As Media-Week in the ward

The task was to create an opening sequence for an independent film, which was called “It’s a very story”. We were given a brief description of the opening sequence. The description had told us the opening sequence was about a teenager who goes to the stage, where he is about to commit suicide, but then cant due to the consequences that his family will face e.g. he says they will be embarrassed. The sub-genres that we had to present in the opening sequence were drama as well as slight comedy. The character in our opening scene is shown approaching an edge of a building & about to commit suicide, but then cross cuts to him leaving the scene with a voiceover stating “I think I’m crazy” This foreshadows to the audience our character is having a hard life & is possibly depressed. The objective was to re-create the opening sequence using a variety of micro elements such as mise-en-scène, which includes setting, props, staging, costume and makeup, figure expression and movement and off-screen space. Cinematography which includes photographic elements (e.g. camera position, colour, lens, depth of focus), lighting, framing and composition and special effects. Editing, which includes the organisation of time, both within a sequence and across sections of the narrative and the organisation of space principal conventions of continuity editing, such as shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule and sound which includes diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound and the variety of ways in which aural elements (e.g. speech, music and noise) are used in relation to visuals.

Our group was very successful with this task for a number of reasons, but we could have done better.

Our group was successful with this task because we were much organised throughout the task in order to re-create the opening sequence. For instance, we each had a role in the pre-production, production and post-production in order to achieve our objective i:e for the pre production I was given the role of finding a location for a setting to match the opening sequence of the actor walking somewhere high up, portraying him as if to commit suicide. I had chosen a perfect location in south bank, which was on top of a relatively high building. Therefore, settings an essential part of one of the micro elements of mise-en-scene was achieved. Furthermore, this setting is similar to the actual opening sequence, where the actor was also on a high platform approaching the end whilst thinking of whether or not to commit suicide. Another example, was for our group being well organised was during the post production, where a member had added a voiceover to add to the opening sequence. Similarly, in the opening sequence for the film “It’s a very funny story” there was a voiceover for the main character. The use of this non-diegetic sound creates tension & answered enigma codes for the audience, e.g. what is he thinking about whilst being such high on top of a building or who was he? However, a difference between our opening sequence and the original opening sequence is that the actor was on a very risky & dangerous setting-a bridge. Whereas, our actor was on a roof on top of a relatively high building.

On the other hand, I can argue that our group had been successful because we had been creative. For instance, because we knew sound was a vital micro element we had decided to create our own soundtrack to match our opening sequence. The sound track had matched the situation of the character this is because it gave the audience a sense of seriousness which fitted with the genre of drama & the introduction of the beat after the voice over says “well especially my dad” signifies this film maybe humorous in some parts. Therefore, not only does the self-created soundtrack represents the group’s creativity but also forewarns the sub-genres of the film.

A difference between our opening sequence and the original sequence is that we only used one character. In our opening sequence, we only present the main character and use the voiceover to introduce him e.g. “My name is Craig” and only he is shown in the opening sequence. Whereas, in the real film we see briefly other characters e.g. his parents and school friends. However, rather than showing his parents we used typography to tell us the names of the parents. For instance, when the voiceover says “what would my parents say” the names of the actor and actress who will play his dad and mum come up. This shows not only is our opening sequence different here but illustrates our creativeness here as we didn’t bring in the characters to show who they will be later in the film, but matched the voiceover with the typography.

Moreover, our creativity can be demonstrated by the use of our cinematography. We had used a variety of shot types and camera movements in the opening sequence. For example, we had used a low angle shot because we wanted to make the roof/building look high in order for the audience to recognise the character is positioned somewhere very high. Also, we had used a close up showing his feet walking towards the edge of the roof because we wanted to create tension as well as give the viewers a hint that this character has issues and needs help. In addition, in the last shot of our opening sequence we used hand held camera movement because we wanted to give the audience a sense of perspective as the character leaves the setting, where he was about to commit suicide. Similarly, in the film`s opening sequence similar shots are used such as the close up of the main character walking on a unbalanced platform on the bridge.

Similar, to the original opening of “It’s a very funny story”, our opening also starts off with a non-linear narration. This is done through the use of micro elements. It was done through the vital micro element, mise en scene. For instance, from looking at the setting and the natural lighting, a tall building with a gloomy grey background as well as the teenager being on the building alerts the audience something is wrong and this may indicate the genre maybe drama. In addition, the use of the non-diegetic sound, the voiceover, reveals to the audience that the teenage boy is thinking about suicide and therefore this shows the film is going to be told in a non-linearly. We know that the actor is a teenager or a young adult not only by his appearance but by his costume. He is dressed like a typical teenager e.g. wearing a hoody, canvas shoes, chinoes etc. Secondly, cinematography used in our opening sequence also foreshadows the film is going to be told in a non-linear way. For instance, the first shot was an extreme close up of the teenager walking very slowly; this may hint that something is wrong because his movement is very steady and his body language shows he’s nervous.

Moving on, they`re a number of ways which our opening sequence can be identified as an independent film rather than a mainstream film. For instance, a mainstream film would have likely to have one of the elements within mise en scene, the setting in a more exotic location. For example, the opening sequence of the main character on a bridge rather than building and they would have chosen a popular bridge i.e. Brooklyn Bridge, which can easily be identified by many. In addition, if this was a mainstream opening sequence then the main character would have been easily recognisable in the film world, but the character in our opening sequence “Logan laymen” is not known or easily recognisable in the Hollywood world.

To conclude, our main objective was to re create the opening sequence of “Its a very funny story” using a variety of micro elements. In my opinion, I believe that we were successful at this because we were creative, for example we had created our own soundtrack to represent a drama genre, and the voiceover gave indications the film may have comedy in it as well.

Likewise to the original opening sequence, our opening has a variety of conventions used in a title sequence. For instance, in the beginning of the film you can see the company name that produced this and similar to ours you can also see this. In addition, in our title sequence you can see a brief outline of the stars played in the film, just like in the original it tells you who the actors and actress will be involved in the film. However, in our opening sequence we don’t show images of the other characters and we don’t change scene or use flashbacks to show the other characters therefore it can be said our opening sequence was restricted narration. This is because, the audience doesn’t have access to other scenes only the current. We used this technique because we didn’t want to answer all the enigma codes but rather keep the audience watching so they can answer later on using the action codes that will be given. For example, the voiceover states “This is my third attempt this week...but i know i wouldn’t do it.” In this case, the teenager might be depressed rather than actually being insane as if he was crazy or mental he would have already committed suicide but it’s his “third attempt” which may indicate he’s not demented but rather downhearted or depressed.