Adjustments to Final Idea

We have now changed the ending of our final idea to make it more effective and appealing to the audience.  Now, once Zoe removes the bed covers to reveal an empty bed, she will look frantically around the room and will then check all of the rooms in the house. We will have a shot in the hallway as she checks the room and once the realisation that Summer has disappeared hits her, she will sit on the stairs panicking until the phone rings. She runs down stairs and pick up the phone shouting 'What have you done with her', there will then be a fade to the titles.

Shoot

We had our shoot on the weekend. We filmed Friday and Sunday, and overall I feel that it went really well and we managed to get all our shots back. We are hoping to get some feedback soon and will see what shots might need re-shooting.

Presentation

Once we had our idea, we had to do a group presentation in front of the class. In this presentation, we explained our plot, talked about our choice of actor and then went on to mention our key signifiers and location. We made handouts to give out as an information sheet:

Overall, the meeting went really well and I think we explained the main parts of our ideas and got across the points that we wanted to make. Our proposal got signed off allowing us to get started on the major planning for the up and coming shoot. The main feedback which we received in regards to the presentation were:


Positives:

• As an audience, we get to have greater overall power than Zoe as we see the masked and she does not. There are questions that begin to be asked such as who is this mystery person? and what role will he play in the film?
• Great visual references with the signifiers e.g the red objects. Strong audience appeal with technology of the phone and familiarity of the location- family home.
• Location is very practical and the explanation of this was positive. Will not be affected by weather, can control lighting and there is a wide possibility for different angles.

What to think about:

• Make sure the group use media terms more often e.g connotations.
• Mention key themes and how this links to the film genre.
• Refer to other film examples on the handout to re-iterate the points that we are making.
• Think about the possibility of ending the opening sequence at an earlier point incase we are doing too much.

Final Group Idea

We are introduced to Zoe, a babysitter who is in a house looking after a child (Summer). She speaks to the parents on the phone. After hanging up, she goes to the fridge and takes out a jug of red juice (signifier- red connotes blood). Whilst closing the fridge, the audience sees a masked man wearing dark clothing appear by the garden door however, she does not see this. Zoe then pours the drink into a cup. Drinking it she is startled as she hears a loud sound coming from upstairs. The drink falls from her hands and the juice pours out over the floor. Zoe runs upstairs, anxiously to see what has happened.

Pushing open the child's door, we see the room from her point of view. There are child's objects such as a rocking horse and kid's drawings. There is music playing from a ballerina jewellery box and this gives a chilling atmosphere. Slowly approaching the bed, Zoe opens the covers and is shocked to see that Summer has gone. Drawing the curtains, we see the window is open. She screams in despair shouting out Summers name.

Analysis of 'The Game' Opening Sequence

Link to Film Opening (artofthetitle.com)

• Information of production company shown at the beginning of the opening.

• Right from the beginning, it is very dar and there are slow fades to black. This adds mystery and ties in with the genre being dark and eery.

• The titles then break apart like a jigsaw puzzle and this links to the name of the film 'The Game' and is similar to the plot as there are new layers and complex situations which arise.

• The sound is very minimal and we only hear the sounds of the puzzle pieces breaking away from each other.

• There is then a change of mood as we see flashbacks of different memories. There is a sense of community and happiness as the people are smiling and are together. This community is shown with the group of people watching a play. We also get a feeling of family bonds with the father and son in the beginning.

• The setting in the flashbacks are mostly outdoors and bright adding to this positive feel. However, due to the darkness in the beginning and the fact that these are all flashbacks, we also get the idea that things have changed since this moment and everything in the present time is not so happy and filled with a sense of community.

• There is then another clip of the father and son and this clip ends with the father walking away into the darkness and this also links in with the narrative as the boy's father commits suicide leaving him on his own wondering why. 

• The final shot of the flashback is a CU of the boy and this then flashes forward into the present time so we can see the change of this boy physically as he is now a man. 

• He washes his face and looks into the camera (mirror) showing him reflecting about himself.

• The final shot of the framed photos gives another image of memories.

Individual Ideas

(Click to expand)

Genre

Our brief is to create a two minute opening sequence for a film, leaving us with the choice to choose our own genre. When brainstorming possible genres and looking at film examples, I came up with the four genres which were my favourite and ones which I think we would be able to film most effectively. These were Thriller, Psychological Thriller (sub-genre), Horror and Indie Films. After coming up with possible ideas, I seemed to me more creative and inspired by Psychological Thrillers and Teen Comedies. I decided that my next step should be to come up with my top three strongest ideas and then propose these to my group.

             FILM PROJECT WORK

 

The Brief: To produce a 2 minute sequence for a fictional film.

 

Your sequence must include:

•  Titles Throughout
•  Some form of copyright-free soundtrack, including sound fx
•  Evidence of understanding of continuity editing.
•  Clear generic signifiers through character, action, mise-en-scene, dialogue etc...

Your Sequence should be based on:

•  A single narrative idea or event
• Only a few characters
• One location ideally