Film opening research - Halloween

Film name - Halloween

Age certificate - 18

Production Studio - Compass International Pictures

Distribution Company - too many to list

Director - John Carpenter

Box office takings - $47,000,000 (estimate)

The opening begins in pitch black, with nothing on the screen with the non diagetic ident sound track, which has a very fast pace metronome mixed with a piano tune, gives the feeling of being chased, or something creeping through the dark.

The opening credits start with the production company, tis is shown in its ident typography coloured orange to fit in with the pumpkin style Halloween theme.
The main distribution company is also presented in a simple neutral typography coloured orange.

The main title of the film is presented along side the director to show it as his creation, the title is shown in a sharp vamp-uric lettering style, this works with the name of the title as it adds to the theme of Halloween.

The score escalates as a ominous pumpkin is shown at a eye level extreme long shot, the pumpkin has been lit and it glows in a traditional way, this leaves the audience feeling uneasy as it matches with the non digetic sound track, the pumpkin is the only object presented throughout the opening and is shown as quite roughly made, for example the eyes are out of align and are ruggedly carved to make it look as if crafted by a child, this has a disturbing effect on the audience.

The main cast is presented in their order of appearance in the film, and each actors/actress's name is presented with the character they play, the actors/actress's name in emphasised in bold typography, this is so its presented as important to the audience, the transition between each star's name is a simple fade in fade out.

As the casting continues the score escalates and the camera slowly zooms in towards the pumpkin, this increases the tension towards the audience, it continues to zoom in to the top right of  the pumpkins face to a extreme close up, this adds to the effect of the pumpkin staring into the audience giving the feeling of evil and tension.

Film opening research - The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring

Film name - Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring

Age certificate - PG

Production studio - New line cinema, WingNut Films, The Saul Zaentz Company

Distribution company - too many to list !

Director - Peter Jackson

Box office takings - $36,116,967

evaluating 2.00

The introduction starts with the production company being presented in its ident, the first 2 production companies listed are presented in a animated medieval typography, it is styled to look like the letters are filled with dark mist which fits in with the style of the film.

The screen fades to black and the silence is broken by a incidental score which is a choir which adds to the feeling of a fantasy affect, the darkness and the mythical sound track would leave the audience feeling somewhat entranced to the film.

The non diagetic voice over  begins speaking in Tolkien's Elvish which generally would not be understood by the audience, its whispered in a low pitch to grasp the audience's attention, and emphasise the feeling of the fantasy genre, before the main narrative (the same non diagetic voice over) begins in English. 

The female narrator speaks in a very hushed, slowed tone this adds to the deep and mythical feeling which fits in with the dialogue that is narrated.

The voiced over narrative scripted describes briefly the situation and hints of what is to come, it does this in a way that represents the character as a wise mythical being.

The narrative pauses and the ident Lord of the Rings (non diagetic) soundtrack plays as the main film title fades into view, the typography used looks like its made from a brittle gold, the edges are jagged and look like the edges of swords, this typography is unique to the film and is based strongly on the fantasy medieval genre.    

In the scene where the ring is forged, the narrator continues her voice over, the voice over now describes what is being presented; an extreme close up of molten substance being poured into a mould, the zoomed in perspective of this scene emphasises its importance. 

throughout the scene the camera is constantly focussed on the rings, this signifies yet again emphasises their importance. 

The first set of characters presented from a eye level medium long shot, focus is particularly put on the woman in the foreground, the Mis En Scene of the characters is that of fair hair and natural glowing faces, this is to present the characters as wise and mystical and this is even highlighted over in the narration, there is no scenery only a black background this is to put the audience's focus on the characters that are being described.

The Mis En Scene of all the characters shown corresponds with the race narrated, for dwarfs its thick beards and dark halls, to the men who are dressed very kingly and grand, the way the men are presented highlights the character at the centre of the group foreshadowing his role later in the film.

