FINAL SHOT BY SHOT REMAKE OF 'KILLERS'

RESEARCH: Conventions of film openings - Mean Girls

Conventions of film openings

The point of film openings is to establish the narrative, protagonist, antagonist and also to establish the settings.

At this point they show the key credits, such as main actors, director and production company.

Most of the time a key event will occur, or a key moment, to establish the genre. Non-diegetic music will also be played.

Key credits of production company, director and main actors.

Main characters perspective, we are watching what the main character sees.

Showing an individual character in a medium close up, which we can suggest is the main character.

More key credits, and establishes the setting, also showing the main character in a mid shot to allow the audience to see her facial expressions.

This sets the scene and also where the action starts, we hear non-diegetic music in the background that has a rock vibe that can connote what we see in the scene.

The opening scene to Mean Girls uses a voice over and shows clips of stereotypical home schooled children mocking them, as this is what the main character refers to. It gives knowledge to the background of the character and also gives us an idea of what will happen next, which will allow the viewer to connect and continue watching.

RESEARCH: Conventions of a film opening

In film openings, there are conventions used that are crucial in order to make your film look authentic and more interesting. From some of the thriller openings that I have already seen, like the opening for the film; Seven, there were conventions like: 

 

- Teasers (images or sounds that may give us a lttle clue as to what the movie is going to be about) This may get the audience more excited to watch the movie and may also make the film more interesting for certain people.

 

- Special effects or sound effects that will make the opening more interesting as well as make the audience want to carry on watching. It will help to make the film more unique and like something you've never seen before. 

 

- Sound is also a very important convention as it helps to create an atmosphere. It could cause the beginning to be scary, mysterious, eerie and may even build tention.

 

- Another crucial convention to have in an opening of a movie are the titles. The titles are what introduce all the backstage crew aswell as the cast, and again this may attract more people as certain actors may attract more audience.

 

- Also, you may want to give little hints of the film's setting by giving quick shots of the location. By showing the location, it may attract a different type of audiencde as well as your target audience therefore making you have a bigger audience number.

This is a picture from the opening of 'Seven' the movie with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt. We can see that there is a title here telling us who the producer is.

 

 

Shot By Shot Planning

First part of the storyboard

Second part of the storyboard

Third part of the storyboard

Carina is playing the strange man, Hermenia is playing the role of Ashton, and Giselle is the woman.
We will take turns doing the camera work, as we only have 3 people in the group and some shots require movement.

Character list: 
Giselle - Woman
Hermenia - Ashton Kutcher
Carina - Strange man


Props list: book, note, chairs, table.

Location: Angel shopping mall .

Different Shots

This is our big close up of Giselle.

This is our interesting shot of feet. We chose to shoot feet from a low angle to make them look more powerful.

We chose to do our shot by the window of harmenia. The lighting is not very good because of the reflections that are on Harmenia's face.

Our over the shoulder shot is of me and Harmenia.

This is one of our rule of thrids shot that was done well. We put Harmenia in the middle of the shot where we can see both her head and her feet.

This is also a rule of thirds shot of Giselle on the left side of the screen.

This is another one of our good rule of third shots of Carina on the right side of the screen.

This would be a bad example of the rule of thirds with Harmenia and Giselle's head in the middle of the screen. 

This is also another bad rule of third shot that shows their heads on the bottom of the screen.

This is also another bad rule of thrid shot.

Research: Conventions of a film opening

Conventions of a Film Opening 

From what I have observed, the conventions of a thriller film opening are the following:

- A thriller film opening is usually a teaser to the story line, it is is supposed to make the audience more interested in the film, and perhaps even give some clues relating to the film.












- A thriller film opening should also set the tone for the rest of the film, and give the audience an idea of the mood the film may have.

- Special effects are also used in some thriller film openings to make the film more interesting and grasp the audiences attention.


- Music used in thriller film openings are very important, their purpose is to create atmosphere when watching the film, they can be used to provoke different feelings from the audience e.g sadness, shock, anxiousness etc

- Sometimes the credits of thriller film openings are shown in this specific organisation:

Production Company
Titles
Director
Stars
Name of Film
The rest of cast


It is also common for the opening of a thriller film to give an insight into the character in the thriller, the narrative and sometimes the location.