This blog post will be outlining the process that my group and I went through to create our opening sequence, RED.
Question 1
In what ways does your opening sequence develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
9 Key Moments:
Our sequence reflects the psychological thriller genre as we were able to imitate the typical codes and conventions of psychological thriller – creating suspense and using enigma codes to keep the audience asking questions and help eliminate any variables that would give the storyline away. For example, we did not include any dialogue in our opening sequence to create this suspense and curiosity.
We looked at an opening sequence from a student from another school to help us come up with the basis for our storyline and our main character, Red. Red is a serial monogamist/killer who vows to kill all of her exes one by one as an act of revenge for experiences in the past.
I believe that our opening sequence does conform to forms and conventions of real media products. For example, we used jump-cuts, black-outs, flickers, tension and close-ups which are typical forms of psychological thrillers. We made sure that we incorporated these factors in order for the genre to be obvious to the audience.
Se7en (1995) is an example of a film that uses black-outs, flickers and jump-cuts. We took inspiration from its opening sequence to generate ideas for our own. We watched this opening sequence over and over again focusing on the duration of the jump-cuts and the effect that it created in us as the audience. We took this into consideration and applied it to our own opening sequence.
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Cinematography
For the cinematography of our film, we focused on using the appropriate shots needed for us to reflect our vision and the genre of our opening sequence. (e.g. close up shots to show the detail and expression on Red's face and a close up shot of the knife in her hand). We mainly used close-ups to show detail and not reveal too much to the audience. Also, we used cinematography and took our own take on our intended genre by mainly experimenting with close-ups than other shots.
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Here are some of my favourite shots from our opening sequence
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Mise-en-scene
As for the mise en scene, we believe that we used the appropriate props and lighting in our opening sequence effectively to show that we were creating a psychological thriller. For example, we used a knife which is a common weapon used in psychological thrillers (similar to Se7en where a razor is seen in the opening sequence). We were especially creative with our lighting as we wanted to create a eerie and tense atmosphere by creating a red light. Instead of using a red light bulb, we used red tissue paper over a light blub to create the red light to be more creative. We were aware that this was a potential hazard but we handled this well.
For example, we used a close-up on the two candles which was very effective as you could see the flames swaying and moving abruptly - creating tension and fear in our audience. Also giving the audience a hint that something is about to happen.
Sound
In our opening sequence, we used an extract from “The Slender Man”. This helped us create an eerie atmosphere which created a feeling of uncertainty and suspense in our opening sequence. We decided not to use the song that we originally decided on because we felt as though it did not fit well with the opening sequence and drifted away from the genre. (e.g James Brown - A Man's World) We asked poeple about the opinion on the use Brown's song however, many people stated that it would not be appropriate for the genre and the purposes of the opening sequence - which we took on board when creating our opening.
Editing
We all participated in editing the opening sequence using final cut pro. We had many shots that we wanted to incorporate into the final draft however, we worked as a group to pick the appropriate shots needed for our opening sequence. We created our first draft which most of us were content with however, it was too long and many people said to have lost interest half way through.
We wanted to use jump-cuts to create suspense as most psychological thrillers create (a common code/convention used in psychological thrillers). We made sure that we did not give too much away to the audience by selecting appropriate material (e.g. not showing Red committing the crime) because this would deviate from our intensions (we wanted the audience to be left curious by our opening and demand more).
Techniques used:
We wanted to use jump-cuts to create suspense as most psychological thrillers create (a common code/convention used in psychological thrillers). We made sure that we did not give too much away to the audience by selecting appropriate material (e.g. not showing Red committing the crime) because this would deviate from our intensions (we wanted the audience to be left curious by our opening and demand more).
Techniques used:
Match On Action
Eyeline Match
Close Up |
We used this technique to show Red's anger and frustration as she throws her lipstick in the sink. This allows the audience to position themselves as Red and view the world as Red does. We used this shot to zoom into specific detail in the candles - the candles moving swiftly and abruptly - creating an eerie effect. |
Mid Shot
High Angle Shot
Question 2
In a way, Red conforms to certain stereotypes in films for example, in the film Girl Interrupted (1999) Angelina Jolie's character Lisa Rowe is diagnosed as a sociopath who is charismatic, rebellious, abusive and manipulative - similar to our character Red. This character was an influence on Red's character and personality.
Although Red has a similar personality to Lisa Rowe, it is not shown in our opening sequence which makes her subvert from the 'sociopath'/'psychopath' stereotype. This makes it seem as if she is sane when in reality, she is very capable to hiding her true self.
As a group, we really wanted to create a character similar to Lisa Rowe. We did this by watching this clip (shown beside) and analysing this character for key elements in her personality. |
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Question 3
Other institutions that may distribute our media products are YouTube and Twitter. As we want to share our opening online, we believe that YouTube would be the platform to share our media product as it is for User Generated Content and our opening sequence is just that. Also, YouTube attracts many viewers all over the world every day through interesting content and we believe that our opening sequence is good enough to be posted on YouTube and viewed on there. As for twitter, it is commonly used by people aged 16+ - including our target audience. Twitter is very useful for social discussions or social activities in general so we believe that Twitter would promote/distribute our opening sequence to help aid socialisation on twitter.
Question 4
Question 5
Video Feedback:
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YouTube Analytics (First Draft):
We had a look at the analytics of our first draft of our opening sequence which was shared onto youtube about 3 weeks ago. The analytics showed us that we received a good response from our viewers and showed us the average time they would spend watching our sequence which was very near to the end - on average, viewers stopped watching at 2:03 as our sequence ends at 2:41. However with our second draft, we have not had much feedback/response on it - showing a lack of engagement in our opening sequence. In the future, we will surely promote our final product properly and confidently in order to gain our audience's approval.
