Title Sequence Work Sheet

Se7en Analysis

The opening title sequence of ‘Se7en’ is constructed by using quick shots which creates mystery and eeriness throughout the trailer. It could also give the audience an insight to what the protagonist may be like (twitchy) and the genre of the film (horror/thriller). Another technical code would be the lighting in the trailer; it’s quite dark and uses earthy tones to create a grimy feel. This could suggest to the audience that there is a mysterious quality about the film/its characters and portrays the intensity of the film to come. Within the scenes there are a lot of reds which denote blood and/or danger- both that a horror/thriller needs to scare its targeted audience. There are a lot of close ups in the scene, especially of a man’s fingers, this could imply that the protagonist is male and by the fact that he’s making/binding books tells the audience that he is a book maker – the plastered thumbs also make it obvious as well.

The two frames in the opening sequence make it hard for the audience to distinguish whether we’re reading the right text, but also link’s to the character, who is covering images and/or text with the same picture or text, with something different added, using transparent plastic. This could be interpreted as some sort of lie-not everything is as it seems in this world.

The font in the scenes could be seen as the handwriting that the protagonist uses, the handwriting is quite spindly, and almost something that Tim Burton would apply. This creates a view of the character from the audience’s point of view-the character could be frail and creepy.

Throughout the beginning, there is also the use of non-diegetic sound, which for some could link to the sounds that ghosts make a sort of raspy breathing.  Nearing the end of the opening sequence a sound track begins to kick in, the music is quite slow and for some, haunting.

There were needles being used in one or two of the close ups, which could symbolise the slyness of the character we may be watching, there was also a link to religion: the word ‘God’ kept flashing up, which could mean that in the film there will be a lot of religious references, or the lead character is a very religiously isolated person. Another reason for this would be the character highlight or ‘blacking out’ words that have anything to do with pregnancy, homosexuality and transsexual things/people. This could imply to the audience that the character is very strict about religious sins, such as being homosexual; the audience could believe that the people whose eyes he decides to black out are homosexual too.

At the end of the opening title sequence, the soundtrack, which had no voice until the title of the film comes up, along with another flashing of the word ‘God’, says “I want to be closer to God”.  This could portray the killer or the protagonist as a ‘False Hero’. He could foolishly believe that if he follows in God’s teachings then he will be closer to him. However the way he goes about the process of becoming closer to God, could be a warped and sinister view of his chosen or inherited religion.

Example of Script...

Script Practice

In today’s lesson we looked at various examples of movie scripts to help us prepare for creating our own version for our final film. A script is a piece of text or written work that instructs how the film or television will progress. For example, movement of characters, dialogue, facial expression and so on. Scripts are usually written by screenwriters, who will either write their own film or TV program or create an adaptation of another famous film or book.

As a class, we looked at the script for the beginning of the movie The Dark Knight and annotated keywords and facts that we’d need to utilise in our script.

We then proceeded to create our own scripts based on some books that our teacher gave us. Fatima and I worked together on this task and we were given ‘The Queens Knickers’. The Queens Knickers is about a Queen who wears different knickers for every day of the week.

After we had finished, our teacher introduced us to an online site called Scribd; this enabled us to share any type of written work we created with others around the world. They also had the chance to embed our work and vice versa.

 
t h e q u e e n s k n i c k e r s

Evaluation Of Preliminary Task...

We used Match on Action to show Fatima walking down the stairs and around the corner to show the transition of the scene. Unfortunately, we didn’t realise that sometimes when you press stop on the video camera it takes nearly 5 seconds to stop properly. This made it harder to edit the footage and make everything look like it was in sync because Fatima would walk back up the stairs thinking that it wasn’t recording any more, when it was. 

The Location we were going to film in was originally a teacher’s office, but due to us filming during lessons we weren’t sure whether it would be possible. After walking around, we decided to film in a small room near our classroom. The room was quite compact, but we believed that the room itself connoted authority because of the desk, computer, printer and shelves. Usually, in an office certain things are available that are of limited use to employees who have a lower status than a CEO for example. However, when we came to film we realised that room was smaller than we initially thought it was, proving hard to manoeuvre the camera and tripod.

