In class we were told to make a film opening using only post it notes and jelly babies.
The reason we did this was to plan a film and to also put all of the film titles in the correct order and to also see what other people in our class made.
This will help me when it comes to my own film opening because it showed me what I could do for my film and where all the titles in a film opening should appear
In films different genres show different generic conventions, for example comedies have light hearted music and horrors have lots of death shown. This means that at the start of the film the audience will already know what the genre is and will not be confused because they will see all these typical generic conventions.
Toy Story - Generic Giveaways - Animation/Family
Happy upbeat music
The name "toy story"
The titles are all in lower case
Animation
Non diegetic sound - Song is about friendship
The Shining - Generic Giveaways - Psychological thriller
Non diegetic sound - music is dramatic and frightening
Not much of the film shown
Not a lot given away, audience have to watch it to understand it
Superbad - Generic Giveaways - Comedy
Music is light hearted and upbeat
Comical Dancing
The colours in the film opening are all bright and vibrant
Dawn of the Dead - Generic Giveaways - Horror
Lots of death is shown
Music was ironically upbeat
Close up shot of zombies
Smeary blood writing used for the titles
Diegetic sound - Screams and the news reporter
Drive - Generic Giveaways - Thriller/Crime
Dark Background
Not much given away in the film opening
A lot of low key lighting is used in the opening
The Vow - Generic Giveaways - Romantic
The title of the film "the vow"
The man singing I could do anything for love
Quite a slow pace
This will help me when it comes to making my film because these all tell me what to include if I was to do that certain genre.
The reason films need certification in the UK is because it is a law. The law is the video recordings act of 1984 which is where all video recordings that are for sale or hire in the United Kingdom must have a certification that has been set by the BBFC ( British Board of Film Classification ). The reason they do this is to stop young children from seeing gruesome images and strong language in films they would watch.
For example Pineapple Express which was made in 2008 had a section of its film cut because it included a bit where schoolboys were were sold drugs by someone and this made the rating a 15 instead of an 18.
Another clip that had its clip cut and its certification lowered was Welcome To The Jungle and they cut scenes that had a lot of violent action and the glamorisation of weapons. These scenes were cut and the rating went from a 15 to a 12A.
This will help me when it comes to making my own film opening because it tells me the scenes that would get cut and what to put in each age range so your film does not get cut.
This will help me when it comes to making my own film opening because it tells me what I need to do to get each specific certification.
The first certificate used is a U which means universal. A film that has a rating of a U is available for everyone including very young kids to see because these films are always upbeat, reassuring and positive. Two examples of a U rated film are Chicken Run and Finding Nemo.
The second certificate used in films is the PG rating which means parental guidance. If a film has a rating of PG it means that everyone is allowed to see it but children under the age of eight have to be with a parent while they watch the film. Examples of PG rated films are Short Circuit and Grease.
The third certificate used when judging films is the 12A. A film that gets a rating of 12A only applies to the cinema because this means that no one under the age of twelve are allowed to go to cinemas and watch 12A films. Examples of 12A films are Meet the Parents and the Bourne Identity.
The fourth certificate used when determining an age certification for a film is 12. If a film gets a certification of 12 this means that no one under the age of twelve is allowed to watch it anywhere including on a DVD or at a cinema. Examples of a 12 rated film are Step Up 3D and Fast and Furious .
The fifth certificate in filming is the 15 certification. Films that get a rating of 15 mean that no one under the age of fifteen may see the film because these 15 rated films often contain a lot of strong language and violence. Examples of a 15 rated film are Hot Fuzz and Rush.
The sixth and final film certification in film is the 18 certification. If a film gets an 18 certification it means that only people over the age of 18 are allowed to see these films because these 18 rated films usually have a lot of strong violence, gore and frequent bad language used. Examples of 18 rated films are Trainspotting and Sin City.
For my first film I chose to do the film Watchmen, this film will help me when I make my own film opening because this film shows me where I should put the institutional logos and what order each person should go in during the opening sequence.
The Shining
For my second film opening timeline I decided to do the film called The Shining because this offers a different way on how to introduce everyone who has worked on the film and this film opening would help me when I come to making my own film opening because it shows me a different way on how to open a film and a set a scene.
Superbad
For my third film opening timeline I decided to go with the film Superbad because this shows me a completely different way to open a film and will help me when it comes to making my film opening because it shows that their are many ways to open a film and set a scene.
In this scene here which occurs at the start we can see that the titles of this film link with whats happening which is effective because if the titles did not match what was going on in the film, this would make it confusing for thew audience because they would not know what is going on or what genre it could be.
From this scene to the right it could tell the audience that this is an action movie because there is already a fight sequence involved in the film opening and this could also tell us what is about to come in the film and this could just be his first of many fights in the duration of this film.
During the fight scene of this clip there is good use of non diegetic sound because each punch sounds like it was happening their when in fact they edited after they had finished filming their own film opening. Another good use of non diegetic sound is the use of the background music in this film opening because the music helps to build up tension and anticipation while also linking with what is happening in the film.
The use of fast paced editing in this clip is effective because it shows the audience all the chaos that is going on because hes had to start fighting someone.
The atmosphere in this film opening is one of tension because you have the main character sneaking around hunting down an enemy and this ends up with a fight and then you wonder what happens next after he walks away from the place.
The themes you would associate with this film opening would be fast paced, violence and full of guns which are some of the usual themes you would associate with the action genre.
This will help me when it comes to making my own student film opening because this gives me an idea of what other people at our school have done and how their titles come up on the opening.
One of the things that makes a good student film is that the filmmakers make sure their titles fit the genre and opening of their movies because if they don't fit the opening sequence of the movie the viewer will become confused because the titles make the film look like a different genre. In this student film opening the titles match the opening sequence which enables the viewer to know what genre it is straight away.
Another point that makes a good student film is that the camera must be steady at all time unless you are using a handheld camera and you want to have that effect of shakiness on the people watching your film. In this shot the camera needs to be steady so you can pick up all that is happening in the scene and in this shot there is hardly any shaking.
Another thing that makes a good student film is that the audience understands what the film is about in the opening two minutes because if they don't know whats going on it could become confusing for them as they would not know whats happening or what could possibly happen. In this shot you can clearly see what the film is about because of the body in a bag, a policeman and also a detective.
Also using a variety of good effective shots in your film would make it a good student film because it would keep the audience interested with all the cuts happening while the film opening is going. They used a variety of shots including the establishing shot and the extreme close up.
To make a good student film you need to be able to get your titles in the right order. In this film opening they get their titles correct by putting their institutional logos at the start followed by their actors and then at the very end they put the most important person that is involved which is the director.
As we can see from the clip above, what you also need to have in a good film opening is that you need good quality dialogue if you use any during your film opening because bad dialogue would make the film sound worse than it is.
Also from the clip above there is good use of non diegetic sound which is the music that has been edited in and helps to add tension to the start of a film and this would make a student film good if the filmmakers wanted to use it.
Another point that makes a good student film is that their is good use of non diegetic sound and in this film opening there is good use of the non diegetic sound because it fits whats happening in the film opening.
One major thing you need to get right when making a student film is that you need to have edited your film well because if you don't edit well your film will not look good. In this student film opening they have edited well because all the cuts are clean and effective.
A good thing to do while making your student film opening is to entice the viewer into the film, so they have to watch it to find what happens next. This student film opening does that because you wonder what could happen next in the film, so you have to continue watching it if you could.
This will help me when it comes to making my own film opening because it shows me what other years have done and shows me different ideas.
