Pre-Lim Evaluation

1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

I worked with Natasha and Anna. Together we all came up with the idea and worked together to produce the storyboard, the shot list, the script and the shoot schedule. Natasha and I acted while Anna directed and framed the majority of the shots however when we wern't in shots me and Natasha also framed shots and directed them.

2) How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try to take into account?

To plan our sequence we first discussed our ideas and wrote up a script then drew a storyboard to fit with it, bearing in mind how we could effectively use different set-ups to film the whole conversation and get several shots while saving time. We then had a run through and with new shot ideas we edited the script and storyboard, then drew up a shoot scehdule (not neccasarily in shot order, but the order that made logical sense depending on camera position.) We used continuity theories to plan our shots for example we included a match on action shot, the 180 degree rule and shot-reverse-shots.

Anna Francis Natasha Shot List
Anna Francis Natasha Script

3) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?

We used the Canon Legria HV40 with a tripod and a  Shotgun Microphone to shoot our sequences and Adobe Premier Pro to edit our sequences.

Canon Legria HV40: On the camera we used the viewing window to watch what we were shooting and used both shoot mode and playback mode to shoot the shots and then to watch certain shots back to see if they worked. We also used features such as the spirit level to make sure the camera was even.

Tripod: We used this to make sure the camera was at the right level to get the right shot without having to be handheld and therefore shaky. We also loosened the pan lever to make sure the camera panned smoothly . We used the horseshoe screw to make sure the camera was firmly attached.

Shotgun Microphone: This was attatched to our camera however we didn't have much control over this as our headphones didn't work. This is why the sound was a bit inconsistent and in future I would maybey use a boom mic to make sure the sound was consistent and definately use headphones.
Adobe Premier Pro CS3: In CS3 I used the razor tool to cut clips down, the zoom bar to get better accuarcy and the lock key to move audio without moving video.

4) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
When planning we had to take into account availability of locations we wanted to use such as the hallway at the very start. We also had to make sure all our planned shots would be possible in the space we had and so we had a quick run-through of our planned scene before making changes and finalising the storyboard, shot list and script. We also had to plan how many set-ups we would need and what shots we could film together to maximise time efficency. When shooting we had to consider the level of the camera, make sure the camerawas flat and had to make sure that the shots made sense by not breaking the 30 degree rule or 180 degree rule. We also had to run through each shot again to practice our camera movements and make sure they were smooth. We also had a few problems with the master shot when we realised we couldn't get the whole room in shit but we eventually found an angle where we could get most of in. During editing we had to makes sure all the shots flowed together and moved at a constant pace. This meant using the cut tool and the zoom bar to make sure we were cutting the shots and beggining them at exactly the right time. When editing I realised during shooting we had missed the fact that the computer was on in some of the shots when in others it was on. I had to edit around this to make sure the computer wasn't on in any of my shots. As well as this I realised we had forgot to capture some footage I wanted to use so capturing all the correct footage was an important factor.

5) How successful was your sequence? What worked well,and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?

I personally think our sequence was very succesful. I was particularly pleased with the fact that our sequence achieved continuity. I think the match on action shot of Natasha picking up the pen worked very well, as well as shooting many different set-ups so we were able to cut from one to the other easily and effectively. If we did it again I would make sure to be more careful about shouting "Cut" to early or ruining good shots by not checking everything was how it was in the last shot. The audio was also not perfect as in some scenes when the camera was closer the volume got louder. In our real shoot I would make sure we wore headphones however on the day our headphones wern't working with our headphones. We could also use a boom mic to achieve better sound consistency.

6) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework?

I have learnt how important it is to plan and make sure you know what you are doing before you start shooting. I also learnt how important it is to have a recee and a run through in the location to make sure everything will work. On the shoot, I have learnt how important it is to make sure all the shots will go together and have narrative flow by making sure there are no big jumps and that one shot leads to the next. I've also learnt to make sure you get every shot in every angle possible for maximum options in the edit room and to check everything is the same for each shot.

Casino Royale Opening Genre Analysis

Thriller/Spy:

After some discussion in class,many of my classmates (that I am likely to be grouped with,) seem keen to produce an opening sequence for an action/thriller film.

