Hello, I'm leaving a few pictures so you have a better understanding of the main idea that we have for our film opening. As it is a horror story we have look at places where there is near something similar or a forest. We have found next to the Violeta´s beach house in El Puerto a little square that is connected with a forest. We think that it is the better place to film, if possible at evening so the day is getting darker. These three photos are of the real place where we are filming. There is one of the forest, of the square and another one is an aerial shot, take it from google maps of the place.
Hello! Today I'm going to talk about lighting in general, so that you have already an idea. After that I'm going to focus on the opening film.
Lighting belong to the mise-en-scene section. It refers to how a scene or shot is lighted, and used to create mood and feeling.
Lightning (general)- can be used to highlight important characters.
High Key lighting- A bright and well lit scene with very few shadows. Often used to make a location or character seem friendly, happy, safe.
Low key lightning- a dimly lit scene with lots of shadows. Often used to make a location or character see shady, untrustworthy, dangerous, unsafe.
Chiaroscuro Lighting- a scene lit with extreme lighting, lots of shadows, some very bright parts. See the effects of low key lighting. Also used to make a location or character seem very dramatic and unusual.
Lighting of the opening film:
As it is a horror film, the most appropriate is the low key lighting. Because of this the idea is to film between 5p.m and 6 p.m because it is getting darker but with the enough light to see the characters.
Another reason why we have take 4 days filming is that after 7 or 8p.m there is no natural light, and we pretend to make before nightfall.
Hi! we have been searching through music to play in the background of the film opening and it has not been easy, we all have so many options and ideas but in the end we have agreed on 2 songs.
Spooky Horror Music - "Song of Shrieking Wind" (Slow Strings Composition).
Tyga - Hookah ft. Young thug.
At the beginning of the film opening we play Tyga - Hookah ft. Young thug, i personally like this song and it is a song that can put you in a good mood but then when we arrive at the forest we switch the song for Spooky Horror Music. this is to build tension and ad drama to the film.
Hello, today in class we have made the table above, we haven't recode yet, but this is a planification so we are more organise. At first we were thinking on recording in December but that in Christmas, some members of the group where travelling, so we have decided to do it in January.
Today my group and I have designed the logo and the company production name of our opening film.
We made these three logos as the options, It was difficult as we had never before done something like this, the two first ones I made by hand and then pass it to a computer program, they have a slate aspect giving a classic appearance, and the third one was made by Blewes with online software, the green colour looks more creative.
As a group we have decided to use the middle one because it has been the most difficult logo to develop and the one who represents our ideal logo. We also asked some students from different classes and the majority of them agreed that the most exciting and well designed logo was the one on the middle.
This is the final logo:
Today I'm going to talk about the production company logo, is a logo used by movie studios and televisionproduction companies to brand what they produce. Production logos are usually seen at the beginning of a theatrical movie or video game (an "opening logo"), or at the end of a television program or TV movie (a "closing logo").
Many production logos have become famous over the years, such as:
20th Century Fox's monument and searchlights, It is seen as a prime example of an Art Deco-influenced design. The most frequent color scheme in the 20th Century Fox logo features golden yellow and blue colors.
Paramount Pictures mountain, The south col area of Mount Everesthas become the primary basis of the logo it is also composed by shooting stars that fall from a night sky to form the arc while the Paramount logo flys into place between them. The logo also includes a surrounding mountain range and the sun shining in the background.
Columbia Pictures, the logo is composed by a woman carrying a torch and draped in the American flag (representing Columbia, a personification of the United States), The illustration was based upon the actress, Evelyn Venable, known for providing the voice of The Blue Fairy in Walt Disney's Pinocchio.
MGM's Leo the Lion, Two different versions of this logo were used: an "extended" version, with the lion roaring three times (used from 1957–1960); and the "standard" version, with the lion roaring twice (used since 1960).
Walt Disney Pictures, the Walt Disney logo comprises of a castle above which runs a beam of a shooting star. The beam finally ends with a sparkle on top of the castle. The fonts appear fancy and charismatic written below the motif. The logo has a blue background and the glowing beam is basically a golden version of the stars and sparks that compliments both the logo design.
Walt Disney founder’s signature forms the font of the Walt Disney logo. The font fancifully highlights ‘Walt Disney’ in a subtle but bold manner.
