Title Sequence Analysis.

The film i chose to analyse was Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. In the opening of the film we see the definition of the word 'pulp':

The opening is unconventional to other openings as we are  thrown straight into a scene with a couple called, Pumpkin and Hunny Bunny at a diner at the end of their scene the title sequence starts which isnt how films are normally opened.
                                                              

As you can see by the screen shots the opening of the film was paused so that the title sequence can run the distribution and production companies were first, which is similiar to all films as they own the rights to it and without them the film might not have been made.

Title Sequence Analysis

During lesson we looked through different trailers to see the ordering of title sequences and what comes first and last. I used 'Memento' to analyse. I learnt that Production and Distribution companies normally come first in the sequence followed by Who the film is by etc, few main actors then the title of the film. Some films may be different.

Screen Shot.

This is our screen shot of the process it took to convert the video from final cut pro editing and uploaded it to our blogger site.

The Killers remake

When producing this short video, we came across a few difficulties that hindered our editing process.  These included filming our remake shot by shot and the positioning of the camera and actors.
When editing we realised that the cuts we did seemed unorganised and messy. An example of this was when we were filming the scene with the book. We realised afterwards that we skipped a camera shot which was crucial to our editing. This made our remake less detailed and rushed.

Another thing that we did not get to do was the diegetic sound that was supposed to go along with  video. We cancelled out the non diegetic and did have time to add in our own background music. We were planning on putting The XX 'Intro'. Since we did not have any sound, it made our video less effective and more boring.

Whilst editing we each practiced our skills, by editing sections of the video together. We worked as a team and everyone had a say in what to do. 

Conventions of a film opening

In a film opening you will always have the production and distribution logo of the film at the beginning of the film, for example in the film 'Harry potter and the deathly hallows' Warner bro's' logo is shown . These represent the main companies that worked on the movie.
Depending on the budget how good the film is said to be the logo will be suited to the film such at this logo for harry potter 7, showing the logo as a dark and misty grey. (this should reflect the film story)

Generally at the start of the movie there is a blank screen with titles regarding the film or shots of certain things and sometimes someone is talking over this. This usually builds up the suspense of the movie and can give the audience the genre of the film.For example in black swan the main character is talking over the shot of her character dancing. And in panic room the opening consist of the characters names and other people involved in the movie, as shown above where the buildings show the audience that the film is set in a big building of some sort.
Music plays a big part in the opening of films to create a mood suited to the film itself, in the film 'panic room' the suspicious heart racing tempo increases to create further suspense. The title of the movie is shown in a bold light grey (almost white) font like the writing above, it has architectural aspects in it as well, regarding the slopes in the letters can relate to the roofs of buildings.

Health & Safety Tutorial

In this tutorial, we were shown how to use the camera and safety precautions we had to take.
We were shown how to work the camera, and its features too. We each tried to put the battery and the memory into the camera so that we could all get used to using the camera.

Camera

We were taught how to focus and un-focus, zooming in and out, and were shown the shutter to keep the lenses safe. We were also told not to touch the lens as it would damage it.

Memory
 Card

Tripod

We were taught how to put the camera onto the tripod correctly and how to take it back off. Another thing is that we were taught how to open up the tripod to suit the length we wanted.


Things we were told to be careful about was how to handle the camera and tripod. We were told not to leave the camera unattended, and to organize ourselves so that we brought the camera back on time since other people have to use it too. 

