Research - Se7en

The third film I looked at for research and inspiration was 'Se7en', starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow. The film was produced by Cecchi Gori Pictures and New Line Cinema and directed by David Fincher. The film is about two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, who have to track down a murderer who uses the 7 deadly sins as his motivation to kill. This takes the two detectives on a journey of action and thrill with a lot of drama in between. The film won 23 awards and was nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA. Here is the opening to the film:



The film starts with a close up of a book, whilst the pages are being slowly turned. Music that can be heard on the background could be classed as eerie or ambient, consisting of what sound like moans and cries. The film already shows conventions of a thriller in the opening 10 seconds. A fade to black gives a credit in creepy text, suggesting the film may be creepy in itself. A fade in from black then shows hands that appear broken or disfigured, quick cuts then show a number of scary objects (what seem like torture devices) possibly showing us the murderers tools. Here is a screen shot of the hands:

The fade to blacks then continue to give the names of the main actors and well as writers and producers, all the while showing little clips of the murderer. One clip that can be seen is the murderer scraping the skin off his finger tips with a razor blade, again suggesting the man/woman is not right in the head. As the sequence continues it becomes clear that the character is creating something, initial impressions suggest a calling card or even his motive.The credit names then continue to appear as the sequence cuts between quick shots of the characters creations. The speed of the cuts then increases until the whole frame fades to black and the words 'Directed by David Fincher' appear. Here is another screen shot:

From this film opening i learnt that the credits need to be edited well enough to tell a story themselves. For instance this sequence has credits with cuts getting increasingly faster, building up to the 'directed by' credit, all the while building tension and creating drama in the opening credits. This then builds up the film because if the credits create tension then surely the film will.

Research - Juno

Another film i looked at for my research was "Juno", a film starring Ellen Page and Micheal Cera. This film itself was made by the production companies Fox Searchlight Pictures, Mandate Pictures and Mr. Mudd and directed by Jason Reitman. The film tells the tale of a teenage girl who falls pregnant with a boy at her schools baby. The story develops into her giving the baby up for adoption to a dysfunctional couple whilst she tackles teenage boy drama. The movie won a number of awards including a BAFTA for the best original screenplay and a MTV Award for best leading actress. The film is a comedy with hints of drama and romance, here is the opening to the film:



The film starts with a close-up of the main character Juno looking directly into the camera, she takes a drink of juice and then the shot cuts to a long shot of her walking down a street. As this happens a song can be heard in the background: 'All I Want Is You' by Barry Louis Polisar. This appeals to the target audience of teenagers/young adults as the song is an upbeat rhythm with an old-fashioned voice. The shot of Juno walking down a street does two things: 1) give the audience a good look at her to see that she is a normal teenager and 2) to show she is against the crowd (when the people run past on the opposite direction). Even in the first two minutes the general feel for the film is established.

Then to make the film stand out and to give the feel of the film the shot transitions into cartoon, giving the title credits as it does so. This gives an almost childlike feel to the film, suggesting the character herself isn't fully grown up. As the title of the film appears the character can be seen looking directly into the camera again. Here is the screen shot:

The sequence then continues to list the credits, giving name to the main actors as well as writers and producers. All the while the colours change giving a feel of confusion as to the purpose and feel of the film.Then as the clip draws to an end the directors name appears: 'Jason Reitman' and the clip once again transitions into colour. Giving us another view of the main character and the setting. Here is another screen shot:

From this film opening I learnt that the credits have to have a story in themselves, like how Juno's credits are based around her walking to the shop. So credits have to have a narrative story, something as simple as walking to the shops. As well i learnt that the more unique the credits the more they stand out and the more effective they are, just like how Juno's use the cartoon. All of these things will make for credits that stand out and also get the names of the people involved across in a more artistic and effective way.

Research - The Number 23

One of the movies I looked at was 'The Number 23'. This film was made in 2007, produced by New Line Cinema and Contrafilm. The movie has some big names starring in it like Jim Carrey and Virginia Madsen, the basic story is that a man gets haunted by the number 23. He begins to see it everywhere and eventually it wears down his mind making him become clinically insane. The film is a thriller with a sense of mystery, here is the first few minutes to the film:


The film starts with a fade in from black into a shot of what appears to be a piece of paper. The credits then start to appear in a sort of type writer style that adds a feel of age to the film. The production credits appear on screen, followed by a slightly subliminal flash of the number 23 which is then quickly cut to a shot of the paper with the actors names. The shot then seems to pan down the piece of paper, revealing a number of 23's positioned strangely on the page, creating a sense of mystery. A quick pan reveals the title of the film in red ink on the page, linking to danger as well as making the title stand out from the page. To add further mystery the title appears to smudge, almost like blood. Next on screen is a fact about the number 23, which gives a little background to the film as well as creating mystery for the viewer. Here is a screen shot of the number 23 fact:

