Coursework marking criteria

Side effects: shot examples

The movie Side Effects (2013) is a great inspiration for my group in the production of our two minute opening.

We have chosen to go down the route of psychological thriller, and the main character in our opening has a psychological disorder.

The character Emily Taylor from Side Effects possesses similar traits to our main character, and is presented as vulnerable and anxious in a number of shots. This is achieved by the effective use of high angle shots and close ups (left).



Jude Law, who plays the psychiatrist is interestingly presented as vulnerable in a slightly high angle shot (right) which fits perfectly for our character as she herself suffers from a psychological disorder, kept secret from the public eye. The subtle use of slight high angles could present our character's obscure weakness in the same way.

I love this canted angle and I think it is really effective, as you can clearly see the vacant expression on Rooney Mara's face and the frame draws in a powerful element of disorientation.

Similar canted angles would be perfect to use for our own two minute opening to increase the unsettling feeling of a disturbed character in an uncomfortable atmosphere.

We have also thought about the use of pills in our opening sequence, and how they might help us with our title sequence. We like the idea of using pill bottles or doctors notes to print our titles on, making them look realistic.
(Left) is an example of a bottle with my name on it which we could replicate to fit our title.

Finally, one of my favourite shots in the movie is this low angle shot (right) because it gives the effect that the patient is empowered by her release from these pills however (SPOILER ALERT) we know that she is inevitably dependent on such medication, to help with the real psychological disorder that she is diagnosed with at the end of the movie. This shot is really interesting and I hope we can use a similar technique in our own two minute opening to show our character's conflicting personality.

Practice editing: ghost effect

This is one of the first test shots Mac 5 filmed and edited!

Rhianne found a great way to make our character look as though she is losing herself, by changing the opacity of the footage, and creating more than one figure of Hannah F following her on the screen.

We really like the almost ghostly look of the shot, and we think that it could be used to reflect the different layers of our characters personality.

Initial ideas

Following our pitch, our group has finally decided on a plot for our two minute opening!

We have decided to draw upon the results from our market poll research, and create the opening for a psychological thriller.

Our film follows a psychiatrist who suffers from her own psychiatric disorder, which gives her a compulsion to take self prescribed pills. The opening will see her in a counseling session with a patient. We have a few settings in mind - such as the medical room in school, or a surgery we have access to increase the clinical feel of the opening. 

 

We plan to use several close ups to create an uncomfortable intimacy between the character and the audience and we also hope to play with focus in some shots to show the characters disengagement with the environment around her. 

The sound in our opening could be synchronized with the focus pulls to show our characters absence.

 We are still contemplating whether to add our titles in, in real life as opposed to layering them on post production however we have a few ideas about how our titles might look if we chose to shoot them rather than edit them on. 

 

(Left) are some examples of objects we could use to present our titles on. We like the idea of using pill bottles, prescriptions and doctors notes as it fits with our plot in terms of mise-en-scene.

Individual vlog: BFI again

Here is a quick vlog about our second trip to the BFI!
(Apologies for the awful video quality)

Se7en

In our last few lessons, we have been watching se7en, directed by David Fincher, as a class.

This opening sequence was ranked by IFC as the third greatest title sequence of all time, and is one of the most memorable:

The sequence is a montage of unnerving close ups, giving the viewers an insight into the killers mind, and an intimate view of his artistic expressions. The use of extreme close ups and jump cuts in the sequence creates an unsettling atmosphere, in conjunction with the sharp music in which a few short screams and disturbingly high pitched sounds can be distinctly heard. The editing done by Angus Wall, incorporated techniques such as fading, dissolving and superimposition to add to the abrupt, distorted and almost violent composition of the sequence. Here is the storyboard of the sequence, drawn by Wayne Coe:

The actual titles of the film looked almost hand drawn to reflect the idea of the audience seeing through the killers perspective, and they appear in roughly 4 second long flashes then are quickly wiped off the screen to reinforce the distressing atmosphere. Here are stills of the titles, designed and executed by Kyle Cooper:

The opening sequence for se7en is extremely effective in creating a thrilling atmosphere and mood for the rest of the film, and the techniques used help place a visual emphasis on significant details, which are revealed and explained later on in the movie. As a viewer, I was compelled by the sequence and in creating our two minute opening, my group hopes to use similar techniques to engage our audience. We have also taken away some ideas about how to present our titles more dexterously, to reflect the atmosphere we hope to create.

BFI vlog!

Here is some footage from our trip to the BFI, in which it is explained to me that I can't just call any bridge in London, London Bridge. (Thanks Tayla)

BFI trip!

Today our media class attended a session at the BFI, where the chief examiner for Media Studies, Pete Fraser, talked to us about how to create a good film opening.
He gave us some tips and tricks on how to include these 5 key aspects:

1. Genre
2. Narrative (enigma)
3. Character
4. Atmosphere
5. Setting

We watched a few examples of film openings, including Catch Me If You Can, Dawn of the Dead and Napoleon Dynamite and we were told to look out for the five key features mentioned above.
These examples are taken from three completely different genres, which is useful for general research into film openings and we found that all three openings incorporate these features in ways specific to the objective of the film. I found it helpful to look at these because it made me realize what has to go into our product, for it to look like the opening for an actual feature length film.

