U1-35 : FILM OPENING PROJECT 2008/9

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2009-03-12T08:25:00.000-07:00

2009-03-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

2009-03-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

screengrab post

2009-03-10T07:33:00.000-07:00

Feedback of Final Cut

2009-03-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

People said that our music was one if the best things in our was the soundtrack, however the volume was so loud that at times it dominated the voice-over. It was advised that we turn the soundtrack down and turn up the voice-over. However people thought that the voice-over needed to be longer in places, like after the first line. Another problem observed was that there were too few shots in general in our sequence. Having looked at these We agree with the sound criticisms, we know the soundtrack and the voice-over drowned each other out, especially at the first line. It also was an unnaturally quick journey from the hallway to the classroom.

Final Cut Opening

2009-03-09T04:52:00.000-07:00

Our Opening

Character Comparison

2009-03-09T04:39:00.001-07:00

These two character are ones that we think resemble our main character. The one on the left is from "10 Things I Hate About You" and the one on the right is from "Drillbit Taylor". The first is "Michael Eckman", and the second is "Wade". Wade is a nervous, skinny, pressured and fairly stereotypical nerd, who is bullied, pressured by his father, unsure of himself, wears glasses and has a crush on a fellow student. Michael Eckman, is a more "nerdy" character, who is obsessed with technology, as well as being the former head of a technology society at his school. We took most of the character "Wade" and combined it with the "extra nerdiness" of Michael. We took the romantic theme from both, as "10 Things I Hate About You" is a romantic comedy. We took the description from "Wade", with the costume from "Michael". With all these things we made "Tom".

Review of Filming

2009-03-03T05:50:00.000-08:00

We got enough footage to make a sequence , but we had to adjust several shots. We chose not o have a conversation between Tom and his friend, instead we just filmed them saying hello to each other. We did this because we found it hard to film a long scene like that due to the large amount of people walking down the hall and, mainly we found it too time consuming. We also added in Tom dropping his books as we thought it would add to the characterization. We did not shoot the toilet scene as we felt we had enough footage and there was not the right amount of time to film it in. We added in the bit where Tom looks at the couple, as, since it as teenage romantic comedy we thought that it needed a romance moment. It took us longer to film than expected, as we simply we not organized enough when filming. however we did get enough footage to get a complete opening sequence.

Review of First Draft

2009-03-03T05:45:00.000-08:00

The majority of the class said that our rough cut did not have a big problem with it, but that the absence of the titles and the voice-over was noticeable and that it needed to be put in for the sequence to be "great" instead of "ok". Thus this is what we will focus our efforts on, putting on the soundtrack. Once they are both on we will adjust anything we think needs it.

2009-02-26T08:07:00.000-08:00

Refined Shot List

2009-02-10T05:24:00.000-08:00

Shot 1: A still, side on long shot to the protagonist (Tom) as he walks down the street to college.

Shot 2: A still medium shot of Tom standing. He looks up to the sky and acknowledges the bad weather. He walks out of shot and the film's title fills the screen.

Shot 3: Tom enters a building through a pair of double doors and walks down a corridor in the school hallway, the camera pans up from his walking feet to his face, when his head is in shot his voiceover begins. As he walks he is shouldered by a passing student and drops his books.

Shot 4: Medium-Long shot of Tom looking down at his books on the floor, obviously annoyed. As he bends down to pick up his stuff the shot abruptly changes.

Shot 5: Medium shot of Tom picking up his books, his hands and legs are visible, the shot then pans up to show his face, as he is thinking a passer-by ruledy shoves his way past, emphasizing Tom's unimportance.

Shot 6: Tom stands up and continues walking along the corridor. This part is shot in Tom's POV. As he walks he see's a friend, as his friend gestures to him the clip stops to conform with the voiceover.

Shot 7: Close up shot of Tom's face, although the camera is on his face, he doesn't acknowledge it. As Tom walks he catches sight of a girl leaning on a wall in the corridor, as he looks the camera looks too, at the same pace as him, the girl gives Tom a disapproving look and as Tom quickly looks back. the camera does too.

Shot 8: Tom walks through a doorway then is hit by a projectile to provide irony for the "good day" line, Tom is slightly dazed by the projectile then looks at the camera. The screen then goes black to end opening sequence.

