In our opening, we have two clear sections and styles of filming, the first being the chase scene, and the second being the more storyline-focused detective scene.
Starting with the CCTV-style shot, we have used this angle and filter to create a sense of surveillance in the scene. Different style shots add variety for the audience, and keep them interested in the sequence itself.
The chase scene consists of fast-paced editing, a well developed technique in the industry, which adds pace and excitement to the scene, effective in symbolising the tense chase between the characters. We chose to limit the amount of zooms we used in the sequence to connote the sense of a "Fly-on-the-wall" point of view, to further symbolise that these events are happening within normal, everyday settings.
The second section of our piece is the slower paced 'Detective scene'. In this, we have chosen to use more longer, sweeping shots to place more emphasis on the setting of the crime scene. Shot-reverse shot also allowed us to construct effective dialogue, which are the key places where we advanced the storyline. Finally, by editing the filter and transitions used over certain scenes create the effect of a flashback. This allows us to create a non-linear timeline, an effective way of drawing our audiences into the story of 'The List'.
We have limited the use of special effects in our opening to help ground the piece in reality, allowing the audience to relate to it more easily. We felt that to achieve the 'gritty' feel we were striving for, SFX would detract from this. Any effects we included we tried to achieve with the camera itself, with its positioning and the angle of the shot.
There are exceptions, such as the slow-motion running used as the Top Billing names are introduced. We found this effect in the iMovie application, and thought it would be a great addition to our piece to add weight to the star names. Another effect is the 'flash' transitions used to symbolise the flashback scenes. We experimented with many ways of achieving the flashback effect , but we found that fade to white was most effective, and it also seemed to follow the conventions of other psychological films using a flashback storyline.
Finally, we used a variety of filters to create a sense of time, such as the 'bleach' effect over the flashback scenes. We found through audience feedback that filters were effective at creating the desired effect, while not being over-intrusive for the audience, something which we were keen to address.
One aspect where we felt we could have improved our opening was the introduction and presentation of our characters. With the limited amount of dialogue we have in our opening, the characterisation was difficult to portray, so we attempted to achieve this by focussing on the costumes of the characters. While both detectives are wearing suits, we have styled one to be very smart and 'proper', while the other is more relaxed and laid back. We feel that this could have gone into more depth, but with our limited budget we were unsure at how to do this effectively. Also, the lingering, contemplative shot of the more 'professional' Detective Mason analysing the body highlights his method of working, as opposed to the other's more 'rough and ready' approach.
But we were pleased with the way our villain was portrayed in the piece, especially with the sharp contrast of the pure white mask and the all-black clothes. The white of the mask almost 'pierced' each scene the villain was shown in, which we felt was hugely effective at highlighting the menace of his character. Finally, the way the villain removes his disguise throughout the chase hints that there will be a clue to his identity, connoting to the audience that he has flaws in his persona, which may be exploited.
Starting with the CCTV-style shot, we have used this angle and filter to create a sense of surveillance in the scene. Different style shots add variety for the audience, and keep them interested in the sequence itself.
The chase scene consists of fast-paced editing, a well developed technique in the industry, which adds pace and excitement to the scene, effective in symbolising the tense chase between the characters. We chose to limit the amount of zooms we used in the sequence to connote the sense of a "Fly-on-the-wall" point of view, to further symbolise that these events are happening within normal, everyday settings.
The second section of our piece is the slower paced 'Detective scene'. In this, we have chosen to use more longer, sweeping shots to place more emphasis on the setting of the crime scene. Shot-reverse shot also allowed us to construct effective dialogue, which are the key places where we advanced the storyline. Finally, by editing the filter and transitions used over certain scenes create the effect of a flashback. This allows us to create a non-linear timeline, an effective way of drawing our audiences into the story of 'The List'.
We have limited the use of special effects in our opening to help ground the piece in reality, allowing the audience to relate to it more easily. We felt that to achieve the 'gritty' feel we were striving for, SFX would detract from this. Any effects we included we tried to achieve with the camera itself, with its positioning and the angle of the shot.
There are exceptions, such as the slow-motion running used as the Top Billing names are introduced. We found this effect in the iMovie application, and thought it would be a great addition to our piece to add weight to the star names. Another effect is the 'flash' transitions used to symbolise the flashback scenes. We experimented with many ways of achieving the flashback effect , but we found that fade to white was most effective, and it also seemed to follow the conventions of other psychological films using a flashback storyline.
Finally, we used a variety of filters to create a sense of time, such as the 'bleach' effect over the flashback scenes. We found through audience feedback that filters were effective at creating the desired effect, while not being over-intrusive for the audience, something which we were keen to address.
One aspect where we felt we could have improved our opening was the introduction and presentation of our characters. With the limited amount of dialogue we have in our opening, the characterisation was difficult to portray, so we attempted to achieve this by focussing on the costumes of the characters. While both detectives are wearing suits, we have styled one to be very smart and 'proper', while the other is more relaxed and laid back. We feel that this could have gone into more depth, but with our limited budget we were unsure at how to do this effectively. Also, the lingering, contemplative shot of the more 'professional' Detective Mason analysing the body highlights his method of working, as opposed to the other's more 'rough and ready' approach.
But we were pleased with the way our villain was portrayed in the piece, especially with the sharp contrast of the pure white mask and the all-black clothes. The white of the mask almost 'pierced' each scene the villain was shown in, which we felt was hugely effective at highlighting the menace of his character. Finally, the way the villain removes his disguise throughout the chase hints that there will be a clue to his identity, connoting to the audience that he has flaws in his persona, which may be exploited.
The use of costumes in our film was one of the weaker points of our opening, but there were still positive points. The suits allowed the detectives to be recognisable and it gave them a higher status instantly, while the mask for the villian was especially effective in identifying him as the film's antagonist.
The genre we chose for our film is 'Action/Psychological thriller'. We initially chose this because they were the most popular choices in our initial questionnaire. This also allowed us to experiment with different styles of filming and editing, and allowed us more opportunities to have greater variety in our film opening. The initial fast-paced chase scene with low/high angles and action shots combined with the high-tempo music appeals to conventions in the action genre; While the slower paced nature of the flashbacks and twisted-frame shots in the detective scene in combination with the slow, 'scary' piano music provide a huge shift in tone of the piece, gearing it toward the psychological aspect of our genre.
The title font we have used in our piece is 'American typewriter'. We felt this connoted a strong link with the title, while being interesting and easy to read for the audience. We have made the names of our participants bold, to put emphasis on the 'star names', a common convention of title sequences as clearly seen in one of our inspirations, 'Panic Room'.
The genre we chose for our film is 'Action/Psychological thriller'. We initially chose this because they were the most popular choices in our initial questionnaire. This also allowed us to experiment with different styles of filming and editing, and allowed us more opportunities to have greater variety in our film opening. The initial fast-paced chase scene with low/high angles and action shots combined with the high-tempo music appeals to conventions in the action genre; While the slower paced nature of the flashbacks and twisted-frame shots in the detective scene in combination with the slow, 'scary' piano music provide a huge shift in tone of the piece, gearing it toward the psychological aspect of our genre.
The title font we have used in our piece is 'American typewriter'. We felt this connoted a strong link with the title, while being interesting and easy to read for the audience. We have made the names of our participants bold, to put emphasis on the 'star names', a common convention of title sequences as clearly seen in one of our inspirations, 'Panic Room'.
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