Planning

The next stage of my production work was the planning stage. this took a couple of weeks as i kept changing my ideas. But at first i started of with a Cloud Diagram in order to get my initial ideas together on paper.

I then decided to write out a story board in the design of an arrow diagram so that i had the basic idea of what my film would look like and be about:

• opens on a blank screen. ambience sounds of police sirenes and rain.
• quick paced editing of shots around Torquay e.g St mary church, Town (day and night).
  Voice over begins -> police radio effect.
• police investigation theme, camera shots with camera themed like border. MS of female dead on bed (rule of thirds). Cu shot of money under Pillow. Cu shot of wine glasses (on with lipstick print), Cu of bottle of wine toppled over. each transaction made by amplified camera sound with a slight flash to give a camera like effect.
• cuts to a shot of a rainy street. main characters voice over begins.
• Flash back effect of femme fetale getting ready in the mirror voice over continues.
  -> over the shoulder shot
  -> Ms and Cu
• other female enters the shot, relfection in mirror. argument begins, a glass is smashed (cu)
• femme fetale leaves. female sits down (ms -> Cu of face) in order to emphasise the emotion.
• Cuts to shot of femme fatale passing a not to detective in the street. CU of note -> MS of detective under the street light.
• female is getting ready when detective walks in. two shot.
• Fast paced editing of female and detective laughing, drinking and smoking. they then leave the room. amplified door shutting.
• Fades into the the two empty glasses of wine and empty bottle (lipstick mark) and then a cigarette in ashtray still lit (CU)

After Carefully reading through this and thinking about it, i realised this would be too much for a film opening as it would be too difficult with the time limit we have and would most likely be over the time limit for a film opening which we had.

I then decided to change my idea to:

Our Production work task was to create a film opening a couple of minutes long which created Enigma, we also had the option to choose which genre of film we would like to do. Over the past couple of weeks we had been looking at different genres of film in order to see how their film openings created Enigma so that we could follow the same conventions and use them in our own openings. We then deconstructed some films from our chosen genre, i chose film noir and had deconstructed the film Sin City as i was interested in creating an opening for a modern film noir film.

In my planning stage I thought of all the different genres of film that there were, then i decided on different films for each one which had a good film opening. I then came to the conclusion of creating a film opening for a thriller genre. I decided on this genre as i thought it would work well in creating an enigma within the first couple of minutes of a film opening. Also most thrillers are about murder, therefore would be easy to act and stick to using the same conventions such as:

• crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments.
• climaxing when the hero finally defeats the villain
• villain driven plot
• twist to the plot

I am inspired to use some of the camera shots used by the thriller film " The Blair Witch Project" as it builds a large amount of tension as well as creating the enigma. They have done this through using point of view shots and tracking shots. I thought this would be good in my film opening in order to create suspense and successfully build up tension. I wanted to target the age range of young adult / older teen, i will do this through using the same age group of actress's in order for the targeted audience to feel like they can relate to certain situations.

This is an example of a shot taken from the blair witch project which builds tension.

I decided to use Oddicombe forest as my location for filming as it was pretty gloomy and had a iscolated like atmoshpere as hardly any people use the footpaths. this was a good idea for location as this is a stereotypical location for thriller films to be filmed as they are usually dark, gloomy, abandoned, isolated etc. as they connote the idea that something has happened or is about to happen.

For my main character, i wanted her costume to be bold and stand out, therefore i chose to use a bold red long coat as it stood out and was eye catching. also, the colour red represents danger which i thought would be good to use in my film opening. my main character also has red hair which i thought could reinforce the idea of danger and make them be viewed negatively by the audience. i wanted my other character to be dressed in casual older teen / young adult clothing in order to appeal to the young targeted audience.

This is an example of my second characters costume. It is generally the stereotype for older teenagers/ young adults. therefore audience can relate to the character.

This is an example of my main characters costume. I chose the color red to represent danger.

The only props that i will be using is a large knife and a park bench. i wanted to use a large knife in order to reinforce the idea of violence as it is stronger than a smaller knife. Also i thought it would be easier to create a murder using a knife rather than a gun as it would take very careful editing in order to make the gun successful and run smoothly. I wanted to use a park bench in my filming as a prop as it would give the impression that the character is alone, and portray the idea that they don't fit in in everyday society and even the idea that they are recollecting past memories.

My Storyline was to follow the idea of:

• begin with a blank screen and the sound effect of footsteps which is then used as a sound bridge into the main character's feet walking through the forest in order to create suspense.
• then the "flashback" effect used by a fast cut sequence of different shots of my main character from behind, but she will be recognisable due to her bold colour of costume.
• different shots of my main character walking through the forest in order to build the tension, reinforce the establishment of the character and to establish the setting of the forest.
• different shots of my other female character in order to establish that character, to be done through point of view shots and high angled in order to represent the idea they are in danger and build tension
• flash back sequence of both characters arguing, making the main character look weak and vulnerable.
• sequence of my character walking to and sitting on a bench, done through high angled and point of view shots to create the idea she is weak and vulnerable.
• close up shot of the main character eyes, physco / aggressive look. long hold shot.
• cut to black, followed by the title of the film

This was just the brief plan for my film opening as i wanted to experiment with the different sequences in order to make them work smoothly and successfully.

Deconstruction of Sin City

I have decided to deconstruct the film opening to "Sin City"

as i have chosen to use the same theme of film noir,

but a modern version like Sin City.

Deconstruction:

• follows the black and white colour themes, but add's red aswell. This creates a sexy, dangerous idea about the film.
• man offers the girl a cigarette which can relate to the cigarette/ cigar which can relate to the typical conventions of a film noir film.
• voice over from main character.
• the idea of femme fetale portrayed by the woman in red, she is sexy and wearing red which could represent danger. This is portrayed by the camera shots used aswellas the music.
• Wet streets -> raining, puddles, the ambience of thunder.
• the female's dress is red as well as her lips -> reinforces idea of femme fetale.
• Theme of crime throughout the sequence -> police sirenes in the background (ambience)
• The rain and wind have been amplified in order to create the scene to be wet and rainy while also creating a negative impression on the audience.
• Shadowing (typical convention of fil noir) used to cover half the main characters face. this could portray his personality with the idea he is half good but has a bad side to him aswell.
• Crime has been emphasised when he shoots the girl.
• Enigma is created strongly.
  
  
• Credits -> black white and red used yet again.
  -> Comic Strip style is used -> creates a more modern look and appeals to a younger audience.
  
  
• Car racing down street -> detective -> crime
• voiceover from the character, establishes the character and allows the audience to know what hes thinking and creates enigma.
• light on the main characters face, second detective is in slightly darker lighting -> creates a contrast between them.
• large shadows on the wall of the villans -> emphasises a negative idea about them.
• the little girl is in the light... idea shes innocent.
  
  
  The ideas i have gained from the film opening of Sin City is how to create a more modern film through the use of mise en scene, camera techniques, editing and sound and music. I liked the idea of using another colour apart from black and white, but think it would be very difficult to use in my own film opening.