Film Opening Continuity - The Matrix

• The clip starts with the distribution and production company's names and logos, however instead of their standardised logo colours, they are all themed to the colours green and black which are the colours of the matrix. This gets the audience ready for the film before it's even started.
• There is then a fade to black, then to be followed by the matrix numbers falling into the screen. This is turned into a transition into the title of the film. The title then zooms into the screen and fades again to black.
• This then opens to a shot of a blank screen with a flashing space bar taking up the whole frame, in the background is a phone dialling sound, so the audience knows that they are waiting for something.
• The phone is answered (as the voiceover), the computer screen shows the call being received, giving the audience an idea that it's either their computer screen or someone else's, tracing their call.
• The conversation is happening between the male and female character across the voiceover, while the screen changes to 'trace program: running', making obvious to the audience that the speakers are being looked for by someone.
• Next, it cuts to a shot of the full matrix, zooming in on separate numbers very slowly. This brings attention away from what is happening on screen, to what is being said over the voiceover about another two characters. This dialogue being said is significant to the storyline which is why it was emphasised.
• One character then hears a suspicious, computer sound over the phone, then causing her to leave and the voiceover to finish. This then brings attention back to what is happening on screen.
• The camera zooms rapidly through the matrix numbers into a white light. The white light then transforms into the light of a torch, held by a police officer holding a gun near his face, in an extreme close up shot. The focus pulls away from the police officer, to his background, where more police officers stand around with torches and guns. The audience is unsure as to whether they are the good or bad characters and are also unsure as to how dangerous the people they traced on the phone are.
• The same shot pans then pivots, following one police officer with his gun out, in a ready-to-fire position.
• A corridor is shot from the end of, so the viewers see the policemen all walking quickly and quietly down it. These shots have had no dialogue, very low key lighting (apart from the torches) and limited sound, except for the quiet violins as background music. This is all factors of building up tension and suspense.
• This cuts to a close up of the grimy door, panning around it, with silhouettes of the police officers surrounding it with their guns, ready to fire. The pan ends with a side-view of the door, which a man then nods to signal another police officer to kick down.
• The next shot is a low angle, mid shot of a police man kicking down the door, but from the audience's point of view, at the screen. This gives the police officer superiority and power, leaving the audience scared of these men.
• There is a quick cut to the door breaking, then cutting back to the men storming in, fastening the pace.
• The audience is put into a new empty room, with nothing but wooden tables against the wall and a women sat in the middle of them, facing the wall. This is a wide shot of the room, also known as the master shot. Again the room is dark and the only source of light is coming from the mens' torches being shined at her back.
• The camera goes back to the police officers, all in line with torches and guns. Two men shout at the woman to freeze and put her hands up, which should scare the audience and the woman.
• A mid close up of the women's face, lit from her computer is shown to the audience but not to the police officers. Her face is calm when she should be scared. This intrigues the audience to know more about her character. She slowly but still calmly puts her hands up as if she knows her next more already.

Accident Sequence Continuity



a) What techniques did you specifically use to create (narrative flow) in your accident sequence?

Firstly we shoot the master shot, to establish the entire setting of the tree and the space around it, and the characters (Gavin and the two girls, me and Chrystal). This makes sure that the audience have a clear idea of exactly where and who this story takes place with. The same shot then zooms rapidly into Gavin's face, into a close up, which makes obvious the main character.

The next shot is of Gavin climbing into shot and then climbing out, this gives the shot a sense of verticality, also using up the full frame, which is unconventional for that type of shot, making it different.

Following that is a high angle shot of the two girls looking up to Gavin, realising that he's falling. The high angle shot shows the point of view from Gavin, as he is in the tree looking down at the two girls.

This then cuts to a low angle shot of Gavin wobbling in the tree, about to fall. The effect of the low angle is to exaggerate the height of the tree and the distance he will fall from. To follow this is another close up shot of Gavin falling in and out of frame.

Lastly was a shot of high angle framing of Gavin lying on the floor, hurt from his fall. The high angle was to represent his pain and damage to his body and to his dignity in front of his friends.

b) In hindsight, what could you do to improve the continuity (narrative flow) of the sequence?

