Opening Sequence

Opening Sequence Areas of Interest

- Introduction to a location/ environment

- Introduction of main character(s)

- Film title
- Credits of main actors/ actresses, directors and other members of the production team
- Establishing a style/ tone to the film

- Production company

- Engage audiences imaginations/ capture the audiences attention

Opening sequence 1 : Office Space

The style/content of this opening sequence is that the production company name is given. After this the style/genre of the film is conveyed by the text the credits are presented in; another way the genre was presented was from the backing track, setting a mood for the rest of the film to follow. The opening sequence for Office Space, establishes setting for the film, and possibly introducing main characters. The comedy theme is conveyed from the early character assessments i.e The white actor who appears to be a stereotypical nerd, yet listening to rap music in his car which is stereotypically opposite to his appearance making this clip humorous, a comedy set piece.The opening sequence as a whole presents the film to be relaxed, not hard to follow and no apparent confusing storyline.
My own opinion on Office Space's opening sequence is that it is effective at engaging the audience with the early use of humour, a good way to present the main themes and to display the genre early on, which a good opening sequence should present.

Opening Sequence 2 : Trainspotting
Again in this opening sequence it starts with the introduction of the production company. In this opening sequence individual characters are introduced by freeze frames showing the audience what type of characters are in the film; the idea of theme is not only introduced by the characters but by the theme on a whole being a British one, with the use of music, accents and stereotypes. The storyline is also introduced from the running monologue through out the opening sequence. settings where constantly introduced from the ever changing scene in the opening . Symbols where seen; things such as drugs, violence, crime etc.
My opinion on this opening sequence is that it is a good way to gain the interests of the audience the quick pace of the opening sequence makes the audience want to know more, want to know where the story leads. Out of the three opening sequences this is my favourite as it is put together well and drew me in, making me want to watch the film right until the end.

Opening Sequence 3: Sweeney Todd

Different to other opening sequences, as it was graphically created for credits and the title of the film. The style is portrayed by the music and symbols, the music sets up the idea of horror as well as the darkness of the created opening sequence. the events in the opening sequence link together to reveal the title of the film; the use of blood makes it more gruesome, and that blood could possibly be a symbol through out the film. There are no characters introduced conveying a sense of mystery not only in the opening sequence but making a possible theme in the film its self. The mechanical happening in the graphically created opening sequence could show the process of death,also being a possibly theme in the film.
My opinion on this opening sequence is the way that it has been created is very interesting and linking each part with another and combining credits and the film title well. The idea of mystery is good at creating the sense of horror about the film and maybe an idea i would like to recreate in my own creation of an opening sequence.

Evaluation of Preliminary Project

Things in which our group did well in our preliminary project where; we followed the main objectives in the task, to carry out shot reverse shot, match on action and to follow the 180 degree rule. Another feature of the project that was well thought out was the location, as it was a well lit area and was also undisturbed, no back ground noise from people or urban sounds i.e. traffic. Another part of th e production which we did well was the easily followed storyline, getting to the point.

Things in which our group could improve on and take in to future tasks would be the quality of editing so it enables the production to flow better and more pleasing for the viewers eyes; what would come under this aspect would be to make cuts between shots cleaner, make sure that sound flows not breaking at any point so the viewers are faced with a muted clip. Other points which could be improved on would be or that would be considered in future productions would be to do a varied amount of angled shots not just from one fixed angle, this way during the editing stage we as a group would have more shots to work with to make the clip as visually interesting as possible. What I have also learnt from this preliminary project is the idea of time management as it is important to make sure things are all done by a certain time, in future i would look to do all the camera in one days work this would free up more time in editing and also would not have to make sure the mise en scene is identical to the first shooting, things such as clothing, weather and objects in the background of shots are all important factors.

Preliminary Project- Nikita, Steph, Antar, Tom

Media Studies Brief

The set brief for our Video project is to create the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. This blog will document the pre-production, production and evaluation stages of this project.