My 2 minute film opening

Here is my 2 minute film opening: 'Philip Reads a Book'...

Sound

This is my chosen background music for my 2 minute film opening.

Editorial Business

Today, after extensive trial and error where slow motion is concerned, I have edited 1 minute and 48 seconds of film.
Several shots have gone unused and have been harvested of usable sections of footage, but I believe those I have used I have managed to arrange in a way that complies to the laws of continuity and displays a variety of techniques.

Morecambe & Wise breakfast scene

For my 2 minute film piece, I am considering choreographing a scene similar to the one performed by comedy duo 'Morecambe and Wise'. I would intersperse this with shots of people running, as I think to pair the mundane task of cooking with frantic movement and panic of running would have comic value.

Film Opening Time Line

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/great-expectations/#

Here is a film opening time line for 'Great Expectations' (2011)

00:02 - RAY WINSTON
00:06 - GILLIAN ANDERSON
00:11 - DAVID SUCHET
00:15 - and DOUGLAS BOOTH
00:21 - MARK ADDY, CHARLE CREED-MILES, SHAUN DOOLEY
00:23 - OSCAR KENNEDY, VANESSA KIRBY, IZZY MEIKLE-SMALL
00:27 - PAUL RHYS, JACK ROTH, CLAIRE RUSHBROOK
00:30 - screenplay by SARAH PHELPS
00:33 - produced by GEORGE ORMOND
00:35 - directed by BRIAN KIRK

00:42 - GREAT EXPECTATIONS
00:44 - by CHARLES DICKENS

The credits appear relatively oddly spaced, the number of seconds between them varying widely.
The music for this film opening seemed to build, starting softly at the beginning with only one or two instruments being played. As the piece moved on, more and more depth seemed to be added to it, and by the end of the opening the music had reached a delicate, reserved crescendo using only one instrument. This was effective when paired with the butterfly starting off translucent, then becoming more white/grey, then developing fine black patterns on it's wings until finally, it's jet black and in the iconic pose of a butterfly preserved for display - referencing part of the story, and one of Miss Havisham's famous lines.

 Miss Havisham: [to Pip of a butterfly collection] "Look closer if you wish. My brother's collection. He went to the furthest reaches of the earth in his quest for the purest specimen of beauty. And when he found it, he stuck a pin through its heart. He's dead now. Cholera. In the tropics. Struck down in his relentless pursuit of beauty. Perhaps it was beauty's revenge to stop his heart when he had stopped so many others."

Iconic Sounds

Some of the key iconic sounds from the Pastiche genre are (I am looking at a mixture of comedy, action fantasy, gaming genres):

       

There are usually a lot of explosions in action films, so I might use this convention in my pastiche.




The game over track is an iconic sound, referenced in films with the video game theme to signal a death or the end.





The 8bit track is iconic to vintage video games which is often very relatable to gaming audiences.







The gun shot sound is extremely recognisable as it is used in a wide range of genres. People recognise it even if they've never even seen a gun in reality.



Zombies are one of the most popular human-mutant features in fantasy films, and their moan is easily replicated seeing as they are formed from creatures that were once human beings.

Editing Lesson

Yesterday in our Media Lesson we covered editing for the first time. I didn't realise how much you had to think about editing a piece of film, and how long it must take. We watched a clip from 'Hot Fuzz', and in the scene the protagonist 'Angel' moved down the highstreet of the little village on the back of a white horse. As he rode past shops and people, the shots changed from one person to another, back to the first person, then to a new one at a roughly steady pace. As Angel dismounts, the shots become quicker and quicker as people stare in fear, in time to the music. Eventually both the shots and the music reach a climax and both stop in order for a line to be spoken. What follows is a 'Wild West Style' shoot out between Angel and the villagers, the shots changing almost by the second and the sounds of the guns and revolvers in time with the soundtrack. I now understand how long it must take for a director to shoot a scene in order to get all the surplus shots for the editing team to use, and I also now realise that no shot is precious. To edit a film you must be brutal, and this has given me insight into how I must go about editing for my own piece.

Alexa and Priya's Prelim Task Evaluation

We decided to make use of the green screen in as interesting a way as possible, so we settled on discussing our prelim task internationally. We had the idea of using videos instead of pictures as the background (I wanted wolves in the snow and Priya wanted gentle ocean waves), but we couldn't figure out how to save the videos and insert them over our green-screen conversation. In which case, some research into applying wolf/wave related videos over green-screen will be required.

Media Studies Animation Lesson!

Today in our Media lesson we watched 3 videos, each showing an animation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy2hrrI5BKY    -   John Lewis 2013 home insurance ad.

The beginning of Chicken Run (Ginger in solitary confinement to Edwina being taken to the chop).

Wallace and Gromit, Curse of the Were Rabbit (Wallace opening the skylight to brainwash the rabbits to Hutch twitching in his cage).

Each one had different aspects of animation and I admired and would consider using myself eventually. For instance, in the Chicken Run clip, the sky continues to change colour as the day progresses. When a key character is shown with the sky behind them, the sun acts like a halo as if they are radiating light and shows they are innocent. When the evil Mrs Tweedy is shown, the sky has clouded over and the blue becomes dull and grey. I enjoyed this aspect of animation and I would use it to show how much time has passed in a single day without directly stating it.

In the John Lewis ad, I liked how as a lot of household objects made their way outside, they were positioned to mimic the movements of animals: the spoons standing up in the draw reminded me of meerkats, some of the books reminded me of birds and the rug that rolls itself up near the end gives me the image of the slug or a snake. These animals are as familiar as the objects found in the home, so the link is more entertaining as the furniture that is usually inanimate mimics the animals that would never be found in the home.

In Wallace and gromit, the use of the moonlight through the skylight gives everything a blue filter as well as shadow, so when the camera changes silhouettes of the rabbits and the machinery become larger and the wisps of brainwaves out of focus give it a very gothic feel, as if they are still on the move without the characters' consent.

Even though I couldn't find the right parts of two of the clips they still made enough of an impression to give me a few good, clear ideas of what I might take from this to create my own work.