Mise en scene:

•High key lighting

•Red waistcoat draws main focus to baby who picks nose

•Woman in background wearing old fashioned clothes and fussing over baby

•Upper class people shown with there clothing

•Baby pictured on the left side of the screen

•Chaise longe pictured center of medium shot

   

 •High key lighting with two spot lights

                              •Photoshoot, basic background so the main focus is on the characters

                              •Three little cute ballarinas centered with two women each side of screen

                              •Old fashioned clothing, all three children are in the same clothing

                              •Fussing over children preparing them for photos

  Mise en scene:

                             •Photo shoot white background instead of dark to create a heavenly atmosphere

                             •High key white lighting

                             •Mother and baby picture center of medium shot

                             •Mother is dressed in white and baby is nude to show purity and innocence

                             •Mother comforts baby for photo

 Mise en scene:

 •Cat in center of medium shot with woman on right of the screen.

 • The setting is a photo shoot with  a table centered with a tweed chair on top of it.

 • The woman is portrayed as a typical cat lover constantly stroking and comforting her cat, also she checks to see if the cat looks good rather than worrying about herself.   

 • The woman is extremely happy always smiling.

 • High-key lighting. 

Mise en scene:

•Medium shot with man centered

•High key lighting with one strobe light for the flash of the camera

•Wearing a red fez and drawn on moustache to look like Tommy Cooper

•Holding a plastic bag

•Dressed smartly

•Waves his hand vigarously to show anger

                               Mise en scene:

•Mise en scene :

•Raunchy women to the right of a medium shot

•Two of the women are wearing black and 1 woman is wearing blue to draw attention to that specific woman who is probably the main focus.

•High key lighting

]

Mise-en-scene:

•Setting – photo shoot for the dog. Main colour is red, keeping the focus on the dog.

•Costume and make up – not modern, old fashioned.

•Movement – fast pace.

•Lighting – high key.

•Frame – centered on dog, making it the main focus. Medium shot.

Stereotype – typical dog lover, shown by her being obsessive over her dogs appearance and her wearing a jumper with dogs on the front of it. 

                             

•Mise en scene:

•High key lighting.

•Family centered of medium shot.

•Characters focus on the photographer and the audience focus on the family.

Mise en scene:

•High key lighting.

•Man on chair in center of medium shot.

•Smartly dressed, dull colours used.

•Conversation happening over the photographers shoulder about marriage.

Mise en scene:

•High key lighting

•Smartly dressed characters to portray them to look upper class.

•Dull colours used maybe reflecting their personalities.

•Only speech from the photographer.

•Mixed emotions showed by their facial expressions. Some happy some look bored which is particularly shown by the man who looks at his watch.

•Characters centered within the frame.

•Medium shot.

Mise en scene:

•High key lighting from the side.

•Is wearing classic boxing outfit with the red boxing gloves, red representing danger and blood.

•His movements are energetic and shows high adrenalin.

•Medium/long shot with man centered in the frame.

Mise en scene:

•high key lighting

•Woman is spread across a table posing for the camera in a provocative way.

•Medium shot, centered.

•Plant showing in the background for decoration.

•Her clothing is lingerie creating her to look sexy.

Mise en scene:

•High key lighting

•Prop used is a chair in which she leans on.

•She is wearing a traditional nurses outfit including the hat to show she is an important person.

•She has very blank facial expressions coming across as boring.

•Medium shot with woman slightly of center.

Filming Day 3

This was our second attempt at filming up by Epping forest. We made sure that we were much more prepared and that the person who couldnt make it last time was able to make it this time. We managed to film our opening shots and the day of filming flowed and we got everything that we needed to film done. The shots looked good and i could finally see our opening coming together.

Filming Day 2

For our second day of filming we went on the 11th of Feburary to a member of my groups home to film the sequence when the person arrives home after running over the little girl. We were organised and brought all our equipment and everything we needed. The sequence worked well and we had a few test runs to check everything was in the right place. A member of my group printed of a few of our credits and put them on things to film. This worked well because they were neatly typed out and everything looked well prepared. We used torches in places to make sure the lighting looked right and we were able to see all the characters that we needed to see. The lighting was the main job I was given. Everyone worked well and we got a lot of work done.

