Paranoia Title Sequence

Paranoia

Dexter remake - Individual edit

The purpose of this edit was to demonstrate that we could produce a video as a group, without supervision of a teacher, which involved us following a set of shot lists (that we had to interpret from the video) and recreate it to the best of our abilities. We also had to go out and buy props from shops that are used or are similar to those used in the original morning routine sequence. I then individually edited the clips, sequencing them, timing them with the music and trimming out the unnecessary and unneeded handles. I believe that the final product was great and served it's purpose well to show that we can work as part of a team and under our own initiative. Apart from a few missing shots (1 or 2, I believe) which I replaced in post production with the shots from the original, the project went great. The shots were composed well, I believe my editing was similar to the original and that the project was a true demonstration of our current ability, despite being filmed with a camera phone

Student film opening analysis

First student opening:

Cinematography

• Shaky camera, making some scenes hard to follow
• Photography and angles are good
• All in focus, deliberately shallow focused
• Well lit and light-balanced

Editing:

• Great, clear to read titles
• Flashbacks/visions are conventional and professional
• Well scored
• Appropriate uses of jump cuts

Sound:

• Sounds are synced to video
• No dialogue adds to mood/atmosphere
• Clear/appropriate ambiance and musical score

Mise-En-Scene:

• Goes against convention of cities, mostly remote
• Costumes are believeable as civilians
• Bloodwork and makeup is exceptional
• Lighting and colours are soft in calm scenes and more blue and dark in tense scenes

Overall grade: B+

Second student opening

Cinematography:

• Camera use was really good, appropriate angles
• Shallow focus used, yet important objects still in focus
• Well light balanced, characters were well-lit

Editing:

• Very professional editing
• Use of lens flares, professional film title
• Cut at appropriate times

Sound:

• Transition between one musical score to the other was unfriendly to the ear
• Dialogue is well written
• All foley is well synced except for the bridge shooting (man reacts before gun is heard)
• Music is of high quality

Mise-En-Scene:

• Appropriate locations (well chosen)
• Costumes are appropriate to character roles
• Good use of props
• Colours and lighting is appropriate to mood and atmosphere

Overall Grade: A

Third student opening

Cinematography:

• Camera work is great, love the running to reveal scene
• Shallow focus use is good
• Light balanced well and good depth of field

Editing:

• Name slate animations were good
• Jump cuts were well timed

Sound:

• No dialogue, so it keeps viewer in suspense and mystery
• Foley is good, synced well
• Musical score is appropriate for action

Mise-En-Scene:

• Realism was a bit off (penetration of knee with Biro made me sceptical)
• Blood work could use some improving
• Costumes are suited for characters (subverts convention in some ways)

Overall Grade: B-

The Streets analysis writeup

The clip in question:

My analysis:

Iconography of a Thriller

Conventions of thrillers

Film opening analysis

To further my understanding of what a film opening is and what they contain, I decided to watch the opening of some movies to see if they have any conventions in them and apply this to when i film my own Thriller opening later on this year.

I chose Zombieland to create a Titles timeline map on. Here is the opening to Zombieland:

And here is my Titles timeline for this opening:

Use of sound in Once Upon a Time in The West

No dialogue to emphasise ambience and to show that characters are strong silent types who are bored and waiting for something/someone. Also builds up tension

Ambience (eg: birds chirping, wind rolling over hills) shows that they are in a rural location, no human activity nearby, creates a tense atmosphere between characters. Ambience appears edited in much like Foley

Foley (eg: Fly, rocking chair etc.) shows how silent and desolate the scene really is, how concentrated the men are and how irritating the fly is. It is so quiet that you can hear the water dripping onto man's head. Dog whimpering is loud to emphasise empathy, also emphasises the heat/conditions it lives in

Sound Motif (eg: water movement, telegram, fly etc.) used to show significance in scene as they all get interacted with. Volume of train shows that that too is significant as they may be waiting for it

Establishing sound (eg: wind, creaking) shows emptiness, sets mood and atmosphere of scene, shows that they're the only moving things (humans are still)

Here is the clip in mention (Skip to 4:00):

We originally watched this with our eyes closed, trying to note down what sounds we could hear. This helped up focus on the audio, without the visuals for distraction. We then had to analyse how this represented characters in the second viewing, which we did with video. We then analysed the sound and it's use in Foley, ambience etc. and how that created meaning

Thriller film location recce

In preparation for my Thriller opening filming towards the Christmas period, I needed to scout locations for me to actually shoot at. I decided upon somewhere industrial-looking that had nearby (potentially secluded - in case of gun prop use) areas that we could utilise within the opening

I began my search on Google maps. As most thrillers are filmed in cities, London is my closest city that I could be able to film at, and began searching around that area for a place that fell under the criteria I had set

This is the place that I found, located right in the center of London, it looked like the perfect place

Upon arrival of the site, I found that it had been even better than I had anticipated. I found a spot that I could film my Recce (below) at which I could show off the construction site and car park in the background

Below is the recce I filmed at this site:

Here is a map showing the surrounding area, edited from Google maps by myself:

Once Upon a Time in The West opening sound analysis

What sounds?
Ambience of birds, man talking in another language, whistle or creaking?, footsteps and spurs clacking on ground, some object turning (a wheel?), liquid splashing, static noise, wood creaking, coins falling and rattling, grunts, wind over hills, water pouring, dog moaning, cracking, fly buzzing, huffing, dropping of heavy object, train brakes

Analysis:
Hinge creaking (lengthy, dull), birds (rural), urgency (why aren't they speaking?), loneliness or isolation (long shot), wind, dog crying (hungry), spurs clacking suggest it's a western

How does it represent characters?

What mood does this create?