To understand how important is the opening sequence is, within a film.
A opening sequence is important because from the first moment of a film, the spectators begins to get involved, the first few images that appears on the screen is very important, as they give us lot's of clues to what the film maybe about.
Spectators looks at characters to see how they are presented and make the assumptions about their characters.
To understand the purposes of an opening sequence:
The purpose of an opening sequence is to introduce the people who produce the film, for example the directors and others who casts in the film etc.
A opening sequence is also important because the spectators needs to understand which characters perspective, they are seeing. (The protagonist/main character)
What makes this a good thriller film opening?
There are lots of fast sharp noises when we see the train pass by, this is effective because it makes the spectators feel shocked, which makes it a conventional thriller trailer because it helps build tension.
In the first scene, I denote a long shot of a women's back in a train station, this makes the spectators feel curious of the character that first appear in the scene because it connotes that she is important and maybe the protagonist, this is conventional in a thriller film because it helps to create a sense of enigma.
The use of the long shot of the women in the train station also connotes that she is alone by herself and that she is vulnerable, this makes the spectators feel very uneasy and nervous for the character because it is dangerous for a women to be alone at night, which hints to the spectators that she maybe encounter some dangerous event.
The use of cinematography was used to represent thriller genre, for example I denoted the camera tracking towards the women from her back, this makes it suspicious as if someone was stalking her and is slowly approaching her from behind, this is conventional for a thriller genre because it is restricted, which helps to build up tension and suspense.
The title of the film appears 'Flight Plan', the typography of the title is plain and is not what was expected for a opening with lots of tension and shock from the sounds. However, it is suitable because the plain typography signifies the seriousness and the enigma in the film.
The music of this opening sequence creates tension, which is conventional in a thriller genre film.
However, the focus on the buildings is not very much exciting to watch, which gives a bad first impression on the spectators. But the constant focus on the buildings demonstrates the normality of the film, which is conventional in a thriller. It has also created a sense of enigma because it does not reveal any events of the story, this makes the spectators feel suspicious and curious about what it is going to happen because the soundtrack is hinting to the spectators that something is going to happen.
27th January 2010:
Today we have gathered together in a group in order to produce a production logo and we have explained and analysis on what the logo represents and finally we have created a mind map based on our target audience.
9th February 2010:
Today I have been focusing on the story boards based on the opening sequence of our thriller film. Our final idea is based on a girl, who is our main character and has been constantly tracked by a mysterious character but at the end of the film it gradually reveals that the girl is wolf underneath a sheep skin...
I have also participated in the audition, to play the part of the main character of the film. During the audition the other candidates took turns, each of the candidates were asked simple questions, this includes:
-What is your name?
-What is your age?
-What is your hobbies?
-What thriller films do you like?
After the introductions we were asked to demonstrates our acting skills, through our given scenario, for instance we were asked to point a gun at a enemy, to show your cold blooded ness and hatred like a true assassin.
I have also wrote the back story for the film (look at the group Blog)
10th February 2010:
This is our group story based on the opening sequence. The first few shot's of the train, dissolve was used to create a the fast pace movement of the train travelling. The sound effects of the train was added to make it seem more realistic, this idea was taken from flight plan.
(Zain was incharge of editing)
The soundtrack is called 'High Alert', I have chosen this soundtrack because it gives a sense of espyonage feeling, which we was trying to craete because our character is being tracked by someone.
I think that overall, the story was successful because we could tell what the it is about, through the illustrations. However, I think that the story board is too short, therfore I would improve it by adding interesting shots.
12th February 2010:
I have finished in producing the music tester, through using garage band, which is posted up in the group blog.
I think that the music production went well, since it was my first try in using garage band and I have successfully created it, which is my biggest accomplishment because I have also gained experience in using garage band.
I think that I needed to improve on he music in many ways, to make it follow the story line of the film.
20th of February 2010:
As a group, we had to reflect on our mistakes, for not filming over the half term due to communication problems and permissions for filming in the location.
So we had to plan out a schedule for our filming dates and what we are to accomplish on that day.
Meanwhile, I had also worked on the individual blog.
21st of February 2010:
Today, we had followed the schedule which we had planned out yesterday. So we have to film we decided as group that we should film at the nearest location first to make things more convenient for us, in Balham tube station.
In the Balham tube station, I would have to cast as the innocent girl, walking up the stairs.
We had also filmed varies angle for this scene.
Once we have finished, we had to upload the footages on to the final cut express.
