Research into similar products

Editing Process-Lighting

A problem that occurred during our editing process is that some of the footage was much darker than the rest of it. This is because we used a DSLR camera for the first part and then a HD DVC handheld camera for the second part. We, instead, used our iphone. We researched on youtube on how to enhance lighting on our videos on adobe premier pro and found a very short useful video.

Here is the video of what we used to help us enhance the lighting on our own videos.

Here are some comparison shots of before and after editing the lighting in our video

Before

IMG_2433

After

IMG_2432

Sophie and Niyi

Music

Other than narrations, we also intended on using music in the background as well. Since we decided not to use the Nicki Minaj song anymore as it was too repetitive and boring, we decided to look for other music.

We looked on a site called ‘Free Sounds’ and found some good music that we could use. It only lasted 14 seconds which meant we had to keep copying and pasting the same footage, however the transition between each new clip flowed smoothly.

This is the link to the site

https://www.freesound.org

Sophie

Narrations- The research side

Adding on to the previous narrations post, we did a little research on youtube of examples of narrations used in previous films so that we would get an idea of how we would present ours. It was very difficult to find examples of narrations relating to a specific genre such as crime, in our case, therefore we looked at narrations used in all different movie genres and looked at the way they speak so that it relates to the content.

We looked at animated movies that have narrations.

In Ratatouille, the mouse looks very clumsy and his voice in the narration sounds very ‘dorky’ therefore those two descriptions relate to each other quite well and thats what makes the character look more believeable.

In Wreck It Ralph, the narration portrays the sound of a guy speaking which is more believable as it presents a huge animated man. Also, the voice sounds more mature and so it sounds more sensible to use an adult as the voice of an animated character that looks like an adult.

In How to train your dragon, the scene shows a young boy running, and the narration suits the sight of this boy since it sounds like a young boy is speaking. After looking at the way narrations are presented in animated movies, we began to think about what would be said in our own narration.

In Ratatouille, the rat speaks about his life, and we thought that that would be a good idea for the main character of our opening sequence to be doing. We also wanted the main character to speak in slang terms so that he suits his appearance as a ‘gangster’. One slang term that was used was ‘rah’.

Sophie

Research into film’s similar to our opening sequence

Since our film will follow along the genre of crime we decided to do further research in films that are in the same genre as ours. Prisoners was a very good example of a crime film and it also is a physiological thriller film which can help us to consider taking out elements of that and re-incorporating it into our own film opening.

Here is a flow chart of the film covering the narrative structure and mise-en-scene

Screen Shot 2015-04-01 at 13.46.45

Sophie

Movie Opening Credits

In class today we were looking at some examples of movie opening credits and found some good examples of ones that we can incorporate and develop into our own two minute movie opening. An example of movie opening credits that we looked at was from the movie Twilight

As well as the movie opening credits being incorporated very well into the opening, I feel as if other elements of media techniques work together to help create the gloomy atmosphere such as the use of music and the colour of the scenery consisting of mainly dark reds and blacks. The credits show various parts of picturesque landscapes turning to ice, alluding to Bella’s transformation into a vampire.I like how the titles change colour to match the background/scenery such as 0:40 – 0:43 where the title is originally red and then as it moves closer to the clouds it slowly changes to a white colour.  I also like how the panning movement of the scenery gives the impression that the titles are also moving with it.

Another film opening I looked at was from the movie ‘Se7en’

The music creates a gloomy and mysterious atmosphere and titles have been presented in the black parts of the scenery to help the audience establish that the film has very dull and scary elements. Th majority of the movie opening, the titles are presented against a black background after some footage of a person doing certain movements. For example, a title appears against a black screen after he flips the page of a book and the title appears again after he writes something on a piece of paper.

Another movie that we looked out was called ‘The Road Movie’

I like how the titles aren’t completely taking over the screen and are instead used on different corners of the movie so that it allows the audience to establish the different settings/locations the camera shows. The titles also have a blurring transition at the start and the size gradually expands until the blur disappears.  Occasionally, some of the titles are presented against a black screen, as seen in the movie opening ‘Se7en’ and this could of perhaps been done to show clearly to the audience who the main characters/actors are in the movie.

We also looked at was called ‘Spiderman’

The title ‘Spiderman’ has been used against a red background in front of a spiderweb in order to show clearly what the film is based around. As well as the white titles used to represent the different actors, I like the way that, rather than showing real footage of the actors, comic/cartoon drawings of them are used instead which makes the movie opening very interesting. The music incorporated also has adventurous elements to it hinting that the movie is going to be an action movie.

The last movie we looked at was ‘The Dark Knight Rises’

I like this movie opening as the movement of the titles are in sync with the very fast pace of the music which gives the opening more rhythm and flow as well as being very energetic hinting that this will be an action movie.  The titles also move in an interesting way as if the smoke from the bottom left corner of the scene is pushing it so that the titles curve a bit. Other ways of the titles being incorporated into the movie opening is where it gives the impression that it is placed on flat surfaces such as 1:09.

Sophie.C

Analysing other AS student’s Film Openings on their blogs

Here is a film opening by Sage Productions AS:

The Strengths

  • Use of titles- showing the names of the actors involved in the opening video-shots change when the name does to represent a different actor.
  • Variety of camera shots incorporated- e.g. close up, mid close up, long shot, panning and extreme close up. Low angle shot around the middle of the opening video showing a gang of youths-The use of the shot represents them as more powerful and shows the girl as the weak one.
  • Mise-en-scene:
    • Costume- Grey clothing contrasts with the bright and happy atmosphere-could foreshadow that something bad may happen later on?
    • Lighting and use of colours- Bright and colourful in order to add to the happy morning atmosphere.
    • Use of both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds shows variety- e.g. birds tweeting has been edited in to create a normal morning day atmosphere.
    • Muffled sounds edited in the song when the atmosphere begins to change- sense of danger instantly created.
    • Slow/happy music also contributes to the atmosphere already created.

The Weaknesses

The storyline of the film opening began to get a bit confusing towards the end of the video however this could of been planned so that not too much was revealed during the first two minutes of the movie and this then makes the audience want to watch more in order to see what happens next.

Sophie C

Dream sequence…

For our next lesson we have to look at ways in which we can involve a dream scene into our opening by using a green screen and camera. We were thinking of using the character from our opening so that if we like it we can involve it into our opening. the character would be Niyi’s character and the dream would be the story of his innocent murder. As this I quit a simple idea we probably wont need to use the green screen, which will be a disadvantage as we will then not know how to use it in the future. to solve this problem we will probably use it for a tester dream which we wont use in our opening.  Other ideas were from The Big Lebowski were Niyi’s character would then get chased with a huge pair of scissors until his dream would end

The Big Lebowski example:

towards the end of this is where he gets chased by the scissors but not much creativity would be used as there isn’t anything happening in the background.

Bed knobs and broomsticks green screen example:

Here we see lots of different effects and colours used which makes it more visually entertaining and creative.

By Phoebe.m

26/01/15 – what are we doing this lesson?

In todays lesson we looked at dream sequences in films such as 8 1/2 and The Big Lebowski. This was to see if we wanted to include it into our film, and to see how the producers made them and to discuss them in our media groups. The technical producer and assistant producer are finishing the 2nd part of our opening and the director and production manager are over seeing the editing and finishing up any blog posts that may need posting.

Phoebe.M, Amber.F, Sophie.C, Niyi.A