Practice: PRELIM - Final Product

Practice: PRELIM - Editing

As usual, we transferred all the clips from today onto our hard drive, opened Final Cut Pro and imported all the clips. It was a lot easier to edit this time as we're getting used to using it. We did consider putting in foley sound however, it was not necessary as it was loud enough in the clip, however for some clips we did have to raise the volume .

Putting the clips together.

Practice: PRELIM - Filming Process

Today for the first half of the lesson we filmed our Prelim, it took us just over an hour to prepare and film everything. We had the privilege to film in one of the studio rooms that are fully equipped with lighting.

The room/studio we was filming in.

HI!

Hannah and Sibora rehearsing their lines.

Our props, and the script.

Practice: PRELIM - Preparation, Planning, Storyboard and Animatic

This Prelim is a Match Cut Exercise we must complete before we prepare and film our actual opening.

Brief: Film the following sequence, making sure to use at least one Match Cut, an example of Shot/Reverse Shot and showing your understanding of the 180 Degree Rule (by not breaking it!).

"A Character opens a door, walks into a room, sits down opposite another character and they share a few line of dialogue"

We are to film our prelim exercise 'in the style of' one of the thrillers we have studied, so out of the following sub-genres; psychological, supernatural and action, we chose action. Although i'm not sure if you can tell it's an Action-thriller through the final video. 

The plot is; a women hires a hit-woman to kill her husband as he has bean cheating on her.

In the process of drawing the storyboard,

Script draft.

Storyboard

Animatic

Foley Sound

Foley sound are sound effects that are added to the film during post production after all the actual shooting. They include sounds such as footsteps, clothes rustling, paper folding, doors opening and slamming, punches hitting, glass breaking, etc. these are put over the original sound to emphasize the effect and make it clearer for the audience to hear. 

After putting together the opening sequence for Arlington Road, we had to go and record our own sound to put over the video as there is no sound in it.

(video coming soon)

Analysis of Previous Student Film Opening

Authority

I chose to analyse the film opening; 'Authority'. I really liked the opening i felt that it was very well produced and edited. The match cuts were all very well linked, I was very impressed with some of the camera shots and how the camera was positioned. When the opening started, straight away you could tell it was an action film due to the sound, the sound matched very well with the concept. The Mise en scene was also nice, the setting was very big and spacious enough space for a chase, the props they used such as the brief case was also effective. On the other hand i feel the jump cuts to the other guy on the pc, were a little off, I personally feel they could've been film and organised in a better way.
 The font they used for the title sequence I feel did not match with the genre of the opening. They used to font Time' New Roman, and this i feel this font is more fitted for old fashions or traditional films. Overall I really liked the opening however I  did feel that the chase went on for a little long.

I really liked this shot I felt It was filmed very well and the composition was good and well set out. This was one of my favourite shots.

FDA Yearbook - Questions & Answers

How many suspense films were released in 2010?
         - In 2010 38 suspense films were released.

In total, how much did these suspense films take, gross, to the nearest million?
         - To the nearest million, these suspense made a gross of £42 million.

Which genre of film had the highest gross in 2010?

         - In 2012 the genre; Action & Adventure had the highest gross.


What was the most popular family genre in 2010?
         - In 2010 the most popular family genre was; Action & Adventure.

Write a short paragraph of about 200 words about how figures for 'suspence' genre film compare with other film genres in 2010.
         - (coming soon)

Structure of Thriller Openings

In todays lesson, the looked at the structure of different thriller openings. There are four types of structures;

• A narrative opening with the titles running throughout. You are also introduced to the setting straight away. 

•  A discrete title sequence

 

•  Titles over a blank screen, followed by the narrative opening 

•  Stylized editing

(incomplete)

Film Opening Structure

A Narrative Opening
A narrative opening is when the titles of the film run throughout the opening.
For example: The Shining

A Discrete Title Sequence

Stylized Opening

Titles over a blank screen followed by a narrative opening

Thriller target audiences

Thriller movies have all different target audiences as they could have a sub genre which could appeal to different ages and gender. In general I would say thrillers are mostly likely to attract young adults/teenagers as they tend to like being scared and like the thrill.


Having a sub genre could change the audience completely as if the film is an action thriller the audience is more likely to be young men rather than women as they are likely to relate to it more. On the other hand a romantic thriller are more likely to attract women.

Casino Royale                                                                        

Action Thriller

12

Twilight

Romantic Thriller

12

Thriller Sub-genres

In todays lesson we looked at different Thriller sub-genres and what in the opening allowed the audience to identify so.

Momento (2000) - Phycological Thriller

In momento is started off with a clack screen and the film title. A close-up of someone holding a polaroid appears and as he flicks it the image starts to disappear, through this you that it is being rewinded and normally as you flick the polaroid the image appears after.

Deja Vu (2006) - Action Thriller

After watch this opening I honestly wasn't sure what genre it was. I had a feeling it was Action but no clue it was Thriller.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (2002) - Romantic Thriller

Again with this opening I would not have known that it was a thriller, you can obviously tell it is Romance as it opens with loads of lovey dovey things.

The Orphanage (2007) - Supernatural Thriller

After watching this opening I knew it was some sort of Supernatural Thriller. With the little kids running around and playing games already through this you know it was going to be supernatural in some way.

The title sequence was a little creepy when the kids were ripping off the wallpaper, but if you look closely their skin colour is really pale as if they're like dead.

Enemy of the State (1998) - Political Thriller

After watching this opening I thought it would've been a Political Action sub-genre, I had no idea it was going to be a thriller. You can tell it was a political as the White House and Empire State is seen throughout it, and the green targets tracking cars that made me think it was action.

Re-editing Process of Arlington Road

Remake of Arlington Road (1999) opening;

Again we used Final Cut Pro to edit this film opening, we opened the folder where the clips we will be using were stored. After arranging them in the order we thought it went in, Mary told us that the correct order will spell out UNFORGIVEN, we was really close except ours was in the order; UNFROGIVEN. After we then went on to add some text for the credits. Below are some screen grabs of the process.