Today's lesson

In today's lesson we looked at Genre's to help give us ideas for our 2 minute film opening.

List of Genre's and examples:

Comedy- Super Bad
Parodies/spoofs- Hot fuzz, Shaun of the dead
Indie/Alternative-Juno, 500 days of summer
Horror/Thriller- Se7en, Orphan, Devil
Chick Flick-Sex in the City
Period Drama-Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre
Action-James Bond, Matrix, Born Identity
Bromance-The Hangover
Documentary- Supersize me

We watched some different examples of film openings for example Sherlock Holmes (directed by Guy Ritchie, a Action | Adventure | Crime | Mystery | Thriller) and found that there wasn't one single credit until around 6 minutes into the film. This was because full length feature films usually can afford to begin the film with an opening scene, introducing the characters and setting the scene. However for our two minute film opening this obviously isn't possible as there just isn't enough time.

Additional research:

More info on genres and themes at www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/446108/index.html which I have added to my useful links section.

Here is the film opening of Silent Hill a 2006 horror film, directed by Christophe Gans.



Here are some screen shots from the video clip above in order to show some examples of different camera shots, movements and angles:

This camera shot is at a low angle and from the video clip above you can see that at this point the camera slowly pans from the left of the room to the right. This creates an uneasy atmosphere as suddenly the viewer is made to feel very small and perhaps intimidated by the room which has been made to look larger.

Here is an example of an extreme close up. The camera is still, allowing the viewer to read the words (likely to be important to the plot of the film). The words suggest murder which is appropriate to the genre of the film, the viewer here is perhaps made to feel like a detective, trying to solve the mystery. This draws the viewer in, already making them feel involved.

In this shot there seems to be a sephia effect, perhaps to create the feel that it is an old photograph, maybe a clue in solving the mystery.

This is a wide shot sometimes known as a long shot. It shows an entire area perhaps again giving the viewer clues as to what may happen later on in the film.

This is another example of an extreme close up (a much tighter close up in which you can see more detail) and the camera is also at eye level. At this point in the film it seems to look like an old video clip from the past and the editors have done this by giving it a flickering effect (you may be able to see some of the flickering black lines in the screen shot).

This is a two shot however it is also selective focus as the woman in the background is blurry whilst the young girl infront is in focus. This seems to seperate the characters and create a shallow depth field.

This is a wide shot with a black and white effect. Not much of the opening is in black and white so this particular shot stands out to the viewer. The camera movement slowly pans from left to right to give the viewer a better look on the area perhaps because it is significant later on in the film.

Here is a power point presentation analysing the film opening of Jaws. It will hopefully help guide me for when I have to analyse in this way

Jaws Shot By Shot - Part 1

View more presentations from Rob McMinn.

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Here is a video from youtube showing us all the different film making techniques that we may choose to use when making our film openings.

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Here is the opening of the film se7en..



I think it's a really good opening to the film as it immediately captured my attention and left me wanting to watch the rest of it. I found some of the flickering images and squeaky audio effects quite disturbing yet I still found myself drawn into it. I really liked the mixture of sharp/blurry camera shots and how it kept flashing back and forth to different clips, which I assume will later on in the film become more significant. I felt as though it could be a way of reflecting the state of mind of the character which I thought was really clever. It seems as though the film is going to be quite psychological, some kind of thriller/drama/mystery. I think it does it's job in keeping the viewer interested and sets high standards for the rest of the film.

Opening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory..



I love it! It's different from all the thriller and horror film opening credits. Although there's no amazing special effects I think that the simplicity of it makes it just as effective. It's hypnotizing and playful to watch, stimulating all your senses. It's definitely one of my favourite film openings.

Opening of Good Burger..




Again it's something a little different. I wanted to find an example of an opening to a comedy. This one in particular is aimed at a younger audience. I know this not only because of the fact that it's a Nickelodeon movie but also because of the silly humour, bright colours and unrealistic acting. I liked how at the very beginning they used lots of different pictures and sped up the film to make it look as though the burger fillings were moving. It was again simple but fun and entertaining to watch, maybe an effect I'd consider using in my film opening. It immediately told me that it was going to be a comedy, not only because of the ketchup smiley faces but also because of the bubbly fun audio tune in the background. I think it's a great opening to the movie as it sets the mood straight away. Its again one of my favourite openings as it never fails to bring a smile to my face.