Saul Bass

Above is a presentation which gives an insight into Saul Bass and what I learnt from his ideas and works on opening titles of a film. From his works I realised that for my own piece of work, I could make it clear of what representation of characters would be seen in the film, and the overall theme by making it intriguing for the audience, and clear that it was a horror.

Rule of Thirds: various other shot types, with camera movements

Lol

Preliminary Task: Video Piece

This piece is our recorded final piece of our preliminary task, from the planning stages of the storyboard and shot list. As you can see from viewing the piece we used match on action where Jack's character of 'Dre' was seen to grasp the handle of the door, then enter the room where we tried as a group to make sure that there was a consistent flow kept between this action, so their was no unnatural movement. In addition we also used the 'shot reverse shot' movement, where by the audience could easily identify Dre and the teacher to have a conversation which flowed naturally with no unnatural movement, like the match on action with Dre entering the room. This made it seem as if the conversation was effectively shown to the audience.

To improve for our final piece, i'd definitely consider using various angles for shots rather than just one the whole way through the piece. For example we could've used a low angle shot in front of the teachers desk, to display her authority over Dre's by using a high angle shot to show him entering the room, which would perceive him as weak and vulnerable against the teacher.

Preliminary Task Planning

Here is our storyboard displaying what will happen within our prelim video. As you can see we still with the main character of who I will play within our group having a tracking shot moving down a hallway. This suggests to the audience we are following the character without them even realising, which audiences may appeal to as we are following the character's story closely. This is just the beginning shot of our storyboard outlines each scene and the story within each one, outlining shot types of the characters.

Below is an explanation of each shot type following from the storyboard, and what each shot will mainly consist of. We will use a variety of six different shot types, to enhance certain scenes and character feelings within the short, recorded piece. We've split our video into three main sections with a plot below which states the three stages of the video. 

Stage One: Missing person or in this case student which has been identified by the school, of who they are attempting to find using available sources.

Stage Two: Head teacher calls Dre to the office knowing that he could have information of this persons whereabouts.

Stage Three: Dre isn't revealing anything to the Headteacher, yet she has suspicions of him knowing of where the missing student could be. She presents a small bag with a white powder substance in and informs Dre of the bag being found in the missing person's locker.

Codes and Conventions of Film Openings

From my research I have found that various film openings share the same conventions as others. I decided to broaden my studies into film openings by researching four very different film openings under different genres. These films were:

- James Bond Casino Royale - Action
- IT The Clown - Psychological Horror
- Ice Age - Children's Comedy
- Star Wars Revenge of the Sith - Sci-Fi


The main similarities within each of these films is that they all displayed some form of text in the beginning displaying the production company, or at least the cast of the film. One film Star Wars, however was different; instead of only including the cast or production company, the film also includes what is known as the 'Opening Crawl' which gives a brief summary of the plot of the film, to the audience informing them of an overall story line. This can be seen below and this opening crawl is seen within all Star Wars films.

We can the theme of the film to be Sci-fi due to the opening text being blue and reading the words 'galaxy', along with a cosmic background of stars, which re-inforces it is a Sci-fi film just within the opening title. The yellow text can illustrate its a Sci-fi film also, as Sci-fi film often use colours such as green, yellow, purple and blue to depict some form of mysterious being, or super natural place. The text also being bold stands out, which could relate to how whats seen in Space is different from anything ever seen before, which the film is presenting.





The theme music of the opening sounds grand like, with violins and other instruments. Its upbeat and drops to a low beat sound, which gives the impression of the story being mysterious, as it is space and the whole idea of entering the unknown. Audiences would be drawn into watching the film as a result of this, along with wanting to know more about the story itself from the opening crawl.

However...

Other films such as James Bond, Casino Royale uses an opening shot of Bond killing a victim of his, which instantly draws the audience into wanting to watching the film, as we are curious as to why this has happened. Along with the the shot of Bond pointing the gun straight at the camera, makes us as the audience feel as if he is targeting us, which also encourages us to watch more.

Personally from my own experience this is more effective when drawing the audience in to the film, then perhaps what Star Wars uses, as it instantly draws you into the film, with a killing scene thrown into the audiences eyes. However we must consider that Bond is an action film, and quick things are meant to happen without questioning, so this opening title fits appropriately under the genre of action.

Colours such as red and black to highlight danger, and death are used which relates to the film being action and based on a secret agent. Red can also imply blood, and the fact the rise en scene consists of figures on the game, 'cards, suggests Bond carries out these killings as if its a game. The fact as well the text appears quickly then goes can relate to the concept of life being short, and death coming to kill around the corner, which is reinforced by a silhouette character of Bond, killing various other silhouettes.




The theme song sounds sinister and is fast paced, giving us as the audience a cold killing impression, which is hard to stop and unpredictable. With the support of the silhouettes having some form of a gun fight. The music is fairly upbeat and almost sounds abrupt, giving the impression that Bond is always on edge, and ready for his next move; relating to the genre of action constantly changing from various events. In addition a guitar string in the music gives a sharp sound, as if it were a knife being sliced which is seen as the Bond silhouette stabs another, which helps to support one another.

Yet...

Between James Bond and Star Wars, there is this theme of mystery and unawareness, which is seen in both films. The opening title displays Bond as a silhouette and therefore he is unknown to his targets, which is reinforced right at the end of the sequence, when Bond's face is covered up by a black shape, implying he is to be kept hidden.

These are just two examples of film openings I researched out of the four when I was researching into film openings.

Trailer Analysis of how women are portrayed within film: Cinderella

Trailer Analysis of how women are portrayed within film: Avengers