Dialogue

Dialogue is a conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or movie.

Dialogue is not necessary in the opening sequence of a feature film as there's other alternatives that can be used to replace dialogue. In some cases, no dialogue or music is more effective or creates a better toned atmosphere than an opening sequence with dialogue.

Examples of where dialogue isn't used in the opening sequences of a film:

The Graduate

The Woman In Black

Transporter 1

 

Austin Power

Submarine (although there's a small bit of recorder dialogue)

Films with dialogue in the opting sequence:

Shrek

Legend

The gladiator

The Woman In Black Two

Pretty Woman

What are the positive and negative effects of dialogue in the opening sequence?

Using dialogue helps to entice the viewers and makes the story line more easy to understand as its often hard to tell peoples emotional through body language and facial expressions, therefore the characters are shown in more detail and we can also get a feel for the relationship between the characters through their dialogue and how they speak to one another. However, some audiences may feel the need to be drawn into a film with an urgency to find out character profiles rather than being told at the start.

What are the positive and negative effects of not using dialogue in the opening sequence?

Not using dialogue in the examples I have used provides a larger visual impact towards the audience. The audience become more attached and can associate with the characters leaving them wanting to find out more creating a sense of mystery of what the characters are like. Dialogue can be very difficult to write and takes a lot time to consider what lines work best, therefore it is useful to use silence or narration especially when there's little time to rehearse and film the film. Certainly in a non professional context the producer may consider music or narration as actors may not have the quality experience of performing affective dialogue. A negative would be not performing the appropriate skills required by a specific audience because to make up for the lack of dialogue you have to show really good clear facial expressions and body language to explain the plot also the story line may be really vague.

What issues do you think you would face in your own coursework by using dialogue?  

The issue I think I will face when creating my film is having actors who aren't very confident in speaking so the dialogue will come across unrealistic and there will be lots of stutters.

What issues do you think you would face in your own coursework by not using dialogue?

By not using dialogue my coursework may come across really confusing because the actors may not be very confident in using facial expressions and body language to communicate thoughts and feelings. 



Character

How important are characters particularly in the opening 2 minutes of a film?

Characters are usually important in the opening 2 minutes in a film because that's where they get introduced and the scene is set. The character are usually introduced in the opening few minutes of a film and help make the plot interesting and gripping therefore if the characters aren't interesting the audience will get bored and turn the film of within the opening few minutes.

Character profiles of  3 existing films

Hazel Grace - The Fault In Our Stars

Hazel Grace is very lonely after years of dealing with thyroid cancer and lung problems. She's sixteen and spends her day watching TV, reading or going to support group occasionally, where she is forced to go and communicate with other kids with cancer. Hazel Grace has a good sense of humour but keeps a lot to herself. She lives her life trying not to hurt others. She doesn't want to get to close to anyone so that when she dies no one will be hurt. Hazel Grace is very real with herself, she knows that she has cancer and that's the way that her life has to be lived. Hazel Grace is so iconic c because the audience can relate to her and give her sympathy because she is so kind and caring to other people despite the horrendous and drastic issues going no in her life. Hazel Grace add the narrative as she is the narrative and tells the story form her point of view so we understand her feeling's and emotions and the plot form her side of view. Also, in the opening two minutes of the film we are introduced to her and her everyday life struggles and the audience instantly gain sympathy for her.

Edward Blood - Big Fish

This character is very confident, popular and important to the whole film. The thing that makes this character so iconic is his personality and determination to marry this one girl he sees at a circus, and everyone can relate to him because everyone has felt love and wanted to be love in their life, so when Edward Bloom filled the girls garden with flowers it was heart warming.  In the first two minutes the audience finds barley anything out about Edward Bloom, other than him telling the story about the big fish as a narrator. You don't find out that it is him speaking in the first two minutes either.

Jack Sparrow - The Lord Of The Rings

This character is so iconic because, he is the main character in the pirates of the Caribbean. This character is a vital part to the whole film without him there wouldn't be a film as good as it would be with him in it. In the opening scene Jack is not in it because it is a dream of a flashback. But when the time is moved to the present then he is on a sinking ship and this shows the audience that he is important and will be in the whole film not just a random character.

My first idea for my coursework

Narration

Narration is when there is a voice over for a film that explains to the audience how the actor is feeling or telling them the story, it can be anything.  It normally isn’t used in horror films, more like romance, comedy and some drama. Narration can be helpful when the story line is really confusing because it helps the audience understand what is going on.
 