Refined Script

2009-02-09T03:23:00.000-08:00

Shot 1: (Music)

Shot 2: (Music cont.)

Shot 3: (Music cont.)

Shot 4: "You see this guy? *shouldered by passing student, drops books* yeah, that's me."

Shot 5: *staring at books on the floor* "I'd like to think myself as a passive warrior, a bitch of the system. *sigh* How depressing."

Shot 6: *passing friend in corridor* "That's my friend ... He's one of the obliviously high-ego, naive types, in other words, an asshole. But I'm one of the few who he actually likes, the feeling's mutual."

Shot 7: "That's Sarah, she's the kind of the girl who... well, isn't really a people person lets just say. Definitely my type.

Shot 8: "despite everything, i have a feeling this is going to be a good day" *projectile hits him in the head*

End of opening sequence.

Voice Over

2009-02-05T06:44:00.000-08:00

Shot 1: ah school, drag, such a drag. Frigging Biology first, what a crappy lesson. Forgot homework again, and oh look, an airplane, first one I've seen today. A cage hurtling through the air with everyone else's thoughts. Haha, Frakie Boyle makes me laugh. But no, Planes are pretty safe, like your more likely to die from like a meteor than a plane...Song stuck in my head, legend tune, but don't tell anyone "I will try......to fix you!"
Shot 2: "And Lights will gui-id you home...@ oh, wait stop! got to cross the road here. Thank you Lord, needed to think there. Left, Right, cross, ah bliss, This feels like a good day. Right, one more lol thought before class, I'm gunna need something funny to get me through this lesson, Jack Dee, lej, "Week by week, build up your collection of 17th century ships!" awesome stuff there Jack, I am loving the comedy.
Shot 3: First friggin corridor of school, ah man, quick hide, Mr. Duncan knows I still haven't done my English essay, get it done! It's boring, but you have to do it eventually. ok, hes gone, its ok, right on with the day.
Shot 4: ok, so what to do for the next ten minutes, could read, surf the net, Ah hey, its Terry!
Shot 5(aloud until stated)
Tom: oi, Terry
Terry: you alright Tom?
Tom: what's up man, what you been up to?
Terry: not much, weeing myself about my psychology test next, but apart from that normal...
Tom: you'll be fine, your the best in the class, You spent last night revising?
Terry: not enough, Gears of War was just more fun.
Tom: it is, but you'll never beat my record.
Terry: I know, it's just to hard, how did you do that man?
Tom: Boredom, I'm just that cool that I spend all Saturday night on my xbox.
Terry: alright, time to go take that test, see you in a little bit.
Tom:Good Luck
(not aloud): That kid has to study more, he, and to be fair myself as well are like, ruled or something by our video games.
Shot 6: What time is it, still not lesson time, ah what to do. ah, cool air, and the fountain, it is a nice one. crap, I need to pee now. Watched "The Producers" too many times...
shot 7: don't run, you'll look stupid, right quick pace though. Here we are. free urinal, nice, oh wait, no, someone else standing next to it, ah he's done. now on with the piss. That is a good piss, getting it out that is, not that I get a feeling of ectasy from peeing. Wash, dry, and out to Biology
Shot 8: "...and ignig-----------ht your bones, and I will try to..." ow!! what the fudge!?

Shot List

2009-01-29T06:49:00.000-08:00

Shot 1 - Tom is walking down the street, on his way to school.This should an extreme long shot showing the school, his entire body and the houses around him.
shot 2 - This should be the title of the movie (Teenaging) with him still in the shot, but moving out of view of the camera.
shot 3 - This shot is of Tom's feet as he walks down the school corridor. This should be a long shot, with evidence that it is in the corridor. The shot camera pans up to see the character's face at the same distance.
shot 4 - The camera cuts to an extreme long shot of the whole corridor, with Tom talking to his friend.
shot 5 - We see the two friends talking to each other using the 180 degree rule from behind a character's shoulder, clearly seeing the head and shoulders of each character.
shot 6 - We see Tom walking down the hallway checking the time on his phone. we see the phone, half his arm and hand, and the hallway.
shot 7 - Tom goes into the toilet, we see from his point of view him standing at a urinal, whilst listening to his thoughts.
shot 8 - We see an object thrown at Tom's his head, and his reaction.

