My name is Ella Thompson and I am a member of Group 3. In my group I worked with Prudence Carter-Phillips (8128), Joshua Oranu-Noah (8054) and Gabriel Meytanis (8560). I have completed Brief 1: Film. To see my portfolio evidence, please click on the 3 labels on the right named AS Research and Planning, AS Construction, and AS Evaluation.
The two opening sequences I chose to compare are Batman Returns and Up.
The two openings are contrasting in many ways. They both have very opposing colour schemes: Batman Returns has a dark blue almost monochrome colour scheme and there are lots of shadows, whereas Up is colourful and saturated with a wide array of colours featuring on the scrapbook design. In Batman Returns, the audience is introduced to no characters and only an unfamiliar setting. They are given no clues to the events that may occur later on in the film. In Up we are given a hint of the urban city setting, and are introduced to the main characters.
The openings are similar as they both feature credits in every shot for the cast and crew. They also both have a consistent theme throughout the opening, such as the dark tunnels in Batman Returns and the scrapbook in Up.
In Batman Returns the techniques used to communicate film information is the inclusion of symbolic images such as bats in the first shot, and titles to give the name and cast of the film. In Up the techniques used are snapshots of the characters and setting stylised as a scrapbook.
As said previously, the aesthetic style of Batman Returns is dark, cold and has an element of horror and the unknown in it due to the many shadows. In Up the aesthetic style is happy and uplifting, as it contains bright warm colours and an authentic looking scrapbook.
The film I chose is Confessions of a Shopaholic and the genre of the film is romantic comedy.
The story takes place in New York City which can be identified when in the trailer the voiceover says "Moving to New York...". The time scale of the actual film is over around a couple of months, although the trailer contains a flashback to the main character, Rebecca's childhood.
The opening sequence initially shows Rebecca as a child with other girls her age at a clothes shop trying on clothes and lusting over adults buying clothes.Then it cuts to present day Rebecca walking down the street introducing her name, job and what bank cards she bought her designer clothes with. She then goes on to describe her love for shopping. The story telling is significant to the order of events because it gives quite an in depth background on the main character so the audience get to know her before the film has properly started. This makes the first scene of the film (her reading a bank statement) easy to understand to the audience as we already know the main character and her spending habits.
The events do link together. The first half of the trailer shows Rebecca as a child in a clothing store, and then the second half also shows Rebecca but at her current age looking around a clothing store.
The only character that is properly introduced is the main character, Rebecca Bloomwood. She is introduced as a journalist who is also a shopaholic, and we find out this information in the voiceover by Rebecca.
Hardly any of the story information is revealed in the film opening. Although we get introduced to the character's personality and the setting, the audience isn't given any clues as to what happens later on in the film or the other characters that will be introduced.
I think at the start of the film the audience needs to know the main character because it makes it easier for the audience to get into the film and understand it, rather than being introduced to all the characters at once later and being confused.
1) The story of our video is there are two characters, A (Ella) and B (Olamide) in a classroom doing work. Character C (Alex) walks into the room and trips, dropping his books. Character A is visibly shocked and then Character C picks up his books and continues on his way.
2) We attempted to create continuity in a number of ways. Firstly, we made Shot 1 an establishing shot of Character A and B in the classroom. This introduced the audience to the setting, and also included the door in which Character C would enter. Furthermore, in Shot 3 we used a master post to bring Characters A and C in the same geographical space. Shot 3 featured both Character C walking into the room through the door and Character A at her same original position at the desk. We also tried to create continuity by using a variety of angles and camera movement to build the audience into the narrative. Shot 4 featured a pan left of Character C walking just before he tripped, and Shot 5 was a high-angle of Character C standing up after he fell.
3) Unfortunately we did not achieve full continuity. In Shot 2 you cannot see Character C enter the door that he comes out of at the beginning of Shot 3 which is confusing. Additionally, the cut between Shots 2 and 3 is not seamless and we didn't create a "match on action". At the end of Shot 2, Character C is right up against the door however at the beginning of Shot 3 he is not there. In Shot 3 Character A doesn't react to Character C walking into the room which looks fake. Shot 4 is lacking a prop for Character C to trip over, so it is not logical. Finally, between Shots 4 and 5 we break the 30° rule as the shots are too different.
4) In hindsight to improve the narrative flow I would make many changes. In Shot 2 I would make Character C start walking from outside the building around the corner out of frame which would be more natural. I would cut down Shot 3 and 4 as there is a delay at the beginning of Shot 4 which breaks narrative flow. In Shot 3 I would make Character A turn around and react to the entrance of Character C so that it looks more natural. Most importantly, I would swap Shots 5 and 6 so that Character A's reaction to C's fall is immediate. Previously, the reaction was in Shot 6 which meant it looked delayed and unrealistic.
The genre of horror is connoted through the single spotlight on Josh. This creates a bright light and dark shadow, so the audience cannot see what is going on in the background. Also, the shadow of the fence on Josh connotes he is trapped or in a cage.
We did this by going into a pitch black room and using a single spotlight shining on Josh. He stood in a cage in order to get the grid shadows to further connote the horror genre.
We intended for the audience to interpret the shot as Josh being trapped in a cage or behind a fence in a prison. The single spotlight is intended to be from a guard's torch shining on him, but the rest of the room is dark.
The lighting is successful as it is dramatic and connotes the horror genre well. Also, we chose a good setting to shoot in as we were able to make the room pitch black in order to achieve the affect we wanted.
I would choose a different shot type such as a CU so that we can see Josh's facial expression better - this would make the facial expression a signifier for the genre and therefore the shot would be better.
