THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SINGLE OPENING SHOT OF A FILM

Film openings are undoubtedly one of the most crucial aspects of creating a film as they have the ability to convey the film's main ideas and character arcs.

REAR WINDOW (1954)

Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" opens with a shot of a large panelled window overlooking the back of a row of terrace houses. The shoot slowly zooms forward until the  frame lines up with the centre panels of the window and the audience have a closer view of the scene from the window sill. The placement of the camera directly correlates with the film's title and the audience are introduced to the setting of the film. Themes such as privacy are introduced through the apparent lack of concealment the tenants occupying the opposite building have, shown by their open and unobstructed windows. However this intrusion into their homes is presented as being mundane as the tenants continue with their daily lives. The abundance of windows dominates the shot and suggests that the film tackles the theme of secrecy, as windows are often symbolised as being an entrance into people's 'souls', but perhaps in the context of this film the 'soul' can be substituted for people's secrets. Having the point of interest through windows may intrigue the audience as to what lies behind the camera, in the room where the drama will take place, and this connotes the mysterious aspect of the film.

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (2001)

Adapted from a novel, this film directed by Darren Aronofsky establishes its dark and harrowing tone from the beginning, as the film opens to a shot from the fictional infomercial television show ' Tabby Tibbon's Month of Fury'. The shot is dark and shadows cover the majority of the audience's faces making the scene almost look like a nightmare, as bright yellow capitalised lettering is animated on top.  The shot progresses as the host of the show is seen preaching the same line 'we have a winner' to the homogenous audience, which they shout back at him. Close up of faces and quick panning movements make the whole piece feel surreal and establishes the conceit of reality and whats not. Although this shot does not establish the film's plot or introduce any characters it suggests that the film's narrative surrounds people who have dreams to be a 'winner', subject to their own aspirations. The title itself has nuances of ' The American Dream' and by using the word 'requiem' hints that this fantasy is unachievable or a false idea that never was real.

JAWS (1975)

One of the most iconic film openings of the twentieth century, "Jaws" is able to set the tense and dangerous atmosphere of the film whilst harbouring the audience's interest, with a seemingly mundane tracking shot through the ocean floor.  Lasting twenty-seven seconds, the opening shot establishes the setting for the film's antagonist, and though it may seem uneventful it powerfully conveys the film's horror genre. The lighting is dark, emphasised by the sea-bed being murky, and already this restricted view will provoke curiosity and suspense in the audience. The camera repeatedly moves in and out of vegetation and this notion of 'what will be on the other side' is a classic convention of horror films; more commonly demonstrated by characters opening doors which may expose them to danger. Consequently, producers of the film will expect audiences to recognise this technique and respond appropriately (they will be scared). Significantly, the title of the film introduces the audience to the antagonist, the shark, which is suggested by the ocean setting and the implication of danger.

FILM OPENING PITCHES

PITCH #1

Quick summary of film opening:
The film opens with a tracking shot through a house, getting closer to the diegetic sound of a radio which is in the basement. The radio station is being changed repeatedly, so there is a mixture of static and juxtaposing music. The framing is symmetrical as the camera continues to track towards the basement, following a path lined with clutter (books, furniture etc). As the camera descends into the basement, the lighting changes from artificial bright white light to dark red/pink neon lighting. The title screen. Montage of extreme/close ups of items in the basement, diegetic sound continues. Credit screen's appear briefly. One of the close up reveals a calendar/piece of paper with 'phase one' written on it. The radio finally stays on a station, 1920's flapper music music plays. From behind a wall/staircase the protagonist appears and starts dancing. The dance is jerky and out of time with the music.

This mind-map exhibits the initial ideas and concepts we want to incorporate into our film opening. The narrative is yet to be fully established , but aspects such as the title and credit sequence and the genre are more definite. That being said, something we learnt after attending the BFI lectures was that narrative doesn't necessarily have to play a huge part in a film opening, as its more important in some cases to establish character arcs and introduce the tone and feel of the film.  Notably, media texts that have influenced our pitch are cited and these play an important part in the transformation of these original ideas to the final product, as these texts can provoke inspiration.

PITCH #2

LIMITS AND SOLUTIONS: FILMMAKING

TIME→   EDIT

BUDGET→ USE WHAT WE HAVE
                     DIY

DEADLINE→ BE ORGANISED

TECHNOLOGY→USE WHAT WE HAVE

ACTING ABILITY→ AUDITION
                                     TEST SHOOT

LEGALITY→ MAKE SURE YOU'RE AWARE OF THE LEGAL BOUNDARIES

WORKLOAD→ SCHEDULE

LOCATION→SCOUT LOCATIONS

COPYRIGHT→ BE CONSCIOUS OF THE MATERIAL YOU USE

NOTES FROM 'MAKING FILM OPENINGS: AN AS MEDIA STUDY DAY'

MACRO CONVENTIONS of film openings

• Genre
• Narrative
• Character
• Themes
• Atmosphere

MICRO CONVENTIONS of film openings

• Colour
• Lighting
• Font
• Framing
• Costume, props, setting
• Sound design

ADVICE FROM FILM DIRECTER DEXTER FLETCHER

• use the film opening to establish characters and their relationships
• always shoot, no matter what problems arise during filming
• make sure your film opening is consistent

WHEN PLANNING YOUR FILM OPENING CONSIDER...