Settings used
Shot 1- Sedley Taylor Road
Shot 2- Sedley Taylor Road
shot 3- Long Road corridor, with lockers preferably
Shot 4- Long Road Corridor
Shot 5- long Road Corridor, next to a wall or locker
Shot 6- End of Corridor
Shot 7- Long Road Male Toilet
Shot 8- Exit of Long Road Male Toilet

Title Ideas

2009-01-27T06:11:00.000-08:00

Grown Ups

Young Adults

Immaturity

My Life in a Nutshell

Underacheiver (This is spelt wrong on purpose)

Teenaging

Pissing in the Wind.

Costumes

2009-01-27T05:16:00.000-08:00

Seeing as our group is making an opening for a teenage rom-com, we think that typical teenage attire will be suitable and convenient. Anyone caught in the background will be wearing the same kind of clothes as those starring in our opening, this will help to establish the college environment our opening is set in.

Mood Board

2009-01-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

animatic

2009-01-26T04:22:00.000-08:00

Mood Post

2009-01-26T03:50:00.000-08:00

Initial Ideas

2009-01-19T03:08:00.000-08:00

the film is almost all shot in the first person, with a college student (filmed at Long Road) who walks around the school on a normal day and we see everything that happens to him through his eyes. We hear his thoughts as he goes about his daily routine, just having got in to college, he goes to the toilet, talks to his friend etc...He goes through a normal life and we hear his thoughts, which is where the comedy will come from. We will not show the romance element of the film in this part, as we do not have a girl in our group, we will instead focus on charater development by letting the audience hear his typically teenage thoughts.

Film Opening Homework

2009-01-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

Media Studies Homework
Harry Potter Five
Sound- The opening soundtrack sets the scene, mysterious and dark. The storm noise combined with the long shot of storm clouds shows the pathetic fallacy used. When Harry and Dudley run away from the park they are panting loudly which for me makes them look panicked. The panting noises from Harry and Dudley emphasises that they are running quickly because of danger. The soundtrack during the attack shows how dangerous the dementors are. It has a weather report in the background saying it will be hot and sunny, which is contradicted when the storm clouds appear.
Camera- The camera moves slowly through a misty and dimly light titles, only two titles, into sunlight which establishes a shot of Little Winging. Jolty camera when Harry and Dudley are running, which I think shows the purpose of them running. An Extreme long shot of the storm clouds shows the storm caused by the dementors.
Mise-En-Scene- empty park makes it look depressing, Dudley’s clothes are stereotypically worn by unkind teens. Newspapers blowing are used to show danger and I think they are used to show danger in the scene, not in reality. Dimly light path shows danger as the dementors wear black clothes. The dry grass makes it look as if the area is poor.
Editing- Storm clouds show danger as soon as Harry raises his wand, when it is the dementors that makes the storm clouds appear. The dementors action towards Harry and mainly Dudley show the horror genre aspects of the movie. Swift camera movements to show divide between Harry and Dudley.
Graphics and special effects- starts with a very dark and misty image of the Warner Brothers symbol, the darkness tells us that there are horror aspects of this films genre. Dementors are shown to glide mysteriously and that makes them scary and hold power they should not have, evil power.
Genre- The two titles in the sky show the magical elements, dementors are magical creatures and Harry casts a spell which all show the magic part of the genre. The dementors show part of the story as being on the villain’s side as they suck out people’s souls which is evil. The spinning merry-go-round and the start whilst is spinning mainly because at the time it was recently used, but it also seems to be magic as it is spinning for a long time. The length of time can also be interpreted as mystery to the story.
Narrative- The Black sky shows bad things happening with magic as it is caused by the arrival of the dementors. It is in the dark that the dementors come which is used to foreshadow a bad thing happening in the story, not reality. The confrontation between Harry and Dudley tells the viewers about the tense relationship they have. The dementors attacking Harry foreshadows how the dementors will join voldemort later in the story. Harry’s loneliness shows how he does not like Little Winging due to a lack of friends and he is on his own in the park which shows how he is in danger, none in reality. (the part about the fictional Harry Potter also applies to characters)
Characters- The confrontation shows both character’s personalities, however small parts, both character’s costumes can be linked to stereotypes. The link between dementors and sucking souls shows their characteristics, but that was known already at that stage about the fictional make-believe characters. Harry’s scare is a part of his personality and it is very visible when Harry looks up at the storm clouds caused by the dementors, the fictional characters, at this point it can be seen clearly.

