Prezi evaluation

http://prezi.com/ho1sjguwmca7/#103

This is my prezi presentation of the opening scene task.

Evaluation of opening scene-task

For our opening credits task we chose to make a thriller film. We felt that this genre would be the easiest one as we all had ideas for the scene and also on how to build the tension needed. We also thought that it would be fun to do something quite different this time as our previous task was a comedy. To start with we all made our own separate storyboards with an idea for a storyline. Then we compared the storyboards and discussed how we could make them into one film scene. This way all of us got a say in planning the scene, and it was an effective way of making our different ideas clear so that we could show them to each other.

Our opening scene shows two young girls walking through a dark park. We filmed from behind, so the audience can only see the silhouette of the girls. With this we aimed to create the feeling of them being followed, the camera is filming them from a distance. Our intension was to make it seem like we are watching the girls through the stalkers eyes, therefore we used a hand hold camera to intensify this effect. By keeping the characters at a distance we also wanted to make the audience wonder who they are, and what is going to happen to them. We wished to make it all seem very mysterious and creepy. In the background one can hear the sound of cars driving past. The lights from the cars make changes in the lighting, and with this we hoped to add a realistic feeling to the scene. We also did this because we thought that people could more easily relate to a realistic scenario, and because the realism would create extra tension. The sound is muted to emphasize that this is going on in the background. The target audience for this film would be younger people, but also adults with interest for this genre. It wound not, however be a film for children and younger teenagers as it is meant to be quite scary at some points. If we were to make the whole film it would probably be given a 15 certificate. We are trying to attract our target audience by playing on the fears of being followed and the vulnerability of walking through a deserted area in the dark.

We did some research before and during this task. This was things like watching films of the same genre carefully to get ideas and to see how the tension was build up etc. We mostly focused on the opening sequences as this was what our task was about. I feel like this helped a lot to get an understanding of the genre and how things can be done, as I have not paid so much attention to the details while watching films before. It also helped me to understand how a thriller film can be built up in different ways and that they often follow some sort of pattern.

We did face some difficulties during this task. One of my biggest problems was that I was absent while the other group members did the filming. This left me a bit confused for some time. However, after watching the film and talking to the others, I feel like I got a good understanding of what they had done and was able to join in when I came back again. Secondly, it was a bit hard to get the lighting to look the same through the whole scene, as the filming took place while it was getting dark. But I think it turned out fine in the end, after some editing had been done. There was also some lack of enthusiasm in our group, this may have been because two group members have been absent, (including myself) which has made planning and co-operation a bit complicated sometimes.

If we were to choose a media institution to distribute our film, we think that the 20 century fox would be a good option as they are a very well-known company, and have done films of the same genre before. People also tend to watch films by these big famous companies, because they have done good films before etc.

Looking back at the preliminary task, I feel that I know more about how to go through the whole process more systematically now. It helped just to have been through it before, so that we were aware of mistakes we could easily do, and avoid them this time. We also used quite a lot of time just coming up with an idea last time, and I feel like we solved this problem effectively this time by making the separate storyboards in the beginning. Even though I was not able to help with the filming, I know many of the things we did wrong the last time has been improved, and I can see that the quality of the film is a lot better. We also added more sound effects in this film, which makes the finished product seem more professional. In the end I am happy with our finished product. We could however have worked better as a team and put more effort into the task, and that is something that could be improved for next time.

Costumes

My task in the new film is costumes. As the action takes place at night in a dark park, the outfits of the characters won’t show up very clearly on camera. The characters are wearing regular every-day clothes that fits with the environment they are in. The costumes are important to create the personalities of the characters, and to make them appear realistic. That is what we were trying to do here, even though it is hard to see exactly what the characters are wearing. The characters does not change outfits throughout this film, because we are only doing the opening scenes and all the action takes place in one night.

Reasearch – the Stepfather

The opening credits of “the stepfather” shows a man changing his look completely in a dark bathroom. The music has a scary undertone, and creates a very tensed feeling that grabs the audience’s attention. The audience knows this is going to be a thriller film because of the tensed music, the shots and the cutting. The man is also filmed in an angle that makes him appear powerful. Then the man walks into the kitchen, now looking like a completely different person, and we see him doing daily things like making a cup of coffee. Christmas songs are playing in the background. Suddenly a dead boy sitting at the kitchen table comes into focus, and the music goes tensed again, but we can still hear the Christmas songs playing very low, as if they are far away. As the man walks into the living room, we can see several bodies lying at the floor and in the sofa. Knifes covered with blood are lying on the floor, and the sink is full of other tools and more blood. Then the man takes his suitcases and leaves the house. Al the time the music is very tensed and creepy.

Reasearch on opening credits – Panic Room

I have looked at the opening scenes of some films of the same genre as the task we are planning to do.

Panic room: Panic Room establishes a sense of claustrophobia and questions vision right from the opening credits.set on the Upper West Side of New York City, the credit sequence is a montage of images of tall buildings, mostly anonymous, framed to fill the screen of windows. Gigantic white letter hanging by the buildings as by magic, grabs the audience’s attention right away. Along with shots of the Manhattan skyline, natives and tempo of traffic, this creates an exiting effect. There is a disturbing air to the entire sequence,even though nothing menacing really happens (other than  an almost subliminal glimpse of the film’s tagline “face your fears”, that appears on a screen). The music is also part of making the tensed feeling. This could be a clue about the genre of the film. The disturbing feeling fits perfect for the opening credits of a thriller.

Two minute opening of a film

For our new task, it would be fun to do something a little different. Maybe a horror fil or a thriller. We could film it in the dark, to create tension and atmosphere. The camera could focus on a couple walking down an empty street at night, laughing. Then it could change to a man following them, but only show his feet moving. When this person is in focus, the sound of the people laughing could be far away but get closer as we hear the sound of his footsteps and heavy breathing. The camera could change between this person and the couple. There could be music in the background to help build tension. Then the camera could go all dark and we could hear someone screaming.

Evaluation

In our preliminary task we were doing a comedy. A male character was going on a speed date. He was supposed to be meeting a woman he had talked to online, and the realise that his date was really a man when sitting down at the table with him. We did a low angle when our character entered the dating room and a 180 degree  shot as the character went around the table ans sat down to face his date. We did this to highlight the fact that his date is also a male, and it is supposed to be funny because he thought it was a woman. While editing, we also realised that our 180 degree shot was not quite 180 degrees,  we did not go all the way around the table as we meant to do. We also used match on action to create continuity. We also ended up changing the original dialogue and let the actors improvise, wich turned out a lot better than the original one.

We made a few mistakes while filming, but it turned out ok. Next time need to make sure that no group members are in the background and that we don’t cut the characters head off. I think all of us will be more aware of these things next time. While doing the editing we tried to fix some of these mistakes, which was quite hard, but it looks a little better now. The hardest thing is to fix these things without damaging the good scenes. We were not able to do anything about the part where one of the characters head is cut off, so we will just have to avoid doing that later.

Editing

While doing the editing we noticed some weaknesses about our video. For one thing there were people in the background that was not supposed to be there, so we had to try to find a way to cut those parts out or blur the background in some places. This is difficult, because if we  cut these parts, we also cut parts of the dialogue, or other important elements that has to be in there. So we have to find some way to do this, without damaging the video.  We also saw that the top of a characters’  head was cut off… That did not look very good, so we will have to try to fix that too in some way. But besides from that, the editing went pretty well.

shot four

This image shows what the actor can see when he is seated at the table. This is also when he sees the face of his date for the first time.

shot three

This shot shows what the actor will see when he is in the room. He will be able to see the back of the date's head, but not the face.