Similar Genre - Opening Scene Research

I am going to look at the opening scene of 'Goodfellas' as it is of the 'Gangster' genre that intend my final piece to be in and as it is an extremely effective introduction to the film as it effectively highlights the main characters and sets the mood to follow.

The scene opens with a tracking shot which is following a car, this suggests that the people in it are main characters that will be followed throughout the film. The shot then switches to a medium shot of the people inside the car, the rule of thirds is used to show us that the driver is the main character as he is in focus and the camera is focused more on him than the other two, although it shows that they too are important in the film.

Another of the techniques that is used to set the scene in the opening is iconography, the American car gives us the impression that the film is set in America and this is then confirmed when the words 'New York, 1970' come onto the screen. We are then shown the characters inside the car who are all dressed in smart, expensive clothes which are typical of the 'Gangster' genre.

Mise-en-scene is also used to great effect in the opening scene, the opening sequence is filmed at night which has lots of connotations in itself. The fact that it is filmed at night suggests that they are bad guys and something bad might be about to happen, questions also start to be asked by the viewer as to why they are travelling at night like are they trying to avoid unwanted attention from the police? When the characters walk round to the rear of the car they are bathed in red light which connotes blood and violence and also the fact that they are in a wood suggests that they are about to do something that they don't want anyone seeing.

Juno - Titles Timeline

A key element that we must include in our final piece are titles to introduce the characters and name of the film. Here I have looked at the timings of the titles in the opening scene of the film 'Juno'.

Doing this has helped me to understand the effect that the timing of titles can have on how successful they are which will help me greatly when I come to make my opening scene. I now know that titles have to be fairly evenly spaced with short gaps between them, alternatively it can also be quite effective if they overlap each other, appearing in a different section of the frame just as the title before leaves the frame.

Assessment Criteria

There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
-framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
-using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
-shooting material appropriate to the task set;
-selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
-manipulating photographs as appropriate to the context for presentation, including cropping and resizing;
-accurately using language and register;
-appropriately integrating illustration and text;
-showing understanding of conventions of layout and page design;
-showing awareness of the need for variety in fonts and text size;
using ICT appropriately for the task set.

Research - Existing Opening Scene

Although it is not of the genre that I intend my final piece to be, here I am going to look at the opening scene of the film 'Trainspotting' as I believe it is an extremely good example of an opening sequence, seeting the mood and highlighting the main characters extremely well.

The scene opens with a tracking shot of Renton as he is being pursued by security guards, the use of this shot and the immediate focus on Renton gives the impression that he is the main character and we will follow him throughout the film. The fact that the shot freezes on him and we are told his name before any of the other characters also gives the impression that he is going to be the main character. The scene also uses titles to identify the other main characters, showing them doing something, then freezing the frame and showing their name. I think this is a very effective way of identifying the main characters and is something I may well try and emulate in my final piece.

Non-diagetic sound is used in the form of a fast paced song throughout the scene, this fits with the action taking place in the scene and also gives the viewer the impression that the film is going to be fast paced. There is also a voice over and the person speaking has a Scottish accent which suggests to the viewer that the film may be set in Scotland.

Preliminary Task Shooting

For our preliminary task we were required to demostrate basic camera skills, to do this we decided on a short, basic storyline to showcase a range of these skills. Once we had done this we commenced with the filming of our piece.