We looked at the opening of 'Se7en' for inspiration on the title sequences and the video filters they have used. They went with the sepia effect which made the opening look older. The titles were written in lowercase and the font looked liked it was handwritten which we are going to do in our opening.
The first scene of the film has a slight sepia effect which we have tried to add in our first scene.
The main actors' names have been written in lowercase and on a black screen
This scene had a slight grainy effect which made the clip look less 'clean'
The Director's name was placed at the end of the opening
The Main location for our film opening is Grimaldi park which is around kings cross. Grimaldi park is the best location to film our main scenes because of the open space in the park and the eeriness of the cemetery.
Today we went to our chosen location to film the scenes with the stalker and the victim. We were able to film today as there wasn't anything that would have interrupted our filming.
The film opening "Authority", is a good action thriller film, the sound effects, the camera shots and the acting really got me interested in the film. I really enjoy the chase and the music at the background, the music, camera shots really draw the audiences attention. I also enjoy the editing of the flash backs, the editing has been bleared, the audiences know straight away that the bleary parts are the flash backs.
The paper trail was another one of past students film openings that i enjoyed which was about a boy doing origami but shaking profusely which showed hints of psychotic personality. This film opening is a discrete type which we nearly chose for the basis for our own opening. The good aspects of a discrete film opening is that there is minimal acting and no faces are shown. This is great if your group are reluctant to act of just really bad at it. The plot for this film was really interesting and successful in drawing the audience into the film with the lack of understanding of what was going on in the scenes. This film opening also successfully utilised the sound by using a tune which created tension and suspense. The interesting plot of the movie created a thrilling atmosphere which hopefully we can achieve for our own film opening.
To look for some ideas for my groups film opening, I started to look at some of the past students film openings to get some good ideas. Looking at past students works, showed me the level of work needed to get a good decent grade, which showed me how hard me and my group has to work to get a high grade.
I really enjoyed the film opening of "Bathory", its a very interesting film opening which I enjoyed watching. This film is a discreet film opening, where you dont see much of the persons faces. The most important thing is to get an very effective and interesting special effects. The editing draws the audience into the film, also the editing keeps the audience entertained threw-out the opening. This sort of opening, is an opening which I believe me and my group will enjoy doing. Bathory from 283goswell on Vimeo.
To look for inspiration and ideas for our own film opening i started to watch past student films to gain an understanding of the level of work we needed to produce. One of the best film opening from a past student was "Violet" which is about a Murdered girl haunting the killer. That particular film opening was Styalized which is also the type we wanted to use. The lack of narrative and acting within the film was compensated by the special effects of the colour scheme and other effects. This film opening has set a high boundary for stylized openings which will be hard to achieve.
The type of film opening we have decided to use is a styalized because of the special effects it uses that makes the film more interesting and thrilling. Special effects are extremely important for an stylized opening because of the lack of narrative and acting which it has to compensate so we can keep the audience entertained. Here are some of the effects we tested:
This special effect is called solarised which makes the scene look creepy and paranormal. This helps to keep the audience interested and entertained.
This effect is called posterised which is similar to solarised because it changes the colour scheme. This effect makes the scene look like animation which could help to keep the audience entertained and is relevant to the scene.
This effect is called indent which creates an effect that makes the images stand out. This effect is useful when you have a scene where the image or a picture is a key prop and is one of the main focus point.
This special effect is called crystallization which makes the scene blurry like if it was filmed through a window. This effect is mostly used to make the scene more interesting as it is unusual.
During the half-term holidays I went and watched 'The Woman in Black' in cinema. It's a horror thriller and thought it would be a good film to watch to get ideas for our own opening. The opening to the film was
A film opening is an important part for a movie as it can determine whether the film becomes successful or not. The reason why the film opening is so important is because it plays an integral part of drawing the users into the movie by create by the plots or the actions whithin the first few minutes. There are 4 main ways of creating a film opening which are : Discrete, Narrative, stylized and the traditional credits over the scene.