There is narration in quite a few films such as, Big Fish, Lemony Snicket, The Twilight Saga,  these films are all either drama's, children's romance or comedy films. 

Usually in film its the narrator looking back on their childhood, the narrator has to have a clear distinctive voice so the audience can tell when its the narrator speaking. The voice also has to be interesting so you can happily sit and listen to the them for hours. A good narrator is Don Lafontaine, he became identified with the phrase "In a world...", used in so many movie trailers that it became a cliché. Widely known in the film industry, the man whose nicknames included "Thunder Throat" and "The Voice of God", became known to a wider audience through commercials for GEICO insurance and the Mega Millions lottery game.

I don't think I will use narration in my coursework because I want the storyline to be really confusing where nothing is explained so it will leave the audience wanting to find out more and leave them wanting to find out the answers.

Narrative

A narrative or story is any report of connected events, actual or imaginary, presented in a sequence of written or spoken words, or still or moving images. Narrative can be organized in a number of thematic and/or formal categories: non-fiction; fictionalization of historical events; and fiction proper.

The conventions if narrative in the following genres...

Comedy

Comedy films usually involve and unexpected plot twist that is far from reality. They usually have something to do with someone making a fall out of themselves ,being genuinely unlucky and silly because they are socially awkward. Such as in  Pitch Perfect a girl called 'Fat Amy' makes the film because of all her unfortunate events and stupidity,such as Pitch Perfect 2 where it starts with her clothes accidently ripping on stage leaving her stark naked in front of a massive audience.

Horror

Horror plotlines are usually very predictable. In horror films they usually involve some kind of psychopath who goes around killing people or other fatal events occur that usually end up in death. There also many horror films that follow hauntings form ghost or other spirits and it follows the families or people journey of being haunted and what happens to them.

Action

Action films are usually very gripping due to there fast pass action keeping audiences eyes gripped to the screen so they don't miss anything. Action films are often to do with goody and baddies with a set out mission that usually involve a massive destruction. There many fights involved, car chases out bursting in settings with crashes, bangs and outbreaks through windows and doors.

Drama

Drama's usually involve real life situations, with realistic characters , settings and stories, portraying journeys of character development intense social interaction with a dramatic story line made to emotionally effect the audience. It is common that the drama is based in conflict such as relationship struggles such as the death of a family member.

Romance

The scenario for a romance is more often than not 'boy meets girls scenario' with hints given throughout that there's a 'love math' that will lead to a 'happy ever after', although many romances involve a struggle the two people have to go through to be with each other such as a disagreement where they both go their separate ways, however they the usually always reunite.

Narrative Theory

Todorov's theory

Tzvetan Todorov simplified the idea of narrative theory while also allowing a more complex interpretation of film texts with his theory of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium. Also chose to use 5 stages which are: a state of equilibrium, A disruption of the order, a recognition of the order being disrupted, an attempt to repair the disruption, a return of the new equilibrium.

Target audience

Target audience is the intended group for which something is performed or marketed; the specific group to which advertising is directed.

Target audience for the following genres...

Thriller

Someone into intrigue and mystery with a twist would be interested in a thriller. Someone who would like to try and work things out for themselves but never quite get there.
Thrillers are generally particularly popular with the under 25's and have a slight female skew because they usually have more patients to sit and work things out for themselves rather than get told everything that has happened.

Romantic comedy

Romantic Comedies tend to be directed at women aged 13-17 or potentially even older. This is mainly due to the light hearted nature of the films that are produced in this genre. The predominant market for Rom Coms are First World citzens such as teenage girls from America or Britain, so most the actors or actresses are from either of the two countries due to their versatility in film and their dominance in the film market. Traditionally less serious film fans go to Romantic Comedies due to their less artsy and more relaxed naturel.

Horror

 

A horror films target audience is generally those in the age group 15-25. It is mostly aimed at men as they are more likely to be able to interact with the characters on screen.

The secondary audience is dating couples. this is morel likely to be either very close but not married couples or first date couples because they cant watch if together without getting scared.

Action

I'd say the target audience for action film is usually men and tom boys because they tend to like fighting scenes and cars scenes etc all in which are faced past and generally interested men more than woman.

