Analysis

This is a short sequence from the film 'Shrooms' (2007 Paddy Breathnach). It shows a girl hiding behind a tree in the middle of some woods. This is relevant to our project as the protagonist in our sequence runs through the woods, hides behind a tree then breaks down crying. I find the media language in this short sequence very effective in creating a dark, scary atmosphere. The lighting creates a foggy, mysterious effect which therefore creates fear in the audience. We may be able to re-create this effect by filming early in the morning or late afternoon.

Vantage Point Chase Sequence Analysis

This is a scene taken from the film Vantage Point released in 2008 and for the purpose of this analysis will be viewed from 08:13 to 09:10.

The sequence opens with a close-up on the main character's face as he chases after the Police. This close-up shows the emotion of the character and his determination to catch up at all costs. Shots are jumpy and so lead us to believe that a handheld camera has been used. Shot lengths vary from between 1/2 a second to 2 seconds; all of which are cut together with straight cuts enhancing the speed of the sequence.

An up-beat non-diegetic score adds to the drama of the scene, along with diegetic screams and sirens; creating confusion and hysteria.

To add depth of field to the scene, zoom has been used, this helps to create disorientation. Point of view shots are all so used to help create verisimilitude.

From this clip we can take the use of fast paced editing, with straight cuts, along with close-ups and extreme close-ups to show emotion. Another feature we could incorporate is the use of zoom to disorientate the view.

One thing that lets the clip down is the fact that half way through, the chase sequence is interrupted to show a small girl running off to find her mother. This is reasonably unrelated to the chase and so brings the pace down a little. The chase also lacks in low and high camera angles; to show character vulnerability or superiority.

David

Opening Sequence Analysis

This is the opening sequence of train spotting and I have chosen to analyse it as, like our own opening sequence, it involves running. The scene begins with some quite upbeat non-diegetic music to create an exciting fast pace and makes you feel like the characters. There is also narration in the background to give the viewer more of an insight as to what the film is about. It begins with two men being chased and the camera is infront of them so you can see their emotions and what they are feeling as they are running. There are also a lot of close ups on the men's feet so the viewer can see how fast they are running and also to again create a fast paced feeling. The camera also cuts to a point of view shot from one of the men so the viewer is put into their shoes and can see what he can see. The man then looks though a car wind screen into the camera and smiles which takes him out of the scene and makes it more unrealistic as he is looking into the camera. His name also comes up which introduces the character and this happens in the rest of the scene for the rest of the characters. This is an easy way of introducing characters but in my opinion it takes the realism out of the scene. After Renton's name comes up a shot of him smoking is cut to and this establishes him as a drug user as he passes out from it. The mise-en-scene used is quite grubby as in the clothes and where they live so this gives quite a bleak feeling, as our opening sequence does. This contrasts to the music which makes everything seem very happy when underneath it probably isn't. The lighting is natural which is also what our own opening sequence will be. The editing used is very fast paced as lots of cut shots are used which creates excitement along with the sound and cinematography. This opening sequence is similar to our own as it begins with someone running and so raises the same enigma as ours, why are they running? This is useful as we can use some of the techniques that they have used to create a realistic feeling of running and involving the viewer. A different scene is also cut to after the running which gives a possible insight as to why he is running, which is what our opening sequence does. It also establishes the main character, as our opening sequence will.

Preliminary Task

This is our Preliminary Task!

For our preliminary task we filmed a conversation between two people. We started off with one of the actors already in the room and the other entering through the door. Throughout the short sequence we used over the shoulder shots and point of view shots.

In our preliminary task we saw that we made some mistakes. One of these mistakes is, that during one of the shots, the camera moved. To make sure this doesn't happen again we need to decide the angle before we press record, so that we don't have to alter it during the shot. Another mistake was that the actors conversation was really quiet. So to correct this next time we need to make sure the actors speak louder and more clearer so that the camera picks it clearly.