Discrete Opening:
A discrete opening is almost like sections of the movie put together at once like a prelim. Although it doesn't introduce any characters or the initial plot, discrete opening successfully creates a atmosphere which provides hints towards the plot and creates a base for the audience to imagine their own version making them hooked onto the movie. This is created by the images and sound effects which are used. An example of a discrete opening is:
Narrative opening:
A narrative opening is when the initial plot are shown along with the introductions of the main characters. This type of movie opening is effective because it allows the audience to gain the atmosphere of the movie instantly and it influences them want more. An example of a narrative opening is:
Stylized Opening:
This is an opening where the movie uses heavy special effects and sounds to emphasis the plot and locations of the movie. This is really effective as it instantly amazes the audience by drawing them in, which helps them to stay interested in the movie and create a less chance of them getting bored. An example of a stylized opening is:
Credits over screen:
This is a traditional method of a film opening where the name of the actors and directors and the production company are shown a plain background before any plots or characters are introduced. This type of film opening is less effective if you don't have big actor names as it doesn't create the needed atmosphere without the uses of the genres unless you use music. Example of this is:
For our own opening we think that a discrete opening would be most suitable as our group are reluctant to act.
To make the diary look more 'used' I messed it up a bit. I had to cover the title and the date on the front cover. I added splashes of paint and coffee as I thought the main character would use these materials. When I get to college on Thursday I will add photographs, sketches and notes to the pages.
After finishing our pitch we decided to start the filming process for the collector. The location for the filming was Grimaldi park where the stalker meets the girl for the first time. When we arrived in the location, it was crowded with children who created loads of noise and would have interrupted our shots.
Also the location was filled with lots of snow and ice which made the ground very slippery and almost impossible to film because the tripod couldn't be placed on the uneven ground because the risk was high of the tripod falling and damaging the camera. This consequently would have interrupted the filming shots.
This is a picture taken before we gave our pitch. This is when we all where preparing ourselves for our pitch. This is a picture of us preparing for our pitch.
In these scenes the audience are introduced to the stalker/ pshycopath who is one of our main character for our film opening. The scenes start to uncover his personality as he is shown in a crowded office starting to draw a section of a girls face in his diary/ Sketchbook. In the later scenes his obsession towards the girl beceome clear as a photo of her is pops up in the monitor which is perculiar and also a strong characteristic of a stalker, but it quickly becomes more serious as more pictures and camera films are later shown.
In this section of the storyboard the stalker starts to follow and spy on the girl while she is talking to her friend. He starts to unpack his bags and he takes out the equipement which are needed to sketch something. He places the pencils and pens in a neatly alligned position which is strange as in the previous section of the story board exposed his messy office. A section of the stalkers face is also revealved while he is looking at the girl from a distant. The Diary and Sketchbook is also shown as the stalker flicks through them.
This is the final section of our storyboard where we start to show the girl in more detail as we provide the audiece with a close up of her face. This scene is closely followed by a date written in a diary which begins to forshadow something that will happen later on in the movie. Another close up of the girl is shown but now from the side which is then followed by an unfinished sketch of the girl. The scene after that shows the stalker taking a picture of the girl and then writing in the diary " I am going to abduct her" which ends our film oppening. The plot of this should leave the audiene wanting more.
From my work experience I have old photos and camera films which I thought would be good props to be stuck on the wall of the stalkers office in the background to go into our film opening. We are also going to use a diary for the stalker to make his entries.
The old pictures added more authenticity to the film and helped to establish the mood of the scene by creating a creepy atmosphere.
The old camera stripes helps to show the stalkers personality as old and traditional because digital photos are usually used while these old camera stripes are slowly phasing out of use. It also creates the sense of authenticity like the photos above.
The diary is the most important prop for our movie as it would be shown in every scene because it is the stalkers most prized possession and a place where he portrays his psychotic personality and where he plans the abduction.