For my coursework I think my target audience will be teenagers and young adults because I want to do a horror/thriller which would not be suitable for young children as its not something you would let your children watch plus the dark colour scheme such as black and white wont grip younger children.

Teenagers and adults would have more patients to sit and watch the gripping film therefore I think my coursework will apply to them male and female.

If I was going to make my film for real I would

put posters out including the main characters with a dark and gloomy colour scheme to show the film is mysterious and that wanting interest adults and teenagers wanting to find out more. I would also make a advert to show the best clips of the film and making it gripping so they want to find out more If it was possible I would advertise my film on TV channels such as MTV where the audience of the channel is teenagers and young adults.

Breaking the fourth wall

The term comes from theatre. A simple one-room set on a stage has the back wall and the two side walls. The "fourth wall" is the wall that isn't there, so you in the audience can look into the room. In an ordinary play, the action on the stage never seems to be aware of what happens "behind the fourth wall". In other words, while the play is going on, the actors behave as if the audience isn't there.

Sometimes, an actor on the stage connects directly with the audience. This is called "breaking the fourth wall." It can be a mistake, such as when the actor is visibly startled by a cough in the audience. Or, it can be intentional, such as when an actor on stage walks away from the action and starts narrating for the audience.

Examples of "breaking the fourth wall": 

“Annie Hall”A classic breaking of the fourth wall comes from Woody Allen’s classic romantic comedy, “Annie Hall.” Allen’s Alvy Singer often breaks the fourth wall to comment on details of his relationship with Diane Keaton’s titular character. With the film earning four Oscars, maybe the fourth wall was meant to be broken?

“American Psycho”Patrick Bateman (played by Christian Bale) is always breaking the fourth wall in the 2000 film “American Psycho” via his inner-thoughts, to give the audience a peak into his brain, and help understand his maniacal character.

Breaking the fourth wall is something I am considering in my own coursework because I feel like it engages the audience. As I want to do a horror or shocking drama I feel like having the bad person look into the camera will make the audience feel scared, as if they will be able to put themselves in the shoes of the scared person which will engage the audience and make the video more dramatic.

Genre

In class we looked at different movie genres - Sci-Fi, horror, romance, drama, fantasy and action. I came up with different settings, props, costume's, diegetic sound, non-diegetic and lighting that could be used in each genre. 

The Sci-Fi film Monsters (2010) - textual analysis

Monsters was made in 2010, it fits into both the alien invasion and mutation sub-genres of the sci-fi genre. The narrative of a crashed NASA space probe suggests the film include space travel however this doesn't end up featuring in the film. But, the idea of space exploration and alien life is a major aspect of the storyline.

There are many key sci-fi conventions in the trailer. The opening shots show the destruction that hints at the alien invasion and mutation narrative. The text flickers and the choice of font for the text on screen "Six years ago" also suggests this belongs in the sci-fi genre. The later text on screen referring to a "NASA space probe" reinforces these initial impressions. The shot from within the car of the sign saying 'Warning: Infected Zone' then introduces the idea of mutations and scientific experimentation; this is two key sci-fi sub-genres. Following these key opening shots, the editing shows glimpses of the creatures that have mutated as well as further evidence of destruction.


The target audience is difficult to judge.  According to the film website IMDB Monsters was given a 12A rating in the UK which would definitely open it up to a teenage audience. The film features two main characters, male and female, as well as the suggestion of a romantic relationship between them. It could be argued this would appeal to more male, than a female audience with an age range of 14-35 as men are usually more interested in Sci-Fi films than woman. The fact Monsters is a little known, low-budget indie film might also mean this film would be watched by a more educated or middle-class audience.

The horror film Saw III - Textual analysis

Saw III was made in 2006. Its a Canadian-American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. The story follows Jeff after his son is hit and killed by a car; he is put in a series of tests by Jigsaw in order try and let go of his vengeance on the man that killed him. Meanwhile a bed-ridden John Kramer has ordered his apprentice Amanda Young to kidnap a doctor named Lynn, in order to keep him alive for one final test before he dies of cancer.

The props being used are mainly mechanical machinery and metal that make the film really gory. and gruesome to watch. From these props, the location can be told of that the movie, it is filmed within a set up factory, the film is about teaching people who are in really fortunate positions in life but abusing there privileges, an evil life threatening lesson.
 
