One of the main focuses in our opening is on the Tattoo of the Koi.
The Koi fish is often depicted in tattoos, there is a generalisation around koi tattoos that if they are upright or the head is at the top of the tattoo this means that this is a sign of good luck or improving yourself. this is because of the old Japanese tale of when a Koi fish leaps up a waterfall transforming him into a dragon. however if the koi is facing downwards this means something in your life is troubling you or you are haunted by your past. Thekoi simply means "carp" in Japanese . What are known as koi in English are referred to more specifically as nishikigoi in Japan literally meaning "brocaded carp". In Japanese, koi is a homophone for another word that means "affection" or "love"; therefore koi are the symbols of love and friendship in Japan. The koi is also an often recurring symbol in Irezumi, the Japanese art of traditional tattooing.
The only real problems that we encountered were ones with the ambient sun light as we filmed this mid morning the sun was slightly low and pouring into the bedroom but we also wanted this effect to show it was morning, but due to the contrast in the light intensities in the hallway and the sunlight it was difficult to balance using our lighting equipment, we got around this slightly by lowering saturation in post production.
For our thriller opening we have decided to use no dialogue except for the news broadcast that can be heard during the breakfast scene.
Script Draft 1:
John (Weather man):Bzzzzt....and a sunny throughout the week, back to you steven.
Steven (Anchor): Thank you John. In recent news a group of animal rights activists discovered that a local store was selling horse meat instead of beef in their burgers. Andy Hampsand, a member of these activists, was none too pleased.
Lucy (Co-Anchor): The young girl who was reported missing a week ago is still nowhere to be found. Detectives have yet to find any hard evidence except for the symbol that is always at the scene. The symbol of a Ko.....Bzzt.......
At this point the subject eating breakfast turns off the TV and leaves the kitchen.
Script Draft 2:
News Report Script
Rachael the Weatherman: …in the south east of England, back
to you Jeremy.
Jeremy the Anchorman: Thank you Rachael. Now in other news a
group of animal rights activists discovered that a local store was selling
horse meat instead of beef in their burgers. Andy Hampson, a member of these
activists, was none too pleased, but more on that story later.
Lucy the Co-Anchor: On to our top story today, the young
girl who was reported missing a week ago is still nowhere to be found.
Detectives have yet to find any hard evidence except for the symbol that is
always at the scene. The symbol of a Ko.....Bzzt.......
for the lighting we want to create the sense of morning, we shall do this through low key lighting with a yellowy reddish tinge.
we shall achieve this by placing a box light with a yellow cover where the window will or would be. we will also probably put a small fill light just to illuminate the face enough so we can see the face clearly.
The Koi is a crime thriller focusing on a police inspector on his journey to find a deranged murderer. The only clue to help him find this killer is the word 'Koi'. We follow the inspector as he searches up and down the country to find this elusive maniac, we soon find out that not all is right in this killer's world as the bizarre crimes and clues are found, but throughout his journey the inspector becomes more and more deluded as he tries to get into the mind-set of the criminal.
We will clear out most of the stuff from the room to make it look more gender neutral and change the duvet
to a white one to also make it more neutral
also move in some more men orientated deodorants and just general man stuff
The shot here would be good to use as we would be able to see the subject leave the bedroom and
enter the bathroom and vice versa
we could also have a shot of the subject in the shower but only maybe the subject hand resting on the wall
because this is what most people do in films when they are bothered by something or are mentally uneasy
A shot from above on the stairs is also a cool shot to do as they are not used very often and also we could keep the face out of shot and uphold the mystery and it gives a slightly warped view of the area
we will clear out most of the random kitchen and make it tidy and also put a lot of knives in the drying rack and a couple of hack saw but have them slightly out of focus but in shot so that people question why it is there and why so many
the garden is long and has an archway half way down which we can use as a match on action or a point of reference for when the camera cuts
- Synopsis for the whole film narrative from which this will be the opening (about 100 words) - Daisy
- The script for any dialogue - Ben
- List of roles - George
- Images of locations and decisions about locations - Daisy
- Prop research and justification in terms of character and story - George, Ben
- Health and safety, including risk assessments for filming and use of equipment
- Lighting decisions
Low key lighting, not much fill, slightly red to imitate the rising sun
http://www.jamendo.com/en/#/en?&_suid=13606826919280028124402845811358
This is the website we are using to source music for our video.
we want to have a soundtrack start as the radio/alarm clock goes off.
the type of music we want is an upbeat, cheerfull music, this will be both parallel and contrapuntul for we are havingn a very ordinary start to the day and the morning getting more and more bizzare until you realize that most things in this world are not correct.