The sequence continues to pan down revealing more actors and more facts, red ink is splashed on the page showing the danger of the number and the film as well as making things jump out from the screen. Then as the paper continues to pan down a drop of blood is introduced, making the viewer aware of the thrill of the film as well as providing a visually stimulating picture. As the blood appears to spread across the page the ambient music that can be heard on the background quickens and reaches a higher pitch, all of which create a sense of mystery and thrill. Then as the red of the blood fills the whole frame the shot slowly fades into a new shot of an animal control van with the main character sat inside, a subtitle appears showing '3. February' which obviously links to the number 23. This is then the end of the opening sequence which shows the credits, gives a sense of mystery and enigma as well as providing a little insight into the film. Here is the shot with the animal control van:

From this film opening i learnt that for our opening me need a little insight into the world of the film as well as giving sufficient credits. Another thing that may seem trivial that i learnt from the sequence is that the music we use (if we use any) will have to be tense and eerie. Perhaps just using a monotone, ambient sound which would give a sense of mystery and create tension. However all in all the film opening sequence does what it's supposed to, providing some insight into the film as well as providing a hook for the viewing audience to latch onto.

Research - Class Discussion

In class we had a discussion with the other 2 video groups. We looked at a couple of film openings from the 80's to contrast how they have changed. We discussed what credits would be given in the opening of the film and came up with this list:

• Studio and production companies
• Name of the producer
• Name of main actors
• Name of casting director
• Name of music composer
• Name of director
• Film title

As well as developing a list for the opening credits we looked at the opening to the films 'Paris By Night' and 'Paperhouse'. Here is the opening to 'Paperhouse':



The opening to the film 'Paperhouse' uses the typical codes and conventions of an opening sequence. Credits from the production companies, producers and actors can be seen as well as credits from all the other people who helped make the film. The credit sequence can be seen on top of multiple shots of a child drawing a picture of a house and then towards the end of the sequence the child scribbling out the picture, creating a sense of mystery. Why does the child scribble it out? What makes the child dislike a picture of a house? And what will happen next?

The shot after shows a child in a classroom has been drawing the picture and then can be seen getting picked on, by both the teacher and the students. Point of view shots shows how the child sees the world and shows how many people dislike the main character. The pulling technique that really gets the audience is the shot showing the evil grin from the child, suggesting that the character is evil and perhaps even a threat to other people. This grabs the attention of the audience as it builds up a sense of enigma and suspense.

This title sequence has taught me to reduce the length of the title sequence as this particular film has a long credit sequence which looses the interest of the audience towards the end. As well as this i also noted we will have to create enigma and tension from the start in order to grab the attention of the audience and ultimately make them watch on.

So to conclude the opening for 'Paperhouse' works well as tension is built and mystery is created making the audience want to watch on as well as letting the audience have a pleasant viewing experience.

Preliminary Task

For the preliminary task we had to make a short video featuring the 180 degree rule, match on action shots, shot reverse shots and continuity editing.

Our initial ideas were to make a short video depicting a conversation between two people. The first person would enter the room, sit down and the conversation would start. The two would then get up and leave. For the 180 degree rule we aimed to show different shots of the conversation, all in compliance with the 180 degree rule. The match on action shots were to be used when the first person enters the room, where as the shot reverse shots were used during the conversation.

Here is the first preliminary video:



The first shot that can be seen is the entrance of the first character, we see her walk into the frame whilst the clip fades in from black. As she reaches and pulls the handle down a little it immediately cuts to inside the room, where the handle is continued to be pulled down as she enters: this was our match on action shot.

Then as she sits down we cut to a close-up of her face, this illustrates the shot reverse shot however we felt we could have improved it as there was only cuts between three shots and none of which were a close up of the second character.

Throughout the whole video there are examples of the 180 degree rule as we never cross the 'line' between the two characters. This makes the piece seem more realistic as the opposing shots make sense together in the frame.

The only problem we had with the first preliminary video would be that the shot reverse shot lacked a close up of the second character. So to correct this we went out and filmed for a second time, including a close up of the second character. We then added the clip on the top of the first video, making a second preliminary video.

Here is the second preliminary video:


This was our final preliminary video, consisting of the original with an extra shot reverse shot. This improved the overall feel of the piece because the conversation seems some what more realistic and believable. As well as this the fades were added to give the finishing and the start a more cinematic feel, it also made the piece an extra few seconds longer.

Overall I am pleased with the preliminary piece as it uses all the techniques it needed to use as well as it being a fun task to produce. Now that the preliminary task is finished our focus shifts to the main task and ideas need to be furthered and improved before we even start to think about filming. However before all this we must research what sort of genre we want to do and the conventions of that genre.

AS Media Brief

Preliminary Task
For the preliminary task we have to produce a video showing a match on action, the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot and continuity editing.

Main Task
For the main task we have to produce the opening 2 minutes to a movie of any genre. It must include opening credits and give a little bit of the story to the viewers. It will use video techniques such as match on action cuts.