There many sounds that help add to the goriness of the film such as Sharp contraptions, with fierce metal killing blades, Rough Beat up clothing for the ordeal's the characters have endured, sweating and hard body struggle and lastly dark rusty surroundings.
The camera shots being used in the film trailer are that of typical horror film Genre with many hard Close ups and Mid Close Ups, to portray and make exemplar the fear and terror that is occurring within the film. Also, a lot of pans are used, the camera panning around the room as the characters are put in situations with objects to help them out.

The audience would probably be adults or old teenagers because the film is not something you would want to let your children watch because it would scare them and freak them out from all the blood and goriness. I also think the film would appeal more to men than woman because its quite a dark and harsh film that woman may be less interested in watching because woman tend to tend to be more squeamish.

A romance film Paperman - textual analysis

Paperman is a short animation romantic comedy film that was created by Walt Disney/directed by John Kahrs. The location is set in New York City around the time of 1940, and begins at a train station. A young man and woman are waiting for a train together when the young woman is hit by a flying piece of paper. When the man removes the paper from her face, he finds she has left a lipstick kiss print on the paper. Before he can say anymore, the woman has jumped on the train and all he is left with is this piece of paper. The man then pursues the woman after sharing the moment together, until he finds her in an opposite office block to his own. The paper with the kiss is the final paper aero plane he can flow from his desk to grab her attention. The paper stirs up all of the other aero planes he has thrown until they eventually lead him to her. The pair are then reunited and the film finishes with them facing each other at the same train station they met.

Paperman is firstly set on the platform of a train station and in the young man’s workplace office. These are both typical locations that the audience can easily relate to and have probably experienced themselves, therefore making the short film easier to relate to in general.

There is no dialogue in Paperman. This means that the audience have to closely watch throughout to follow the narrative of the short film and therefore the audience can interpret for themselves what the characters are feeling and use their imagination what they would say if they were speaking creating an active and engaged audience.  Additionally, there's lots of diegetic sound used throughout the short film, such as the paper rustling and train pulling off from the platform. This further allows the audience to feel as though they we are there in the character’s shoes, and also helps to set the scene.

The audience for the Paper man is for young women and older teenage girls, as well as perhaps young men, who both feel they can empathise and sympathise with the protagonist.

Creating an opening two minute film

Our task was to practice creating the opening two minutes of a film in an hour. There was four/five people per group and we were put into a category that best suited us. One the person came up with the idea for the film, another chose the characters and location, and another film and editing. In my group Jasper was in charge of creating the idea for the film, he decided to base it on a drug deal that went wrong and the man died. The idea was then passed onto me and I had to decide who would act and where it would take part so I went out of the class the found two boys to play the roles and decided to do it in the school toilet because it made the film look dodgy. After I chose who would play the two men I gave them to Kate and Richard where they went away to film, and once they came back Rachel edited the clips into a video.

This was our final video...

Diamond nine

We were asked to prioritise what we think are most important things within a film into a diamond nine , this is what I first thought...

After looking at the media mark scheme I changed my mind on how important or less important some of the the things were to make a good movie...

Making a character

Name: Stacey
Age: 19
Nationality: American
Profession: University and works in McDonalds
Marital status: Single

How do they speak?

Stacey is educated but has no common sense and is away with the fairies all the time, they don't use long fancy words neither does she have good grammar and often swears with a whinny annoying voice and says random words such as 'thiddle sticks'. Stacey talks the same to everyone even if its a friend, teacher or mum. When someone speak to her she will often not pay attention and when she does speak shell just be looking around as if she doesn't care.

What are they like as a person?

• Stacey is fed up with her life as she is always treated like she is nothing and is always so unlucky so she gets fed up with herself easily.
•  She's rather pessimistic but however hard she tries nothing would ever go hey way.
• She's the life and soul the part purely because she always manages to make a fool out of herself because she's an inner child and doesn't come across as mature as others her age.

What does the character like and dislike?

• Stacey is into cheesy chart music and she often finds herself  singing randomly. She the type of person who would get up and do karaoke without thinking about the consequences of embarrassing herself.
• Stacey loves her food and would rather go to McDonalds than go out for a fancy dinner. comfort food to go to when she's sad is loads of junk food form her cupboards like crisps and chocolate bars.
• Stacey gets excited at little things such as Christmas time she gets really excited like a big kid.

What about their past?

