Film opening analysis

Again, been asked to analyze some examples of film openings I have watched, so here I go:

First example: Inside Man

I believe the opening sequence to this film is perfect example for expressing what almost every film opening does except in a much more obvious manner. It tells you who the main character is (Dolton Russell), where they are ("Could be readily described as a prison cell"), roughly when they are (We can tell this from the modern day shelving and building materials) and also a rough idea of what's going to happen in the film ("Which only leaves us with the how, and therein, lies the rob"). It is a perfect film opening giving the audience all the information they require to understand the rest of the film in a much more unconventionally open manner but also not too much so they still want to watch the rest, which I find to be quite refreshing. Maybe why I like the film so much. Either way, this film is a perfect example as to what information I want my 2 minute film opening to contain.

Second example: The Graduate

In complete contrast to this, the film "The Graduate" is verbally mute, e.g. has no spoken dialogue from the character being portrayed. Instead, the verbal communication we see/hear in Inside man is now shown through visual aids. Such as the fact the graduate (Dustin Hoffman) is shown wearing a formal suit, suggesting to us that he's going to/coming from a prestigious event. In the very first shot of Dustin on the plane, we see him on a white background, perhaps suggesting innocence, or cleanliness against the rest of the world, which as we know by the end of the film he is anything but. Another amusing hint towards the rest of the film shown within the first 2 minutes of the film is when he is in baggage reclaim. As his bag passes through the metal barrier, a sign is shown saying "Do they Match?" perhaps suggesting that this film is a love story between two people which we may think do not belong together. The use of Simon & Garfunkel's 'Sound of silence' is also an interesting choice of music for the first few minutes of this film. It perhaps sets up the film so that there may be some mis-communication between the characters, that perhaps there are some secrets being held that are being held "In the Sound of Silence".

Initial Film opening ideas

Currently, I have had several ideas for what I wish to do for my 2 minute film opening however only a few have really shone through as possible go a heads. For the purposes of this post, I'll only write them up in brief of the plot of these ideas as they are only at this point in time, rough ideas:

Idea 1: This is the most sinister idea I have. We see a guy burning documents in a darkened room. Obviously night time. Once guy has burnt all his documents, another man comes in asking where the documents are. The first man responds saying he has destroyed them. At which point, the second man shots the first in the head and leaves him there lying on the floor.

Idea 2: Perhaps one of the happier(ish) ideas I've come up with is more of a love story base opening. We have a scene of girl and boy standing opposite each other, separated by something, be it a station etc. Then a train passes and after its passed the girls disappeared and the guys narration comes over explaining who she is, who he is and a rough idea of where the film is going to go.

Idea 3: a slight change to idea 2. Instead of the guy narrating, the camera cuts back and forth between him and the girl and how they keep encountering and a psychiatrists office where he's talking like that. In this version we are told the girl is the guys dead wife from 3 years ago.

Idea 4: A blend on both the film "The Graduate" and "Inside man", where we see a girl traveling to an unknown destination, maybe on a bus or train, while a voice over tells us who she is, where she is going and gives us a rough idea of whats about to happen (as this voice over will be made to sound like shes talking from the future after these events).

Well, this is the first part of my planning and I've been asked to answer a few questions, which are as follows:

What is a film opening?
A film opening is the primary/establishing shot of a film, the section which sets the scene for the viewer. It tells the viewer where they are, when they are and who they're with. It basically sets it all up for the rest of the film.

How much is revealed about the storyline/characters etc. in the film opening?
Generally in a film opening, we learn who our main characters, where and when the film is set and also from who's perspective we are seeing the film from, be it our own or a particular character's. In terms of how much we learn about the characters themselves, we learn very little. Yes we learn who they are, maybe their name and where they're from etc. but in general we do not how they have come to be where they are, what their past experiences are or what they are planning to do/how they're going to do it as that's where the film gets it plot. This is also true for the storyline, we only know from the film opening where its set, who's involved with it and a rough idea of when it is. For what's going to happen, we generally know very little. This is because the whole point of the film opening is to draw in the viewers attention and keep them interested as to what's going to happen so as to keep watching the rest of the film.
In general then, we only learn the bare essentials about a film in its opening, only because if we knew more than that, we'd get bored and so wouldn't want to see the rest of the film.

Genre-what types are there?
There are over 20 popular genres in the film industry, examples include:
Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Erotica, Faction (A fuse of factual events and fictional representation of these events), Fantasy, Historical, Horror, Mystery, Paranoid, Philosophical, Political, Romance, Saga, Satire, Science Fiction, Slice of life (A section of a persons life, can be ordinary with no plot at all, just stands to present part of somebody's life), Speculative (A type of fantasy where worlds indifferent from our own are portrayed and how they may run, like a parallel universe), Thriller & Urban. Then of course you have your spin-off's and fusions of these genres to create sub-genres such as Rom-Coms, Horror-Mystery etc.