Are you making something new?

There are many films that are similar to what we are planning to make. these include 'Shrooms' and 'memento'. The location and dark, eerie atmosphere of 'Shrooms' makes it similar to our and the non-linear narrative structure of 'Memento' makes it very similar to ours. 

There are many ways in which we can make our project differ from other typical thriller films. One of the ways in which we can do this is to make the characters as non-stereotypical as possible. For example, in most typical thriller films there is a ditzy female protagonist, in our project the protagonist is going to be female however she is not going to be portrayed as ditzy or dumb. Another stereotype that our sequence will challenge is that males are stronger than females. This is because within our story there is an argument between a girl and a boy, the argument escalates and the girl ends up overpowering the boy, pushing him down and seriously injuring him. This shows the girl as stronger than the boy, challenging the typical stereotype.

Genre

The genre of our film is gritty thriller. This is because we have a chase seen which gets the hearts of the audience pumping faster as tension and mystery is built as we are only shown flashbacks of why she is running, creating enigmas. It is also gritty as it is set in a dark bleak woods, making it realistic and scarier for the viewer. Genres are vague categories with no fixed boundaries, they are formed by sets of conventions, and many works cross into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Similar distinctions separate the thriller from other overlapping genres: adventure, spy, legal, war, maritime fiction, and so on. Thrillers are defined not by their subject matter but by their approach to it. Thrillers are made to excite the audience and draw them into the film. 

Representations

The representations and stereotypes we are going to be using in our opening are the naive, vulnerable girl, the aggressive boy and the scary bleak woods with no escape. These are dominant representations and we are going to be using these so that people watching the film are able to relate to it more and so that the film seems more realistic. But also in our opening pushes her boyfriend down a hill which makes her more dominant and creates an alternative representation. This is because she isn't standing in the corner crying as women are usually presented in films. This keeps the viewer entertained as the film shows different representation to usual films. 

For example in this clip from King Kong the woman is represented as very helpless and all she does in this scene is scream and get thrown about which is the typical representation that women are weak and helpless. The woman in indiana jones and the temple of doom is also very helpless and screams a lot and is dominated by the man which is what happens in most films. 

 

This scene from Lara Croft Tomb Raider shows the woman as very dominating and this is a very extreme stereotype which is the complete opposite of how women are usually represented in films. Our woman isn't as dominating or extreme as this stereotype but in the end she does dominate the man as she ends up killing him so this is similar to our own girl.

Media language

We are going to use different types of media language in our project to convey the emotions of our character, which will be panic and fear.To do this we will be using a range of different techniques such as high angle shots which show the character as weak and vulnerable, canted angles which show the character as disorientated or paranoid, hand held camera shots to make the scene seem unpredictable and uncontrollable and extreme close ups to emphasise the characters emotions further. All these techniques will work together to create a sense of danger, panic and disorientation in the scene. they will also build tension within the audience as the camera angles and movement will create unpredictability in the sequence.

This sequence uses high angle shots and canted angles to show the vulnerability and confusion of the character:

We will be using similar media language to convey the emotions of our protagonist.

We will also be using low key lighting to create an atmosphere in our sequence.

This clip also uses low key lighting to create a tense and scary atmosphere:

Institutions

Hollywood - Hollywood films are usually high budget films aimed at a broad audience. Generally not limited to the amount of money that can be spent, success is usually down to actors and special effects - Lord of the Rings, The Departed. Although these films can still be very profitable.

Independent Film - Made with small budgets and independent to the studio. These films typically focus on high acting, screen writing, directing and other elements associated with the product. They usually rely on critic reviews and good quality marketing to be a hit. Independent films generally have a high profit/cost ratio, failure will incur minimal losses, allowing studios to produce much more of these compared to a high budget hollywood film.

Examples of Independent films are: Reservoir Dogs and Taxi Driver.

