Throughout year 11 I shall be working in a quite different medium than I did last year. In year 10 I created two projects: A magazine style radio show and a 4 sided CD Cover (which was accompanied by a comparative essay on the representation of gender in two music videos). Contrasting this, this year I shall enter the world of film and created a 3 minute film/beginning of a film. This year will be harder than last year because video production requires a lot more work as there is more to learn and more to do. To begin this project I cannot just jump straight into filming my final piece, I must first do some pre-production work, skills which I learnt last year. I will have do research and planning. Research will require me to look at examples of film openings to get ideas and learn the codes and conventions of typical film openings which I will do by closely analysing the clips. To further my research by looking into film openings and film production using books and the internet. Furthermore, last year I participated in an extra-curricular film production programme over a number of weeks which will help my greatly in my research as it helped me to learn a lot about low budget film production. I will also have to plan my film piece which will involve coming up with the idea as a group, putting this idea into a storyboard as well as recce-ing and rehearsing the scenes.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 opening scene:
This is the penultimate installment of the Harry Potter series. From the beginning of the film we can already tell that the theme of the film is going to be quite dark. This is shown by the Warner Bros symbol being changed in a way with suits the film. Instead of being the normal Warner Bros hello sign with a bright sky in the background, the sky for this film is dark and dreary, and the Warner Bros symbol is black and rusted. Next, there is a plain black screen before the film starts suddenly. This builds up tension effectively. There is very little dialogue as the film begins, the purpose is to create atmosphere for the film rather than add overly to the plot. The film has a short seen to begin with, then the famous Harry Potter Logo is shown and it is as if the film officially begins then. This film is interesting because it doesn't actually have credits which begin the film, the only introduction is the Warner Bros sign and the Harry Potter Logo. Though this film is good to analyse in terms of discovering codes and conventions and getting ideas on how to create setting, the budget for this film was an estimated £150, 000, 000 and therefore the kind of high tech editing and film - quality is unreachable for my group and I due to the fact that our budget is essentially non-existent. Despite this, I still think that the opening of this film can be learnt from as it demonstrates the creation of atmosphere and setting from the outset which is key.
Step Up opening scene:
This film begins with a fade in. It switches from shots which show ballerinas to shots which show hip hop dancers. Though both shots show dancers, this is quite a contrasting image. This adds somewhat to the plot without fully revealing what the film is going to be about. Credits are shown in the beginning of this film - they come up one by one and they are quite small and in white font so as not to draw all the attention away from the rest of the screen. Again, as in the Harry Potter opening sequence, there is no dialogue used. This backs up the point that the main purpose of the opening scene is to introduce the film and create an atmosphere rather than add too much to the plot. The budget of this film was £62, 525, 520.96 which obviously puts certain aspects of production out of my reach however I can still use and follow the codes and conventions which this film provides.
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo opening scene:
Like the opening scene of step-up, the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo also has credits. The beginning of this film has no dialogue, only non-diegetic music. The music is somewhat eerie and builds tension. It also fits in with the theme and genre of the film. The opening of this scene is not one needed to build the plot, but is more for effect and to build an atmosphere. The budget for this film was £57, 229, 536.50 which obviously puts the kind of high - tech editing done here out of my reach, but still a lot can be learned from this opening. Particularly how non-diegetic music is useful for creating an atmosphere.
Cheat Code opening scene:
This is the opening for a short, low budget film. I chose to analyse this kind of film because it was more in my range and similar to what I would be able to do in contrast to feature films, with multi-million dollar budgets which is unreachable for me. I also chose to use this film as I was involved in its making which therefore allowed me to have a greater insight into how the film is made and to know the background of each scene and shot.
The film begins with a black screen and then the word EXAM comes on in bold white writing which creates quite a contrast. Also, it is dead silence which means creates quite a bit of tension.
Next, the shot switches from a mid shot of a boy and his mum walking to school to close ups of young people talking several times. There is no dialogue between the mum and the boy, only atmosphere which tells the audience there is tension between the two characters. This contrasts from the teenagers talking who are all quite happy and chatty.
Later, there is a long shot of the boy and his mum, still without dialogue, showing the boy trying to walk away but the mum calling him back for a hug. You can tell from his body language that the boy does not want to come back but does anyway. At this stage in the film, the audience doesn't know the full story about what is going on but they become aware there is tension between these two characters.
