Opening of Films Research

For our homework our task was to watch the openings of at least two films minimum and then deconstruct them by writing about the different techniques used in them. When we had done this research, we had to then present in an interesting way whether it would be presentation, a voice over etc. So to present my research I decided to do it in Microsoft Word by print screening captions of the film and pasting them into word. By these print screens I annotated them by saying what this particular print screen was representing in the film.

Opening of Film - “Leon”

In the first 23 seconds of the film, there is the Gaumont film ident.

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Screen Shot 7

Screen Shot 8

Screen Shots 1 & 2 : At 0.23 the titles begin starting with “Gaumont presents”.

Screen Shot 3 : The next shot is an establishing shot which starts at 0.37. But this particular capture is at 0.53, the establishing shot is moving, with the actors names also appearing on it. This shot reveals the location and setting of the film. The title of the film also appears in this establishing shot.

Screen Shot 4 : At 1.15 into the film, the establishing shot finishes, and there is now a tracking long shot being used, in which more of the actor’s names appear. This shot is used to introduce a more insight into the setting and location of the city and its surroundings.

 Screen Shot 5 : At 1.25 into the film the same shot is being used but taken from opposite sides to the shot just before. In this shot more of the credits/titles are shown when at 1.26 we see the “music by Eric Seera” title/credit.

Screen Shot 6 : At 1.34 into the film we see the same shot, but this time taken from another place from another road. More of the titles/credits appear with the first on this being “written and directed by Luc Besson”. The reason the same shot is used but from different directions and angles is so that it doesn’t bore the audience rather than just using one shot. As the shot is used from different angles and different directions it keeps the audience interested as it is a new direction and place of the shot that shows the audience more of the setting, from different angles and directions.

Screen Shots 7 & 8 : This shot at 1.40 is a mid-long/wide shot so we can see more little detail of the setting and location. This is a tracking shot as it moves straight forward into this shop, but goes into complete pitch black darkness which effectively ends this shot. The music changes as the shot goes further towards the shop as it becomes mysterious and creepy music. Also by seeing this shot move forward and into complete darkness this gives the audience an eerie feel that this film has a dark, scary and an interesting story in it. This sets the mood of the film.

Opening of Film - Dream House

In the first 38 seconds of the film there are the Warner Bros pictures, and Morgan Creek film idents. Also Music sets in with choir voices, to set the mood, which makes us think that this is a dark, mysterious and interesting film.

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Screen Shot 1 and 2: At 0.38 seconds into the film the titles begin with the first one being “Morgan Creek Presents”.

Screen Shot 3: At 0.51 into the film there is an establishing shot of a very tall building. A low angle shot is used for this as it is looking at the building to show that this building has a strong business and that it has power. We also know that it is during the winter and we can tell this by the weather as it is clearly snowing.

Screen Shot 4: At 0.54 into the film, a close up shot is used of one of the main characters. The close up shows us his emotions, and his features (what he looks like). In this shot it also shows us how he is feeling and gives us an insight into how this film is going to play about, and what the emotional feelings of this film are. By looking at his facial expressions, we know this is an intro to an emotional and interesting story.

Screen Shot 5: At 0.58 a Mid Long/Wide Shot is used to reveal a view of the outside setting from inside the building. But this shot also shows a desk, and some working space, and some photos. It gives us more of a view and an insight as to where this main character works, it also shows us his skills. At 1.02 the first word of dialogue is spoken. The first word is “Will”, so we now know one of the character’s main names.

 

Screen Shot 6: At 1.54 there are long mid shots used to show more people in this business. We also now begin to understand why Will is leaving his job as he can spend more time with his kids.

At 2.20 we see that Will had great working colleagues who are all going to miss him and have champagne to wish him best of luck.

Screen Shot 7: At 3.02, in this mid-close up shot, he is leaving and is outside with one of his working colleagues. His working colleague hugs him and wishes him the best of luck.

Screen Shot 8: At 3.16, it shows another establishing shot of the place he is leaving.

Sixth Sense Deconstruction Completed As A Class

Here is another example we completed as a group in class:

Sixth Sense Deconstruction

And here is a video of the Sixth Sense opening:

22 Stories Research

This is our 22 stories research to show what kind of genres films tend to follow. It will help us as it will make it easier for our group to try and come up with a great story for our film, by following these conventions.

Choosing a Film genre to work with research

As a group many of us discussed the pros, cons and conventions of different genres because we're all making a film and we have to meet all the correct points like costs, editing and storylines. The reason for this is that we need to make a film that is appropiate to the audience and that will benefit our marks on our course.

As well as doing this individually we also discussed this in a group and wrote our conclusions on the white board. At least every one of us had to say an example of a film based on their certain genre they researched. We all chose thriller to base our film on, to see why we all came to a decision to do thriller, see our pros, cons and conventions work below.

AS Genre Construction Pros & Cons

Advanced Camera Techniques-Crane Shots

You will notice that in quite a few films or TV programmes they might involve a shot of where it might be going from way above and descending right down at a certain pace. This may be used as establishing shots or even to introduce a scene with some scenery in the background to add more interest. So basically how a crane shot is done is by having a camera placed on the end of a crane (making sure it's on safe) and lifting the crane up at the other end up or down or you could even more it anywhere (depends how creative you want to be with the shot).

