Film

Evaluation

Evaluation

Task: to create the opening of a feature length film of my chosen genre.

Research

In order to plan for the task I watched and researched a number of film openings. The genre I chose was action, I watched he opening few minutes of ‘Casino Royale’, ‘Sleuth’, ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Sin City’, these are films I like, and are similar to the style I wanted to achieve in my film. I found that some of these films had sub-genres such as horror or crime, making them appeal to wider audiences.

I made notes on the films, looking at the way it is filmed and edited as well as themes of the genre so that I could begin to think of ideas for my film. I looked for generic convention that I saw in all of the films and made notes on them, this way I could best recreate the genre in my film.

Many of these films were shot in black and white, they used unusual high and low angle shots, with harsh lighting. I liked the camera angles used in ‘Sleuth’, the lighting used in ‘Casino Royale’, the atmosphere created in ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and the editing used in ‘Sin City’. I wanted to recreate these aspects in my film opening and I think I have done so successfully.

Planning

The next step was to come up with a plot summary for the entire film, this way my opening could be put into context:

Set after a series of terrorist attacks targeting public transport. When searching the debris of a train, footage is found in a destroyed camera, apparently filmed by someone on the train in the moments before bomb exploded onboard. It may hold vital evidence that will help in police investigations into the incident. The film opening shows the footage as two police investigators watch it and begin to analyse the video questioning what it shows in order to find out who was responsible and to prevent similar attacks from happening in the future. It would deal with current issues within society and represent a number of groups within society.

Set in an office room, the film opening would start with some film credits, it would then show two men investigating the discussing the tape that had been found.

From this I could create a storyboard and script, these would be used when filming and editing the film. Once I had watched the films and thought about the plot, I had a good idea of how I wanted the film to look.

I wrote out a short script, and began to make changes to it in order to improve. I made several draughts of the script and was finally happy with it. The storyboard gives a rough outline of the varied shots I wanted to use.

I think my product would be distributed a smaller British institution such as Working Title rather than a larger American company. It is set in London and primarily targets British audiences and therefore should be distributed by a British institution. My film targets a smaller audience than many of the films produced by larger companies, my finished film would be low budget and therefore does not need to target a large group in order to make a profit. My film is likely to attract a small audience, primarily targeting young men to whom the action genre appeals and it may attract other groups. As a genre, action generally has a young male audience, though I believe that a more artistic and unconventional approach to the way the film is shot (in black and white) may bring in wider audiences, although maybe reducing appeal to others. I wanted to give the film a ‘gritty’ aesthetic rather than a polished and idealistic look. The effect of this is to make the film more believable and it reflects the mood of the story being told.

Editing

The film was edited with Ulead software. I chose to edit the film in black and white (reminiscent of film noir), like a number of the film that I had analysed, I like this effect. I am pleased with the variety of camera angles I have used, following the 180-degree rule and giving thought to the composition of each shot. I used high and low angle shots as well as over the shoulder to give different perspectives.

There are a few credits at the start of the film, I added music to this. I used various effects through the film; it fades to black at the end. I also added a number of sound effects to the film, there is some white noise in parts and a police siren toward the end of the clip.

Conclusion

In order to improve the film, I would have liked to improve the editing. I would like to have used software other than Ulead to achieve better effects to improve the film. I also feel that the setting and dialogue could have been improved.

Overall, I am pleased with my film opening; I used a variety of angles throughout the film and pieced it together with continuity.

As I have produced the film opening after the Preliminary exercise, I was more competent with the technology used to create process and construct the product, such as camera and editing software used in the film industry. I was able to use what I had learnt from the first exercise to ensure a successful opening scene.