While we were doing the storyboard, we have changed a little bit of the plot, we had maintained the idea of Bethany, instead of going out at night they go to a forest to take pictures where Bethany come across and they try to escape.
Before that we had researched on storyboard, so that we have a base where we can rely on. In my opinion It was more laborious as I thought. Nevertheless we have enjoy restructuring the story.
Today, we had an idea for choosing the final title and plot of the movie. We have written the five different titles with their respective plots, we printed and hanged it on the noticeboard of the school, letting the students choose.
The most voted was BETHANY. So, because of this reason this is going to be the title and plot for our film opening.
My group and I have been watching horror movies due to create some plots about horror movies for our opening film. After that we have made a questionnaire to decide which one is the best for the opening film.
The presentation below, includes five different titles and their respective plots.
I´m going to analyse the opening credit of Insidius, where I´m including the director, the starring, productor, production company, music, distribution, and actors.
This is the first shot of the opening to the horror film Insidious:
The credits are in red and capitals informing of the presentation and production. And fade in with an echoing ball where is the name of the director, James Wan. This is a typical convention of a horror film, as red connotes death and evil and the echoed text gives an eerie feel. The ball turn into the lamp of the boy´s room. It shows the boy sleeping. After that, appears the little, INSIDIOUS and in every room of the house the red writing with the authos of the music, distribution and actors.
Opening credits are a functional as well as creative part of
movies. Telling the audience who is in the movie, as well as other known talent
such as writers, directors and composers, sets the stage for what’s to come.
Check out an example here.
Many great movies had no opening credits, such as The
Godfather and Apocalypse Now. Citizen Kaneopens with only the title of the
movie, saving all the credits for the end.
With the introduction of computer technology a new era of
film openings began. In 1978, the first digitally generated title appeared in
the movie “Superman” fascinated audience and boosted its viewings substantially
as it was the first of its kind as before this it was seen as physically
impossible to interact in a movie in this way. During the early 80’s these
computer based technologies become widely available for designers which
stimulated a surge in computer generated credits. This progressed through the
90’s as there was constant competition to shock the audience digitally. By the
late 90’s it was extremely easy for designers and directors to visually portray
their opening titles on the screen. This digital revolution enabled a flow of
new techniques and stiles combined with a few classic ones. Most recently
opening sequences have combined typography and space to create visually
astounding pieces of films. This is especially importantly as today with the
aid of 3D animation in cinema the aim is to create the most interesting and
visually pleasing opening sequence to get the audience excited for the film.
Today I´m going to talk about why does and what type of people likes fiction movie, and my team and I are going to prepare a questionnaire to take that information.
From the questionnaire, I collected some useful information for the horror opening film that my team and I need to create. For example, by asking if they watch horror movies and why.
Some things that I found of my target audience:
Regularly watch films.
The 35% of the audience have horror as their favourite genre and the 45% like them.
More girls likes horror movies than males: the 35% of the people that were given the questionnaire where males and only 28% of those like horror movies. Girls where the 65%, and 71% had the horror movies as their favourite one.
As a result, I will pay attention to all these points for the opening film, and do it as best as we can.
Audience interview
Audience interview transcript:
1. How old are you? - I´m 18 or above.
2. How often do you watch movies? - Once or twice a week.
3. Do you like horror movies? - No specially.
4. What gender are you? - I´m male.
5. What is your favourite movie genre? - Science fiction.
6. Do you normally watch fiction movies at home or at cinema? - At home
7.What is your favourite type of fiction movie? - Sci-fi.
8.Why do you watch horror movies? - Enjoyment.
Thank you.
Audience Profile
If companies do not know about their audience, they cannot market successfully. I´m going to summarise what I understand by audience profile.
As my team and I are going to do the film opening about horror we need to know who is our audience, before starting marketing and promoting the opening, we need to focus on an audience profile so we don't waste time and effort with the wrong people. The audience profile is a way to determinate our ideal target market of spectator and can helps us to have goals in mind.
The audience is the people who watch the film. Different films will have different audiences. Not everybody will watch the same film. The audience who watches Gravity may be very different to the audience who watches Big Hero 6. Films can have a primary (main) audience, teens, for example, and a secondary audience like older people.