British - The British film industry has had success since 2000 with production companies such as - Working Title and Pinewood Studios. British film usually focuses on romantic, ethnic and cultural ideas. As with American independent film British films are generally low budget, based around directing and production.

Examples of British film are: 28 Days Later, with a budget of only £5 million and grossing over £82 million - Love Actually and Kidulthood.

David

Box Office Figures

These are some of the box office figures for films similar to our own:

The Blair Witch Project - Total Worldwide Gross - $248,639,09

- Cost to make - $60,000

Memento - Total Worldwide Gross - $25,544,867

- Cost to make - $9 million

The Machinist - Total Worldwide Gross - $8,203,253

- Cost to make - $5,000,000

Shrooms - Total Worldwide Gross - $4,910,682

- Cost to make - $4,500,000

All of these films which link in some way to our film made profit. Particularly the blair witch project, which like our film was shot with a handheld camera and so cost the least to make, but ended up making the most profit. Memento which is also similar to our film as it has the same narrative structure also made a lot of profit. This was probably because it had something different that nobody had seen before in the narrative structure which is why we chose to use it in our film. I think our genre is very popular with the public as these statistics show and some of them for example the blair witch project don't cost a lot to make but can make companies a lot of profit. But films like shrooms for example didn't make a lot of profit as I believe people would have been quite confused by it, particularly at the end and it wasn't very well known so people wouldn't have told people to go and see it.

Target Audience

the age group which our film is going to be aimed at is quite young people, roughly around the age of 16-25. It will also be aimed at all gender and races but younger people as I think they will be able to relate to our film more. This is because the main characters in our film are around the same age and so they will have the same problems as other young people. We have also chosen to aim our film at 16-25 year olds because according to the 2005 BFI handbook, 41.5% of regular cinemagoers are between the ages of 15-34 and so as more people around this age go to the cinema more people would come to see our film so it has a higher appeal.

Analysis of Memento

The opening sequence to the independent film Memento is very similar to our opening sequence in that it is not linear. This is because the opening sequence creates many enigmas as to what is going on as it is done backwards. Many cut shots are used into order to disorientate the viewer, and this is what we are going to do. Also  This opening sequence of memento uses different and unusual techniques as to setting up the film and establishing characters. In this sequence a Polaroid photo is used to show that the film is going to be shown backwards as the photo, un-develops. Non-diegetic music creates an eerie feel to the sequence as tension is created. In our sequence we are going to do something similar to this in where we add music to the sequence to create tension and fear.

Initial idea

Our initial idea is that of a girl who is running through some woods, away from something that she has just done, but no matter how far she runs she cannot seem to escape from the woods. She is extremely scared and distressed by the events that have just taken place and needs to get out of the woods. The narrative is not linear as it keeps flashing back and forwards from her running away, to showing what she has just done.

The genre of this initial idea is thriller and the themes are fear and escape. The media language i think would work best in this opening sequence would be fast paced editing, lots of handheld camera shots and canted angles.

This is a sequence i found on the internet. It has most of the same conventions that my group plan to use in our project. However, this is not an opening sequence so it isn't exactly what we will be doing. Instead, we will just use this as inspiration and use some of the media language used in this clip. Personally, i think that it looks very effective when the pace in the sequence is increased as it shows the characters panic and disorientation. We could use this in our project because our character is also panicked and disorientated. The use of canted angles and handheld camera shots also looks effective, this is another thing that we can use in our project.

Functions of an opening sequence

For this project we are going to be creating the opening sequence of a film. The typical functions of an opening sequence which we need to include are :

• To reassure the audience by demonstrating the conventions of the chosen genre
• To establish time and place
• To introduce any themes and motifs linked to the ideologies in the film
• To set up the initial equilibrium that will later be disrupted
• To create enigmas
• To introduce and establish characters, usually the protagonist
• To set up audience expectations

The functions we are going to be focusing on will be creating enigmas and establishing the protagonist of the film. 

David, Beth and Rachael.