Stacey has lived with her nan and granddad all her life because her parents left her on her grandparents doorstep when she was born. Stacey often thinks about what is wrong with her, why is she always so unlucky and why she was left alone? Although her grandparents are poor and she lives in a small cramped house her grandparents have always treated her like a baby and if it wasn't for university she would still be living with them for the rest of her life. At university she is forced to look after herself and struggles to get by everyday without any trouble. Stacey is used to being classed as the 'weirdo' and ' lame', no one ever wanted to be friends with her so she would go around on her own forever making a fall out of herself. However when she gets to University everything changes after a funny video she puts in YouTube and she finds herself one of the most popular girls around, the girls who were once popular would snigger in jealousy at her while boys chased after her.

What do the characters do?

Stacey earns a living by working in McDonalds earning little although after she becomes popular she quits McDonalds to move onto bigger things where she earns loads, such as interviews etc.

How important are characters particularly in the opening 2 minutes of a film?

Characters are usually important in the opening 2 minutes in a film because that's where they get introduced and the scene is set. If the characters are boring then the audience are likely to get bored and turn the film of straight away as the characters are what make or breaks and film, if the actors isn't very good or well suited to acting out a character the film will seen very unrealistic. 

Mise en scene - Sound

There are two types of sound in a film...

Diegetic sounds:  diegetic is when its source is visible or implied in the world of the film. Common diegetic sounds present in most films are:

• Dialogue
• Ambient sound

Non-diegetic sound: Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film:  

•  Voices of characters 
•  Sounds made by objects in the story
•  Music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)

The hunger

In the clip we witness the last few minutes of Bobby Sands life. There is little dialogue in this clip and long spells where little sound is projected.  This is unusually for modern day films were there is little speech is filled with sounds effects and music. The clip is set in a prison, the noise of the gates doors opening and keys being rattled were exaggerated and emphasised. I think the noise of the doors were enhanced because they were like the different stages of death he was going through.

There is very little non- diegetic sound within the clip. However there is one part where there is a flashback with a sound track being played over the top of three scenes, this allows the audience to see the link between the different stages of his life before he dies. There were also birds singing in the background at several point during the clip which symbolise with wanting to be free (like birds outside the prison walls).

Ratchatcher

• The film begins with a boy wrapped up in a curtain but its a rather unclear what the  abstract image is to begin with. There is also abstract sounds  in the background, the diegetic sound sounds as if its coming from inside the boys head. There are two sounds one of children laughing and shouting and another  a muffled sound that sounds like inside the boys head like blood rushing I his head.
• There is then diegetic sound of the mother then slaps the boy bringing him and the audience back to reality.
• It then goes back to the curtain as it unrolls and the same sounds at the start are repeated (the sound of children and the muffled sound)
• As the boy looks out the window the same diegetic sound is repeated of children playing as if that's what he is imagining in his head because he really wants to go outside and play where he would hear them sounds.
• There is a conversation between the boy and his mum as she runs of. They both have a strong, clear Scottish accent that stands out to the audience, maybe the actor is stereotyping the low class of Scotland as they are in a run down location.
• Sounds are deliberately heightened such as when the boy pulled his trouser of his wellies to make a point in this case him standing up to so him.
• The camera is then  from inside the window as if its someone's point of view we can tell this because speech is muffled of the children outside fighting although, the sound quickly gets louder as it changes to the boys points of views outside.
• When the boys head is pushed underwater the water the same sound as the start begins again the abstract unclear sound of blood rushing around the boys head.
• It then shows the kids playing football and the noise of the ball is heightened and then it goes silent.

Slum Dog Millionaire

I watched the opening of slum millionaire and put looked at the different sounds in each shots such as the action, description of sounds, diagetic/non diagetic sound, atmosphere created by sound and the music type- type atmosphere.

Sound in opening of genre films

In class we listened to the opening sounds of a selection of songs.

The first selection of songs were from horror films. There were no lyrics in the songs which made to effective because it gave a mysterious eeriness to the sound but it did include sounds effects in some of the music such as knifes and spooky laughter which went well with having no music because it meant the audience could focus on the spooky sound effects making the audience feel scared. The music is staccato that's suspenseful as the tension builds up.

The second selection of songs were from western films. The sound is made using acoustic instruments and strings. Western are different to horrors in the sense they have lyrics with the songs. They were effective because they were up beat and with all the instrument's sounding like the desert and sand you could picture yourself in the scene.

