At first we discussed initial ideas – basic plot outlines
– how we wanted to film it
– Where we wanted to film it
– Brainstorming ideas for characters
– Storyline openings
This was all done on rough paper with lots of ideas jotted down. After brainstorming we got a good feel for what sort of plot we wanted and we all agreed on a basic outline and these were written up on a neater piece of paper.
- this process went well, we had many ideas but the difficult task was picking which ideas was the best.
- Also, we had to make sure we didn’t “dismiss” anyone’s ideas, everyone’s ideas had potential until the final process when we, as a group, decided the best plot to go with.
Monday, 28 December 2009
Commentary on Planning Process 2
We decided to do the storyboard and after think of a name for our film after we had completed it. This was because we knew there are areas of our story which needed fine tuning and after the story board was completed we would know exactly what the plot contained and therefore could decided on a title.
- storyboard was a group process, to avoid confusion we dictated and discussed each scene to one person who plotted the story in the boards.
- This process was effective because it meant that we would have one master story board and we would all have the same scenes and shots to refer to.
- If we had all done a separate storyboard, whilst at the planning process, the sheets would differ slightly and some members of the group might get confused on what scene is the one we are using.
- Working as a team was good, we came up with the idea to use fast, multiple shots in the first title sequence, instead of conventional opening scene. We felt this added to the effect of mystery and enigma.
- storyboard was a group process, to avoid confusion we dictated and discussed each scene to one person who plotted the story in the boards.
- This process was effective because it meant that we would have one master story board and we would all have the same scenes and shots to refer to.
- If we had all done a separate storyboard, whilst at the planning process, the sheets would differ slightly and some members of the group might get confused on what scene is the one we are using.
- Working as a team was good, we came up with the idea to use fast, multiple shots in the first title sequence, instead of conventional opening scene. We felt this added to the effect of mystery and enigma.
Clear planning of locations and why chosen:
We decided to use a caravan that is normally unused in one of our team members gardens. Her garden is particularly large and some of the windows are cracked and smashed, we felt that we could play on this and go with the “abandoned caravan” idea. A group of youths go out to have a small gathering in this caravan, have a few drinks and scare each other. We thought about the use of a Ouija board to add to the tense atmosphere, even though it wouldn’t be important to our plot.
The caravan is a good choice because it is accessible as it’s is owned by one of our group members and there is plenty of open space around the caravan to make it feel isolated and in the middle of nowhere. Also, it is near a road if we needed to show individuals walking to find the caravan. We could, if necessary, set up lighting and other devices knowing that we wouldn’t need to take it down again until filming was finished, no matter how long it took as the caravan is normally unused and is owned by our team member meaning that they wouldn’t mind our scene being left set up.
The caravan is a good choice because it is accessible as it’s is owned by one of our group members and there is plenty of open space around the caravan to make it feel isolated and in the middle of nowhere. Also, it is near a road if we needed to show individuals walking to find the caravan. We could, if necessary, set up lighting and other devices knowing that we wouldn’t need to take it down again until filming was finished, no matter how long it took as the caravan is normally unused and is owned by our team member meaning that they wouldn’t mind our scene being left set up.
Researching Focus Pull / Split
After completing our story board we noticed there was an issue with one of the shots – the focus pull. We all had see examples of focus pulls in many films and videos but we were on unsure on how to actually perform one, to solve this problem we decided to do some research on the internet. We came across a tutorial on YouTube which described how the process can be done on a digital camera using the manual focus button.
Filming Process Commentary
The filming process was relatively organised, we made sure we relate back to our story boards at the start of each different shot and briefed the characters on their roles and scripts before filming and before each shot. This enabled us to make sure that everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing.
We did encounter a few difficulties:
- there was no electricity in the caravan and so getting the lighting right was extremely difficult.
- the focus pull shot was much harder to do than we thought.
- alterations may be needed to our story boards as some shots were longer and more unpractical than we first thought, for example: the caravan was not wide enough to get everyone sitting around the table in one shot - we resolved this by filming from behind and having two people facing the camera and two people with their back to the camera, this meant they are all in the shot at the same time.
Also we had to make alterations to the storyboard, this is because some of the shots were either too dark or we didn't have the space in the caravan to perform the correct position in the shot.
We did encounter a few difficulties:
- there was no electricity in the caravan and so getting the lighting right was extremely difficult.
- the focus pull shot was much harder to do than we thought.