Today, my team and I, have decided to take horror genre, for our film opening. Because of this I have made a research on the horror conventions and join all the information on the powerpoint below.
I have choose to analyse Shameless, the series illustrate the dysfunctional family of Frank Gallagher, a single father of six children. While he spends his days drunk, his kids learn to take care of themselves.
Season 2, episode 10, A great cause:
I had to discuss the ways in which the extract create essence through camera shots, angles, movement and composition, editing, sound, and mise-en-scène:
The first thing that you can notice about is the tint used in the format. The whole passage is filmed with a warm tint that expresses a cosy family relation. This variation with the low-key lighting that gives the whole film a dark, melancholy tract. This means that even though the family context is cosy, there is nothing warm about this crumbled family.
The shaky camera movement (filmed using a handheld filming technique) suggest disequilibrium and gives the whole passage a dramatic meaning. It’s practically as if something would break out at any moment (i.e. confrontation, weeping…).
All of the dialogues that can be classified under the diegetic sound category connote a low-class family and their daily struggles.
When Fiona and her brother are speaking, their faces are progressively zoomed-in on. Those extreme-close ups are used to better portray their emotions when the conversation gets tense and their voices are taking intense. This stagy effect shows hopelessness, just as the expression (cold, dim, worrisome eyes).
As the daughter barges in her mother’s room, the angle from which their conversation is filmed is a modified over-the-shoulder shot (the mother’s shoulder). From this point of view, we notice the mother’s negligence even more. This means that she has, in some way, given up. She won’t even make the effort to respond to her own daughter, who is rightfully accusing her of her wrongdoings.
At what mise-en-scène is refer, is quite pitiful. Most of the things are in a mess, and this comprehend every aspect of the house: the room where the mother rest, the kitchen ( in which the brother complains about the sofa), the hall. We could say the things have been moved randomly. This mean to say that no one is close to make sense of every single thing that takes place. Another aspect that we can consider is the dinner table, it seems to be deteriorated and unused. This carry out that the family may never really bother eating together in harmony.
The end scene hold Fiona by her own, when she makes her entrance she is filmed from a low angle. This makes her seem greater than she actually is, and imply that she is the only one who can take action and do something about the mess that their house has become. Then she has a mental breakdown where she kicks the washing machine, having a close-up shot where the time is slowed down. After that she is filmed with an aerial shot, where is literally filmed the top of her head, assuming all her responsibilities.
Fiona is filmed choicely using close-ups and medium-shots (in profile), she is thinking about the situation. While she´s continuously putting everything in its place in the kitchen, we notice the use of a tracking technique. The view shows more and more of the house when zooming out, this connotes an abundant and infinite amount of responsibilities that Fiona has yet to undertake.
We have chosen to analyze: the breaking Bad scene "stay out of my territory".
Breaking Bad is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. It tells the story of Walter White, a struggling high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Together with his former student Jesse Pinkman, White turns to a life of crime, producing and selling crystallised methamphetamine to secure his family's financial future before he dies, while navigation the dangers of the criminal world.
I had to discuss the ways in which the extract constructs meaning through camera shots, angles, movement and composition, editing, sound, and mise-en-scène.
The excerpt begins with an establishing shot of the supermarket Rask building supply, he is filmed from his toes to his head in profile from a relatively low-angle.It is therefore already outstanding how Walter imposes himself in terms of strength. He gives off the impression that he knows what he’s doing, and that no one can stand in his way. Then, he film him from the back (as he is walking) using a long-shot. This acts as an establishing sequence. Then Walter slowly turns around looking in shock, the camera portrays what he´s looking at from his perspective, so the audience can follow what it is that caught his eye. Walter is also portrayed as standing atop the cart, on the point of appear superior. This express that he knows something’s wrong, again, giving him an air of power.
As the other man is coming on and dumps the resting materials in the cart, he is filmed from the cart up and the scene stops sharp into mid-shot edging forward close-up. This is meant to play uptake surprise on his face. The two men are then filmed in the distance with a long-shot. This tell us that things are not all right.
