Mac 4 Update Vlog

National Portrait Gallery Vlog

A very quick vlog about my trip to the National Portrait Gallery:

Our Idea

Today, we started to generate ideas and build on our existing one, we now have a clear idea for our two minute film opening. Our film follows a young girl, who is a photographer, that also suffers from multiple personality disorder, this causes her to take on another persona as a serial killer but being unable to remember it as her 'normal' self.

A brainstorm of our ideas

Our title sequence brainstorm

The opening will see her doing routine tasks, such as sitting in a coffee shop and taking and developing photographs, creating the illusion that she is a normal girl. As she takes the photos, an extremely quick flash of an image will appear on screen showing a crime scene and/or one of her victims. We want these flashes to be confusing for the audience to reflect her mental state and obliviousness to her crimes.

We have started to think about filming locations, we definitely want to film in the darkroom as it is quite mysterious due to the lack of light, we also feel like it offers a lot of opportunities for interesting shots and angles. This choice was partly inspired by the film 'Se7en', in which the killer's apartment has a darkroom. During the darkroom sequence, we also want to add our titles.



Our Darkroom (shown with both normal lighting and red lights)

 

 

Movie stills from 'Se7en' showing photographs in the darkroom

We have decided on a name for our film, but this could change if we think of something even better. We have chosen the title '4 Minutes', a reference to the time it takes to develop a photograph, however, it could also refer to the time it takes for the main character to carry out her crimes.

We want there to be a big emphasis on sound in the opening two minutes. We have decided not to include dialogue in order to create an unsettling silence. Whilst in the dark room, there will be numerous sounds, for example, the pouring of chemicals, a running tap and opening cupboards. We also want to have the very clear and distinct sound of a camera shutter as she takes her photographs. The sound of a ticking timer will also play throughout the opening, a reference to the title, but also in order to create an uncomfortable and uneasy atmosphere. We are planning to add in most of the sounds during post production through the use of Foley, this is to ensure that the sounds are not muffled and so that we do not have to worry about capturing the sounds during filming.

We liked the idea of having a close up shot of a timer
 counting down 

I like this shot as it is from an interesting angle and
emphasises perspective

We wanted to have a shot of some film strips and to also
include the titles in various interesting places

 

City of God

Today I watched the Brazilian film 'City of God', directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, and it was absolutely amazing. It gave an honest look at the gripping story of gangs in the City of God, a slum outside of Rio de Janeiro. The opening scene perfectly captures the energetic atmosphere through the use of the recognisable Brazilian music as well as quick shots, both of these elements setting the scene and creating a fast paced, exhilarating and flamboyant setting. We explore the bustling streets of the slum as we follow Li'l Zé, the film's antagonist, and his gang that includes children as young as eight, guns in tow, as they attempt to catch a runaway chicken. This sequence adds a humorous element creating a very obvious contrast to the serious subject matter. The chase comes to an abrupt halt as we are introduced to the film's protagonist, Rocket, a photographer, who stands in the street, staring wide-eyed at the gang, at this moment, police arrive on the other side of the street and Rocket is caught between the two sides, both of which now have their guns drawn. Rocket provides a voiceover narration throughout the film as he explains his story, and the stories of those around him, even that of a single apartment's journey from family home to drug den. He addresses the audience directly, making it feel like a more personal experience and transports the viewer into Rocket's world. The film jumps through time quite often in order to provide background information about certain characters so that current events make more sense, the first example of this comes at the end of the chase sequence. The camera swirls around Rocket and we travel to the 1960s where we find him playing football as a child, this juxtaposes the built up setting in the present and the remote town of the past. The transition between the dull grey colours of the slum to the bright golden tones creates an interesting visual and really emphasises the changes that have occurred. There is also the obvious difference between the children shown in both times, whilst the children of the 60s play football, in present day they roam the streets with guns, growing up surrounded by violence. The opening scene sets up many of the ideas that are explored throughout the rest of the film and introduces the audience to two of the main characters, all while perfectly setting the tone of the film. I really enjoyed 'City of God', not only because of the enticing story but also because of the beautiful cinematography, I think it is definitely a must-see film.

BFI Visit and Vlog

Today we went to the British Film Institute for a study day. We received talks from Pete Fraser, the chief Media Studies examiner, about what makes a good film opening. He listed the key features as:

.Genre
.Narrative
.Character
.Atmosphere
.Setting

I think it was very useful to learn about these features as our group can start to think about them in more detail to create a good film opening. We were also shown examples of previous students' work, highlighting the good points and things that needed improvement. I think that it is important to view work from your peers, as well as from the industry, as it helps you to set realistic goals as you are aware of what can be achieved with the equipment available. I also found it beneficial to learn about commonly used, cliché ideas, this will help us to conceive an original idea as we will be able to avoid these clichés.

We also received a talk from Hannah Rothman, an associate director that creates trailers for films. I enjoyed finding out more about different jobs within the media industry, specifically in film, as she described the process of creating a trailer and what it is like working as a team and with clients. Here is the trailer for 'The Selfish Giant', a project that Rothman worked on:



Lastly, we received a talk from Dexter Fletcher who has had experience in both acting and directing. I though it was interesting to learn about both of these aspects of film making and found it an invaluable experience to listen to a director talk about his film and explain the ideas behind it. We were shown the openings of two of his films, 'Wild Bill' and 'Sunshine on Leith', unfortunately I could only find a promo and trailer for the films respectively:





Here's our vlog from the day:

Se7en Opening Credits

In today's lesson, we started watching the film 'Se7en', directed by David Fincher. Below are the opening credits.

I really like the opening credits because the use of non-continuity editing, a montage, and the various editing techniques immediately set the mood for the rest of the film, I think it has captured the atmosphere of the film very effectively. The sequence is extremely unsettling, due to the imagery and the jump cuts and flashing images, making it disorientating for the viewer. The jolting titles also help to create an agitated and unhinged atmosphere. The close up and extreme close up shots make the sequence feel uncomfortable as the viewer gets to see an intimate view of the subjects.

Overall, I think that the opening credits, and the film as a whole, will provide a lot of inspiration when we start thinking of ideas for our film opening as we are planning to do a psychological thriller, the same genre as Se7en. I really like the idea of using jump cuts and/or flashing images to create an unsettling atmosphere and we will definitely consider using these techniques in our film opening.

Mac 4 Gogglebox

Creating our Gogglebox video has been very helpful, providing us with inspiration for our film opening. It has widened our knowledge of many of the technical elements of film making, especially camera shots and angles. Editing the video has also given the group more practise on iMovie, hopefully saving us time when we edit our film opening as we would be familiar with the software. We learnt how to use the 'picture-in-picture' function, allowing us to play two clips on screen at once, this could be an interesting technique to use in our opening.

Mac 4 Update Vlog