FILM OPENING 2 EG - This is England

THIS IS ENGLAND (IMDb) 
(Shane Meadows, 2007)
Produced by Warp Films (+6); UK distribution: Optimum Releasing 
Budget:$1.5m
Box Office: $329,37 (domestic); $7,847,165 (foreign)

A story about a troubled boy growing up in England, set in 1983. He comes across a few skinheads on his way home from school, after a fight. They become his new best friends even like family. Based on experiences of director Shane Meadows.
We are presented with an unusual first medium shot of a small section of a room (as usually the first shot is an establishing shot that provides the audience with signifiers through mise-en-scene) this implies to the audience already that this is an indie film. The peeling wall paper is a signifier that signifies to the audience that the people who own this house must be working class. Also the framed picture and radio balanced on the chair also signify that the owners don't have enough money for basic house hold items like a side table. The jumper connotes that this film is set in the 80's due to its recognisable pattern.

 We then see a long shot of a young boy sitting upon bed. It is now clear that this is defiantly not an American film as this is not relatable due to the very unglamorous setting and cubby ginger youth wearing dirty Y fronts which we would now presume to be the main character as he the first few moments are centred around him.

Then we are finally presented with the establishing shot where the setting is finally revealed. The semi-detached house is situated in a council estate but in the bottom left hand side of the frame we can see a bike left untouched on the front lawn, this signifies that even though we would associate council estates with theft this must be a relatively safe area which contradicts general stereotypes.





This is then followed by an extreme long shot showing a slightly run down looking news agents. The audiences first opinion is that this shop could sell alcohol illegally and other dodgy items. 

A panning shot follows the boys movements whilst also revealing the interior of the shop, this is so the audience can see that this is just an ordinary news agents.












Then we see a medium point of view shot from both the boy and the shop owners perspectives. Both characters are placed in the right hand side of the shot this is so we can clearly see both characters facial expressions and surroundings.

PRELIMINARY/TECHNOLOGY - what I learned

What I learned

I have never even opened Final Cut Pro-X so this first step was pretty big moment for me. I never knew that editing could be so simple and I quickly learned how to change from the select tool to the cut tool using keys rather than using the mouse which will help me to make the editing process a lot quicker. To move the mouse to the select tool you press fn A and for the blade tool you select fn B. 

My editing timeline

I learned which way to hold the camera by a trial and error process as I am used to taking photos and having freedom to hold the camera which ever way I please, so it was a bit of a shock when filming a moving picture that I was restricted to only being able to hold the camera landscape.

We had a short amount of time to create a story board and film our little piece. Our instructions were to film someone opening a door then walking across a room a then finally sitting down followed by a short dialogue.

As this was the first time using the cameras whilst also only having a short time to film there are many elements that I would like to re film and tweak especially the poor filming at certain points. But this means that when it comes to more serious pieces that I will feel more comfortable and prepared. I tried to use a few different shot angles like panning,low angle, long shot, close up and over the shoulder. Hopefully I can expand on my range of angle shots.

These are my definitions and examples or some semiotic techniques.

MY PRELIMINARY

With the help of my fellow media studies students I created my own prelim in which I try out and explore many different camera angles including over the shoulder shots, close ups shots, match on acton editing, panning and low angled shots.

PRELIMINARY EXERSIZE - terms

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Continuity editing: 
the shot flows naturally in time using invisible editing so the viewer would not be aware that there had been any editing. Discontinuity editing e.g flash back, non-linear 
 match on action:
When the first section of an action is filmed but the middle bit where we would see the object traveling is cut out and we then see the objects landing.
shot/reverse shot:
when two people are having a conversation shot 1 is person A shot two is person B shot C is back to person A, this can happen as many times as you want.
180-degree rule: 
where the camera has to say on one side of the action as if there was an imaginary line.

FILM OPENING 1 EG - Submarine

SUBMARINE (imdb) 

(Richard Ayoade, 2011)

Produced by Warp Films (+9); UK distribution: Optimum Releasing 

Budget:$1.2m

Box Office: $467,602 (domestic); $397,057 (foreign)

At the moment i'v been looking into the first few minutes of films. It interests me that the first few moments of a movie can either make us press the stop button on our remotes or entice us into exploring what more the film has to offer. This means that the most crucial part of a film may well be the first 2 minutes. Therefore it must be done correctly.

My reaction to the first few moments of the film 'submarine' was this, many different variations of camera lengths and angles were used which added to the scenes visual appeal and made it more interesting. 

 The colour scheme created an arty feel which I personally loved there was minimal dialogue which I thought was effective due to the arty feel of the opening, it made me feel as if I was watching a short  film that should be shown in an art gallery.

Even though it's hard to make clear what genre the film is in the first few minutes of it, (especially rom com) this film portrayed it perfectly by not making it incredibly obvious but enough so that I could say that the film would be a rom com. They did this by adding an arctic monkeys backing song about romance
finally one of the main things that stood out for me, even though it may seam insignificant, was the voice over, not only was it spoken with a dulsit tone which matched the feeling of the room but also that it matched the feeling of the whole 2 minutes, very simple and very effective. Even the camera angles at one point were so simple they almost looked amateur but it just fit even though the piece isn't amateur but very stylised and beautiful. 
Here the camera is panning across the room to give us the audience an idea about the character and their surroundings. This is showing us that this is not the bedroom of a stereo typical boy as it looks like an old mans bedroom.

Why 'Breakfast on Pluto' is a british film.

At first when asked the question 'what makes a film British' you immediately think "that's a pretty straight forward question, well the lead role is played by a British actor so it … no wait its based in America so it can't be a British film.... but the directors British, wait what?    

Stuck? Thought so. Well now your so called 'simple' question has taken a more complicated turn.

To be honest I believe that it is a pretty open ended question with a lot of room for your own interpretation, you can take many different routes to answer this question. Alright, now lets start again.

What makes a film British?

Is it the cast and crew? Location? Source of money? The director? Or just a sense of britishness?

Well when I watched the crazy film 'Breakfast on Pluto' I picked out these 5 'simple' facts that I personally believe makes the film British.

1. The director Neil Jordan is British.
2. It is a social realist film with fantastical points to it.
3. It is not glamorous film even though the main character likes to dress in glamorous woman's clothing. 
4. The central characters are played by British actors including the well know actor Cillian Murphy.
5. It is a nostalgic indie film set in the 70's which truthfully portrays the true hardships of that era. 

My favourite film

Anchorman.


This is my favourite film not only due to the fact that it stars one of my favourite actors but also because it is one of the only films that can make me laugh for 2 hours straight. I'm not ashamed to say that can recite the film off by heart.

The Brief

Our brief is:

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule. Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.
All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

Welcome to my blog

            This is following my journey as a film maker.
                               Molly.