Filming Day 1

Our first filming session was on the 7th of February and involved us going up to epping forest to film. One of the people that we needed to film didn't turn up but instead of going home we used our time wisely and filmed all the parts that we could film. We tried to use a range of angles to make our opening much more interesting.

Opening sequences

Grease 



This film opening introduces all the characters and the credits say which actors play the parts. It is in cartoon so it grabs the audiences attention. The music playing is happy and lively and sets the tone and mood for the rest of the film. the cartoons in the opening have stereo typical features of as person from that particular era. The soundtrack relates to the name of the film. The american theme running through the film is immediatly introduced with a vioce over. The bright colour of the cartoon also sets mood and the happiness of the opening translates onto the audience. The pace is fast and the cuts are short.

Seven



The big celebrity names are introduced in a childlike handwriting to give the opening a creepy mood. Dull colors are used to draw attention to the credit and make sure that they are the main focus of the audiences attention. The pace starts of slow and then speeds up as the cuts get faster. The opening is full of loads of close up shots and unusual things that confused the audience and doesn't set a particular theme for the audience to follow. The opening confuses the audiences and brings up lots of questions but they are intrigued to watch the rest of the film and answer there questions.

Spider man






The opening of spiderman starts out immediately with a fast pace of lots of comics shown. This sets the mood and tone for the rest of the film and the fast pace lives up to the action genre and its previous reputation. The main colour is red, this is the brightest colour in the spectrum and is extremely eye catching. The accompaniment is fast and adventurous and suits the genre of the film. The person who would go and see this film is more than likely to have seen the first one of these films so knows what to expect but for the amount that havent seen it the opening sets up the back story really well.

This is england






This is one of the most famous and well known film openings. The film opening is full of certain significant events that have happened in history. The audience have seen all the significant events before so they can relate to them. The accompaniment sets the era and has a fast bouncy pace to it. Some grousome and shocking images are shown so that the audience ask questions and are curious and want to watch the rest of the film. The colour and pace fits the accompaniment perfectly.

Children of Men essay

"How effectively does the opening sequence from 'Children of Men' (2006) use the forms and conventions of film openings? What is your personal response as a member of the audience?"

A child of men was released on 22^nd September 2006. It is directed by Alfonso Cuarón and stars Julianne Moore and Clive Owen. We watched the opening sequence of the film. The opening sequence of children of men is dramatic and engages the audience immediately and makes them want to watch more.

The opening sequence in the film is shocking the sequence leaves the audience with unanswered questions and wanting to watch more. This is known as enigma and is a good technique to be used in opening sequences. It doesn’t give the audience too much information on the story and only gives out basic ideas and little introduction to characters.

The opening sequence starts with a voice over of new alerts. This immediately sets a serious tone for the film and a sense of urgency. On the screen there are the credits, these are not paid attention two because the audiences focus is on the voice over playing in the background. The first shot shown is a medium shot of a crowded cafe. All the people in the cafe are watching the television this builds the seriousness of the film. They are all focusing on the news story being played on the television which is showing its main story “death of Diego Ricardo, the youngest person on the planet, 18 years old”. This immediately makes the audience wonder why he was the youngest person on the planet and why there wasn’t anyone younger than him. None of the characters are immediately introduced. The crowd in the cafe are static so that the focus is still on the voice over even though there is a picture on the screen. All the people in the cafe are wearing dull colours and office clothes so that the audience doesn’t focus on them. A character is established when one man moves through the crowd to the front of the cafe. The man stands out because he is the only one moving at that point. As he leaves the cafe we can see his importance as the camera follows him out onto the street outside.

When the camera reaches the outside of the cafe the audience immediately establish where they are. A caption comes up in the bottom right corner of the screen saying “London, 16^th November 2027” This establishes the date and the setting.  The camera pans across and shows what London looks like. Everything seems dull and has no bright colours or anything exciting to look at. There is a lot of traffic going by and the setting seems to be much polluted. Diagetic sound is used here from the cars to emphasise how busy it really is. None of the people in the background seem to show much emotion and the world appears to be quite down and depressed and this is emphasised when the character the audience is focusing on puts alcohol into his drink.

There is then an arc where in the background a bus goes past him with a moving advert image on the side of it. This shows how technology has moved on and how advanced the world has become. The audience then have a massive shock of the explosion and the camera moves in towards the smoke. The camera tilts as if from a person’s point of view.