Walter then starts suggesting him on what he should actually buy, when and how. All of this happens while he has a harsh expression. Although his ordinary demeanour, he clearly stated himself with confidence and masculinity, that reflect further on his appearance. Then the other man runs away from him indicating the fact that he overcome him.
While standing in line, Walter is filmed from distance (long-shot). As the beeping of the machine continues, Walter’s facial expression is focus into slow and direct camera movements that approach closer and closer to him (at the same time as the beeping sound).
Supposing that he has no time to wait because he has just carry out something crucial, Walter leaves the paint cans he was about to pay (filmed it using a close-up on a corner) and starts walking in direction of the exit. At that moment, a ruminative background track is placed to make it look like he is going to face up to someone.
As Walter exits the supermarket and steps into the parking area, the camera is kept in one place while the protagonist walks towards as far as he confront with some men (indicating again a superiority and power bearing) with a tracking movement.
While Walter come near to the men with the van at a calm pace, background sound support let know the audience that the situation is under control ( the symphony is slow). This in particular is seen when the man of the van and Walter look fixedly each other, what I mean by this is that the situation is very tense, however the music does not give sign of a fight.
When Walter says: “stay out of my territory”, he stays in a serious mode while he is filmed from his adversary´s shoulder, been an over-the-shoulder-shot.
A film opening is the start of a film; it can be considered
the most important piece in a film since they are the first images the audience
sees when the lights go down. The opening may tell us the genre of the film and
one of the storylines of the movie to keep the viewers watching and to give the
audience a taster of the narrative. The opening should include many different
techniques, form the catchy music to fast paced editing. The most important
element to a good opening is the element of suspense.
I have searched on some film opening and the film I chose
was Love and Basketball because I feel it has a clever yet intriguing opening.
There is a use of clever shots and it leaves you wanting to know what happens
next.
All basketball games are divided into four quarters and
cleverly the film is divided intofour quarters to resemble a basketball game,
so at the start you are introduced to a clip that say First quarter.
Studying Mis-en-scene in this case costume, I feel that the
character being dressed in a tom boyish way is relevant to the scene as it
shows the other characters reaction to her. When it comes to creating a good
film having mis-en-scene is relevant to the film is vital.
At the end of the opening sequence we have a close up of a character
hurt on the grass
Editing can be used to construct representations by:
the pace of
editing ( fast paced- toung, energetic, slow-old)
contrasting
characteristics or sellings (crosscutting, shot/reverse shot)
creating links
between characterstics or settings
showing us what
a character is looking at
showing us what
a character is thinking about (cutting, superimposition)
Cutting
Cutting
is when one shot suddenly changes to another shot. Cuts are made very
regularly; for example, television shows consist of cuts which occur
approximately every seven to eight seconds. Cuts aren’t always left as a sudden
change from one shot to another, sometimes these cuts are transitioned as a
fade, wipe or a dissolve.
Shot/Reverse shot
A shot and reverse shot is where several shots are edited together and
alternate characters. This is very typically used in a conversation situation.
Crosscutting
Is the editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places, usually simultaneously.
Fade in/Fade out
Fading into a shot is when the screen appears just a blank, black screen to begin with, and then the shot begins to fade in. This usually occurs at the beginning of a scene to indicate a softer, quieter introduction.
Fading out of a shot is when the shot is shown on the screen and then slowly fades out into a blank, black screen.
Superimposition
This is where two shots are blended into one, and unlike dissolve, this is not a transition between two different shots.
Slow Motion
When the action on the screen has been edited to move at a slower rate than the original action did. This can be used to do the following:
Make a faster action more visible to the audience
To emphasize a moment or a reaction
To create an unusual and strange feeling about a familiar, ordinary action
To emphasize violence
Long Take
A shot that takes an unusually long length of time before cutting to the next scene.
Other:
Eye line Match
An eye line match consists of two shots. The first shows the character look off
in one direction. The following shot shows what the character is looking at.
Graphic Match
A good example of this would be a washing machine spinning around and
dissolving into a car wheel. Or even in Hitchcock’s “Psycho”, in the famous
shower scene, when the camera focuses on the water spiralling down the plug
hole and the shot dissolves into the ladies eye.
Action Match
An action match is when two different views are shot of the same action, and
are edited together so that the action appears to continue uninterrupted.
