Opening sequences

Before I started work on our preliminary task I conducted some research into open sequences of films.

Firstly i watched the opening two minutes of 'Dirty Harry' and wrote a textual analysis, explaining my opinions on the effectiveness of the camera shots/angles, editing techniques and mise-en-scene.

From there onwards i have been watching the openings to many different films trying to analyse how the opening is portrayed and trying to guess the ideology of the film by just watching the opening to see the effectiveness it has on the audience.

Another film i looked at for opening sequences was the usual suspects, below is a essay i wrote on it

Analyse the effectiveness of the opening sequence of “The Usual Suspects” (1995)

The Opening sequence of the usual suspects creates an air of mystery with a lot of doors being opened in the reader’s fragile mind whilst leaving nothing for the mind to adjust to.

As we enter the scene we are shown a dark and gloomy inside of a ship with a man who is on the floor. As we are shown the close up of him lighting a single match then re-lighting the whole packet of matches to light up his cigarette, he then throws the matches to the ground where they spark up a long line of oil which would consequently destroy the ship. In other words our so called hero is attempting to commit suicide. What have we missed!?!

When we are shown the trail of liquid, which is putting out our hero’s feeble attempt at death, we follow it all the way back up to a mans mid section, obviously this liquid was urine. The establishing shot of this mysterious man shows us his entire person up to his shoulder line, advertently stopping the audience seeing his face, adding to his sense of mystery.
As he strolls down the steps to our hero we are shown the look of disappointment on his face as he realizes his last chance at taking his own life has disappeared right before his eyes. The mystery man casually and calmly walks up to our hero before lighting a cigarette of his own. Our hero then asks what the time is, just past midnight. As we are shown the close up of the man of mystery pulling out a gun we are shown he is clearly not trying to save our hero but quite the opposite.

2 bullets popped straight into the head show we have clearly missed the storyline creating a very effective sense of mystery. The ship is then sent into flames as the mystery killer departs the scene leaving us with a strangely confusing close up of a rope pan towards it as the boat slowly explodes.

The music we are shown throughout the opening sequence adds to our sense of mystery as it remains upbeat and uses dark and gloomy tones.

In all, the usual suspects show a technical level of pure brilliance and sets up the audience to have their questions answered in due course.

pictures of filming spots

This picture was taken on the second floor of a school building, and shows the window used where we filmed the opening shot from.

This is of the view seen from at the window, which we used to film the opening with.

The next picture is of the first set of double-doors that I walks through to get into the school building.

This picture shows the office door we used from the outside.

And finally, this picture shows the inside of the office, where the clip ends.

Storyboard

This is the story board for our preliminary task

180 degree rule

The 180 degree rule is the thought that when filming you cannot cross a imaginary line. Demonstrated in the picture the camera always stays on the right side to keep the audiences view point, maintaining continuity.

Finished Video Of Preliminary Task

This is the finished video of our preliminary task

A few bad parts about our preliminary is that it is slightly dull and would not have a audience's attention, it also is not very long and their is not much dialogue. A few good parts are the range of shots we fit in, we also have a ending that leaves you wanting to know more

Camera Shots/Angles

To understand how to film my preliminary and main media tasks i did some research into the many types of camera shots and angles. Firstly there are many types of shots:-


- Mid-Shot
This is a shot showing the actor/ess at a range in between close up and long shot.

- Wide-Shot/Long-Shot
A shot of a group of people showing their whole bodies from a distance away.

- Close-Up
The opposite of a wide-shot closing in on a specific detail like a hand opening a door

-Over-The-Shoulder Shot
A view from over the characters shoulder showing their back and everything in front of them

- POV Shot
A point of view shot showing the audience what the characters can see exactly


There are also many different angles a few of the main ones are:-


-Birds eye view
A view from above looking down on the scene

-High Angle
View from a high place looking down on the scene that can create a sense of the character being belittled and intimidated.

- Low Angle
View from a low place looking up at a character making them look larger and allowing them to be intimidating towards others

Introduction

Hi i'm Chris Gill and my group for this years media course consists of Luis Mapes, Daniel Wogan, Alex Dimmock and myself. My main role in the group is filming the pieces we produce.