GC: Film Openings Research

GC: Film Openings - Research

Sucker Punch

• I like the use of dim lighting to create a more sinister atmosphere. This would be a very good technique to make our scene more effective. Also, the lack of speech adds to this as well as making the whole scene more mysterious as the audience is left to interpret their own ideas as to why there is no speech. 
• The slow music with piano and vocals along with the slow motion work well together to build up a slightly dreamy perspective that makes the auidence feel as though they are part of the scene. I would like to re-create this feeling of audience involvement when filming my opening scene.
• The opening panning shot worked really well to introduce the audience to the character by slowly turning from an extreme long shot into a close up. On top of this it worked well as an establishing shot to build up an image of the surrounding set. Panning shots could prove difficult to reproduce for our own scene due to limited experience and equipment, but would be very effective if done correctly and would give a more professional finish to the overall product.
• The mise en scene in this scene is very good. Clothing is kept plain with dull colours which is used to reinforce the sinister build up by not letting flamboyant colourful items of clothing disrupt the atmosphere. This is something to bear in mind when filming our own scene.

Zombieland

• The way the text is incorporated into the scene is really good. The animations of the words smashing/being covered in blood etc are really eye catching and helps engage the audience. Although we would probably not be able to recreate the type animations shown  in this clip (due to lack of software and training), I think making any text part of the scene would be a good idea for our clip because it would help keep the scene flowing and there would be no time wasted putting in a title screen instead of more film.

• The narration at the beginning really helped set the scene and give a background to the storyline. This could be very useful to avoid confusion, especially if there's a complicated story. Because our film will be a horror one, narration may spoil the sinister atmosphere we want to build up but on the other hand we may have to use it to give a background story.
• Usage of slow motion in this clip during the credits was done really well in my opinion. It gives the audience time to take in what is happening and admire the scene. Using slow motion in our film would draw attention to particularly important bits, and could also be used to manipulate time effectively if needed.
• During the build up before the opening credits, the camera is nearly always on the move: very few shots are done with the camera in a static position. This means that lots of pans and tracking shots were filmed which reflected the constant action going on in the scenes. This would be a useful tip to bear in mind when filming and scenes involving lots of physical movement when filming our clip, but could prove difficult as professional equipment such as cranes and mini rails for the camera to slide on were used to keep the filming steady but we don't have access to such hardware.

Ghost Ship

•  The way fast motion is used to trace the wire is very effective as it contrasts to the slow motion shots of the crowd of people. This juxtaposition between the slow/fast motion is used to show two different story lines in one scene. The fast motion reflects the behavior of the wire in that it is fast and precise which gives the audience a hint of what is going to happen before the action starts, whereas the slow motion shots help to establish the scene and show some of the characters in it. Seeing how effective this contrast can be, I would like to use these techniques in my film intro to separate two story lines if necessary.
• Filming close ups of the wire along with the flowers and one of the characters during when the wire cut through everyone was a good way to avoid trying to simulate someone getting cut in half. Hardly any special effects would have been used in that part as the close ups were enough for the audience to see what was going on without actually filming anyone being cut. Shots like this would be extremely useful in making any gory scenes in our opening because it means no effects are needed but the audience still sees what is going on. 
• Also, the slow paced sort music gets juxtaposed with the loud harsh sound of the wire moving in the middle of the scene which also helps differentiate the two stories going on. The sound of the wire is first introduced halfway through the scene which tampers with the calm atmosphere made by the music from the start of the scene which lets the audience know something bad is coming. Sound would be an easy way to change to mood in our film as there are plenty of songs and sound effects on the web that we could use to do this.