Film opening research - The Haunting in Connecticut

Film Name - The Haunting in Connecticut

Age Certificate - 15 

Production Studio - Gold Circle Films

Distribution Studio -  Lionsgate

Director - Peter Cornwell

Box office takings - £1,127,679

Note - i could not find just the opening to the film, so had to resort to a full version of the film, so my analysis will only go up to the first 1.50 of the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6kc3HMxMA4



















The film introduction starts by showing the distribution and production company in their trademark entrance, however they have been shown in darker more sinister colours, this is to set the scene for the genre of the film, it then shows the Distribution and Production company again along with another production company, they are shown in a interesting style of text in plain white and black background, between the text there is only simple fade out transitions, the whole compilation features a calm old fashioned incidental soundtrack. 

The main body of the scene is a compilation of old style family portraits, the Mis En Scene if these people is smart, old fashioned funeral clothing, the scenery is that of a casual home environment containing a bedroom and living room, props such as a coffin and flowers are used to create a sombre gravely effect.
The images are taken at a medium long shot at eye level, with a classic style of lighting, so the people are staring right at the audience, this is to give the audience a feeling of unease.

The suspense escalates as the seemingly innocent family portraits zoom out from the original image previously shown to reveal a deceased person of some sort featured in the foreground of the image, at this point the soundtrack distorts and a gruesome video scene is shown in which a person appears to be dissected with blood flowing, more images of deceased people are shown the more the sound track distorts and this gives the audience an insight of the film whilst the grim, gruesome imagery leaves the audience feeling disturbed and curious.

The gruesome video scenes increase and as the music distorts to a almost unrecognisable level, non diagetic ambient ghostly noises, and diagetic blood dripping shown in the back ground video.
in the end of the intro it switches to a simple black background in which the fade in effect is used to bring up the title of the film using simple gold typography in which words haunting and Connecticut are emphasised in capital letters to signify their importance to the audience.
  
And to further increase the intensity and anticipation of the film, the sound track and noise stop and the words "Based on true events" the typography is simple plain and white in order to make it seem more serious and more terrifying for the audience to imagine. 

Conjuring Timeline

Introduction to project

For our coursework proposal, we have been asked to create a 2 minute opening for a film.
In order to make a decision about what film I am going to produce I will in upcoming posts analyse 5 different film openings in order to help me understand what aspects are featured in a film opening.

Film Opening Research - The Conjuring

Film Name - The Conjuring

Age Certificate - 15

Production Studio - New Line Cinema 

Distribution Studio - Warner Bros 

Director - James Wan 

Box Office Takings -  $41,855,326

Awards - 

Fangoria Chainsaw Awards - Best Wide Release Film 

Empire Award - Best Horror

Saturn Awards - Best Horror Film

only reviewing first 2 minutes 

The age certificate for this film is 15 or R rated in US, it is a thriller type horror film, with a large variety of intense horror scenes, for this reason i believe the target audience would be mature teenagers, who are experienced with the horror genre, i think due to an even mix of both genders in the cast, this film would be mix gender.

The titles feature only the production company and the distributor studio, they are presented in different ways to which they are usually presented, the two are shown in a close up manor, both shown in black and white, this is used conventionally to show the old time setting of the upcoming scene.
the way the titles are shown highlights the genre of the film, as they are dark, ominous and make the audience feel uneasy even before anything has occurred.
the beginning title feature also has an ominous score soundtrack, which comes to a sudden halt as the film begins with the first dialogue.

The scene really starts from a sudden cut from black to a extreme close up of the right side of the dolls face, which pans right away from, while some non diagetic dialogue voices over.
The mise-en-scene shows the audience the old time period of this scene, the woman are wearing classic style clothing e.g. Hairpieces, cardigans, jumpers.
there is little scenery just a old style sofa, the lighting is very dim, but there is enough light to reveal the women's expressions, the women themselves are stereotyped as over-caring, unintellegent and making bad decisions, this is represent the common view of woman in this time period.  

the unseen interviewer is assumed to be recording the scene, as he speaks it goes to a close up left pan of their faces, this is to emphasise the realisation and the cluelessness of the women.
it is clear that this scene is shown as a recorded interview, due to the poor quality and its shown in a letter box view to show its being viewed from a screen.

before it switches to an anecdote from the woman's pov, the camera view turns to a medium long shot of the doll the lighting effects used to outline the doll makes it particularly unnerving for the audience, as it is just sat silently staring directly at the audience, the prop is designed to be the focus of attention.