Overall, I think that this is the first step in the project, which is a positive start, however I think that we are moving too slow as a group and we needed more filming done.
22nd of February 2010:
We then received our feed back from our teacher, on their opinion of the footage that we got from the tube station, yesterday.
And I had worked on the blog, while my group edits on the footage.
23rd of February 2010:
Today, we gathered as a group to discuss about our next location, where we see the innocent girl walk. And we have all agreed to go and film in Colliers Wood tomorrow.
24th of February 2010:
As we had planned we followed our schedule and travelled to Colliers Wood, where I cast as the innocent walking.
27th of February 2010:
Today, I worked on the music and the blog.
28th of February 2010:
Continued of music and blog.
1st of March 2010:
We had to return to Colliers Wood and re shoot the scene of the me walking in the parking lot, using proper camera and filming extra shots, which we could use to extend the film.
2nd March 2010:
I continued in making the music from garage band.
3rd March 2010:
I have managed to finish off the music.
5th March 2010:
We returned to Balham tube station, where we filmed in the tube of me entering the tube and out of the tube. I had also filmed a POV shot of me getting off the tube. (Normal girl form)
When filming me getting off the tube, I had to make sure that I got onto the the right carriage (the third to last), so that the director and the camera person would wait out side the exact carriage. The POV shot of me getting of the tube good but I kind of buckled when getting off the tube because I was concentrating on the camera and couldn't watch my steps, so the camera was not steady.
That day we had also planned to go to film in the Colliers Wood shopping center because the buildings and the escalators makes the location looks modern, however, there was a lot of securities, so it seems that we could not film in the shopping center.
8th March 2010:
Me and Kemisha try and experiment with live type, while Zain worked on editing.
While experimenting with live type, we were trying to look for a suitable font for our title 'Countermine', so we looked back into our group blogs, where we posted example of what our thriller titles should be like. Me and Kemisha wasn't sure on how to download the fonts to the live type program, so we used the fonts from the live type to experiment first.
When we applied different effects on to the title, I thought that 'Chalk', was pretty good because it paces with the movement of the tube in the beginning, like 'Flight Plan'.
Than we decided that we should apply for different colors, first we thought red would be appropriate because it links in with the theme of danger, murder kind of feeling, which associates with assassins. However, it didn't look suitable because it's a bright color, so we both tried using black, because it's a serious and a mysterious color, which suits the theme of assassin.
9th March 2010:
We had planned yesterday to meet early, before school to travel to Cannary Wharf to film in the location.
When we have arrived, we were not sure of where we could film, so I suggested that we should film in the Waitrose shopping centre, which worked perfectly because of the glass buildings and the escalators, which makes it look more modern.
I cast as the innocent girl, while Zain and Kemisha directed and film.
My role in acting out this role is to walk into the building and going down the escalator, all my act as the normal/innocent girl, looks very casual, which is what we wanted to make her seem like a normal girl. However, I would also think that walking casually doesn't give off the assassin feel, so if I was to redo the scene I would walk more faster.
10th March 2010:
I had brought in my assassin costume and I had manage to borrow a leather jacket from the drama department and high heels and leather gloves from Kemisha.
And we had to finish off the final scene of the assassin the in the security box:
I had contributed by filming a POV shot of me entering the through the door and casting as the assassin.
12th march 2010:
We needed some extra shots, so I had to change into the assassin costume and film me getting in to my assassin form, using close up shots, to make it restricted. For example there was a close up shot of my hand and the leather gloves, which capture the role of the assassin of being secretive and the slow movement of putting on the leather gloves demonstrates the idea of the assassin being a extremely careful and cautious person.
15th March 2010:
We had to return to the security box and re shoot the killing scene, with a different weapon because it wasn't very effective in using a tie to murder, so we had to change it into a black wire, even though originally we were planning to use a gun as a weapon, which is suppose to be more conventional.
My role in this is to cast as the assassin, it was kind off difficult when the director suggested that I should put on a sinister expression, when putting pressure into killing. So instead, I had to find my own way to interpret the assassin role, so I could act out the assassin my own way, to make it more effective because that way I could get into my role.
So as you could see from the short film, there was a close up face of me in the assassin scene, my face was expressionless because I believe that a killer machine, would have no emotions, which make it even more sinister In addition, I am pretty good with no expressions,which helped me act out the role as a assassin.
20th of April 2010:
Today, is the screening day, when we receive feed backs from audiences, mostly positive on the mise en scene and the soundtracks.
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