Conventions of a teenage romantic comedy

2009-01-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

We would expect to see things a teenager would do normally and relate to. Some of it ought to be set in a school or have the protagonist studying. He or she would also dress like a normal teenager (jeans are a necessity) and have some fashion sense, it does not matter which fashion group he is a member of. In Juno the protagonist has to deal with teenager problems, so our character should be exposed to a certain teenage problem. They would carry modern accessories and relax in the current teenage way. They would have one or two things not normally connected to teenagers in their personality.

Teenage Stereotypes

The Average Joe
The Geek
The Jock
The Prep
The Good Looking Girl / The Girl Next Door
The Musician
The Drug User
The Activist
The Skater Boy

Teenage Romantic Comedy Ideas

2009-01-15T07:09:00.001-08:00

Some examples of of teenage and romantic comedies are

Ten Things I Hate About You
Angus Thong And Perfect Snogging
Juno
Clueless
Four Weddings And A Funeral
Notting Hill
Love Actually
Serendipety

Garden State - Opening Analysis

2009-01-15T07:03:00.000-08:00

Garden State Opening Sequence

I am going to analyse the opening sequence to the 2004 film Garden State (Zach Braff) by writing about different micro elements and how they are used to establish character, narrative and genre.

The film starts with the sound of a panicking pilot on a radio sending a mayday distress call, set to a black background with the names of the production companies set in a bland white font. I think this use of frenzied, emotional sound over very plain text is a good representation of the film’s protagonist Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff), as it shows how although the dull video is set over extreme audio it remains very tame, this mirrors Andrew’s blunted emotions. The next thing you see elaborates on this idea and actually shows Andrew calmly sitting in his seat on a plane which is clearly experiencing a lot of turbulence whilst everyone around him is screaming and desperately clutching the air masks that have dropped from the ceiling of the cabin.

The camera then centres on Andrew, who calmly looks up (at this point the camera changes too his point of view) to the control panel above him and turns the nozzle for the air conditioning. After, the camera shifts back to a medium close up of Andrew and changes back to Andrew’s POV as he notices the seatbelt sign flashing. Andrew’s telephone then appears on the cabin ceiling next to the seatbelt sign and begins ringing. The camera cuts back for the last time to Andrew (still on the plane) the phone reappears, still ringing, on Andrew’s bedroom floor. The decision to have the phone appear and ring in Andrew’s dream would indicate that Andrew’s phone is what wakes him up.

The next shot is of Andrew lying in bed in his bland, white, under-furnished bedroom, (a representation of Andrew’s numb emotional state) with a ceiling fan slowly turning above him, his phone still ringing with the camera in one of the corners, giving an overview of the room. The telephone rings off to the answer-phone and the camera then moves to a more personal shot of Andrew in bed, wearing a white t-shirt, which matches the rest of the room, this matching of colour is complimented by the symmetry with which this shot is positioned (yet another representation of Andrew’s emotions, which have been dulled by years of medication.) As Andrew lays his father leaves an emotional message telling him that his mother has died, the camera moves to a close up of only Andrew’s face as his father tells him that his mother’s cause of death was drowning (something that we later on find out holds special significance) Andrew’s father then hangs up, the shot lingers on Andrew’s reaction. “Don’t Panic” by Coldplay starts to play as Andrew looks at himself in his bathroom mirror which doubles as a cabinet (the break between the two mirror doors going through his face and distorting his image, perhaps meant to show Andrew’s self esteem issues.) Andrew then opens the mirror cabinet to show his obsessively organised pills.

We then see Andrew on his way to the airport driving in heavy traffic with the use of car horns being used to show the excessive congestion that surrounds him. We then see the whole of the five-lane freeway in a far shot which quickly changes to the film’s title in a white font on a black background, the words “We live in a beautiful world” from “Don’t Panic" play over the title, a somewhat ironic choice of words to exaggerate considering Andrew’s attitude at this point in the film.

Chris Ramsden

U1-35 FILM OPENING PROJECT

2008-11-28T04:14:00.001-08:00

Welcome