To improve the continuity of our sequence I would change the framing of some of the shots. A few went straight from long shot to close up, such as the wobbling shot and the falling shot, which leaves the audience slightly disorientated because of it.

Also the shot of the two girls looking up to Gavin in the tree broke the 180˚ rule as we filmed on the opposite side of the tree as oppose to the rest of the shots, which again leaves the audience disorientated because of the fast changing in direction.

Analysis of Film Opening – Looper

(This is a short clip of Looper's opening scene, I couldn't find a longer one online of which I talk about in my analysis)

 

Looper is a hybrid film and fits into the categories of five genres: thriller, action, sci-fi, crime and noir. Released in 2012, Looper is set in 2044 Kansas, USA.

The opening scene is fast and abrupt. A young man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) waits in an open field, then seconds later another man appears out of thin air, bagged and tied, and the young man shoots and kills him without hesitation. This leaves the audience confused and left to think what they will of the first few moments as the film title cuts for a few more seconds. Following the title screen is a voiceover of the young man explaining time travel and his job to the audience, informing them what he had just done and what he does with the body next. It is important that the order of events was shown this way. The sudden death of the unknown man catches the attention of the audience, as they will be eager to discover an answer for the young man’s actions in such an early point in the movie, only to be followed by a detailed explanation, making the viewer feel involved in the story, now that they know what’s happening.

The male protagonist is the only important character introduced in the first few minutes. His role of the protagonist is obvious to the audience, not in the first minute, but after the title screen, when he talks personally to the viewers through voiceover. This makes his role clear, as no other character would create a relationship with the audience like that.

A large amount of information is given to the audience in the opening sequence as a whole; it gives the reader a setting, time and a main understanding of what the story is. The information concerning the main plot (closing your own loop) is deliberately withheld, otherwise too much would be given away in the first few minutes and the audience would have too much information given to them in such a small amount of time. The details given about the story so far were perfect, and the way it was given created anticipation keeping the viewers interested and wanting more.

Reflection on Film Stills

Describe your shot and identify in what way it could be described as representing your chosen genre.

This is a very long shot of a man in a dark corridor. Our chosen genre was horror-mystery, which I feel this photo represents very well. The positioning of the shot creates a more sinister effect, as the sidewall takes up the majority of the frame, showing the silhouette of the person at the end of the corridor, making the corridor appear longer. This framing may also be because the man is going to move into the space and walk towards the camera. This is a point of view shot, putting the viewer right into the story, making it seem more realistic to the audience. The posing of the man is very relaxed, considering the unusual and scary setting, he should be looking panicked or lost, and therefore creating the sense that maybe he’s a villain within the story. The low-key lighting and strong use of shadows were purposeful, as they add to the eerie and mysterious atmosphere because the viewer is oblivious as to what he looks like or whether this man is dangerous. The very little artificial light that shows what is there gives away very little clues about the story. Lastly the grainy effect on the photograph makes the audience feel disorientated and scared because they can’t see much within the frame.

What did you actually do to achieve this effect?

To achieve this effect our group found a dark corridor, with limited light, and tested out a few shots with flash and a few without. The shots without the flash were unsuccessful and some of the shots with the flash were average. We then experimented with the night vision setting on the camera, which gave us the grainy effect, making the photo appear as it was shot at night. We used the portable light to light the wall in the bottom right of the photo, which looked good because otherwise the photograph would have come out too dark.

Identify what is successful about your shot.

The shot was successful because it fit our genre of mystery-horror perfectly, as it contains many aspects of mystery through the shadows and aspects of horror through the setting and the man’s characteristics. The photo’s night vision effect was also successful, as it connoted the genre well, whereas a flash photo revealing the man’s face would have given the shot a completely different mood because then too much information would be revealed, removing the mystery from the shot.

What would you do differently in hindsight?

If I were to take this photo again, I would try out more of the effects and see if there was a way to reveal the man’s character more without giving too many clues away. I would also try to make the man central of the shot, in maybe a long shot instead of a very long shot, as the wall takes up slightly too much of the frame.