Recently been asked to analyze the German film "Run Lola Run". Specifically "Why there are subtle changes in the beginnings of each of the three runs?" and "Is the film Run Lola Run a Love Story?".

Below is the video I composed featuring selections of the film with mine and a friend's voice dubbed on top to explain each scene. I've also attached the link to the original film for anyone who does not know the film.

Original Run Lola Run film:

To create the video, I downloaded the original from youtube and edited it on my own software to get the bits of the video I needed. I then compiled a script which myself and my friend would read. I then set up a dynamic microphone to record the voice, stuck the resulting audio file on top of the muted video and presto we have the product we see here. Creation time, about 2 days.

Vladimir Propp

Today we're studying the different types of characters portraid in a film, and how these characters can be significant in building a film by means of their appearance. Below are the different types of characters normally portraid in a film. In every story (or most storys), we have 6 types of characters. Let me run past you8 what they are:

Protagonsits: These people are the heros of the story, the lead narrative whos the one who carrys out whatever quest has been set for them

Antagonst: These are the villans of our story. They try to prevent the Protagonist from completeing his or her quest

Heroine: This is the prize of the protaginists quest. Usually a woman, this is the damsal in distress of the story

Father: This character is the person who supplys the support and guidance to the Protagonist and often offers the reward (The Heroine).

Helper: The aid to the Protagonist. Easiest example of this is Donkey in the film Shrek. They help the protagonist complete their quest.

Donor: These characters give the protagonists something, be it physical or moral/intellectual guidance, to help them complete the final bit of their quest.

Following on from this, we were then asked to write up our own synopsis of a film, mentioning all these types of characters based upon the features of a single picture. I chose this picture (above) to write up my synopsis of a film. Looking at this, it looks like a typical hard-core action film, where the baddy interrogates the goody. The scene here I associate with this idea of thinking and so built up a possible film synopsis for how this scene could eventually be incorporated into it:

The mans name is John Brice. He's 67, divorced with two grown up daughters and just retired from working at the C.I.A. He knows every secret America holds and would be a serious security threat if he talked. Hence why now he's retired from the C.I.A, the C.I.A are trying to retire him. He will have to break every rule he has every abided by to save not only his own life, but also his closet family.

Protagonist: John Brice
Antagonist: Bruce Fawkes (C.I.A Operative)
Heroine: John's Daughters
Father: John Brice
Helper: N/A
Donor: Lewis Day (Old comrade)

Ok, so for today's Media Lesson, we were studying the mark scheme which would be used on our 2 minute film openings and using them to mark previous pieces of work from previous years.
We watched 6 film openings in total. We each gave our marks out of 60 for each piece of work, having examined the piece of work, marking out their strong points and areas to be improved.

Having watched these example works, I have noticed a few techniques and ideas I wish to include in my own work, and also errors that I wish to avoid copying.

To begin with, the techniques I wish to copy:

• The use of smooth panning shot
• Create a story plot which is not too clique, but also engages the viewer and sets up the film to continue
• Use correct lighting for the scene
• Use of appropriate Non-Diagetic sounds/music

Errors I've noticed I wish not to copy:

• Lips out of sync with dialogue
• Incorrect use of Dollies, creating "shaky" shots
• Props, Lighting or setting is incorrect/has inconsistencies.
• Titles on screen incorrectly placed/spelled/font used
• Ensure camera quality is set up correctly
• Final product does not give the impression of a tailor.

Before this exercise, I did not have many ideas for what my 2 minute film beginning would be. Following this however, I now have a vague idea of what I wish to do. I envisage a clock hanging on the wall. The camera pans down to see a almost bedroom scene. It is night, the walls are flickering with light suggesting a fire is burning in the room. Looking round the room, we come to see a man hurriedly burning documents. Stacks of papers surround him. We cut to read one pile before he grabs them too and throws them onto the fire. He is dressed for winter wear, think black coat, cloves etc. His features flicker in the fire light. We hear footsteps outside of someone coming to the door. The man looks round to the door in the corner of the room in surprise, his face blacked out. We hear 4 loud knocks on the door, each one the man reacts to with a jump. He eventually stands up. From the floor, we seem him walk towards, and open the door, where by we do not see who it is who has knocked. Rather, the man stands there in shock looking out at the visitor before (from this point I am undecided but this is my most preferable ending) the picture blacks out and there are a few moments of dialogue from the man before we hear a gun shot (or similar) and the film ends. This I imagine would set the rest of the film up to continue to explain either how this man came to be in this predicament, and why he had to die and who murdered him.

The main strength carried through each example is the casting. Each character seemed to fit their role in the camera. It was either their voice, age, height or gender which suited them for the role. Another is the setting. Each example seemed to be choreographed for a specific location, making it suited to that environment. A particular example of this which I particularly enjoyed, was the video dubbed "The Promise" (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbBuIIooWgc ). It made good use of the lighting, the setting and the casting of the characters e.g. the way they looked, dressed etc.