- alterations may be needed to our story boards as some shots were longer and more unpractical than we first thought, for example: the caravan was not wide enough to get everyone sitting around the table in one shot - we resolved this by filming from behind and having two people facing the camera and two people with their back to the camera, this meant they are all in the shot at the same time.
Also we had to make alterations to the storyboard, this is because some of the shots were either too dark or we didn't have the space in the caravan to perform the correct position in the shot.
Editing Process Commentary
We uploaded our footage on the mac computers in school using the "iMovie" software and came across there difficulties:
- We had too much footage - 45 minutes for a 2 minute opening
- Parts were too dark - Some scenes were almost unrecognizable
- The film doesn't give a sense of setting - The caravan isn't properly "announced" to the viewer as it looks like it could be a shed from the outside
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Analysis of "Blue Velet" Opening Scene
The Blue Velvet title sequence starts off with a blue velvet curtain in the background and the titles appear on top of the velvet in fancy writing. The writing font is elegant and sophisticated, this connotates the velvet as it is normally used by rich and sophisticated people. The velvet sways in the background, with calming music in the background, this gives a mysterious feel as the velvet sways the music seems to be flowing with it.
The next scene dissolves in to a dark blue, which again relates back to the blue velvet. The camera moves down and you see flowers and white washed fences. this gives the impression of a stereotypical happy american neighbour, you see the school children crossing the road and big american advertisments. In the background there is the blue velvet song, this sets a quite happy and upbeat atmosphere.
Then the scene changes to a t.v. where it shows a black and white, possibly thriller film,with a persons hand holding a gun, it cuts to a man outside where he is holding a hose, in the same position that the gun was in. This gives us the impression that something is going to happen, like it would in a film. The hose gets tangled and the man pulls a muscle/has a stroke and falls to the floor.
The observation then changes to the point of view on an insect in the grass, the music turns quite menacing and the atmosphere becomes quite dark. It shows a contrast between worlds were you have the happy world above ground and then a more serious, darker world underneath.
The film then shows a man, which you can tell could potentially be the main character as the camera follows him around, while he visits places. He is in a hospital and the use of blue is used again on the nurses outfit and on the machines around the patient. The character leaves the hospital and the scene cuts to a place in a "forest", an area surrounded by trees. As we can guess by the way he throws stone at previously laid bottles, that this could be seen as his private area that he visits frequently. On the floor there he finds an ear, covers in insects. This can be seen as setting "enigma", the audience is surrounded by mystery and it leaves unanswerd questions. Whos ear is it? What do the insects have to do with the story?
The next scene dissolves in to a dark blue, which again relates back to the blue velvet. The camera moves down and you see flowers and white washed fences. this gives the impression of a stereotypical happy american neighbour, you see the school children crossing the road and big american advertisments. In the background there is the blue velvet song, this sets a quite happy and upbeat atmosphere.
Then the scene changes to a t.v. where it shows a black and white, possibly thriller film,with a persons hand holding a gun, it cuts to a man outside where he is holding a hose, in the same position that the gun was in. This gives us the impression that something is going to happen, like it would in a film. The hose gets tangled and the man pulls a muscle/has a stroke and falls to the floor.
The observation then changes to the point of view on an insect in the grass, the music turns quite menacing and the atmosphere becomes quite dark. It shows a contrast between worlds were you have the happy world above ground and then a more serious, darker world underneath.
The film then shows a man, which you can tell could potentially be the main character as the camera follows him around, while he visits places. He is in a hospital and the use of blue is used again on the nurses outfit and on the machines around the patient. The character leaves the hospital and the scene cuts to a place in a "forest", an area surrounded by trees. As we can guess by the way he throws stone at previously laid bottles, that this could be seen as his private area that he visits frequently. On the floor there he finds an ear, covers in insects. This can be seen as setting "enigma", the audience is surrounded by mystery and it leaves unanswerd questions. Whos ear is it? What do the insects have to do with the story?
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Analysis of "Vertigo" Opening Scene
The opening scene of the film “Vertigo” is pretty much only titles, there are no characters, that we know of, except from the women who is in the first scene. We are given the impression that she will be involved in the story in some way, giving us a sense of enigma as we might find out the woman’s true meaning later on in the film.
In the background you can hear some mysterious music and the titles are placed as the camera moves around her face. Each time a new title appears the music gets really loud as though to make you jump out of your seat. As the camera moves up to her eyes, you can see her eyes move side to side as if she is worried or looking out for someone suspiciously, maybe someone is following her.