• Genre
• Influences
• Key Images
• Sound Design
• Film Title

10 STEPS TO THE BEST RESULTS

1. Take Stock (become aware of what the coursework is asking you to do and its worth)
2. Set Up a Blog
3. Build Up Skills (preliminary task)
4. Investigate (research film openings and their conventions)
5. Ideas (mood-boards, pitching scenarios)
6. Plannings (experiment, test shots, fieldwork, logistics)
7. The Shoot (rehearsing, people, places, props)
8. Edit
9. Evaluation
10. Enjoy Yourself

USEFUL WEBSITES

http://titledesignproject.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.artofthetitle.com/

THE DO'S AND DONT'S OF FILM OPENINGS

MOOD BOARD

PRELIMINARY TASK

STORYBOARDING

The process of creating our preliminary task began at story boarding. We were advised to restrict our preliminary to less than one minute, and illustrate our storyboards in as much detail as we could. Two pages of A3 paper were split into eight squares to use as the template for our storyboards, and, as shown below, a sufficient amount of detail was able to be depicted. A varied range of shots and camera angles are used, as well as correct proportions which really helped during filming. 

However, not much consideration was taken when deciding the duration of each shots, and this was ignored during filming regardless. Though this did not hinder the process of filming, it is something that should be improved and taken more seriously during our next task, so to increase the accuracy of our storyboard.

FILMING

Once we had completed our storyboard we quickly moved on to filming, which took under an hour in total. The filming process was quick and ran smoothly as our group co-operated efficiently. We encountered some problems, such as the replication of the storyboard. This is obvious in the opening sequence, as the second shot was meant to frame the agent's feet in the centre, but we decided a higher angle shot, from the side, would be more effective as it enables the shadows to be more defined. In shot seven the officer is meant to continue his dialogue from shot six, creating a sound bridge, however on set we decided to cut this line as we felt that less dialogue would enhance the hostile and tense atmosphere. In the same shot the agent walks towards the officer, but this movement was disregarded because we thought the the poorly executed forward roll would suggest the comedic tone of the text, hinting at the overly dramatic and pretentious agents represented in spy films.

Sound proved to be a problem during filming, most notably the background noise. This was beyond our control because we didn't have equipment, such as a microphone, that could cancel it out. Furthermore, the sounds of students in the corridor interfered greatly with the process, which led to us filming the last shots later in the day. The student's presence presented another problem, and in the final shot a student can be seen across the corridor. This unwanted detail didn't ruin the whole effect of the piece so we decided to leave it in.

During filming the need for more dramatic lighting came apparent, so we decided to only use high-key lighting above the officer, to highlight his significance in the text and create mystery around the agent, who is mostly in the dark. Back light was provided by the adjacent room at the rear of the set, and filler light came from the windows on the right side of the room, looking at it from the door. This contrast of light is depicted in the still below, which in particular shows the dominance of the agent's character in the text.

Though we encountered difficulties, we did succeed in creating a continuous piece of film; the stills below demonstrate this. The 180 degree rule was obeyed throughout the text, though we used a variety of shots. The shots that broke the rule were positioned behind a character, as an over the shoulder shot, so the rule did not apply and the audience were still able to follow.

Match on action was used continually and consistently during the film, shown below.

EDITING

The editing process was without many complications, except for the ongoing issue of sound. In some shots, the officer's voice was significantly more quiet than the agent's which hindered the film's impact.  As a result of this, we detached the audio from the film and altered the sound accordingly. Furthermore, the final shot was meant to be a close up of the door closing, however, in pre-production we realised that a student was walking down the corridor and this disrupted the continuity. After much consideration, we decided to cut the shot from the film. This problem could have been avoided if we had more control over the set, which would have also improved the quality of the sound. In contrast to these weaknesses, the blue colour gradient of the film is effective and connotes the secretive and tense narrative. The establishing shot was improved during the editing process, as it is cut so that the audience can hear footsteps before they are introduced to the character, which is enigmatic.

EVALUATION

On reflection, the preliminary task was a success as it demonstrates the filming and editing techniques required and was a realistic piece of film. The problems encountered and the text's lack of professional quality are things to be improved on, but our coursework will depict this progression.