A main weakness which showed up in many of the videos was poor or incomplete editing. Where lips where not in sync with dialogue which had been placed over the top of the video. Continuity errors,  where a person or object suddenly jumps from one space to another either between transitions or through cutting of material.

The 5 most important pieces of "Technical skills" I consider to be are:

• Good camera work e.g. quality, zoom, direction etc. As the camera is how the story will be captured and so must therefore be set up correctly for the best emphasis
• Correct setting and Mise-En-Scene, without it, the story seems misplaced or dull. It is not received its full potential.
• Correct recording of sound/capturing of sound e.g. dialogue, music etc. These help communicate the story being told and tells the viewer the mood of the scene and are vital to keeping the viewer interested.
• Editing must be continuous without stopping/breaking fluency. This can break the viewers concentration and bring them out of the film. Editing must be completed successfully without breaking the viewers connection with the video
• Special effects/titles must be correctly used. I myself am uncertain about Special effects as nothing beats the real thing. However, if they are used, they must be correctly placed, look realistic to maintain viewers belief in the film and be of relevance to the scene e.g. a random explosion occurring without plausible cause is not suitable.

Mise-En-Scene analysis

I've been asked to analyze the Mis-En-Scene of an image from Google. For those of you who don't know, Mise-En-Scene is everything in a single camera shot, thats the costumes the characters are wearing, the lighting, the set, props, framing (positioning of items), facial expressions and body language within a single image.

This is the image I have chose to analyze for Mise-En-Scene.

-Lighting: In this image, the girl in the foreground's face is highly lit with light to clearly show her facial expressions so that the audience may easily see what emotions are going through the characters mind, helping the Audience understand the scene. In the background, we see a blurred out image of a figure standing behind her. They too are clearly lit to make them obvious to the people watching. The fact the figure is blurred out makes it seem a sinister scene in that they appear out of focus and mysterious typically linked with danger, the unknown.  Also, notice how only the characters are lit whilst the rest of the set is darkened. This suggests the director wants our attention as the audience to be focused on the characters in the scene rather than anything else.

-Set: Judging by the archways in the background and the double lighting on the walls, we could safely assume this is set in a fairly old house/setting where those details are most commonly associated. To support this, the rug that the mysterious figure is standing on seems to me like a rather old rug with "old style" patterns. We also notice that the rug is lying on a stone flooring, also commonly associated with "older" style houses. However, we do not believe the scene to be set in the time era the house/set is suggesting that this is taking place. The lights themselves are electric and are casting a continuous stream of light and also how the whole set seems very sterile and clean.

-Props: The whole set seems to suggest wealth with the owner. The previously mentioned rug looks from the vague image we receive of it to be of very higher class status, in that it looks very expensive and precious. Also, looking to the right of the characters, we see what could possibly be a piano? This too looks very well kept and again very grand and expensive.

-Costumes: The girl in the foreground of the still is dressed very simply in a patterned shirt. The shirt looks very modern, made from modern materials setting the setting of the scene to be in a more modern time. The shirt also looks rather to big for the girl wearing it by the way the opening is rather large and how the collar is very large in comparison with the girl. This may be a suggestion that what the girl is taking on here is larger than she is. Considering the mysterious, ominous figure standing behind her, I would think this would be a fair assumption. The figure is wearing all black with a Halloween mask to cover their face. This is a typically scary image for a person to take on as they are refusing the person observing them to identify them and so make themselves look and feel scary and forbidding to the audience, so the audience is immediately against this character.

-Framing: The overall effect of the positioning of the characters gives the audience an idea of importance between the two characters. The girl in the foreground is very much in focus to us, taking up much of the screen and standing just right of center, making her the main character in the scene. This also creates a suggestion that the girl is about to have something happen to her. With the figure standing behind her looking typically like they are ready to murder/harm someone, standing in the background, out of sight, mysterious and out of focus this seems a likely prediction for whoever is watching this.

-Facial expressions and body language: If we begin with the girl, her facial features and the expression they're striking gives us the impressions of concern and fear so she is obviously aware of the figure standing behind her. We see this is the partially open mouth, wider eyes and raised eyebrows. Her facial expression is what gives us an idea that something bad is about to happen, with the main character being scared then we too as the audience should also be scared. Her body language, with her arms held close to her sides, standing up straight and with shoulders raised suggests a certain amount of self awareness, that she is aware that she is in the open and may be needed to defend herself so she is trying to make herself look more impressive. This is how we as the audience see that she seems nervous/scared.
For the figure we cannot analyze their facial expression for the mask they're wearing. However, their body language, with hands held together, legs apart and standing taller makes them seem as if they're waiting or are prepared for some form of reaction from the girl. The way their legs are spread makes them seem to have a need to be more steady, suggesting a possible fight about to break out between the two. Their hand being held together, whilst giving the impression that they are waiting, could also suggest they could be conducting a conversation. This gesture is typical for this action. Also, how they are standing taller than the girl suggests they have greater power over her and so wishes to use this advantage and make it obvious.