The genre of horror is introduced towards the end of the opening sequence as a woman holding her own arm is shown coming from the smoke. Such a dramatic opening can give the idea that the genre of the film could be a thriller.

There is then the title of the film shown in big bold capital letters so it shows its importance. The title has been put in black and white to make it more striking and the complete focus is on the words and not of the picture itself.

In conclusion, Alfonso cuaron has used effective devices for the opening of his film. He has used enigma to make the audience want to watch more and I think that he has given the audience the right amount of information to complete his film opening.

By Sarah Groves

Fringe vs Pillow Talk

How are the sequences from “Pillow Talk” and Fringe different? Discuss the differences in pace and style of editing as well as the effect the editing has on meaning/the audience’s reception of the extracts?

The sequences from Fringe and Pillow talk are both very different and have different qualities that make them unique and individual.

Both extracts have differences in the pace of the sequences. Fringe has a much faster pace than Pillow Talk throughout and overall Fringe has more shots and shows faster cuts as it has a much more serious topic than Pillow Talk. This shows the serious tone of the sequence and the pace is fast in fringe and most of the cuts are straight cuts and the shot only lasts a few shots before it cuts again. The faster the shots the more intense the scene becomes. It wants the audience to have to pick up the information they are getting form the shot faster.  In contrast, Pillow Talk has much longer shots and straight cuts aren’t the only transition used to move from one shot to the other. Pillow talk has an average of 12 seconds for each shot. In Pillow talk there is a dissolve transition in the first shot into the second shot. This helps the audience realise there is a complete change of scene. A wipe is also used in pillow talk to show a phone conversation between the two people and how they are reacting form different places. The slow transitions slow the pace of the scenes down and the audience are relaxed. The quick change of shots in fringe speeds up the pace and gives the scene a serious tone.

In fringe the extract starts with extreme close ups which sets a very intense mood. Using an extreme close up lets the audience see the expression on the actors face much clearer and can understand the situation happening on screen. The extreme close up doesn’t let the audience establish where the scene is set, however, in Pillow Talk the extract starts with medium shots and long shots and this continues throughout. This always sets the scene and allows the audience to pick up more information by the actors surroundings. The shots in Pillow Talk are very clear and establish the setting much more than Fringe.

Pillow Talk comes across as being aimed at a much older generation than Fringe. Fringe has a much more modern setting than pillow talk and older people may be able to relate to pillow talk much more the Fringe. Pillow Talk appears to be set in the 1950s and the costumes and setting reflect this. The first shot in Pillow talk shown establishes this as the audience can clearly see the old fashioned manor of the house it is set. Pillow Talk comes across as a romantic film mostly aimed at girls and is a much classier film then Fringe. Fringe appears to be the complete opposite and is action packed and maybe what a boy might like to watch.

In Fringe there is much more camera movements in the shots than in Pillow Talk. Although neither of the extracts have any particular sudden movements. In most of the Fringe scenes the camera may move slightly in a particular direction to make the focus be on the subject they want it to. In shot 10 of Fringe the shot starts with the main actors pictured to the right side of a long shot. The camera slowly moves closer to them on the right side of the screen and the audience’s complete focus is on them.  In pillow talk the camera is mainly static but in the first shot there is a conversation and the camera moves in closer so the audience can focus on what they are saying and pick up the topic they are discussing.

The characters shown in each extract are very different. Fringe shows characters that appear to have importance and some position of power and authority. This is established in shot 4 when they are talking seriously and looking at each other on a screen. In contrast to this the characters in Pillow Talk appear to be carefree and relaxed. The characters in Pillow talk appear to be the stereotypical characters that are expected to be shown in this era. Doris day plays a very girly girl with perfect blonde hair and a high pitched voice. The male part in Pillow talk also shows a stereotypical side to him as he is crafty and plays the woman to get his own way. The editing of the shots within a scene can alter the way in which a particular character is perceived to the audience.  In fringe the audience have to pick up quickly what the narrative of the extract is because the shots are so fast pace. In Pillow Talk the narrative is easier to pick up because the pace is much slower and the topic is established early on.

Both Pillow talk and fringe are very different extracts as they have been edited and cut in different ways to allow the audience to create meaning and understand what is going on. The camera movement in both are used to focus the audience attention on someone or something. Pillow Talk shows setting first whilst Fringe shows emotion first. They both have different pace and a different effect on the audience. Both extracts are created for completely different audiences.