We also had a look at a few film openings done by Media Studies students in the past and assessed them, to highlight the good features and identify areas for improvement. This was useful because we were able to see which opening had the greatest impact on the audience and we learned a bit about what to avoid on filming days and how to add in our titles effectively.

Hannah Rothman, Associate Director of Create Advertising London, also spoke to us about creating trailers and her experiences within the media industry. She helped us establish the differences between trailers and film openings, so that our opening does not end up looking like a short film or trailer. We learned a lot about her journey into the media industry and what her job entails which was really interesting for me as I am considering a career in media. Here is a trailer which Rothman worked on:

We spent our afternoon in a session with Dexter Fletcher, an actor and director who started his career in one of the first and best films that I saw when I was younger, Bugsy Malone! We received advice on the best ways to shoot our two minute opening and the ideas and processes behind some of his own recent film productions. Here are the trailers for Wild Bill (2011) and Sunshine on Leith (2013) which we were shown the openings to:

My group in particular found today really inspiring, and after being told about some of the most common, cliché film openings previous students have produced, we have decided to change our idea and attempt to produce something a little more authentic!

Requiem for a dream: visual techniques

Requiem for a dream (2000) pulls it's audience into the harrowing lives of four addicts. The movie begins by introducing the mundane lives of these four unsatisfied characters, who are looking for a better life. Sara Goldfarb wants to be thinner and feel younger, while her son Harry, his girlfriend Marion and his best friend Tyrone hope to sell enough drugs to make a living. As the plot thickens, the horrifying effect of drugs on each character is shown by slowly replacing their original aspirations with an increasing demand for drugs which causes them to spiral out of control; a truly eye-opening experience for the audience. Aronofsky plays with the audiences' pathos and rather than giving us a direct message, he artistically presents the brutal reality of drug abuse through the dexterous use of visual techniques.

The use of close ups in the movie increase intensity - whether the shot is of a face, powder or even a remote, each close up creates visual depth. The close up of Marion's face after she has sex with someone who she is sickened by just for drug money, shows the vacant expression on her face as she looks down to signify her feelings of shame and worthlessness. The audience can literally feel her guilt as the shaky movement of the camera in the travelling shot creates a feeling of insecurity and desperation to get away.

The use of drugs is shown in a 'hip hop montage' stamped by Aronofsky, which is several quickly cut shots with a sound to match each shot. This sequence is repeated to familiarize the audience with this action, but also to reflect on how for each little time a drug is taken, every small moment of euphoria under its influence is followed by a longer, much more distressing come down.

The scene where Ms Goldfarb is walking down the street in her red dress at the beginning of Winter shows everyone except her in a hyperlapse, moving at a fast pace. This portrays not only her isolation and confusion in the world around her, but also her vulnerability as we are shown how no one is paying attention to her as she slowly disintegrates.

Split screens were also used to explore the depth of a relationship. When Harry and Marion are talking, the screens showed Harry on the left and Marion on the right. Harry's hands were shown touching Marion's skin in the right frame while Marion's were shown touching Harry's in the left. The viewer is compelled by the passionate dialogue which matches the embrace shown by these two characters, displaying their raw love for each other.

My favourite scene in the movie is the POV shot given through a fish eye lens, where the audience become the television and Ms Goldfarb looks up towards us. The low angle shot of her looking up at the screen illustrates how belittled she has become and it indicates that she has been subjected to her desire to be on television. When we look at a close up of her face through our own screens, it is as though we are absorbing her guilt for taking a double dose and her isolation when she is glued to the television. This divide is set up so that we not only feel the hopelessness of Ms Goldfarb, but our own hopelessness as an audience, we can't do anything to help the character on screen. However, the POV shot switching to a high angle shot also gives the audience a power over this character and we are reminded that we have the choice to take control of our lives and not end up like Ms Goldfarb, which emphasizes the underlying message of the movie in an extremely effective way.

I really hope to employ some of these visual techniques in our own two minute film opening, to establish a connection between the audience and the characters on screen while also creating an interesting viewing experience for the audience!

Mac 5: Gogglebox!

Here is the episode of gogglebox we created using a real exam clip from 2009.

We had lots of fun creating our gogglebox, but we also found it really useful for both sides of our AS media course as it incorporates both producing a clip, and analysing a clip.

Pitch powerpoint

Here is the powerpoint from our treatment pitch, which contains links to the trailers that inspired us from The Cell (2000) and Colombiana (2011).

Treatment pitch

This is Mac 5's treatment pitch for our first idea, based on the results of our market poll research. We didn't feel that it went too well, because we are still tied between the two ideas and slightly confused about how we could tie them together - we weren't really able to articulate the idea properly! We think the idea is a bit too complicated, and we are currently rethinking it, to make the opening a bit more simple.

Group vlog: pre treatment pitch

Questionnare vlog

Market poll research questionnaire!

Coursework task and assessment criteria

Main task: 
The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

Assessment criteria:

Film opening




Blog/ research

Evaluation

Group vlog: post prelim

Prelim storyboard

Here is a picture of our storyboard. Although some of the shots differ in the actual prelim, the storyboard gave us a good basis in terms of shot duration and the order of shots, so we were well prepared when it came to filming.

Mac 5: The prelim

Combined vlog evaluation: Mac 1, 4 and 5

This is a combined group vlog with some of my peers in media!