'Watching' Documentary

1.  It means that if the film does not get the audiences attention, then they will not enjoy watching it. The film has to keep a good plot to it, so the audience have the interest to watch it throughout. 
2. He means that the viewers should not gain the plot at the very beginning, they need to be able to keep the audience interested as a whole. He means that the excitement should not happen all at once, but a time passes by. 
3. The quote means that the audience should have just about enough information/detail they need, for them to want to carry on watching.
4. The classic opening is establishing shot, a close up of a bulding from the east onto a close up of a building, whilst the camera goes up the building into a window to show objects and then a person. Its classic because we are told where it has been taken place and the occupation of the hero. We are told "the organisation of the world". 
5. The title sequence to the film Seven was effective because it became like a main scene for the movie; it told a story, it introduced the main characters obsession and foreshadowed a lot of the things that was going to happen. 
6. Orson Welles intended his film to be seen without credits and title music. He wanted to plunge the audience into the story without giving them time to prepare themselves. The studio on the other hand did not understand what Welles tried to do, so they made a final cut which had credits below the scene and music too. They had ruined what Welles intended to do. 
7. Film Noir is the term used to describe Hollywood crime movies, in black (and white) the film starts with the end scene. 
8. The opening creates suspense because the camera pursues the car like a 'predator' high up and from behind. The scene tells us that they are driving in the wrong direction. The music makes it seem suspicious too. 

Thriller Review, 'I Am Number Four'

The film I watched was called I Am Number Four, which stars Alex Pettyfer and Dianna Agron. The movie is a Sci-Fi Thriller which has a lot of intense action and romance too. It was produced by Michael Bay through DreamWorks and the budget was estimated to be around $50-60 million. 

The film is about a boy named John that is a Lorien child, he is from another planet, running away from Magadorians that invaded their homeland Lorien. Nine children escaped, the first 3 were killed, and John is number four, the Magadorians kill in order and therefore are after him now. The film centres itself around John and a girl he has fallen in love with, Sarah. 


By watching the trailer, I thought straight away that it was a good film to watch, the trailer had quick scene shots of the other members that had died from before. It also showed some glimpses of the action that was going to take place too. We see some special effects that they have used too, through CGI.
Watch I am Number Four Trailer here on YouTube

Special effects used

What makes this movie a thriller is the exciting plot of having Magadorians hunting John down. The action with the fighting scenes, the supernatural power and surreal feel to it makes the audience excited and filled with thrills throughout the film.

The film starts off with up beat tempo of music, which seems like violins and drums, as it takes us through some type of forest. This makes it thrilling to the audience because we get the feeling that something is about to happen sooner or later during this scene. Audience are right to think that because a person dies in that scene. 


The opening starts with a medium shot of planet Earth, then it gets closer and closer to a certain country, whilst the camera is following at a fast speed. We finally get a zoom into a house then door then into it to see a man laying down. The camera takes different shots of the man, as if it is following him. We finally get a close up of the mans face to show his shocked face, knowing someone has come for him. This kind of opening structure makes the story more thrilling since it gets straight to the point that consists of full on action. It leaves the audience to anticipate for the more main action parts.


Another reason why this film is a thriller is due to the violence/fighting scenes it has. The movie features huge lizard creatures that is made my CGI, and other creatures of the type. It has many jumpshots which make it captivating for the audience to watch.

Thriller Sub-genres

Thrillers are very attractive to the eye, so many people tend to go for what scares them most. I like thrillers where there is allot of action, fighting and crime done, these types inspire me the most.
For example Thrillers like Law Abiding Citizen or The Dark Knight,  both thrillers involving crime, fighting and thriller.
Law Abiding Citizen Trailer
The Dark Knight Trailer

Genre and Sub-genre

Genre is a term used to describe a category of any sort, like music, style, literature etc.
Sub-genre is a term to describe or show subdivisions of the term Genre, for instance if you say a movie that was labelled as a drama, the sub-genre would be romantic drama if it was.

Health and Safety Turtorial

In the health and safety tutorial we basically learnt how to use the camera and to keep it safe. 

   Firstly, we learnt the different functions of the buttons on the camera e.g. the zooming buttons and how to use the shutter to keep the lenses safe, we also learnt how to unfocus/focus the lenses which might come in handy when filming our opening.

 

    Secondly, we were taught how to insert the memory card into the camera, you do so by opening the compartment at the bottom left hand side of the camera there are two inserts one labeled 'A' and the other 'B' when the memory card is successfully inserted there will be a green light.



