A Comparison

A comparison of how my groups film making skills have developed throughout the year:

Finished Film Opening

Titles inspiration

For our opening titles we took inspiration from many places. We wanted to keep the titles simple and minimalistic as not to draw the attention away from the action, this style has appeared in many films and TV shows over time in different styles for example:

Taxi Driver (1976)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Drive (2011)

All of these films have the title sequence come over the action which allows the plot to progress quickly without being overshadowed. The first two minutes of the film are so important that we did not want to waste time on not progressing the plot or introducing characters to the audience. We wanted to jump straight into the action without cutting the shots with titles as we think it will work well with our opening and save time. Furthermore our opening sequence requires you to focus on the action and if you were distracted by the titles, then you would miss important things that are pivotal to the story.

No Sound

We have decided to have no non-diegetic music in our film opening. The decision stems from the fact that we wanted the tension to be raw without any sound distracting the audience from the action, for example in the film "Back To The Future" (1985) a lot is revealed through the opening sequence of the character Doc Brown, even though it is not obvious that you are learning about the character it makes you want to watch the rest of the film. The diegetic ticking of all the clocks is all you need to be hooked into the film and intrigue you as the camera pans through the room.

We want our film to have a similar effect but in a different sense as we want it to be thrilling and intense and we wanted it all to be natural to add to to the eeriness and make it more relatable to the audience and resonate with them more, which is what we aiming for.

Peer Feedback

My group showed our film opening to our class to see what they liked about it and what we could improve to make it better:

To improve the audience suggested we add a scream to increase the scariness. As the last shot cuts to black abruptly and the only sound is a mug braking they thought it would be better if a scream was also layered over just to see the effect it adds. They also suggested revising the title we have used was not memorable and the fonts we have used did not fit in well and were boring compared to footage as they were not clear.

The feedback was overall positive but they did have some things that they would change to improve our final product, this exercise was very helpful as it allowed us to see what an audience thought about our film opening so far and is was also insightful to see what people said we could improve. I feel that once these changes are added it will make our film opening better.

Editing

As the due date draws nearer our film opening is beginning to look more like a film opening, as we have a complete timeline and just need to tidy up the cuts and add things that our peers told us would make our product better.

We have almost finished and have played around with sound but settled for nondiegetic sound throughout as it alone creates enough tension. It will all be complete soon... Hopefully.

Spotlight

Directed by Tom McCarthy this is the true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation within the Catholic church, and it is absolutely brilliant.This film touches on one of the most shocking pieces of news in history, a scandal that was covered up for years and it depicts the story about the struggle of getting the truth out to the nation.

It is compelling and beautiful, not only the story but the cinematography and the acting performed by a brilliant cast brings the story to life. Not only do you feel the struggle but the absolute magnitude of the time they had spent on this story, the effort and raw emotion put into  it keeps the audience gripped throughout.

The story itself is so interesting and unbelievable it makes you lose faith in the church and partly in humanity for keeping it a secret for so many years, however faith is partially restored when you realise that there are people out there willing to uncover the truth no matter what it takes.

For me it was totally nerve racking and just brilliant as I was only a child when these events were happening so for them to be relayed in such a fantastic manner is truly moving. Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and the rest of the cast breathe life into this story. The emotion is so real from not only the main cast but the entire ensemble as they tell the story in a way that makes the audience feel close to the story.

Personally I feel this is an important film that everyone should watch at least once, it is a new age masterpiece (no wonder it's up for an Oscar).

It is incredibly important that you watch this film, not only to learn something but also to experience something.