probably the desired effect on the audience that the producers were looking for.

Another significant part of the scene for our group in particular was when the detectives go into the murderer's flat and find his darkroom. We will be refering back to this scene for inspiration for our film opening.

Such a clever film with a great storyline, but I don't think I'll be rushing to watch it again any time soon...I'll wait till the nightmares subside hahaa!!

Skins Presentation

As a group we had to choose a scene from a TV drama and analyse the mise-en-scene in that scene. We chose to analyse a clip from Skins and focus on the characters' sexuality. We split the different aspects up between each of us and I was focusing on lighting and props. We analysed the camera angles together.
Here is a link to the clip we analysed... >> Skins Clip <<

Skins Presentation

View more presentations from sarahisaacs1992.

Jaws Shot Analysis

This is a slide show that will help me with my analytical skills. It goes through each shot and gives detailed analysis of everything in that shot.

Jaws Shot By Shot - Part 1

View more documents from The Cottesloe School.

Title Sequences

Next lesson we will be looking at title sequences and their significance, so here is some of my research into different title sequences;


The opening sequence for Panic Room didn't really build up any dramatic tension whilst I was watching it and it didn't really make me want to continue watching it. This might be because it didn't hint to anything about the story, other than where it was set. Although I thought the credits were done in a clever way.

>> WATCHMEN
<< I couldn't embed this video (click on the link) of the opening sequence from the film Watchmen, but I wanted to post it on my blog because I really like the effects they've used on the opening credits. Unlike Panic Room, the opening sequence gives the audience an idea of what the film is going to be about. It shows a timeline of the success'and failures of a certain group of characters. I enjoyed watching the credits and it was not boring as it established the characters' background stories and set the scene for the rest of the film. My favourite effect on it was the way it showed people having their picture taken and then in slow motion you saw the action that was occuring (at first the audience thinks it's just a snapshot). Perhaps some of the aspects of this type of opening sequence could be used in our groups film opening.

(Here is a link to a website that we are using to understand the importance of an effective title sequence)

Other Groups' Preliminary Tasks

In yesterday's lesson, we were observing the other groups as they filmed the different shots for their prelim. tasks. It was interesting to see the different ideas they came up with as they were filming and getting into the mindset of being behind a camera. Each group was thinking very carefully about how the shots would be seen by the audience and this prompted them to change their ideas slightly in some cases.
Some of the groups added in extra shots to enhance their film. For example, one group had a phone call in their script so they included a close up shot of the phone's screen as it was ringing.
Another two groups did a pan shot of one of their characters walking in and the last group did two point of view shots where they positioned the camera in place of both characters.
It was good to watch all this going on because it helped us to understand the range of different things we could do whilst filming.

180 Degree Rule Research

The 180° rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle.
(http://www.wikipedia.org/)

'The Prestige' Camera Shots

The first shot pans across a row of birds in cages, but it isn't a very smooth shot so perhaps it was done with a hand-held camera or a steadicam. (There is no establishing shot at the start, so the audience doesn't know where they are). Then there is a close up of Michael Cain reaching into one of the cages and just as he's about to pick up the bird, the shot changes to a cutaway shot that goes straight through one of the cages looking down through the whole row of cages, adding perspective.

Then there is a midshot of first Michael Cain, then the little girl. The camera then suddenly changes to a track/dolly shot of an audience in a theatre, followed by a longshot of the magician on stage. Both these shots are then brought together by showing a wide shot of the audience, stage and magician; this keeps the audience understanding the spatial relationships between characters.

There is then a shot of Christian Bale running down some stairs and the camera tilts down on a fixed axis to emphasize his urgency. The audience then sees a close up of the blind stagehand (flashing lights and shadows on this man's face create an eerie effect) and the next shot is a reaction shot (noddy shot) of Christian Bale after seeing the man's face.

The camera then goes back to Michael Cain and the little girl using an over the shoulder shot from behind the girl.

Lastly, the audience sees a point of view shot from Christian Bale's view as he watches Hugh Jackman's character get shut into the glass cage of water. There is a low angle shot looking up at the door of the cage banging shut. This low angle shot makes the cage seem bigger and more threatening.

My Chosen Film Opening.

I chose to use the opening of the film 'The Prestige' because it's one of my favourite films and when I first saw the opening of it, I was instantly captured by the story. The audience is shown a variety of characters straight away, with no explanation as to how they relate to one another. For example, Michael Cane's character and the little girl seem to have no relation to Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale's characters. This is just one technique used in order to draw the audience into the film.

Another element that builds dramatic tension is the contrast between the two different events occuring. The audience sees one successful trick, a very light-hearted, simple trick done by an older man to entertain a child. The audience are also shown a trick being done on a much larger scale, with much panic and confusion, as it cannot be sure whether the man claiming to be part of the trick is telling the truth or not. (Another minor detail which creates an impact on the audience is the short time of silence when the magician falls under the stage. This too builds the dramatic tension.)

The fact that the audience does not get shown whether or not the magician survives or if he completes his trick plays a huge part in the attraction of this film. The opening also causes the audience to ask many questions (such as why does the magician need blind stage-hands?). All of these aspects of the opening together, culminate in a very compelling opening to a great film, making the viewer desperate to know what's really going on with the strange mix of characters and situations.