I think this is an interesting idea and so did some genre research into this. As well as looking specifically into this genre, it has helped me understand how an opening sequence can give an idea of genre.

The genre is clear from the dialogue at the beggining with talk of "working for the other side" and "00 status." The black and white also highlights the thriller aspect of the genre. The fights, guns, foreign location and suits are also typical iconography of the genre.

Audience expectations for the genre of this clip are met due to the suave and sophisticated entrance of James Bond and the difference between the calm collected version of him and the international assasin version. The audience want to see killings and fights, which they get two of in this opening scene. They also want to see cool cars and gadgets; no gadgets are seen yet but the car that pulls up at the beggining and the interesting location satisfies the audience.

The main characters are James and the traitor spy. Straight away we are suspicious of the traitor from the lingering low angle shot at the beggining. James's entrance is cool, calm and collected and both characters remain calm all the way through the conversation despite the circumstances. However when it comes down to it James outsmarts the traitor by swapping the guns. This is something the audience hads been waiting for so is another audience pleasure. James is always in control and is the typical spy with his witty one liners and impressive fighting skills.

The narrative cross cuts between two scenes. It is obvious one scene has happened before because the characters talk about it in the past tense. There are binary opposites driving the narrative such as Good spy vs Bad Spy, Working Gun vs Fake Gun, Calm Office Talk vs Loud Toilet Fight, Calmness of characters Vs situation.

Bathes five codes are also identifiable

Semiotic Code: Public Toilets connote danger/dodginess, Black and White connote thriller, Guns connote Death, Shadows connote danger

Symbolic Code: Steely interior symbolizes coldness, numbers counting up symbolizes something bad about to happen

Cultural Code: Spies are suave, suited, in control, RP accents,gentelmanly but deadly

Enigma Code: Now Bond is a 00 what will he do next? What will his new mission be?

Action Code: Scene 1 builds to either character dying. Scene 2 builds to death of victim. Last action of Bond shooting screen leads to the rest of the film.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Continuity Analysis

Following our recent learning about continuity techniques, and our recent attempt at a continious sequence I have conducted some more research into continuity by researching the continuity of this clip from Harry Potter 7 Part 2.
Continuity:

• The first shot is a close up of Voldemort to show his evilness and maliciousness up close. There is then an establishing shot to show the forest. This is also the master shot. From there several close ups are used of Voldemort and Harry to convey emotions as well as extreme long shots to show Harry’s aloneness in the forest and midshots to display Hagrid tied up and Bellatrix with Voldemort. The master shot is also used several more times to show the confrontation space between Harry and Voldemort and there is an over the shoulder shot of sorts with Voldemorts view of Harry but it is lower than normal to focus on the wand being raised.
• There is camera movement in the form of a zoom in onto Harry’s face which connotes impending doom as well as a track of Nagini the snake as it slithers along, so that the audience can see where it’s going without zooming out which would disengage the audience and also makes Nagini seem more powerful and important.
• There are no uncomfortable jumps. The audience are generally gets closer and closer into the action as it goes on, due to the ever tighter shots with a few exceptions to the rule such as the master shot and shots of Hagrid and Nagini.
• All of the transitions are cuts which keeps the action moving.
• The sequence is quite interesting as it doesn’t actually stick to the 180 degree rule (if I’m right.) Admittedly there is not much dialogue but much of the shots are on the line i.e. straight on Harry’s/Voldemort’s face and some are on the other side of the line. This is to give a disorientating feel but also maybe because the characters are not having a casual conversation and are quite far apart.