Lila - Benoit Stanek
Mindhunter
I watched the film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3xeBBMonCk
Sound:
- Low pitch, steady drum. Ominous and scary
- The only diegetic sound, the soundtrack, continues throughout
the introduction.
- Girl screaming, echoed, pain and dying, emotional intro
that really grips the audience
- Screaming stops when text fades up then carries on when we
see the girl drowning again. We hear her pushing through the water. This happens
twice more, then the third time we don’t hear screaming just the sound of the
water rushing like we are under the water. Passed out? Dead? Given up?
- Once the title has faded, the underwater sounds fades away
to be replaced with thunder and rain hitting the car. We then hear the screaming
again, but distorted, as if the lady is thinking or dreaming about it.
Mise en Scene:
- Light breaks out over water. Text: ‘Dimension films’, Girl
kicking and screaming in the water, flailing, drowning?
- More text: Intermedia Films present’, fade out to the girl
screaming and drowning again, more text: an Outlaw production, more drowning
then more text: an Avenue Pictures Production’.
- Then we see the drowning girl but no screams. Passed out?
Dead? Given up? More text: in association with Weed Road Pictures’.
- We see the girl sinking further into the water, dead and
water dripping down the lens of the camera before the title ‘Mindhunters’ fades
up.
- The entire intro makes the audience ask questions, who is
the girl? Why is she drowning? Is there just one girl, or more people?
- Title fades out and the camera pans right to show that the
water on the camera lens is actually water dripping down a car mirror.
- The camera continues to pan right until we see an extreme
close up of a woman sleeping. We then hear the screams of the girl again, but
distorted, so we assume that the woman is dreaming/thinking about the drowning
girl.
- All the shots are very dark, apart from the one light at
the beginning, which goes away after a few seconds, showing the disappearance of
hope and making the shots darker. The darkness makes the scene seem scarier and
more ominous.
Editing:
- The film fades up from black to under the water looking up
at the sun(?) above the water
- The transitions between shots in the beginning are quick
cuts, showing the panic of the girl and making it more fast paced
- Before the title fades up, when the girl finally drowns, there
are very few edits. The girl sinks slowly. The contrast between then and beginning
emphasises girl’s death
- The transition between the underwater shot and the shot of
the car window is a dissolve,
- The end of the introduction is all one shot
Camerawork:
- First shot, the camera is in the water really low angle,
maybe worm’s eye view
- I can’t tell what angles the next few shots are, but this effectively
creates confusion and a feeling of disorientation
- The drowning shots all seem very random, but when the text
fades up the shots seem very calm
- In the final shot, the camera pans right to stop at an
extreme close up of a woman’s face
For each of the OTS' that im going to analyse i will talk about four elements:
-Mise-en-scene
-Camera Work
-Sound
-Editing
The first opening title sequence that i am going to analyze is from Se7en (1995) ==========>
Camera Angles/Shots
-The Majority of the shots in this sequence are either close-ups or Extreme Close-ups specific items and actions such as:
> The razorblade and cutting of finger skin - Hints that the subject is a criminal and wants to be hidden and also creates a sense of danger. > The tea bag being dipped - Could be a photograpghy technique or it is a way to link the subject to normality with an everyday item.
> The book(s) and subject writing - The subject is planning or logging, showing a sense of organisation.
-The close-ups create a restrictive narrative, when the spectator knows as much as the character, by keeping the surroundings and identity of the subject hidden to build the mystery and keep the spectators hooked. All of the shots focus on the specific items and the majority are high angles perhaps giving the perspective of someone else watching the subjects strange actions.
Editing
- The use of quick cuts creates a distorted and uncomfortable effect especially with the disturbing image of the mutated face being cut in very quickly. The Text and the quick editing pace compliment eachother because the text is constantly moving very slightly almost as if vibrating. The text also looks like the scratches from an old VCR tape so its as if the text is part of the scribbled scratching from old strips of tape which could be emphasising the subjects actions of making this obsessive collage/project
-The majority of transitions are straight cuts, which compliments the quick editing rate, but there are several dissolves as well which add to the strangeness, the sequence slowly gets harder and harder to understand and the dissolves combined with the quick cuts and small ellipsis jumps, like the scribbled face, stop us from putting the pieces together in time but even with all that there is still a very limited understanding and therefore creates the restricted narrative.
