Group: Further Concept Development - Location and Characters

We are thinking of using lcations like the woods in Soutborough, as well as the nearby church grounds. Moreover, there is an abandoned slaughter house in Frant, we feel this would also be a good location because it reflects the genre of our opening.



With regards to further ideas with characters, we are still building ideas around a derranged killer pursuing a nervous and vulnerable victim who is trying to escape.

JR 6245: New Idea

I really like the opening to I Am Legend, it uses several different screen shots at the beggining to show important establishing shots of a particular place. I think it could be a good option to use this technique to introduce a location to our clip. What do you guys think?

JR 6245: Technical Analysis

I Am Legend

Camera	Duration	Mise-en-scene
The scene opens with a still shot, an establishing shot of the city from the perspective of facing down one street.	6 seconds	The street has been intruded by wildlife like plants and greenery sprouting, to connote that there is no longer maintenance. Also there are some birds flying around, tweeting.
Birds-eye view shot over the city streets, gliding through the air as if the movement of a bird, directly above one straight street in which the protagonist enters the shot by driving up the street, up the screen exactly vertical.	13 seconds	It is again very quiet, there is no movement other that the camera itself and the single car driving. Everything else is deadly still however there are still many objects in place, set design, cars and buildings all around.
Camera cuts to close-up of gun then the protagonist picks the weapon up and as he does so the camera pans up to follow his movement but as he lays the gun in his lap the camera continues to pan, as to view his face.	6 seconds	He is wearing normal clothes, a thin jacket as the weather looks quite mild. The inside of the car, similar to the outside, is very clean.
Camera positioned behind the car as it accelerates, camera retains the same distance from the car as it moves.	2 seconds	The car appears to intrude on a flock of birds, crows. As the car speeds up the birds are alarmed and squawk as they simultaneously flee the path of the car. This reinforces the quietness of the scene, the amount of birds feel safe enough to land on a road.

AS: Technical Analysis

The Haunting in Connecticut

Click Picture for Link to Opening Sequence

Camera	Duration	Mise en scene
Close Up of Woman	6 seconds	Clothes connote that she is being held for questioning and that she has committed a crime
Medium Shot of Woman	3 seconds	She looks refined to a chair and is being forced to speak into a camera, this also reinforces the idea that she has committed a crime
Panning	3 seconds	The newspapers shown on the table suggest that there has been a story or event that has made the headlines. This has an enigmatic effect on the audience
Two Shot of mother and son in car	20 seconds	This shot shows the boy waking up, connoting he is tired or he could be ill and this creates suspense and tension because the reason for his supposed tiredness or illness is unknown

DS: Film opening analysis 3

Resident Evil Apocolypse -  Narrative and Representation & Ideology

Narrative:

• The narrative is juxtaposing with the introduction the back line story of the film and contributes to it's explanation.
• The audience is positioned as an outsider as they are being informed of something you would believe they are unaware of.
• The narrator is identified as the main character as she herself explains.
• The major themes are science and zombies.
• Tension is created with use of critical vocabulary that are usual taboos in society.

Representation & Ideology:

• The social groups are limited in this scene as it based around a few human survivors (one being female - a progressive representation) against a world filled with zombies.
• The ideological discourse is that women are capable of survival in physical dilemmas and difficult situation and that male scientists are not as superior as originally thought.
• The genre is taken seriously with little comedy as it is an apocalyptic survival film.

What I learnt from this:

• That narrative can have a key role in explaining the basis of a story to an audience, however my group is not likely to use one due to the difficulty to make it effective.
• That representation is key to a film and my group will make sure we consider in depth how we represent our characters and establish an ideology to create an enigma.

DS: Film Opening analysis 2

The Ring - Media Audiences and Institutional Context

Media Audiences:

• The target audience for this film is most probably the horror audience which is ages 15-24.
• The preferred reading of this opening is that the girl is vulnerable and is targeted by the demonic girl.
• Personally as a British teenager, I read the text as being supernatural and completely fictional. My age may be why I am unfazed and unconvinced by the material in the clip.

Institutional Context:

• This opening does not include a star. However I believe this to have a positive effect as it makes the clip more familiar with the audience and allows them to relate to it.
• This film was produced by the industrial film company Dream Works Pictures.
• The film was marketed traditional and virally with a website being set up with a fan forum within.
• I don't believe the institutional context is evident in the opening because there are very few conventions used that would normally be associated with an industrially produced film.

What I learnt from this:

• That it's important for my group's production to identify a target audience so we can shape the content of our opening to the wants of our target audience
• That we need to create our opening to our strengths, we know we do not have to resources nor facilities to create an industrial-like production therefore, we will play to our strengths and go for a purposely amateur and realistic idea.

JR 6245: Initial Ideas on: Location, treatment, props, sound and characters

Location:

• Woodland Areas
• Abandoned Areas
• Rural Areas
• Nursery

Props:

• To-do-list
• Red pen
• Dolls
• Knife

Characters:

• Various victims
• Murdering antagonist
• Deceased victims

Sound:

• Scared screams of victims
• Evil laugh from killer
• Stabbing noises
• Panting
• Panicky dialogue

Treatment:


Opening shows what the audience presumes is a derranged killer, they never get to see his face. The killer is seen going through a list ticking off names, but the motives behind his behaviour is not known. It connotes that he has killed the people due to the screams and music, as well as the mise en scene. Various cuts vary from the acts being done and his list. As the final task is carried out, the name is not ticked off. The scene cuts to the victim with parallel editing which implies this is the person who is being targeted.

3 main lines of action will hopefully be used, one for the shots positioned with the antagonist ticking the list and wealding other things, one for the location of slaughter house where flashbacks of previous murders occur and another line of action to show the final person on the list being hunted and chased by the murderer. The cutting rate of these lines of action will give these main scenes longer establishing time and other short shots of other things such as shots of weapons or blood will be cut quickly and sharply to give a razer like effect, possibly with high pitched, sharp music sounds over the top. Also as the scenes inter cut at a faster rate the music has to compliment this by speeding up at a louder and faster tempo.