Film Research

9 Shots

1.  Tracking movement through the building and into the basement.
2.  Long shot of the basement, showing a man lying on the ground in the middle of the frame.
3.  High angle / aerial shot of him waking and getting up, staggering.
4.  Mid shot of mirror, showing him standing up and gaining balance.
5.  Mid shot of the man from behind, walking into the main area and starting to look around/explore.
6.  Close up of half of his torso and hand trailing over objects.
7.  Mid-close up of man's face and shoulders from the side or 3/4 behind, showing a scared/confused expression.
8. High angle of man stopping at the base of stairs, looking up.
9.  Slightly low angle and mid shot of another man, at top of the stairs.

Colour Palette 

Sound Palette

• Voicemail message recording which will be used over the opening shot tracking through the building. There will be various voicemail messages all giving an insight into the protagonists life.
• 1930's jazz music might be used when the protagonist is exploring the basement, he could turn a radio/put a cassette in a tape player. This music will juxtapose the confusing and frightening atmosphere the protagonist has found himself in.
• White noise a sound similar to this might be integrated into the jazz music to emphasise the characters disorientation.

Location Scouting

Hastings is home to many antique/vintage warehouses, one of which is shown above, and would be the ideal setting for our film opening.

Opening shots

One of the most crucial parts of a film is the opening scene. The ending scene, plot twists and other major parts of a movie give the lasting impression, however, in order to catch the audiences attention, the opening shot needs to be made use of. The following films have, in my opinion, a very effective opening shot in that it caught my attention during my initial viewing.

A Clockwork Orange

The first shot in A Clockwork Orange after the title, is a closeup of the main characters face (the man in the middle). This not only immediately shows the importance of the character, but also, by his facial expression, what type of character he is. The costume and makeup that we as an audience can see during this closeup, allows us to perhaps understand the time period and or even background of the particular character. Then the camera starts to zoom out, revealing more of the scene. The next thing we see after the closeup is more of the main character; we see what he holding, his posture, more of his costume, and his surroundings. He and all of the other characters are holding glasses of milk, therefore showing the odd nature of these people as well as their odd looking clothes. As the camera zooms out more and more, we begin to see some furniture in the shape of naked women, again portraying the bizarre nature of this film. The position of the three characters in the middle of the shot, show their importance perhaps over the surrounding characters. This opening shot really gives the audience an idea of the nature of the film, while also immediately introducing characters.

Reservoir Dogs

The first shot in Reservoir Dogs essentially of men having a breakfast meeting. The scene is predominately male, as well as the shop owner being a man, the men eating are all wearing suit and ties. This choice in costume clearly gives the masculinity of the film, as well as introducing the stereotype of american 'mafia' characters shown in the scene. The majority of the men begin to or are already smoking, again presenting the professional, 'mafia' stereotype to the audience with just the initial shot. This shot is very effective as it just uses a few tracking shots behind each of the characters around the table to show the characters' environment while also managing to show all the characters in just the first shot.

The Shining

The first shot of The Shining is a very picturesque scene. The giant lake and mountains surrounding it instantly give a feel of isolation, which is incidentally what the film is about, especially the small island in the middle of the lake as shown on the right. The calm lake shows the initial tranquility of the films story, however, later contrasting with the built tension presented by Kubrick. Later on in this opening shot, the camera starts to track a car driving down a snake road. Along with the calm music over the top, the shot is very effective in having a curious opening attracting the audience.

Storyboards

Moodboard

Preliminary task

Conventions of a film opening

In the lesson, we drew 5 tension and sound trackers for 5 different film openings: Halloween, Trainspotting, Amelie, Jaws, and Woman in Black. For these trackers, we commented on the tension/content and the sound of the opening.

HALLOWEEN (1978)

By studying the opening for Halloween, I learned that horror film directors tend to use point of view shots in the first few minutes of their film. These particular shots create an aspect of mystery for the audience, while also using other techniques. Another technique used in horror films such as Halloween is altering the lighting levels so that the audience almost feels lost and therefore has to rely on other things like sound and limited visuals. These Mise en Scene techniques allow the audience to recognise that they are watching a horror.

TRAINSPOTTING (1996)

The opening to Trainspotting taught me that films within the genre of drama can easily get the audience's attention within the first minute. I learned this by tracking the sound and tension/content of the first 2 minutes of the film and saw that the sound started off high to catch the attention of the audience. They did this by using a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound, while also using fast-paced background music to accompany the fast-passed action on screen.

AMELIE (2001)

By analysing the opening of Amelie, I discovered that the genre of drama/romance uses very similar techniques to do with Mise en Scene, and Cinematography. These techniques include colour values, editing, and placement of the camera and props etc. This allows the audience to recognise the genre of film that they are watching. This particular film opening uses a lot of these techniques, for example, using a red tint on the screen to give the film more of a romance/drama feel.

WOMAN IN BLACK (2012)

After viewing the opening of Woman in Black, I found out that, similar to Halloween, it uses techniques that allow the audience to recognise the genre of the film. These techniques include altering the volume and pitch of the sound in order to build tension for the audience. The director also used a mixture of close-ups, and full body shots, as well as multiple slow motion shots.

JAWS (1975)

By studying the opening to Jaws, I discovered how the use of cuts can build tension by contrasting scenes. For example, in Jaws, towards the end of the opening, the shots cut between the calm man on the beach with very little sound, and the panicking woman obviously being attacked by a shark in the ocean. This contrast builds the tension for the audience as the shots of the woman gradually get slightly more intense. This technique is very effective, especially for horror/thriller films.