Although this opening does not include any scares or action, this opening does foreshadow what is to come in the rest of the thriller and succeeds in drawing the audience into the story.

Evaluation part 5

The film ends very light-heartedly with a iris effect blacking out with the traditional "fin" ending to it.

Conclusion 

overall I think this was a fairly good quality first attempt at a film, there were a few mistakes (editing, sound effects) and the video quality could certainly be better, and the general location was not fantastic, but it importantly showed that we understood the basics in camera skills such as : the 180 degree rule, basic panning, shot reverse shot, close ups and medium long shots can all be seen in this short film.

We worked in a group of 3, which I believe is a healthy sized group, it means the work load can be effectively distributed amongst us, and a compromise was easy to achieve, although we were all shared a similar frame of mind so we were all happy on what we were doing, although if we were doing our main film we would need to act more serious in order to cope with the stressful work load and time management.

 

 

Evaluation part 4

The film ends abruptly after "Rupert" reveals his identity and an apparent mistake has been made by the interrogator, and he quickly flees the scene.
A large amount of sound effects are used in this scene, the most notable being the iconic "dun dun duh" after the reveal, this is deliberately cut short at the end to emphasise the interrogators sudden realisation and shock, this is the only real plot in the short film and gives it a humorous twist.

  The end scene was very dynamic and hard to film, camera wise only a simple camera pan to the left was needed, the scene depended wholly on the skill of the actor, as the door shut and the retreat were all in one take, and as imagined it took several tries in order to perfect the scene.

Evaluation part 3

The main body of the film featured all the dialogue and plot, "shot reverse shot" was used simplicity (and carefully in order not to break the 180 degree rule) to show the 2 characters in conversation (if it could be considered as such).

unlike the into to the film this piece stuck to the basis of the story board, and used parts of the very simple script shown on the story board which was only really meant to give us an idea of what to say during filming.

 here's an example of our simplistic and somewhat scruffy story board and script, the text in the left depicts "Malachi POV View, low angle" the text to the right says "Alfie - "where are the drugs, i know you did it!"

although the actual scene is far more dramatic and lively in order to be more entertaining, it made it more exciting then a boring static chat, and emphasised the interrogation feel in a comedic way, although no sound effects were used during this scene, as we thought it would be wise no to obscure the dialogue.

Evaluation part 2

Along side the "Guy Richie" effect, we found a copyright free edition of dramatic music from the film "kill bill" which works well with the protagonist's attitude during the film, and is designed to be entertaining in contrast with the scene depicting boredom before.

The "Guy Richie" style effect took a considerably long time to produce and was creating using "after effects" the process was long and tedious but we followed a step by step Youtube guide.

Step by step guide

And after some masterful editing and piecing together the two scenes, we managed to get the effect that the interrogator slamming his hand on the table (although a sound effect was used to emphasise the noise), then using the "shot reverse shot" technique, we managed to get the comedic effect of the "suspects" look of terror (which is also emphasised with a sound effect), this small part was hard to achieve due to our lack of seriousness and many takes were taken when we broke out in laughter, this is one of the few setbacks in working in a team, but such things were to be expected in a non professional, unscripted and also quite humorous scene.

Preliminary Film - An Awkward Affair evaluation

preliminary film - An Awkward Affair
The film started out from a very simplistic story board, using mainly stick figures and simple annotation, it did not contrast to the final film which seemed to naturally evolve along with our skills, for example the interrogator's (me) entrance was meant to be a quick clean scene with no effects as shown below.

text in right image : "medium long shot" dialogue - "owwwww"







As our skill set and knowledge adapted the scene was dramatically altered including a "Guy Richie" effect that puts emphasis on the protagonist.