Here is an example of a Crane Shot being used.
Now here is an example of our crane shot that we attempted:

I think that the crane shot was a bit wobbly and a bit bouncy at the start. So therefore practice is need over doing the crane shot so we can get a better shot of it.

Advanced Camera Techniques-Manual Focusing and Depth in Field

Manual Focusing is the adjusting of the focus of the lens by hand. This is mostly done when someone is taking photos and may need to adjust the focus of the lens by hand to make the photo seem more clearer and in focus. It is beneficial as it controls the strength of the focus.

Depth in Field is basically just the distance between two objects, the closest and the furthest objects in the shot.

In film making manual focusing is an important element when making a film. Manual focusing could be used reveal someone or any object more clearly in detail. This technique is really effective in a film and is mainly used in horrors and thrillers. The technique may be used to show the reader which character is important and should be paid more attention to. An example of it being used may be someone in the distance and then someone quite close. Then the camera will be manually focused and adjusted to the person in the distance behind a character, to show suspense. The camera can be manually focused again to show the character closer to the camera in more detail than the one in the far distance.

As well as films manual focusing can also be used in TV Drama.

Here is our video demonstrating manual focus pulling.

Here is an explanation of Depth of Field

UK Film Distribution

The role of film distributors is is to distribute films in many kind of ways. Here is a link to a video showing you about what things distributors do to distribute distribute films. Click Here.  The reason we are looking at examples of how films are distributed as it will help us to think about ways in which we can distribute our films. 

Here is some descriptions of examples of films of how they are distributed in the terms of format. 

Here are the ways in which this film for example are distributed. 

The name of this film example is called "Rise Of An Empire".








Here is another example of a film and the ways in which it is distributed.

Here is another example of another film being distributed.

The name of this film is called "Grand Budapest Hotel, The (15) 

Film Idents

At the start of films, well even before the start of the film itself, it usually has a film ident which is basically as short few seconds worth of a computer animated version of the film company that was used to make the film and that was involved in it. All film idents have their own ident and no matter what film they will be put on they will have the same ident. It's very important that film idents are put at the start of films as it gives out out a message of what the film is going to be like and how it associates with the intersting theme and look of the film ident.

Here are a few examples of some film indents:

Walt Disney Ident Analysis

Here is a summary of an example of the Walt Disney film ident as to why it is important as in relation with why film idents are so important to have at the start of films and an example of why all film companies should have their own ident. 

For example the Walt Disney film ident has a very happy, magical and exciting feel to it. Firstly the writing of the Walt Disney logo is handwritten as if it was drawn by a young child. This gives us the impression that Disney films are to entertain mainly kids as it associates with all magical and great stuff that are done and improved for child audience. So when we see this hand writing logo we straight away think there is going to be magical and exciting child-related stuff in Disney films. Also the music has an orchestral being played and gives us that feeling that its going to be great and a worth watching film. When you hear that instrument being played in the ident you feel that there's loads of exciting and magical stuff yet to be revealed and to come.

Also the castle in the background is massive and gives the audience the impression that Disney films are massive and very interesting and fun to watch with lots of great and magical stuff involved in these Disney films. The audience think this due to the massive size of the castle. You definitely know there is magic and great stuff involved as well with the fireworks in the skies which makes us feel wow and gobsmacked as to how big and amazing Disney films actually are. Also some of the colors in it are bright which is used to make Disney films seem bright, magical and exciting. The relationship between the sound and images in this ident is important to contrast well with each other and to get right as some sound may be related to the images being shown in the ident.

This relationship is important to get right as it makes the ident easier to understand and more interesting to watch. For example in the Walt Disney film ident there is orchestral music being played at the same time as the shot of the massive castle and fireworks in the background. This contrast in this realtionship works well as they both give us impressions that special relationships are shared within these Disney films and how successful and magical they are.

Universal Ident Analysis

Here is a summary of an example of the Universal film ident as to why it is important as in relation with why film idents are so important to have at the start of films and an example of why all film companies should have their own ident.

For example the Universal film ident has a very happy, and exciting feel to it. The title "Universal" is very big and it stands out with big, bold letters. So this emphasises the fact that universal films are massively great. The title also comes across the Earth with bright lights shining off it. The fact that the title comes across an Earth in the ident makes the audience think that Universal films are the best in the world. Even the music stands as it is in major key and it is quite loud and has an exciting feel to it, which shows that Universal films are very good and hugely exciting to watch.

Conclusion

All Film companies should have their own ident to show what their great ability and effort that will and have gone into films. The idents show just how great these companies are and advertise exactly the amount of standard their films will be at. So straight away when the audience is about to watch a film and they see the film ident at the start they're familiar with and remember, they immediately think how good the film is going to be and are more excited by watching the film. Therefore they are encouraged to watch their film.

Film Title Conventions

For homework everyone of us had to watch the opening of some films, and we had to write down all the titles that appeared at the start of the film. We had to include the Production Company names for the film, the actors' names, and etc. We all had to write this down on a piece of paper or present our research any other way we wanted to do. So this is how we all did with our homework.

Opening Title Research

In conclusion I think that the most common order for film titles is firstly beginning with the title of the film, then the cast (actors and actresses names), then the writer, the director, the script editors, producers, and then following on in order etc.



Here is the opening of Paycheck, the film I analysed: