Research

Silence of the lambs opening sequence.

The Silence of the lambs is yet another thriller movie. The opening sequence of the film reveals no suprisingly no sign of thriller category.

The Mise en Scene in the opening sequence is used effectively throughout the clip as it showed a sign of popularity and modern day life. The colouring is used to a high standard. It is set in a high key lighting to show that this opening sequence suprisingly contains no sign of thriller or gore at all. All we see is a girl doing exercise in the woods and then gets caught up by talking to another character. Unlike Se7en, we don't see any flash backs and cutaways in the clip. With the costume, it seemed fairly modern and casual so that we can tell this film was set not long ago.

The editing is used really well throughout the opening sequence in the clip. The beginning of the clip revealed long shot durations to show that we are only keeping an eye on a character or a certain important object. Near the end of the opening sequence, the shot durations tend to pick up the pace. This reveals something is about to happen which would make the audience want to get involved in the clip and ask questions such as 'What is going to happen?' or 'Why is the shots for the opening sequence getting so quick?' There were a couple of cutaways in the clip where it revealed one location and then completely changed into another location.

The camera work was used effectively throughout the opening sequence of the clip. An example I can give to back up this point could be the pan right at the start of the clip. This part of the opening sequence revealed one long shot duration take place with a pan show the girl running through the forest and climbing over an obstacle and stopped running to talk to the man. We then see a over the shoulder shot with  the building she was going to. This is an important shot because we can then tell where this character is going. We then come into a couple of close ups with the character so that we can recognise her personality more fluently and therefore getting to know the characters role a bit more.

The sound used in the clip was used to a high standard. An example to back up this point could be the background music being played in the opening sequence. This piece of music we hear being played seems suprisingly pieceful considering that this is supposed to be a thriller genre. The music is at a low level of dynamics and it is therefore representing no sign of thriller but only piecefulness. Unlike Se7en, we this time hear some of the characters speak. I have figured out that both films are not only different towards their thriller opening sequences, but also have a different sort of voice context by letting one set of character speak in one clip and then one set of characters not speaking in the other clip.

The titles are also used effectively throughout the opening sequence for silence of the lamb. The titles seem to just pop up instantly to give you that element of surprise. This could make the sudience feel shocked and make them get even more into the film. The font that this clip uses is not serif so that it is not a serious film. Some of the titling seems to fade in and then fade out again so that this film has a number of different titling effects.

Se7en Opening Sequence.

The opening sequence of the film Se7en seems to be very creepy and scary. We can tell this because it is a thriller film. Thriller films are all about making the film horrific and nasty and the opening sequence of Se7en does exactly that.

The Mise en Scene used in this clip is very messy. The reason why I say this is because when seeing the colours in the opening sequence, we see a glimpse of black and white but its all around the place. The costume that is used in this clip seems very dull. I think in my own opinion, I see a person wearing a jacket but obviously its kind of hard to tell what the character is actually wearing. Perhaps the film is doing this on purpose to slowly uncover what is in the film so that the audience can get a good glimpse on the characters the locations the props being used and so on.  The clip seems to be in a low key lighting considering it was mostly dark, horrific music was being played, and also with the pictures and the shots seem quick and messy with the black and white colouring.

Editing is used effectively throughout the opening sequence. One example I can give for editing is shot durations. The shot durations being used in this clip also seem random but most of which are fast. This is a symbol of which the actual video is supposed to be at a fast paced tempo but also builds up tension for the audience to make them get more interested in the clip. The cut aways seem relatively strange in the opening sequences as it reveals these random pictures popping up in front of the screen and as soon as they come up, the wording and the pictures cut out straight away without any fade.

Camerawork is used effectively as well as the editing and the Mise en Scene in the opening sequence. There are mostly close ups of these pictures we see throughout different type of shots. I think personally that most of the shots fades in from one shot to the other. Also, most of the shots only reveal who is involved in the film so again, we are getting that scene on what is going to happen in the clip. We also see extreme close ups of a person using what appears to be a thread and needle and obviously knitting something. From my point of perspective, I can't tell what he is knitting so once again, we are getting a sense of surprise  in the clip.

Sound is used also effectively in the clip. An example to back up this point could be the music being played in the clip. The music being played throughout the opening sequence seems really horrific and creepy so that the audience are getting a good taste on why this is a thriller movie. The music being played in the background was in a minor context and would make the audience want to get a scene of excitement but at the same time a bit of horror as well. Throughout the clip, I hear these random noises in the background. This is again a sign of terror because the audience might not know what these noises represent.

