our film the urban myth is about two teenage kids who are dared by there friends to go to the forest after school, the urban myth says that there is a living creature in that forest. The two friends then decide to go after school and check if the legend is true what they do not know is that trouble awaits them. As the two decide to split up, you start to see the real fear of these teenage kids. Meanwhile one of the friends Arnold as a suspicion that something is following him, he takes a look round the tree to see if there anything there as soon as he turns around the creature takes him. Shortly after his friend gets attacked, the creature has made his new victim which is karim the second friend. Karim the looks back only to find out that the creature is behind him, however there is a twist the monster decides to spare him leaving karim to run of
Most of the camera shots in this opening sequence uses variable close ups, to illustrate a viewpoint of what this psychotic person is doing. It is shown in fine detail; to give the audience a point of view on what this observable serial killer is doing using a range of high angle shots to conclude this. Moreover the opening scene also uses close ups of objects such as: books, needles, and pictures of people close to death.
Sounds
The sounds that you hear throughout the opening scene are non diagetic; the instrumental of the music is so technical it’s sturdy to know what kind of instruments are been played. The instrumental is rapidly done which adds suspense and tension to the audience, the scream in this music brings a sense of death and torture. However the non diagetic sounds given of in this opening scene suits the convention, it gives the audience a graphical idea of what the film is going to be about.
Editing
The editing used in this opening scene are rapid cuts, they go from one shot to another rapidly, and this builds the pace of the film adding suspense to the audience. Moreover the cuts of the pictures shown in the opening scene suggest that the thoughts of this ambiguous person are disorientated and grotesque. The Text of the credit used in this opening sequence suggest that it is the hand writing of psycho, all these effects gives the audience the generic convention of this movie.
Mise-en-Scene
There are variable amount of non artificial lighting because the setting was dark and gloomy with obscured images of people near death. This gives the sense of seclusion and the thought that this person is up to no good. There is a contrast of colours between black and white, because the setting is dark and gloomy then a lamp appears which brings a sudden contrast. This could imply that this psychotic person as two sides, although we see his bad side in this opening sequence it gives it away that he may have an emotional soft side.
Final Destination 3 opening titles is laminated throughout with very little changes in each of the various shots, however it still manages to follow the conventions of a thriller movie as the mise en scene is gloomy and dark with a soundtrack that create suspense for the audience. If paid enough attention to you can see that the animation is of a theme park which relates to what the whole movie is about as the actual movie starts with a tragedy on a roller coaster. Furthermore with each of the titles there is a shot of someone being killed in various different ways this gives the audience an idea of what will be included in the movie once it starts.
The mise en scene for the opening sequence is all in black and blue, theses colours are extremely dull and emphasises the feeling of misery and death which is what the whole movie is about. As the opening titles background is a theme park you would assume that it would give out a fun happy opening into the movie but instead it is the complete as instead it gives the audience a sense of terror and fear. The soundtrack used in the opening titles to final destination 3 is slow and melodic in a hypnotic way almost entrancing the viewers receiving a calm but tense feeling in a different state of mind solely focused on the movie.
The titles colour is in white with several different fonts. Playful fonts have been used with the writing being edited into what is happening in the background for example a name flowing in the shape of a rollercoaster allowing the opening titles to flow naturally. Furthermore the shots in the opening titles move at a slow pace which gives the audience a chance to really look and interpret what it is that is going on in each shot but at the same time left with a sense of ambiguity as the audience have yet to understand what the rest of the movie is about. Final Destination 3 is a thriller because there is a sense of tension throughout not only the opening sequence but the whole movie. The opening fits all the conventions of a thriller as there is a sense of tension terror and suspense right from the start.
The scene opens with an establishing shot of the city. With the titles in silver block capitals at the centre of the shot. It then moves into an Arial shot of the cars in the busy city. There is a lot of establishing shots of buildings. The camera then goes into a pan shot again of building in New York City. With the titles at a angle. Each title has its own shot on a building and blends into the background. Next the camera has a high angle shot of the city. Then afterwards there is a contrast with a low angle shot of the building. Right at the end there is a dolly movement of the women walking. In conclusion the camera shot in the opening of panic room is made up mostly of establishing and panning shots, with the titles blending into the background on each building.
The opening sequence uses dark slow music which builds up into a fast place which causes the audience to feel suspense and tension. The song used in the opening non diegutic as it is artificial and has been edited in. Although panic room is a thriller the opening sequence does not portray the usual conventions of a thriller, as there is a women walking through a park on a nice sunny day. The audience will not be able to suspect that there is anything band or interesting about to happen from the opening sequence.
The titles in panic room opening sequence have been edited in a way that they can still be noticeable but also blended into the background. Each title has its own place on a building in New York City. The titles are also silver in block capitals and are placed at different angles in the shot, such as high angles of someone’s name then the next shot will be someone else name on a different building at a low angle shot. This adds a happy go lucky fun feel to the opening sequence.
The opening scene to children of men starts with a news report before the audience sees anything. This gives the audience a sense of tension and action already in the movie. Furthermore the whole of the opening scene was shot in one shot without cutting which was used to create a natural effect and atmosphere. The titles to the opening scene are all in black and white which is plain and simple but still effective. In the opening scene diguetic sound of the cars and traffic of the city has been used to emphasis the business of the city and show that it is set in an everyday situation. Also right before the explosion goes off there is a couple kissing this shows the stunt team their queue to set off the explosion. When the character walks outside the shop there is a date that comes up on the screen which lets the audience know that the film is set in the future. Also the title of the film comes up just as soon as the explosion has gone of which would the keep the audience interested and curious to watch more.
In the opening sequence London is represented negatively as a very manic and busy city to be. London is also represented as highly unsafe and full of pollution. The opening of Children of Men also represents London as being an area where there is a lot of crime as a cafe has just exploded; this represents what the future could possibly be like in London. The opening of children of men doesn’t fit the usual conventions of thriller as we know that the man who walked out the cafe is important in the film but it leaves a sense of ambiguity as there is still the question of weather he is a protagonist or antagonist. This leaves the audience to feel a sense of curiosity. Furthermore just before the camera cuts to the name of the movie it zooms into a woman who is badly injured and struggling, this gives of a sense that women are meek and feeble and shows that throughout the film it will be the women who are in great distress and are struggling as we find out later in the film that they become infertile are unable to reproduce. The mise en scene is in a gloomy dark setting with cars driving past releasing at lot of heavy smoke from the engine. This again adds to the representation of an unliveable chaotic London in the future.
For our preliminary task we learned the 3 main rules of filming:
SHOT REVERSE SHOT
Shot reverse shot is when the other character is shown looking back at the first character. which gives the scene a sense of continuity with the conversation between the two characters moving smoothly.
MATCH ON ACTION
Match on action connects two shots cut together by having a character finish an action in the second cut. We also included match on action in our preliminary this also allows the scene to move smoothly with correct editing.
180 DEGREE RULE
180 degree is when two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other.
We analysed the different thrillers that have been produced by Quentin Tarantino and studied his different techniques that he used to produce his film. Quentin Tarantino is a famous thriller director. Some of his most famous works are Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction. We watched some of his movies and studied the opening sequence of theses movies and analysed the ways he directed them. We looked at the editing lighting sound and the mise en scene of Kill Bill, and noted how it fitted the generic conventions of a thriller.