Sound
-The soundtrack to this sequence is a good example of Parrallel sound (When the sound/music fits the actions in shot) because the distortion and random electronic screeches follow the fast pace of the cuts and also at the end of the sequence when the final shot ends and it cuts to the final title the last lyric "god" is echoed and slighly emphasises
-There is no diolouge throughout the sequence except for a small amount of lyrics in the soundtrack which says "you get me closer to God" which alone may seem like there is no connection to the subject but as the lyrics are sung there is a very brief shot of the subject cutting the word God out of a dollar note and that creates a link from the soundtrack to the shots but also links the whole sequence to a religious aspect. Is the subject religious? Is he/she on a religious journey/conquest? These are the kind of questions going through the spectators head.
Mise-en-scene
-The use of props allows the spectator to get a strong idea of the subjects personality: > Using a razor to cut off his skin on his finger tips - This shows he is intelligent and well prepared for whatever he is about to do. > The cutting of the film strips - The subject could have a good knowledge in photography and is also quite creative and knowledable in editing and perhaps manipulating evidence.
The next opening title sequence i am going to analyze is from a film called Collateral (
Camera shots and angles
-The long shot of Tom Cruise walking towards the camera, and same with Jason Statham, shows his importance by being the only person in focus.
-The close up of Cruise's face shows he has a very neutral expression, which goes with the neutral grey suit he is wearing, and also highlights that he is wearing sunglasses inside which indicates his desire to hide his identity.
-The mid shot of the briefcases on the floor and the shot of the swapping of the cases shows their cooperation with each other and that the briefcases will be a large role in the film.
Mise-en-scene
-The use of Mise-en-scene lets us know a lot about Jamie Fox's character:
>Cleaning his car shows he cares about his job and is good at it, cares about the customers being in a clean environent and shows he cares about presentation.
>Checking all the lights of his cab works shows he is cautious, cares about the safety of himself and his customers and perhaps indictates he has had a bad experience in the past due to faulty lights.
>The picture of the tropical island could show that he hops to move there meaning he has big plans or perhaps he wants a vacation which and already we can see he is determined to do well in his job. Another reason could be he had a past there, perhaps a good vacation with his family.
> The crossword that he is doing shows he is most likely quite intelligent and also likes the quiet patient life.
-The spectators know that this is going to be an action movie and already they have the rock solid expression from Cruise and the well behaved, clean, neat personality of Jamie Fox and we can tell that those personalities are going to conflict all through a few facial expressions, objects and harmless actions.
Editing
-Slowing down shots of Tom Cruise walking towards the camera mimics his current state of behaviour, the slowing down gives it a cool, smooth and calm effect and that is how cruise is behaving.
- Sound
-The audio cleverly establishes where the first sequence is going to be by having the diegetic sound of an airplane flying overhead during the company titles meaning the spectators know where the shot is taking place before it has even begun.
-As Cruise and Stratham drop their bags it is emphasised with a loud whoosh which not only indicates to the importance of those bags but also gets the audience thinking and asking questions like:
-Are they working together or has a deal been struck?
-What is in the bag?
-Are they on a mission?
And so on.
I watched the intro here, possible adverts- http://www.putlocker.com/file/FF40F880ED7E430A#
Sound:
- No dialogue, the men seem to know what the other one want without asking. The
silence is uncomfortable and a little scary
- Hear the scene before we see it
- All sound is diegetic; engine running, screwdriver,
breaking into the car etc. This is until the transition between taking off the
registration plate and walking with the trolley. A non-diegetic soundtrack
starts. The sound track is contrapuntal; it’s up beat, but the audience can
tell that what these men are doing isn’t good.
- When the men walk into the woods, the pitch of the track
gets lower, making it sound more ominous and scary.
Mise en Scene:
- The first scene is very bright, which is unusual for
thriller openings. The lighting contrasts with the content of the film, making
the audience ask themselves different questions, like why?
- Then we see one of the men removing a registration plate.
This, along with them stealing the van, immediately tells the audience that
they are the antagonists.