Jump Cut
A jump cut is when a single shot has an interruption. The interruption is
either the background changes instantly while the figure in the shot remains
the same, or that the figure changes instantly while the background remains the
same.
Parallel Editing
This is an editing technique where two or more shots, set in different places,
alternate, these are usually simultaneous, and the actions are linked in some
way.
Dissolve
Dissolving is a transition used in between two shots so that the shots don’t
suddenly change. Dissolve is the transition in which one shot fades out while
another shot fades in, meaning at one moment in this transition the shots are
blended together.
Short Take
A shot that is a very quick shot that takes a very short length of time before
cutting to the next scene.
After investigating and researching on fiction movies and the audiece that fiction has, we are going to research on camera work, different angles, shots and camera movements. To complete this post I took my sister, so I can practice with my own camera all these shots.
CAMERA SHOTS:
A camera shot is the amount of space that is seen in one
shot or frame. Camera shots are used to demonstrate different aspects of a
film's setting, characters and themes.
The images I will use as examples, are my own photos.
Establishing shot
Establishing shot is usually the first shot of a new scene, designed to show the audience where the action is taking place. It is usually a very wide shot or extreme wide shot.
Long shot
Long shot is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema.
Medium shot
Medium shot contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action.
Close-up
Close-up shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scene. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face.
Extreme close-up
Extreme close-up as its name suggests, an extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. An extreme close-up of a face, for instance, would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail whatsoever.
Over the shoulder shot
Over the shoulder shot framed from behind a person who is looking at the subject. The person facing the subject should usually occupy about 1/3 of the frame. This shot helps to establish the position of each person, and get the feel of looking at one person from the other's point of view. It's common to cut between these shots during a conversation, alternating the view between the different speakers.
The master shot
The master shot is a shot that includes all of the actors in the scene and it runs the entire length of the action.
Aerial shot
Aerial shot is an exterior shot filmed from — hey! — the air. Often used to establish a (usually exotic) location. All films in the '70s open with one.
CAMERA ANGLES:
Camera angles and movements combine to create a sequence of images, just as words, word order and punctuation combine to make the meaning of a sentence. You need a straightforward set of key terms to describe them.
High angle:
The camera is above the subject, looking down. This position makes characters look weak, submissive, or frightened. They are also good POVs of an adult looking at a child.
Low angle:
Are captured from a camera placed below the actor’s eyes, looking up at them. Low angles make characters look dominant, aggressive, or ominous.
Canted angle:
Is a cinematic tactic where the camera is tilted to its side so that the plane of the horizon meets the bottom of the camera frame at an angle,used in many popular horror movies to indicate to the audience that the scene is unstable, or ‘something is going to go wrong’.
Eye-level:
Shot is placed in level with a character’s face as if the audience is watching in level with the focus.
CAMERA MOVEMENT:
Pans:
this movement scans a scene horizontally. The camera
has to be placed on a tripod because soft shake’s of a movement is very
sensitive and the audience would be able to access that mistake. The camera is
turned to the side to often show a moving object in the middle of the frame.
Tilts movement:
can be similar to a ‘Pan’ shot although it
scans the scene vertically.
Track Shots:
the camera is usually placed inside a vehicle
or a plane, or mounted anywhere that creates movement if the director wants a
complicated dolly shot. The dolly shots generally follow a moving object. The
dolly shot is good for following the movement of a human or an object showing
the journey from one end to another.
Hand-held:
camera shots are moved by us, humans. This brings
the audience to see as if they were inside them movie, witnessing an event that
takes place.
Crane Shots:
are similar to a track shot although it moves left, right, centre, up, down, diagonally etc. but in the air by using a large metal stand as you can see on the left here.
A zoom lens: is use to change the magnification of an image by either using a close-up shot or a long shot in a camera (photographer) but the photographer standing a metre or two away.
Hello, I'm leaving a few pictures so you have a better understanding of the main idea that we have for our film opening. As it is a horror story we have look at places where there is near something similar or a forest. We have found next to the Violeta´s beach house in El Puerto a little square that is connected with a forest. We think that it is the better place to film, if possible at evening so the day is getting darker. These three photos are of the real place where we are filming. There is one of the forest, of the square and another one is an aerial shot, take it from google maps of the place.