Later, there is a long shot where Jack, the boy comes through and one of the teenagers talking goes and grabs him. This person is standing on the other side to everyone else which signify that she is the ring leader. This is backed up by her attitude and the fact that she bosses everyone about.
Later, there is a POV, close up shot of this girls face. This is the POV of Jack. This is effective because is shows how the girl is right up in his face and allows the audience to empathise with how he might be feeling.
Shot type:
To further my knowledge about how films are made and the things I will need to know to construct the beginning of one, I did some research into shot types. Below as a list of shot types I thought would be useful when making my film:
Extreme Wide Shot : So wide the subject is not visible, used to establish setting
Very Wide Shot : Subject slightly more visible, their environment the main focus
Wide Shot : Subject takes up the full frame to a comfortable extent
Mid Shot : A part of the subject is shown in more detail
Medium Close Up : In the middle of a mid shot and a close up
Close Up : A particular part of the subject is shown in more detail, takes up the whole frame
Extreme Close Up : The shot moves very close so that a particular part of the subject is shown in extreme detail
Cut in : Another part of the subject is shown in detail
Cutaway : Something other than the subject is shown
Two Shot : Similar distance as a mid shot, two people are being filmed
Over the Shoulder Shot : Shot is being filmed from just behind a persons shoulder
Noddy Shot : Shot from the point of view of an interviewer
Point of View Shot : The subjects perspective is shown
Weather Shot : Shot of the weather, used for background, setting the scene etc.
Narrative Theory:
Narrative is the way that events in a story are put together in order to be presented to an audience.
Claude Levi-Strauss had a theory which suggested that all narratives are driven by conflict that has to be caused by a series of opposing forces.
Creativity
Creativity is key when trying to come up with an interesting concept for my short film opening. To help me discover how to be more focused and find inspirations better I went on a website called Ted Talks and looked at a few videos to do with creativity. This is helpful because the videos are all by successful peoples whose creativity is the foundation of their career such as novelist, artists, musicians, directors etc. One video I watched was a video called "Where do good ideas come from?" by Steven Johnson (science author and media theorist). In this video he explored the best environments for where the best ideas are created. He looked for continuous factors in the environment which make the people come up with more creative ideas. He argues that an idea is a network within your brain and he questioned how to form this more effectively. He used a real life example as a metaphor for how ideas come to people. He argued that innovation happens when we use things that we already have or borrow "spare parts" from other people and put them all together to create something new and completely different.
When creating a film such as me group and myself are it is important that the work we produce is not boring or too stereotypical in the sense that it has been done a thousand times before. We wanted our work to be original and creative which is why we spent a long while trying to decide what would be best for us to do. We sat together as a group and brainstormed ideas. Each one of us was putting ideas forward and we took our favourite sections and came together to decide our favourite ideas. This is where the video above applies, we used each others ideas and the ideas which we had to create something new and different.
Pre Production Work
To begin with we wanted to do some practise with a camera and explore the film i
One of the first things that we had to do for pre production, was come up with an idea for our opening film for a scene. To do this we each brought different ideas to the table and made a mind map of our different ideas:
We then chose the best idea from the lot and developed that further in the form of a storyboard. This is not the final storyboard, but a draft created to put our initial ideas into actions which we could then adapt and change.
Following this, we created a script:
This script follows the original idea in the above storyboard however we felt it would be more useful to create a new storyboard that was more specific and suited to our finalised idea.
Representation in film:
Representation a key point in film. There are many different representational strategies including shot selection, dialogue, diegetic and non - diegetic sound, setting, costumes and transitions (contiguity).
The film opening I am creating in my group plays on use of stereotypes. The stereotype predominantly featured is the stereotype regarding "chavs." Portraying these characters in a certain way is key in my film opening and so I did some research into the "look" of a stereotypical "chav", here are some of the images I found:
Based on these images such as these and the ideas I already had in mind, I, with the help of my group, adapted my appearance in order to fit into the "chav" stereotype that would be relevant for our film:
Obviously, two other "chavvy" girls are required for the film but I took the time to practise and perfect the "look" so that our representation would be just right to portray the kind of characters we want.
Change of plans
After some consideration about what we thought would allow us to create the best film possible, we decided to change our concept.
