Analyzing a Film Opening

For this task, I was asked to view 3 different film openings and analyze at least one of my 3 choices. I have chosen to look at Sweeney Todd which was directed by Tim Burton. Since I've always been a fan of his work, I find that the opening to this film is very interesting approach to start off a film. The first impression you get from watching this opening is suspense, as is starts off during the night with ghostly, dark music and then a sudden rush of thunder and rain begins to mix in with the non-diegetic sound. The camera angle continues a following shot over buildings and finally tilts down to the barbers chair. Then the camera continues a following shot on a trail of blood that goes keeps moving down to the cellar. The reason this creates suspense is because as we follow the camera angle, we gradually find out what is in store for the film and as we follow the blood, we get more of an image of what to expect in this film. What also creates tension and horror is the diegetic sound used for the blood and we hear it squelch and drip throughout its path.

As the opening is clearly animated, it gives off the feel that it is real as each object looks perfectly realistic however as it is odd that the blood is moving in such a careful path towards the cellar, we know that this opening has definitely been edited. What isn't shown is very many cuts where the scene changes completely as the main camera angle used is a following, the camera captures most of what is going on without adding in too many cuts. 

CityScape Film Opening

My CityScape Opening
For this task, we were asked to create a Cityscape Film Opening by using imported clips of everyday activities in London. To create the opening, we used a program called Adobe Premiere Pro which is a professional program designed to create and edit movie and sound clips. As it was the first time I was using this program, I found some of the features confusing and found that it seemed a bit complicated. However when I started getting into the editing, I picked up on using different tools and features, such as:
The Cutting Tool - I used this tool to slice clips where I wanted them to end if they were too long or start if I wanted a different perspective. This tool is used commonly in editing as there will always be part of films which aren't wanted or are too long for the scene.
Unlinking Sound - I used this if there was a digetic sound within the clip which I didn't want, I could get rid of. I did this by right-clicking and selecting the 'Unlink Sound' feature.
Speed/Duration - If I came across a clip or a part of my film I wanted to speed up or be slowed down, then this is the feature I would use. To use this, I right-clicked and selected 'Speed/Duration'.
Resizing - As most of my clips were too small for the screen, I had to re-size them to make them fit the whole screen, I did this by going through 'Window;Effects Control;Motion Control' and then resizing them like I would with a normal picture.

When I finished editing and adding the final touches to my opening, I compressed the file and sent it to my Media teacher to be put onto YouTube. Below is my final piece which I am pleased with as it is my first piece used in Premiere Pro, but if I were to remake this, I would add more of a selection of effects and maybe change around a few clips to make it seem more interesting. However as it was my first attempt, I think it's fine the way it is.

Sequence of Six

For this task, we were asked to go off in pairs and create a sequence of six to tell a story. In my sequence, I used a digital camera to take photos of my partner Vicky, walking though a corridor, stopping to take a sip of her drink and carrying on down the corridor. To produce this piece, I uploaded the photos to my computer and used the program Microsoft Powerpoint. In the diagram above, I took notes of what each step was and why I chose to take my photo from that angle, what I could have dont better and what works with it.

Mood Board Opening

For this task, we looked at the opening scenes for the film, Trainspotting. We where then asked to create a moodboard on powerpoint, containing parts of which were mentioned in the opening. For example he mentions, choose a life, a job, a career and a famile so in my moodboard, I showed him as someone who doesn't have a way in life and ends up doing things that would cause trouble, smoking, taking drugs, binge drinking and stealing.  I found images on the Internet which show people doing these tasks and what makes the moodboard look bad is that none of the images look pleasent.