Accident Sequence: Continuity Research

To practice continuity techniques we made a short accident sequence, although we were not allowed to edit it in any way.
Our accident sequence was made up of 8 shots. These were:
LS of boy looking in mirror
Eyeline LS shot of boy looking where figure was
Reverse MCU of boy looking confused/scared, zoom out to Long Shot of boy walking
Handheld camera, tracking MS of boy running through door
Match On Action CU shot of pressing lift button
OTS MS of killer in lift door, frame within a frame
LS of boy walking out of lift and killer attacking
Zoom out, titlting shot of dead boy on floor CU to LS

To achieve continuity we made sure that the shots all followed on from each other well and made chronological sense. For example when the boy turned to look at where the killer had been, the shot was where he had turned to look. One example of this that we didn't do as well was the match on action shot where his hand goes to press the button as we didn't cut the shot soon enough. This meant the character was still for too long before he started pressing the button and the narrative didn't make sense.
We made the narrative make sense over time and space as well. For example the shots all happened in a sensible and easily comprehensible timespan and the shots were varied and made sense.
LS,LS,MCU,MS,CU,MS,LS,CU-LS contain no massive jumps. However the last two shots went from LS to CU which was slightly jolting and if we had more time, shots (or a stunt double) we might have shown the body falling before cutting to a close up of the dead man's face.

My specific role during the shoot was act as the boy and also discuss the shots with the rest of the group as we were all directing the shots. I liked the idea of a handheld shot and we used this in shot 5, as well as the idea of the match on action shot which we used for shot 6.

The sequence mostly makes sense with a few exceptions such as the jolting LS to CU and the match on action fail. Apart from that it's pretty obvious what's actually happening and the narrative makes sense.

Improvements would be the match on action shot and the jolting long shot to close up, as well as trying to actually fit it into six shots next time.

This has helped me to understand how to achieve continuity and what it is.

Art Of The Title

I have done some research into the forms and functions of opening sequences:

Functions of an Opening Sequence:

• Create enigma
• Introduce Characters
• Introduce setting
• Give an idea of genre
• Stars of the movie

Conventions of an Opening Sequence:

• Graphics
• Titles
• Theme Music
• Introduction of characters
• Establishing Shot

Zombieland, The Walking Dead, and Dawn Of The Dead are all very different opening sequences in the zombie genre.

• They are all very gory and have the emphasison blood with blood splats across the screen etc.
• All of the titles of the films are in red text=blood.
• The title of the film is at the beggining for Dawn Of The Dead and The Walking Dead are at the beggining whereas Zombieland's is in the middle
• Both Zombieland and Dawn Of The Dead use a montage at the beggining to show the effect of the zombies on earth. Zombieland's is a lot more detailed while Dawn Of The Dead uses quick flashing images of fires, zombies, news reports and cells dividing to name a few.
• All of the opening sequences use disorientating or strange effects to achive a disconcerting feel, such as slow-motion, panning 3-D cartoons, or scary and gory images flashing up on the screen. Both Zombieland and The Walking Dead use slow motion but Zombieland does a lot more extensiely.
• Zombieland and The Waking Dead are a lot lighter than Dawn Of The Dead due to the cartoon effect of TWD and the comedy narration of ZL. The zoom out and tilt of the zombie Earth in Zombieland is also quite cartoonish
• The husky voiced and creepy songs used in Dawn Of The Dead and The Waking Dead give an eeiry atmosphere while Zombieland's use of Metallica is more chaotic and gives the sequence an action-packed feel.
• All of the sequences use graphics to introduce the stars, directors, producers etc.

I feel I am now gaining a clearer idea into the forms and functions of opening sequences and what they must include. This will prove useful research when it comes to making our own sequences.

Poster Analysis

Johnny English Reborn Poster analysis:
Genre Conventions: Comedy/Spy Parody

Comedy: Comedy Actor, Confused expression, tagline uses the word "laugh"
Spy: Flames, Explosions,Smoking Gun, Suave Suit
Turns expected conventions of spy genre on their head with main actor. This is what makes it clear it is a parody.

Denoatations/Connotations:
The fire connotes action and danger
The confused facial expression connotes fish out of water type comedy
Broken glass connotes breaking of ordinary
Gun connotes fights/action
Suave suit connotes spy

Audience Pleasures:
An elaborate mistake made by the main character leading to awkward and funny situations
An over the top villian
A competent sidekick compared to the incompetent main spy

As I want to create either an action or a comedy opening sequence, this poster is useful to identify the common denotations and connatations found in this genre.

Homework comments BLK

Super work in all respects Francis. A great blog, and excellent reflections. Your analysis work is particularly good, with a high level of media terminology used and an excellent level of learning demonstrated around genre and framing/lighting. Well done! Don't forget to add your biog info and photo in order to be fully up to date.

