inspiration

I had recently watched the 1991 Jonathan Demme film, Silence of the Lambs and thought that the titles used in the film opening were very effective, and I thought I could use aspects of it in our production, like the font, which was a courier style to give the feeling of an official typewritten document. Also, with the sond, I took inspiration from the Atonement, where the diegetic sounds of the typewriter become incoporated with the background music.

Music

The music we used was called "He's Alive" and was by a man called Derek Audette.
This was possibly the hardest part of the production, as finding half decent non copyrighted music on the internet is near impossible, it took hours of searching to find anything and the piece we chose was a last resort, however I feel that it fits very well with the special agent genre of the film, as it has a spy film theme, with the up beat and fast tempo.

Feedback for improvements

We showed the class our first cut on Monday the 6th December.
At this point our sequence was still very much un finished, we had not finished editing and not all of our titles were correct, we got the following feedback;

• To change the production company logo, and to make it bigger.
• Add faded between the pans to make it flow better.
• Add music- which was our main prority
• Add a car sound at the end of the sequence
• Add more footage or dialouge

As we had under a week to complete these changes we had to proritise, and work out what would be most benificial to our production.

Prop List

There were props we needed in our production to help achieve the genre characteristics.

• passports and credit cards
• paper work
• Keys
• Binoculars
• sunglasses to keep identity hidden
• various items of make up
• a handbag

Filming

We filmed our sequence on Sunday the 21st of November.
We used Christina's grandparents house to film as they have a large bathroom, which is key to our production, also they have some good room that fit in with the detective theme, for example offices with files and maps on the walls.
The filming went well, and we managed to get all of the shots in one day. The weather was good so we also did all of the oustide shots.
We used Millie Temple as our main character, and filmed her getting ready to go out- doing her hair and make up, and also walking down the drive and waiting for a lift.

The holiday

The Holiday Film Opening

The holiday

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Planner

Production Stages

Pre production
Production schedule
Locations
Storyboard
Script
Idea
Shot list
Pitch
Synopsis
Production
Camera
Lighting
Crew
Shooting
Tape logging
Post Production
Editing
Title
Special effects
Music/Mastering
Sound
Capturing

Idea for Film Opening

Creators: Christina and Mary
Working Title: Undercover

A young woman is getting ready to go out, we see shots of her doing her makeup, hair and getting dressed up. The things she does- like putting on gloves, putting files in her bag, searching through multiple passports and credit cards, and maybe the indication of a gun, gives us hints of her job as a James Bond style agent. The credits will be written in a type writer style font, to fit in with the mission theme.
The plot of the film would be to get romantically involved with a wealthy, powerful Russian man who the Government suspect of being a key part in gang and drug related crimes.
The audience this film would be directed at is the type of men who like spy films, but also women because of the lead role.

Notes on film openings.

From the BBC documentary "Watching", commentary by Thomas Sutcliffe

• Danny Boyle said "The opening should announce as much ambition as possible."
• John Schelsinger "A good sharp shock is sometimes a good idea."
• However JJ. Beineix said that immediate gratification is wat we want, and sometimes we should just "accept to wait".
• Thomas Sutcliffe says that the reason that film openings need to be hard hitting is because they are the first point of engagement with the audience, and it is teaching them how to watch the film.
• For example, David Fincher's Se7en opening "hits you over the head".

Feedback for Preliminary Exercise

1. All shots were steady and in focus.
2. There was one shot with half of a face cut off- Rule of thirds could have been followed better.
3. Camera position possible a bit high in places.
4. There were no significant amounts of shot-reverse-shot.
5. The background was slightly cramped.
6. The match on action was good and the sequence flowed well.
7. The eyeline matched in every shot.

Preliminary exercise

Assessment Notes

James and Christina, Mary

Use of match on action
The sound isn’t synced up with the knocking on the door
Good use of over the shoulder shot
Varied use of different shots
The camera crosses the line of action as the subject comes to the wrong side of the frame when entering the room
The two person shot needs to be framed a little tighter so the subjects aren’t falling off the screen
There is too much of a jump to the close up shot at the end
You have used titling

Preliminary Exercise

This is the preliminary exercise I completed with James and Christina. My main role within the group was to help with ideas and editing, and to appear in the sequence as the interwiewer.
I believe that we achieved a very huge level of quality on our preliminary exercise.
This is because the camerawork and the shots that we used were consistent throughout and each of these shots was correctly, and steadily framed. we followed the 180 degree and eye line match. However there are some aspects that we would change in our exercise,like in some of our shots there was too much blank space above the subjects, and we might have benefited from having a few more shots, to make the sequence longer.
The editing was also done to a good level, we used successful match on action, when James walked through the door,and a small amount of shot reverse shot. The pace of the sequence ok, however at points there are slight hesitations where we could have cut later.
The mise en scene worked very well in our favour, as the room we were using looked like an interview room, so the background is very appropriate.
Our team worked well together and as we all contributed to all aqspects, including directing, editing and initial ideas.