Colour Palette

Initially, we chose a darker colour palette with more grey and blue tones which went with our initial social realism drama genre which we originally decided on. 

After pitching our initial ideas, we adapted our genre to more of a comedy drama after the feedback given. This then lent itself to a brighter colour palette which we decided on as it is more vibrant so can also represent the protagonists young age of 17. 

We also figured this could easily be incorporated through mise-en-scene throughout the opening as one location is planned to be shot within a party scene, so lighting can be used to make the colour palette consistent throughout the opening.

Sound Palette

Firstly, we knew from the offset that we wanted to open with a black screen where only ambient sounds of a park or children's playground could be heard.
This would then be cut straight to the first shot of our protagonist sitting on a park bench, still with this ambient sound playing which we plan to make ourself, finding a suitable area to record audio and recce-ing local parks.

As we decided to finalise the genre of our film opening to comedy drama, we realised that the music playing during the credit sequence would need to be something upbeat, however still showing a sense of a down side or deeper meaning.
After research of this type of song, we found that 'One is the Loneliest Number' by Three Dog Night was the perfect basis for the genre of music we were looking for.

After research, we found that epidemic sound is a copyright free and royalty free website where you can search music by genre, which we did and found the music that we intend to use in our final piece throughout the 2 minutes; https://player.epidemicsound.com/#/search/?search_query=fantastic+plastic

Finalised Idea

Our final idea sticks to our original thoughts of doing a drug related teen film opening where the credits are embellished into the props used such as the drugs, or a piece of writing on a packet etc, inspired by the opening credits for Napoleon Dynamite.

After pitching our idea to the class, it was suggested that we turn our genre into slight comedy as the Napoleon Dynamite influence on the credits offers itself towards this. However after discussing before the next lesson, we all agreed that we still wanted the genre to be drama so went with the idea of a general slightly comedic drama.

Locations - Park, Alleyway, Bedroom

We plan to recce all of these places to find the best area to film. For example, we want the bedroom to be messy as a stereotypical teen may have it, especially one that is involved in the world of drugs. However, we realised that we can't keep the room too dark as the comedic genre will be a lot less obvious, and the credits shown may be limited due to lighting.

Initial ideas for a park would be Tonbridge Park;

• Easy to access - an allowance to film would be necessary 
• Has benches and wide spaces
• Looks like a park
• Would give natural diegetic ambient sound

Music/Sound - soundbridge - black to park - diegetic
                       - ambient sound - park - diegetic
                       - child screams comically - diegetic
                       - credit music starts playing - continue to end - non diegetic

Shots - long shot of protagonist on a park bench
          - zoom into eye
          - pan around bedroom - zooming into packets, drugs, dirty room etc with credits on
       
Colour Palette - light - comedic contrast to drugs

Through the use of young actors - contrast of harsh world of drugs and young children playing
                                                                                                 - child runs past screaming
                                                                                                 - actor sits on bench - no reaction

Important Frames

As a group, we went out during a lesson and took initial test shots of important frames that we had brainstormed and thought about drafting into our final opening. This helped as we could picture what it would actually look like and allow us to decide if we like the idea of it.

Our first shot would just be a plain black screen, with ambient sound of a children's playground overlapping it.

The second image that would be seen on the screen would be straight cut from the black screen previously there. The picture below shows how we would have the protagonist sitting on the side of a park bench, both in the right third of the screen. This would introduce her immediately and show a sense of isolation or a teenage stereotype of sitting away from other people in an obviously busy park.

The third important frame consists of the same as position of the female actor however with some running past. At the time, we could only do this with someone in the group but in the final opening we plan for this to be a young child, to add sudden action and show the comedic side of the genre.

The fourth frame that we considered important is an extreme close up shot of the protagonists eye as we plan to have a moving zoom shot into it after the child has run past, this would be continuous from the first shot up until this moment. We then want to change the location before zooming out again, as can be viewed in the fifth test shot.



The image above is what we plan the next frame to be. After zooming out of the extreme close up of the eye, we would move the camera further away as a mid or long shot, dependent on the space we would have. This would be shot in the location of an alleyway as we imagined it to be outside of a club or a party, which we would make obvious by use of sound and colour with loud diegetic music and a faint array of colours hitting the brick wall, where she would be alone once again in an obviously busy place.

The next image we took is in the same alley as the previous image however during a pan shot. This would also be continuous from the last shot as it would just revolve and move around the protagonist. The pan would then continue around her as we would have the female actor step forward and look around a bit in order for us to do a full 360 shot around her. The camera would then be directed back into her eye once again and the location would also change, whilst still in the extreme close up.

 After the extreme close up of her eye, the camera would zoom out to an aerial shot above the protagonist lying on her bed faintly shaking to show a drug addiction.

Pitches

28th November 2016

During our own time, our group got together to discuss possible openings for our final coursework. We had already previously decided on a social realism genre however had not finalised our ideas together.

After showing our mood boards to each other, we decided on the main two ideas that we favoured and thought we would be able to bring across both the problem and narrative in an opening 2 minutes.

Pitch 1 - Social Realism
               Contemporary
               Indie Teenage Drama
               Drug related
               Credits embedded within the objects in the scene

Shots - long shot with slow zoom into main character on bench
          - extreme close up into eye
          - zoom out and high angle shot, birds eye view where protagonist can be seen from above
            whilst lying on a bed
          - panning shots around the room of different objects showing credits


Pitch 2 - Social Realism
               Contemporary
               Transgender issues
               Credits embedded within the objects in the scene

Shots - tracking shot behind main character, following through a street
          - reaction shots of passers by, giving different looks towards the actor, with credits edited into negative space
          - a panning shot around the head, to reveal the characters face, a female with short hair and                   stereotypically "boy-ish" features

For both of these ideas, the group as a whole decided on the greyscale colour palette as the genre we want to continue towards the drama, social realism genre for our opening.