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (Part 1) Opening Sequence Theory Research

This is the opening sequence to the Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy . Barthes five narrative codes and Levi-Strauss's binary opposites theories both apply to this sequence.

Barthes five narrative codes:

Enigma Code:

• We want immeadiately to know why the dolphins are singing
• After this the question becomes what are they singing about.
• When we have worked this out there are yet more questions. How is the world going to be destroyed? What dies it have to do with singing dolphins? And why are they flying to space?
• The sudden change from the singing dolphins to Arthur Dent’s house leaves us pondering what the sudden scene change is for and what this country house has to do with the end of the world?
• Our next question is why is Arthur’s house being bulldozed and how will he stop them?
• Finally the arrival of Arthur’s friend prompts many questions not least when Stephen Fry reveals he is in fact not from this planet. Who is he and what does he need to tell Arthur? Why is Arthur significant?

Semiotic Code:

• Rabbits, birds ,fields, birdsong, sunrise all connote countryside.
• Deserted house, caravan outside on dirt track-seems quite lonely, isolated, a bit run down
• Long flapping coat, shopping trolley full of beer and peanuts connotes Arthur's friend as strange and unusual.
• Arthur wearing dressing gown-connotes run down, tired

Symbolic Code:

• Large moon reflecting on river ominously and silently means something big or serious about to happen, big event, danger.

• Flying dolphins-extraterrestrial activities.
• Cup of tea knocked over when bulldozers arrive-end of normality?

Cultural Code:

• Signs of the countryside.
• Builders like beer and peanuts
• People with shopping trolly's are crazy.
• Councils are unreliable with planning permissions etc
• People watching dolphin shows at the zoo-common thing to do
• Drinking tea in the morning-typical English country activity
• Based on the book by Douglas Adams

Action Code:

• Dolphins singing and forecasting end of the world
• Dolphins flying to space
• Builders trying to knock down house
• Arthur trying to stop them
• Intervention of Arthur's friend, stopping the building

Levi-Staruss Binary Opposites:

• Clever dolphins vs Ignorant Humans
• Ocean vs Countryside
• Arthur vs Builders
• Arthur vs Bulldozers
• Arthur ignorance vs Ford's knowledge
• Builders vs Ford
• Peace and tranquility vs Noise and Panic
• Nature vs Machines

When creating our opening sequences, we will draw on these theories to appeal to audiences and create a gripping narrative structure.

Genre Research

To get a clearer idea of what genre is and how to create it, we were given cameras to try and capture "genre shots." This image is depicting the genre of high school comedy.

The shot is a medium long shot which means that the characters stance is clear but also the blue sky and streak of sunlight is obvious behind her.
This creates a positive mise-en-scene which is important for a comedy, as the aim of the image is not to be scary or claustrophic or intense but upbeat, cheery and quirky. The natural light from the bottom left hand side puts the character slightly in shadow which adds to the shadiness of the characters intentions but also  streaks across the screen  and lights the image up which again gives the poster a bubbly and sunny feel.
The model has a confident expression on her face as she stares almost cockily into the camera. Her body language connotes someone sure of themeselves, or someone who has (or at least thinks they have) swagger with the crossed arms and the direct address to the camera.
The character would be the bully character in the film. The low angle makes her character seem dominant and in control and the quirky angle also suits the style of the shot as a comedy genre shot.
The shot is also a very crisp shot which again is straightforward and unchallenging. This is because with comedy images audiences don't want to have to think too hard to work out what the image means or is depicting.

I noticed the blue sky and bright sunlight outside in the quad and wanted to use the benches out there to do something. I decided someone standing on the bench from a low angle against the sky with strong light coming in from the right would be quite a striking image. At first I was going for a superhero type shot but the shot worked much better as a comedy shot especially with the characters pose and expression.

If I could improve this image or do it again I would cut the two buildings from the side and just have plain blue sky and maybey have the character leaning menacingly towards the camera a bit more. I would have tried to achieve these effects but we were quite tight timewise so I only had time for one shot.

This could be useful for our final film as I would quite like to do either an action or a comedy opening.