The third selection of songs were from sci-fi film. The songs are rather atmospheric which is effective because they make you create new world in your head and you can put yourself in the world created in your head. The sci-fi music is made form orchestra, so they're rather dramatic and busy as the music builds up getting faster and louder creating suspense; which is mysterious like the sounds at the beginning of horror film's.

Recreating the submarine opening

This is the opening of submarine that we shall be recreating.

Before filming

When we were given this task we were told that we could work in groups of one or two people. I decided to work with Molly as it would be easy to arrange a day to film and we felt that we could produce a better piece of work if we were working together than on our own.

Cast:  We decided to cast My eight year old brother to play the role of 'Oliver Tate'. We thought that this would be a good idea because it will be easy to organize a time to film. Also, by using my brother we can film the scene in his bedroom because he lives with me. Even though he is a little bit younger than the actor used to play Oliver in the film, we felt that it was still the best option because all of the other options we thought of didn't fit right with the scene or didn't have a suitable bedroom to film in, such as not having room under the window. However, we will use a different person to narration for the scene as we both agreed that my brother was too young and therefore wouldn't be confident enough to speak into the microphone. Also, he doesn't attend our school so getting him into the recording studio could be difficult. For this reason we are going to use someone from one of the younger year groups at our school to film as this will allow us to have easy access to the music studio and will also allow our work to be professional. We decided not to get someone from our age group to do the voiceover as their voice would sound too mature for an eight year old boys image.

Location: As mentioned above we agreed that we would use my brothers bedroom for the scene which is shot inside. We felt that this would be a good location as there is a window with room for him to sit under and there is a few things on the wall which is fairly similar to the boys bedroom in the actual film. However, there isn't anywhere near as much clutter in the room that we are using than the one in the film which could make our version of the film look very different from the original. Also, we are deciding to use the countryside located around Molly's house, in the village of Morley, to film the outside, scenic shots. We felt that this would be appropriate because it would be easy to find the time to film the shots and there is nice scenery.


Storyboard: We are creating a storyboard to aid the way that we film the scenes. The storyboard that we are creating will act like a plan on the day of filming which will make the overall process easier. As well as having a rough sketch of what will be shown at each stage of the clip, we will also write how many seconds each shot should be shown for. This will mean that we are able to know exactly what we are doing on the day of filming and we won't have to cut as much footage when creating the end product. The storyboard will also show the angle that each shot should be filmed at and this will allow our work to look as close to the original as possible, creating a professional feel.

Filming

When filming all shots we used a tripod to make sure that the shot was still, this created a professional look to the shots. To film the shot of the room, we used a slow panning shot from one side of the room to the other. By making the speed of the panning shot slow meant that you could see the items in the room which created more meaning and correlation to the original opening sequence of Submarine. We found getting the shot under the window difficult as it was hard to get the right proportion of window and still make sure that we got all of the shot of Annie's little brother, playing Oliver Tate. The next shot was then a zoomed in shot of Annie's brothers face. We had a lower angle for this shot to emphasise the change from a far away shot to a close up.

To film the outside locations we tried to film in the evening when there was a pink/orange sunset. This backdrop would create a similar look to the scenic shots used in the original clip of Submarine. We used several different fields around my house as they display natural scenes, similar to the natural clips used in the original. Once again we used a tripod to make sure that the shots were steady and level as if they had been shakey it wouldn't have looked very professional. We didn't move the camera to film these shots as we tried to base it around the shots used in the original opening sequence. 

Editing

To edit the footage we used Adobe Premiere Pro. Firstly, we decided to look at all of the footage and decide which clips we wanted to keep and which to delete. Once we had done this we had to put them in place and cut them down so they were the right length, to do this we used the razor tool. The aim of our project was to create a version of the opening couple of minutes of submarine, as a result of this we decided to use the same idents used in the original, film 4. Therefore adding in the idents between the footage was the easiest part of editing. After this we had to make sure that the clips ran smoothly onto each other, without stopping and starting and without having a brief moment of pitch black. This was essential as we didn't want the end footage to look unprofessional. After this, we had to add the backing noises such as the soundtrack from the opening sequence of the original and the narration, it was really important that we made sure the sounds in the background were in the right place as they are key aspects of the opening sequence

Evaluation

Me and Molly found it really hard to edit our videos on adobe premier as we have never used the programme before. We have all the footage and what we did what was fine such as the acting of the boy and the videos however we struggled to get the film four ident of YouTube onto our submarine video and the titles that come up in the original submarine video. if we were to do it again I would try have more experience with adobe premiere before trying to tackle making my own video.



