Web Address

http://loretoasmedia2011.blogspot.com/

Se7en

This image shows the opening sequence of se7en, as the book is being opened and writen in.

The establishing shot in this opening sequence is a mshot of a book and the pages being turned, there is a tint to this shot with harsh lighting creating shadows and we can see a hand blurred turning the pages in the background. The way that the opening credits appear is interesting and they look quite similar to that of the typical horror/thriller genre, with an almost ghostly feel to them. The opening credits are quite an important part of the beginning of films, and this particular style is something our group will take into careful consideration when we are editing our opening sequence. there was approxiamtely 30+ different shots of various different events happening all creating the illusion that something bad has happened, all the shot types are close up for the opening, the use of sound creates tension troughout the opening, with the scary music, the lighting they used was a red source creating suspense and blood? also the props were pen and paper to sugest writing a investigation letter maybe, the titles were used very effectively because they all fited it with the scene, the continuity of the opening was acheived because all the scenes followed each other correctly, the elements we could achieve is the different close ups as the images wouldnt be that hard to congure up together to recreate, the hard elements would be finiding the right music and props to use for the close up views.

The Book of Eli

this shows the opening sequence of the book of eli in the forest with the shadows of the trees with hardly any leaves behind the character.

The Book of Eli.

Before any images actually appear on the screen the film creates a sense of isolation which is very typical of the thriller genre, its a classic thriller convention. The sound of the howling wind can be heard, the howling wind seems to be quite calm and it almost 'prepares' the audience for the upcoming storm. By using only sound in the opening it creates a sense of anticipation for the audience. We are first introduced to images in the film with a forest, the trees seem to be quite bare, they have very little or few branches or leaves, having such minimalistic things present in the opening scene also adds to the isolated feeling that the beginning of the film prevails. The isolation and vulnerability is enhanced by the amount of shadow in the forest. It almost gives the illusion that the audience feels as though there is no where to hide in the empty forest. In an ambiguous way the trees could also resemble bars to make the audience feel as though they shouldn't be there, and also gives a sense of imprisonment. This particular theme along with the element of isolation is something our group will take into consideration when shooting the opening to our film, and a convention that we definitely will consider using.

The silence of the lambs

The film starts with some shots of a woman running through a dark, misty wood. It gradually becomes apparent that she is running an assault course. An F.B.I. man tells her that a Mr. Crawford wants to see her. At this stage it is made clear that she is working for the F.B.I. because we see her making her way through corridors full of guns and agents. She then enters some offices where she finds some newspaper clippings and pictures about a murderer who skins people. The camerawork and editing hint at the plot of the film however it does not give away all the vital information. This is an attribute we would like to carry over into our work because we do not want our film to have a trailer like quality that many of the examples we have seen contain. A film opening should only establish the setting and story rather than sum up the whole contents of the film. The Silence of the lambs opening contains many features that would be useful to take influence from if we were to do a thriller.

Preliminary task Shot List

1. Long shot(establishing) person entering room
2. Medium shot person sitting down
3. Tilt up medium shot establish other character
4. Shot reverse shot Conversation
5. Cutaway of persons hand gestures
6. Medium shot Person standing up
7. Close up of person sitting downs facial expressions
8. Close up of angry person
9. Long shot of person running out the room
10. Close up of the angry person's reaction when they run out of the room.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

On the whole i think the preliminary task was a success, as it was our first try at camera work and editing. However we do have a lot to learn from our preliminary task as we did make some unprofessional mistakes. For example; our editing wasn't completely continuous and it was noticable from time to time, which could have possibly affected the overall quality of the preliminary task. In our main task this will be an area of great focus so that we achieve the highest possible marks for our editing work. On the other hand, there were a lot of strong attributes to our work. For example; we successfully implimented the 180 degree rule. This was shown in the shot reverse shot of Mark and Anoop, where the cameraperson made sure that the shots did not cross the 'line', which made sure the shot was conceivable to the audience. As well as this, our camera work was consistently good and all the shots were framed properly with the use of a tripod, so no action was cut out of shot, such as peoples faces ect. However the quality of the shot was a bit shaky and we will concentrate on steadying the camera in the real task to ensure the maximum possible marks for the beginning of our film.