We began filming and editing our opening and found that it wasn't working how we hoped it would. Using other friends as actors started to seem a bit difficult and we found that the type of comed we were trying to create can only seemfunny to certain people and so it isnt always very effective. However we began to discuss in class how we desperately dont want to do the typical horror and really do want to pursue our original idea of comedy. We then thought about the features and characters a comedy piece would have such as bright colours, energy and how it would subvert stereotypes. We then realised a girl in our media class may be able to provide us with acess to a sweet shop very near by. This setting would be great to film in as it would provide the bright happy atmosphere a comedy opening would need and also the general feeling of fun that sweet shops create.
With this idea we began to think of possible ideas of strorylines and shots and eventually created a whole new plan.
To add to the theme of comedy we wanted to use a song that is very unlikely to the characters personlity and almost make her look a bit silly. We decided it could be funny to play the hardcore heavy r'n'b song candy shop by fifty sent in the backgroud and have the character who would be stereotypically a very unlikely person to listen to this kind of music from her sweet, innocent image.
Our class have had the idea of maybe trying to make a snorricam. A snorricam is a camera fixed to a structure that allows the camera to be strapped to a person and film themselves without using hands.
this is our preliminary exercise. We chose to do just a normal song because the lyrics are short although hard to remember at times. We experimented with effect in i movie and added some sounds to make it a bit dramatic and funny.
My group have taken on the challenging task of making an alernative/indie/comedy film. The plot is simple but should be able to bag a few laughs.
The film starts with a pitch black screen. A cigarette is then lit (the only source of light) and the hand lighting it is covered in blood.
This will decieve our audience into thinking that the film is infact a thriller however these ideas our shattered as the male chokes on the cigarette (element of trying to act cool) and the camera zooms out to see a young male with shaving cuts on his face (the blood on his hands) sitting in a shed. A light will come on and this is the point where we realise that it is infact a comedy.The music will then start therefore by using no music in the beginning part it makes it more intense and this contrast will make our theme of comedy more obvious. He leaves the shed and makes his way to his bedroom where he gets ready for his day.
As he gets ready, he "attempts" a work out in which he praises himself for doing three pull ups on his door frame but awarding himself a sticker on his "workout chart". As he gets ready he puts a random selection of objects in his bag, confusing the audience. He is in his own world and as he leaves his house for his destination, he is confident. The camera zooms in on his feet but as it zooms out he is on a busy main road.
It is here we realise he is prehaps not so confident and we see his "awkward" character. The rest of the two minutes will be spent by the character trying to make it from one end of the road to the other, in which comical happenings occur. He then reaches his destination (however you never actually find out what his destination is) and says a line that again confuses the audience. The scene ends and the audience are left wondering where he was going, why he had these objects and what he was doing.
1. Our idea is practically possible to film as it doesnt involve any difficult scenes. The only possible problem would be cars on the main road we are using for the final part of the film, however if we time it correctly it will be possible.
2. Our film will definately show off the strengths of all the members in our group. We each had our own contribution to the plot of the film and due to our different interests, we can each show our strengths. For instance music, creativity and fashion.
3. It can be easily storyboarded as we only use 3 locations and there is nothing too complicated occuring.
4. It can be reasonably shot and edited in the time given as the scenes shouldnt take too long to shot - their concept is simple.
5. We can easily get access to the locations as we are using our actors own house and a public street.
We chose to use Camden Town for our main road as it's well known for being unusual and perculiar. We believe this will highlight the characters "awkwardness" and he will be able to react off of the people surrounding him.
6. Lighting should not be a problem for any of the film as for the first scene of the film as we are using a shed and the intentions is that it is dark. When in the characters bedroom, there should normal daylight and we will be filming early morning in Camden Town. Sound may be an issue in Camden however that can be eaily edited out.
7. We will be including dialogue in the film however it will be kept to a minumum. In the first two locations the sound can be filmed at the time however on our final location the sound will have to be added in.
8. For our main character we are using our friend James Mansfield as we feel he will fit the character well. He is reliable and therefore continuity will not be an issue. Our character is inspired by the actor Michael Cera as he portrays the "awkwardness" of the character perfectly. He stars in films such as superbad, year one and nick and Norahs infinite playlist all of which are successful comedies. The main character in our opening is possibly the most important part therefore his quirky unusual and hopefully funny characteristics are what we are hoping will make the theme of comedy work.