   Thirdly, we learnt how to attached the battery at the back of the camera and how to properly take the battery out.
    Fourthly, we learnt how to set up a tripod which was particulaly difficult at first but after a couple of tries it was rather easy. Its important to learn how a tripod works so we can use various camera angles and also we can film from a birds-eye view perspective by pulling up the neck of the tripod.

 We also learnt how to keep the camera safe when shooting. For example if its raining we should leave the camera in the bag and zip it so the rain doesnt destroy the camera. We shouldnt leave the camera unattended as it could be stolen. We also shouldnt change the camera setting as videos might not upload properly.

400 words on a Thriller.

The thriller I watched was the film Salt. Judging from the trailer i knew that the film would be spectacular. It stars Angelina Jolie which was the main reason I wanted to see the film, also it has a lot of action which I like. The film has a non linear narrative, and often abruptly shows a flashback. 

The film started with the title character Evelyn Salt imprisoned in North Korea, judging by the massive bruises and swelling on her face she has been beaten and it shows that her gender has been taken into account as all the prison guards are male. She repeatedly says “I am not a spy, im a businesswoman.” To her dismay the guards do not believe her and think she is trying to sabotage their nuclear weapons.  She is released on an exchange and her college and arachnologist husband Krause is waiting. Salt tells Krause her true occupation and tells him that he is not safe with her. I think the opening was very effective and it doesnt give the audience any time to prepare them selves and throws us right into the life of Salt. 

Back to the present day we see that Salt is preparing for her anniversary to her husband when a Russian defector Vasilly Orlov has turned himself in to the CIA. Salt goes in to interrogate him and it’s revealed that the spy raised Russian children from birth to destroy American on Day X.  He then says that the Russian Sleeper KA-12 will kill the Russian President and her name is “Evelyn Salt.” Salt then tries to call her husband to see if he is alive but there is no answer, as her colleagues try to detain her she escapes.

 Through the flashbacks we see that Evelyn Salt was one of the children being raised as an assassin, the audience also find out that her family were killed in a car accident. As Salt is on the run she dies her hair black, she also extracts venom from a spider that her husband was observing and goes to kill the Russian Prime Minister, she succeeds in killing him and is arrested by her former colleague Agent Peabody. She then makes an escape in the police car by using a taser on the police officers, afterwards Salt meets Orlov and all the other Russians agents he trained while there we that Orlov has captured Krause and he then kills Krause by drowning him. Salt then kills everyone there including Orlov.

Salt reunites with her Russian childhood friend Shnaider and he tells her about a plan to kill the president, they need disguises and in the next scene we see that Salt is disguised as a man.

 

Shnaider then blows up the hallway in which the president was supposed to be but doesn’t kill him. Salt goes after the president and we see that Salt’s former colleague Ted Winter is a Russian agent and kills the president and his co-workers. It is later shown that Salt used spider venom to shoot the Russian President as the prime minister made a shocking recovery. Winters tries to launch American missiles into Russia but Salt aborts them. When Salt is captured again Winters tells the CIA agents that she killed the president so Salt kills him. Agent Peabody arrests her and they talk in a helicopter, Salt tells him everything and Peabody reluctantly starts to believe her, he then tells her to jump out of the helicopter to make it look like she escaped as he uncuffs her. She jumps out of the helicopter and lands in the Potomac River.

Overall I loved the film as there was also a lot of action and stunts which made the film more impressive to watch e.g. Salt jumps off a bridge unto a moving truck. This film should be watched with a lot of attention because missing a scene could make the film very confusing. It also shows that a main character in a action thriller can be payed by anyone regardless of gender. The use of amazing effects like explosions and difficult stunts made the film very thrilling and gritting, espicially as they did some explosions in slo motion which makes it more effective. The film was very unexpected and kept audiences on their toes it ended on a cliff-hanger even though we have a little insight, it raises the question: “Who is Evelyn Salt?”