- The wobbly, squeaky wheel on the trolley brings a sense of
normality, making what’s happening seem more real
- What they’re doing seems so normal and the way they’re
acting is so natural that the massive contrast becomes creepy, making the
audience feel uncomfortable
- Apartment is empty, tipped over desk
- Only two locks on the door
- The two men sound proof the room, then have sandwiches for
lunch, again the contrast makes the atmosphere uncomfortable
- Once the men block the windows, the lighting becomes low,
dark and scary
- The forest seems to stretch forever away from them,
showing they have walked a long way. They clearly have something to hide
- In the new shop everything is modern
- Close ups on chord and the men drilling the bed to the
floor. What they are doing is getting more and more suspicious
- 4 more locks put on door, all padlocked
Beard Man: Casual jeans, jacket and top. Trainers and watch.
Unassuming, modern.
Younger Man: Casual jeans and coat. Trainers. Again
unassuming and modern. Scruffy top with paint splashes.
Editing: All transitions are cuts, speedy. Shows time
passing.
Camerawork: When the man takes off the registration plate,
we see him through the junk in the tip, like we were watching them in secret.
Re-enforces that hat they are doing is wrong.
Tinker Sailor Soldier Spy
Where I watched the film, there are adverts - http://www.vidxden.com/zc882ei7yeap
Sound:
-Black screen silence, two crashes (opening and closing of a
door?), fear of the unknown is one of the greatest and most common fears. Not
being able to see here plays on that fear.
-Distorted singing with music, footsteps, knocking on a
door. Sounds un-natural and unnerving.
-After on minute the song (Ave Maria?) finishes. No more
soundtrack (non-diegetic) until 1min20secs in before old man says, ‘I need you
to go to Budapest’. The silence in the pause in the conversation is punctuated only
by the rain. Rain symbolises sadness and misery.
-Sound gets louder when cuts to Budapest establishing shot. Lightening
of mod at the end of the intro.
-Hear an aeroplane flying overhead, loud, children shouting
and laughing looking at them, cars, running footsteps, old man still talking, then
cut back to the small room, carry on talking.
-Hear the rain in the background.
Mise en Scene:
-First thing we see is old man’s face as he opens the door, only lighting is
from inside the room. Don’t see other persons face. Back lighting is ominous
and creepy.
-Dialogue between characters, low lighting two lamps. Because
very little is said between the two and there is very little lighting, the
atmosphere in the room is tense and anxious.
-Cluttered room, books and papers on a small desk with two
lamps on it. Book cases and shelves on the wall full of books and papers. As
the camera pans right we see another desk, also cluttered with papers and
books. Makes the room seems smaller, more compact. Creates a claustrophobic effect
for the audience.
-Old man, deep husky voice, lined face, smoking, sits behind desk. Messed up
hair, wearing a shirt and dressing gown. He lives there? Ominous and powerful,
can’t tell if protagonist or antagonist.
-Jim, well dressed, smart, deep voice, authoritative. Wearing a shirt, tie,
coat. Not been there before? Looking round, not sure where to sit. Only see his
silhouette at the beginning, ominous. Mysterious at the beginning, fear of the
unknown.
Cuts to a view of what we assume us Budapest, light.
Editing:
-All transitions are cuts, sudden, makes it feel like the pace is faster, creates
suspension.
Camera Work:
For the first minute there is only on edit, from a MS to a LS, the LS being the establishing shot to show the apartment. During the conversation. The next to shots during the conversation are MS to temporarily distance ourselves from the characters, but then the camera zooms in so we really see the expressions on the characters faces, making us connect more.
The first shot in memento is of a Polaroid photo of a man
who has been shot in the head. This shot is of at the length of an extreme
close up. This shot is paired with a non-diegetic soundtrack. As the man who is
holding the photo shakes it to develop it it seems, we star t to realise that
the photo is un-developing back into whiteness so we can now see that the
opening of the film is in reverse. As the photo is a Polaroid and it is
developing we can understand that the photo has just been taken.
Camerawork
-ECU of Polaroid whilst the credits run
-Close up of man taking photo, different shot of
man putting camera away still at a close up
-ECU of blood running, bullet shell, blood
splattered glasses and back of the dead man
-Medium shot of man getting gun
-ECU of shell flying back into the gun, glasses
returning to the dead man’s face all in slow motion until the gun if fired and
the speed returns to normal but still in reverse.
Sound
-Non diegetic soundtrack parallel to the scene.
-Diegetic sounds that we see on screen e.g. gun
firing, noise of a man taking a photo, bullet shell hitting the floor, fraction
of a man’s scream as he’s being shot (all these sounds are reversed because the
whole of the opening is reversed.
Lighting
-The room is well lit with a window to the side
of the man and from doing the lighting exercises there is also a most probably
a fill light to the other side so that we can see his whole face and some of
the room around him.