This colour tone lends itself to our genre choice as it is very realistic to the normal world, however can be seen as dramatically emotional, as the tone suggests.

Film Opening Analysis

The opening shot of a film is extremely important as the director purposefully chooses to give off a certain vibe or impression to the audience to depict the genre of the film itself. The viewer/s can observe the first few seconds of an opening and notice symbols that may have some significance later on which can be linked back and create a wider, more obvious narrative and sense of character.

Whiplash - 2014

Below is the very first shot of the film, directed by Damien Chazelle, whereby the main character, Andrew, can be easily seen. The director will have positioned  him and the drum kit in the centre of the key and filler lights, showing an obvious dominance. Also, he can be seen in the right third of the shot, showing that he is an important character throughout the film as well as the camera zooming in throughout, never losing focus on Andrew or the drum kit.

The boy is alone, which the director has chosen to do in order to portray the character as independent and hard working, but also as being a lonely person who does not speak much, which is also true within the film. This also brings about the theme of dreams as the blur of the drum stick in the shot below, proves that he is moving his hands quickly, showing a skill on the drums that he has, as well as a passion for what he is doing.

Breakfast at Tiffany's - 1961

The shot below is one of the first that can be seen in the film directed by Blake Edwards. It features the main character, and well known actress, Audrey Hepburn, who has been placed once again in the left third of the scene to portray dominance and importance of character. The director will also have chosen to do this as it allowed room for negative space where the credits can be edited into.

The lighting is very obviously high key as she is outside, setting the genre of romantic comedy, however still realistic drama, as it seems light hearted and more natural. The placing of the character in front of a shop window, as well as a very highly sophisticated outfit, hair, makeup and props, demonstrate the extroverted persona of her which helps the audience with a sense of the events to occur later on. She is also alone, showing her independence as she gets into her own taxi after exiting a building the night after a bad date, which is revealed to the audience later on.

Juno - 2007

The shot below is the first seen in the dramatic teen romance film, Juno by director Jason Reitman. This appears immediately before the opening credits whereby the main character is shown thoroughly.

The font of the text shown is very cartoon-like, giving the audience a sense of the age of Juno, who is sixteen, however the contrast of the long shot including a house, portrays the fact that she is unexpectedly pregnant and having to grow up and mature faster than that of a normal teenager.

Juno can be seen in the bottom left corner of the long shot, and the director has chosen to have her wearing loose fitting clothes, giving off the sense that she is either a calm character or that she is lazy. Which can both be equally seen in the character throughout the film.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Storyboard

Preliminary Task

Individual Moodboard for Final Opening

Preliminary Task

Whilst planning this task, we knew we had to include a match on action sequence, a shot reverse shot and use of the 180 degree rule.

After the first filming of this task, we realised that we had not included a proper shot reverse shot so would have to re-shoot. We also were not pleased with the lighting and how pixelated it looked overall. When reshooting we decided on changing some parts of the dialogue to add to the narrative. As well as this we chose a better room with more natural lighting to keep it gloomy however a lot easier to see and moved around some chairs and desks to create a sense of an abandoned or old room. As it did not have to be longer than 30 seconds, we decided to keep any narrative to a minimum as we needed to focus on the types of shots we were set to include.

Examining Codes and Conventions of Film Openings

Lesson - 12th October 2016

Throughout this lesson, we individually analysed three famous film openings from different genres including horror, action and romantic comedy. The media texts we examined were;

• Halloween, 1978
• Amelie, 2001
• Trainspotting, 1996

We considered how the use of different lighting and sound affected tension as well as the audience response to character introductions and genre justification.

Individual Work

We also all went on to find our own film openings individually:

• Woman In Black, 2012
• Little Miss Sunshine, 2006

For these two, I recorded trackers and commented on the tension/content and sound. 

Halloween (1978)

After viewing the opening for Halloween, I learnt that directors of horror films choose to use sudden, non-diegetic sound to emphasise an oncoming danger or event. In this example, John Carpenter, the director of Halloween, uses a high pitch, sharp strings to infer a warning to the audience and also to assume the genre.

All films within the genre of horror use similar techniques in mise-en-scene such as, a clown costume or the knife held by the boy. As well as this, the detached house adds to the sense of vulnerability, seen in many horror films.

Amelie (2001)

After analysis of the sound and tension tracker for Amelie, I noticed that the genre of romance/drama can easily be depicted via the intense shots and both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds of the wine glass and the vibrations when Amelie's hands are around her ears.

This direct way of portraying genre can be done within the mise-en-scene of the opening using both the props and voiceover, giving a clear french vibe to the film which also emphasises the setting.





Trainspotting (1996)

After analysis of the trainspotting film opening from 1996, I noticed that the social realism genre was represented through the use of sound and cinematography.

The sound used was an upbeat, youthful track (Lust for Life by Iggy Pop) that represented the young adults and the fast pace of the scene. The camera angles were all very close up and it featured some over the shoulder shots from a front angle, making the shot more personal and stereotypical of the age        group shown.

Woman in Black (2012)

During my individual work, I chose to analyse the opening of Woman in Black and noticed that similarly to Halloween it had minimal sound other than the occasional chimes. The tension also seemed to rise as the opening went on which is shown through techniques in the cinematography as the director used extreme close ups and slow motion when one of the young girls steps on the head of a doll, which is part of the mise-en-scene.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

After choosing and viewing this film also for my individual work, I noticed that the comedy drama genre is very easy to depict from just the tension in the opening scenes.

The mise-en-scene used gives an immediate sense of character and story line within the first few minutes, creating a strong sense of character that can be continued throughout the film.