Camera shots and Angles

The different types of camera shots and angles...

The camera angle marks the specific location at which the movie camera or video camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles simultaneously. This will give a different experience and sometimes emotion. The different camera angles will have different effects on the viewer and how they perceive the scene that is shot. There are a few different routes that a camera operator could take to achieve this effect.

Establishing shot: An establishing shot is usually the first shot of a new scene, designed to show the audience where the action is taking place. It is usually a very wide shot or extreme wide shot.

Wide shot: An establishing shot is usually the first shot of a new scene, designed to show the audience where the action is taking place. It is usually a very wide shot or extreme wide shot.

Medium shot: In film, a medium shot is a camera angle shot from a medium distance. The dividing line between "long shot" and "medium shot" is fuzzy, as is the line between "medium shot" and "close-up".

Close up shot: A close-up or close up in filmmaking, television production, still photography and the comic strip medium is a type of shot, which tightly frames a person or an object.

Cut away shot: In film and video, a cutaway shot is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually, although not always, followed by a cut back to the first shot, when the cutaway avoids a jump cut.

Low angle: In cinematography, a low-angle shot, is a shot from a camera angle positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eye line, looking up. Psychologically, the effect of the low-angle shot is that it makes the subject look strong and powerful.

High angle: A high-angle shot is a cinematic technique where the camera looks down on the subject from a high angle and the point of focus often gets "swallowed up

Extreme close up shot: The extreme close-up shot is traditionally used in film to allow the viewer to enter the character's intimate space, revealing certain characteristics and emotions 

Two shot: A shot of two people together.

Worms eye view: Worm's-eye view is a shot that is looking up from the ground, and is meant to give the viewer the feeling that they are looking up at the character from way below

Birds eye view: A bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object from above, with a perspective as though the observer were a bird.

Over the shoulder shot: In film or video an over the shoulder shot is a shot of someone or something taken from the perspective or camera angle from the shoulder of another person.

Reverse shot: Shot reverse shot (or shot/counter shot) is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character.

Perspective shot: These are films in which the audience sees just what a character does, all or part of the time.

Point of view shot: A point of view shot is a short film scene that shows what a character is looking at (represented through the camera).


In the film City of God the opening is very short and snappy. There are many camera shots, all a few seconds long. This was effective as it builds up tension when the chicken is about to run. In contrast, the film The Graduate was simple using long shots. There was a man against a plain white wall as the credits came up besides him. This gave the audience time to focus on the main characters and get and idea what he's like. Lastly, the film submarine used long wide shots to set the scene and gives the audience an idea where and what the town is like its being filmed in. It shows the boys bedroom using a wide shot this meant we can see everything inside the room including the furniture and toys so we can get a feel for what kind of person he is.  This is followed by a range of different locations in an extreme long shots form a high angle that are shown  around five seconds long. This is effective because the audience have enough time to look closely into the film to get a feel of the atmosphere.

Long shots

Short shots: If you use a close up too late in a scene, and you're holding on an actor's profile in a two-shot, or a distant long shot, the viewers are craning their necks and squinting their eyes to see who's talking, what's their expression or who are they anyway!

If you use a close-up too soon, you may gain immediate intimacy, but lose a great deal of information conveyed through body language that may be part of the actors' performances.

Too much use of close-ups also produces "Talking Heads" type of movies, a TV show disease.

The close-up should be a natural cut from a medium shot that is technically unnoticeable, but emotionally poignant or revealing. It should be a subtle enlarging of the presentation and used sparingly like salt.

There are all kinds of close-ups, some are extreme, showing eyes or lips, others are soft and romantic; however, all close-ups should be well lit and photographed with artistry, such as, when appropriate, back-lighting or using special filters and nets, since they are usually the easiest to control and much of the photographic excellence of a movie is judged by them.

Also, it's what actors are most concerned with. So pay a lot of attention to your close-ups. Much of your popularity as a film maker will depend on how you make your actors look. They'll literally love you for it! I mean that only figuratively of course!