Finally, the titles in the clip are used with great precision to make this film a thriller. They successfully done this by making the titling look scary horrific and terrifing. The titles in the clip come in perfectly. The reason I say this is because you get to see the fade in with the titles and it also flickers whilst its telling you who is involved in the clip. Again, this shows a sign on why the film is a thriller and so scary and not only that, but also gives another reason on why the film is set in a low key lighting.

The conventions of a opening sequence (Thriller).

The conventions of a opening sequence (Thriller).

The conventions that you would expect to see in a thriller opening sequence would always be in a very horrific and minor context. In other words, you would mostly expect the genre to be in a low key lighting. You would see the use of props more often, mostly dangerous props, i.e. knifes, guns, bombs e.g. 

With the music, I would personally expect to hear the music speed up to reveal tension building up. In our clip that our group are going to produce, we are going to have the music being played slowly at the start and then once we get to the shot where we see the knife with blood dripping, then the music will come to its maximum speed and then it will just stop. We are also thinking of having no sound throughout the clip but just the music. Also, the whole of the clip is going to be in slow motion.

The cinematography thats going to be used throughout the clip is going to relate to the speed of the clip. Foe example, the extreme close ups of the knife relates to a minor piece of music. The use of instrumentation being used in the clip can also relate to the main part of the clip. Close ups of facial expressions shows a sign of importance and also makes the audience want to feel part of this.

Opening sequence for second clip.

The second genre that our group are deciding to do is horror.

Considering that this is going to be a horrific genre, our group need to make sure that this clip is going to take place in somewhere dark, somewhere scary and something else that makes this clip really stand out towards the genre. The lighting is obviously going to be a low key setting considering it's going to take place in a minor place. The use of the costume is not really going to be important because in most horror genres and videos, we usually see characters wear whatever they want; however sometimes we see characters wear something dark to represent the bad side of their situation. The use of music that we are going to use in the clip is going to start of quietly at the start, and then gradually gets louder with the use if instrumentation building up the dynamics and making the actual clip more intense. This is of course a good way to get the audience's attention and making them want to know what is going to happen and why the clip is set in a rather dark and spooky place. The order of which the features come in is as followed:

• Directed by
• Screenplay by
• Produced by
• Executive producers
• Production designer
• Art and photography by
• Editors
• Music supervisor
• Visual effects supervisor
• Visual effects producer
• Casting by 
• All of this is in decending order which makes this film not a normal one.      

Opening sequence for the first film.

Our first genre that our group are deciding to do is based on a thriller. 

Our group have already got a structure for the features in our first video. This is relating to one of the films that we watched previously in class. Our group are also thinking of making the opening sequence black and white to give it that sense of sadness and peacefulness. With the black and white video going into the clip, we also decided to make the clip into a slow motion clip so that it can fit into the video. When deciding on music, we usually relate to the speed of the video so since it's going to be a slow motion, we usually have a slow tempo piece of music.

This is the order of what you would expect to see in the opening sequence:

• Directed by
• Screenplay by
• Story by
• Produced by
• Executive producers
• Director of photography
• Production Designer
• Music Director
• Costume Designer
• Editor

Ordering of the titles.

1) 21 Jump Street:

• Directed by.
• Screenplay by.
• Story by.
• Produced by.
• Executive Producers.
• Director of photography.
• Production designer.
• Editor.

2) The avengers:

• Directed by.
• Story by.
• Screenplay by.
• Produced by.
• Executive producers.
• Another Executive producers.
• Director of photography.
• Production designer.
• Editors.
• Costume Designer.
• Music by.
• Music Supervisor.
• Visual effects supervisor.
• Visual effects producer.
• Casting by.
• Decending order.

3) Dawn of the Dead:

• Marvel Studios presents.
• In association with paramount pictures.
• A marvel studios production.
• Universal pictures presents.
• Production (Name).
• Title.
• 2 names on a frame.
• 3 People on a frame.
• Casting by.

Most of the films we usually see usually start of with directed by. Also, we find out that the clips are always in decending order. However "21 Jump Street" is in ascending order. This is because the ordering of the titles are opposite compared to "The Avengers" and "Dawn of the Dead".