Then the camera moves on to one of her eyes and zooms in, the screen goes red, maybe portraying blood, which could be a theme kept throughout the movie. The main title “Vertigo” seems to come out of her eye, starting small at first but then becoming large and almost jumping out the screen at you. This could be symbolising the vertigo is in the women or what she is seeing could be making her feel “Vertigo”.
Then an abstract spiral forms in her eye, as a verb spiral means to increase continually or follow round in helix getting progressively farther away as it revolves around the point, this could mean that the more you try to understand this woman the more it seems you are going round in circles and each time you try you seem to be farther away from the truth then you were at the start. This is amplified by the colour red which signifies “danger” or “stop”.
This dissolves and zooms out into another abstract spiral, the spirals are meant to confuse and disorientate the audience as they are not quite sure what relevance the spirals have and so are kept entertained by the thought of working it out. Then the final spiral when at first seems abstract but as it zooms in it takes the shape of an eye, and inside the eye is another spiral this zooms in and dissolves out like in the first scene and carries on continuously. This could be relating back to the “spiral effect” that this women is giving, once again after going through all the spirals you are back to the start with an eye but inside the eye is another spiral, it seems to get deeper and deeper each time you go round, just like a spiral does.
In the background you can hear some mysterious music and the titles are placed as the camera moves around her face. Each time a new title appears the music gets really loud as though to make you jump out of your seat. As the camera moves up to her eyes, you can see her eyes move side to side as if she is worried or looking out for someone suspiciously, maybe someone is following her.
Then the camera moves on to one of her eyes and zooms in, the screen goes red, maybe portraying blood, which could be a theme kept throughout the movie. The main title “Vertigo” seems to come out of her eye, starting small at first but then becoming large and almost jumping out the screen at you. This could be symbolising the vertigo is in the women or what she is seeing could be making her feel “Vertigo”.
Then an abstract spiral forms in her eye, as a verb spiral means to increase continually or follow round in helix getting progressively farther away as it revolves around the point, this could mean that the more you try to understand this woman the more it seems you are going round in circles and each time you try you seem to be farther away from the truth then you were at the start. This is amplified by the colour red which signifies “danger” or “stop”.
This dissolves and zooms out into another abstract spiral, the spirals are meant to confuse and disorientate the audience as they are not quite sure what relevance the spirals have and so are kept entertained by the thought of working it out. Then the final spiral when at first seems abstract but as it zooms in it takes the shape of an eye, and inside the eye is another spiral this zooms in and dissolves out like in the first scene and carries on continuously. This could be relating back to the “spiral effect” that this women is giving, once again after going through all the spirals you are back to the start with an eye but inside the eye is another spiral, it seems to get deeper and deeper each time you go round, just like a spiral does.
Analysis of "Se7en" Opening Scene
An opening sequence for any film should: 1. Establish Character 2. Create Mood and Setting 3. Create Enigma.
The title sequence in the film “Se7en” meets these criteria in several different ways. It introduces a character even before any titles or credits, this gives the impression that this is going to be the main character throughout the film or play an important part in the plot. It creates a mood by the character setting off the metronome and the continuous ticking noise associating us with the sound of clock and as though the character is running out of time, or is being timed. Then taking in to account the fact that we know it is a Crime – Thriller we can put the pieces together and guess that the main character we see first could be a detective type character and the ticking could symbolise his time running out to catch the criminal. The metronome could also be a part of enigma because it could symbolise something that we become to understand why it is important and it unfolds later in the story.
The next bit of the opening includes scenes of distorted images, writing and drawings on paper and pictures being developed. This is a major example of enigma, the distorted images act as “clues” to what the story is about, at this point we do not know if they are actual clues related to the story or if they are giving us an insight to a character but they are factors that we will find out about later on in the story.
The last section shows a building with the word “Monday” printed on the top, this gives us the understanding that it is a Monday; the start of a week and so potentially it is a new day with no current events happening before this day. Then it cuts to a man and women asleep in bed, we have to guess that the building we saw is their apartment. The man gets out of bed trying not to disturb the women, as though he is getting up early for work or something along those lines. This gives us the idea that there could be two main characters or that this character could be related to the character or even that this character is working for the first character. That is also an example of enigma because we will have to wait and find out.
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