This is a clip of micheal cera in superbad. This shows the awkward character we want to use to make it funny.
We may also use extras however they are irrelevant and it will be down to who is avaliable at the time.
9. The credits and the soundtrack play a huge part in portraying that film is an alternative indie film. We are hoping to have animated credits like that of Juno and Superbad.
Opening Credits of Juno
We noticed when watching many openings of indie alternative films alot of them used some form of animation. Diana Vickers video for The Boy Who Murdered Love also contains some really good animations which have inspired to make our credits similiar. We would however only use the more simple animations. Diana Vickers - The Boy Who Murdered Love
Another opening with a use of sketchy animation if the opening credits for 500 days of summer. This is an indie film and the use of music fits the theme of our idea.
We have also thought about the soundtrack which will play as the character leaves the shed and gets ready for his day. We have friends who are willing to cover songs if not we will get in touch with people who have already made covers and ask if we may use theirs. Here are a few songs we are interested in using. The Kinks - Wonder Boys
In lesson we looked at the stages in planning our opening and the first stage of this is to story board which is sketching out images of every shot in our opening. We practiced using some of clip from last years coursework.
In this lesson we looked at the different types of genres and talked about which ones we would like to do for our openings.
comedy - e.g Scrubs
Indie/ alternative - e.g Juno
500 days of summer
Horror/ thriller -e.g The others
Se7en
Chick flick - e.g Wild child
Sex and the city
Period drama - e.g Tess of the dubervilles
Action - e.g Bourne identity
James bond
My favourite genre would be Indie/alternative because I like the style of the films. I also love the music often used in Indie/alternative films and they are usually light and happier films.
To start the process of creating our opening I have begun by keeping an eye out for film openings that I find interesting. In our group we have begun to discuss genres and talk about ideas. From looking at previous a level groups work we found that the most common choice of genre is usually a horror theme so we have decided within out group that we definitely wont do horror. We have discussed maybe going for the trickier option of attempting comedy.
I chose the others for my opening. The film is a thriller set in 1945 about a family living in an old remote house where strange things seem to happen. The first thing that grabs your attention in this opening is the music. What sounds like a violin is played in a very low key which is quite unpleasant and creates an anxious feeling straight away, this suggests its a scary film from the very start. The opening of this film is simply drawings and images of events that take place throughout the film. This instantly gives an insight in to nature of the film and makes it obvious that the film is a scary one. As the opening progresses the music becomes more harsh and other instruments are added creating more tensions, the tone becomes deeper and the drawings become more horrific for example the hanging of a young boy. The colours used are mainly black brown and white creating a sepia effect, this introduces the date the film is set in making it obvious its not a modern day film. The drawings are very rough and sketchy with lots of dark tones this also adds to the atmosphere of something not being right, the images are very dimly lit by a flickering light and the light only shows part of the drawings in each part. I think this idea of not being able to see the full picture is purposely linked to what happens later on in the film when you find out a key part of the story.
We have been asked to evalute the opening of Se7en. I thought that the opening is very effective and fits the genre which is made obvious from even the first clip. The clips used are a main part of what makes the opening a good one. Firstly the subject of the clips are all releveant and relate welll to eacother. For example clips of journals and diarys followed by clips of cutting articles and sorting papers. Also the quick transition between the images and clips create a fast pace and add to the sharpness. All images and clips fit a certain type of theme that is consistent throughout the opening.The extreme close up camera shots also add the intense feel.
The use of lighting and colour are also a noticable part. The colours are kept dark and dull with no bright colours at all. The lighting is kept very dim and this gives the feel of being in a dark barely lit enclosed room.
These help in setting the theme of the film letting you know straight away the film is serious and possibly scary. Also suggesting the theme of horror is the font used for the credits. The scribbled effect and the way the writing flickers on the screen is cleverly paired with the sounds of scratching and various electronic sounds. The music used is also chosen apprtopriately and the way it slowly builds up starting with single sound effects then gradually creating a beat also creates an intense feel.