Question 6
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Question 7
Overview
Overall, there were many strengths and weaknesses that my group and I possessed during this process;
Strengths
Weaknesses
Strengths
- We worked well together as a team despite the many stresses that we all carried. We worked co-operatively and productively to produce our final product.
- We all co-operated in the editing process of our opening sequence with each of us taking turns in editing on Final Cut Pro. We also taught each other about the features of this program in order to make the process easier and faster
- We had good communication between each other and we all took criticism well from each other and others. We acting upon this criticism well and maturely.
- We planned the whole process as a collective by listening to each other thoughts and ideas - considering everyone's perspectives
Weaknesses
- Our filming processes began later than it should have which hindered our time and got in the way of other subjects. It also gave us less time to think about our evaluation and to think about any changes we want to make/film for our final draft/piece. Due to this, we made many significant changes in our opening sequence to give us more time for editing the sequence and starting our evaluation. For example, we completely changed the order of our opening sequence and cut out major parts such as, the part when Red meets her next victim in an alleyway. We decided to keep all of the parts where Red is in the room and bathroom.
- We had some poor lighting in some of our scenes due to lack of knowledge on how to cope with dull/dark lighting. However, we overcame this problem by fixing the lighting on the camera and while editing the footage. This also hindered our time because we spent too much time trying to figure out how to fix the lighting and trying to find better scenes with better lighting.
In general, this whole process/journey was very stressful and time consuming however, I learnt a lot from the experience of film making and I believe our final product was a success, despite all of the problems we encountered along the way.
First Draft
Initially our opening sequence our protagonist Red was meant to be seen sitting on a bed in a bedroom and then she would be seen lighting a candle. After this, she would be seen drinking wine and listening to James Brown - It's a Man's world. However in this first draft, we decided to experiment with our footage and change the sequence of events to our preference. We also had feedback from our target audience stating that using a pop song would not be appropriate for our genre thus deviating from the codes and conventions of psychological thriller. We used music that we initially believed would suit our opening sequence. However, I personally did not believe that it matched well with the shots and sounded quite childish.
Furthermore, our opening sequence was meant to have a scene where Red meets her next victim. We shot all of these scenes however, we also received feedback on this and we were told that this scene does not fit the sequence well. We took this on board and decided not to incorporate the scene. We also added some shots of Red cleaning her knife after she had just murdered her victim. We thought that this would make our opening sequence seem more scary and eerie.
Furthermore, our opening sequence was meant to have a scene where Red meets her next victim. We shot all of these scenes however, we also received feedback on this and we were told that this scene does not fit the sequence well. We took this on board and decided not to incorporate the scene. We also added some shots of Red cleaning her knife after she had just murdered her victim. We thought that this would make our opening sequence seem more scary and eerie.
Second Draft
Our first draft of our opening sequence was too long and contained many shots that were not appealing to our audience. We shortened the scene in which Red lights her candles. We believed this to be too long and the scene drifted away from the mysterious effect that we intended to create. We used less of the 'knife-cleaning' scene as it was beginning to get boring and tedious. Instead, we used a shot where Red puts the knife down by her side - not showing her cleaning the knife.
Furthermore, we cut most of the scene where Red is seen with the two dead victims on the bed. She is seen caressing her ex with a knife which we cut in this draft because it was not very appealing or appropriate. It looked very unprofessional especially because it was in slow motion. Regarding the music, we felt as though the music that we used originally was too childlike and made us feel as though we were creating a children's psychological thriller. We changed the music to a more suitable piece of music that would go well with our opening sequence and wouldn't dominate the opening sequence as much. Referring to the beginning of our first draft, we realised that we put our production logos and credits the wrong way round in the beginning so we corrected that mistake in this draft.
Furthermore, we cut most of the scene where Red is seen with the two dead victims on the bed. She is seen caressing her ex with a knife which we cut in this draft because it was not very appealing or appropriate. It looked very unprofessional especially because it was in slow motion. Regarding the music, we felt as though the music that we used originally was too childlike and made us feel as though we were creating a children's psychological thriller. We changed the music to a more suitable piece of music that would go well with our opening sequence and wouldn't dominate the opening sequence as much. Referring to the beginning of our first draft, we realised that we put our production logos and credits the wrong way round in the beginning so we corrected that mistake in this draft.
Original sequence of production logos/credits:
Corrected sequence of productions logos/credits:
Third Draft
As for this draft, we kept everything relatively the same as our second draft only brushing up on some transitions (fades to black) and adding an additional shot showing Red walking away from the scene. We had some feedback advising us to find a way to make our opening sequence appear more mysterious and dark. We did this by using one of our old shots. This additional shot was shot just after Red met her next victim however, after deciding not to include that scene we decided not to use the shot of Red walking away. As we were in need of a shot to create the effect that we were going for, we decided to revisit this shot and use it thus creating the intended mysterious effect.
In our previous draft, we added a cackle at the end of the sequence which we eventually began to dislike. We found that it further deviated from the genre and imposed a comedic message onto our sequence - which we were not going for. Below is a vlog of us reflecting on our third draft: |
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Final Cut
Similar to our previous draft, we kept everything the same except for the fact that we realised that we did not have any ambient sound in the scene where Red is seen walking away. We added the original ambient sound of the clip to make this scene appear to be more realistic.
References
https://app.emaze.com/@ALOTWCQO/presentation-name
http://voki.com
http://prezi.com/r0hxzixaudt0/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk_EmYUWTIg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_(1995_film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUVr_3fZoq0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl,_Interrupted_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/18
https://app.emaze.com/@ALOTWCQO/presentation-name
http://voki.com
http://prezi.com/r0hxzixaudt0/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk_EmYUWTIg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_(1995_film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUVr_3fZoq0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl,_Interrupted_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/18