The Establishing Shot proved hard to create, this was because of the printer-it took up too much space. But, with a bit of moving, we managed to create a slightly crooked Establishing Shot. However, it did show the two characters, and which way they were facing, the two shots prior to the Establishing Shot could denote that the student felt as if she was superior to the Head Teacher and that the Head Teacher was inferior. Although, as soon as the student sits down could denote that the ranks swap almost immediately.

Our Shot Reverse Shot was also difficult because of the room size. It proved hard for us to keep continuously creating the similar shots, because of the printer. This led to some shots being perfect and some showing the wires from the computer, which led to the shots looking messy and organized.

The 180 Degree Rule, was still doable, despite the space. We still managed to stay on the correct sides of the characters by not crossing ‘the line of vision’.

For my role as the Head Teacher I decided to wear a black pencil skirt, a black shirt and a black blazer. I thought by wearing this I could connote a type of mysterious ‘white collar’ attire as a character that wouldn’t be properly seen until later in the scene. For Fatima’s costume, Chloe and I borrowed an old school blazer and gave her my old school tie to suggest to the audience that Fatima is a real student (verisimilitude), she had the idea of wearing heels, having her shirt hanging out, while Chloe and I also had the idea of making her tie really short, which was considered disrespectful and if a teacher saw it, you would be stopped and told to do it again. By doing this, it would imply that the student doesn’t care about the school rules.

I chose the song Beyonce-Diva, which corresponded really well with the Fatima’s character, as she was literally acting as if she was a Diva. I had the idea of fading the music out when the student goes into the Head Teachers office; this denotes that the student can’t be a ‘Diva’ while she is around people who have a higher status than her. I also had the idea of the music being in time with the students knock: synchronized sound, and then fading back in as the student finds out she is excluded. At the end of the film, there is a close up of Fatima’s face, and the lyrics “ I wanna see her, I’d like to meet ya-What you sayin’, she ain’t no Diva” These lyrics could denote that the student believes that the Head Teacher isn’t wor

thy of her time-“She ain’t no Diva” or it could represent the exact opposite, the Head Teacher may believe that the student isn’t a “Diva” at all, just a spoilt child.

Lastly we had a small lighting problem, in the scene when Fatima walks down the stairs. The lighting from where she started walking was naturalistic lighting, as there is a huge type of skylight that streamed in a lot of light. However, when Fatima walked around the corner and down the next flight of stairs, the lighting changed significantly, to a sort of muddy artificial light. Using what we learnt before we started filming, we tried to lock the exposure using both the natural light and artificial but it didn’t work to our advantage. We ended up filming the downstairs scene in the artificial light, this we had to later edit by lightening the footage slightly to help the frames to blend into each other. Unfortunately, it ended up giving the scenes a bleached tone.

To conclude, our Preliminary Task was a really good first hand lesson on using certain equipment and technologies to create different shots and angles to produce a good, watchable piece of footage. I learnt how to drag pieces of footage on the timeline in After Effects, which proved hard at first but I later got used to. I became more confident in acting in front of a camera and other people, unfortunately to get over this fear, I rocked the chair to help me concentrate on what I was saying. I also broke character, by smiling at Fatima; this ruined the verisimilitude because the tone was supposed to be serious and angry. Although, it could denote that the Head Teacher found it funny or found the student funny. I learnt how to download music from sites such as YouTube, to be used as a soundtrack alongside the footage; I did this by converting the YouTube song into an MP3 track and then importing it into Final Cut Express.

 
 

The 180 Degree Rule...

One of the most commonly used rules of classical film making would be the '180 Degree Rule'. This is usually used during conversations, fight scenes and moments of intense action. This Rule is normally introduced with an establishing shot, the shot displays the relationship between the important objects and/or subjects which is usually in a close up or mid shot. The camera should always stay on one side of the action to create an imaginary line between the flim-crew and the actors. For example if two people were having a conversation, the camera would show where both are in relation to the scenery and each other, both characters would stay on the same side throughout the scene so that the audience don't become confused and then believe that they have 'changed sides'.

In reference to the image above the director has a choice to film from three areas, the middle is the establishing shot and the other two are Over the Shoulder shots. If the camera is placed on the other side of the 'line of vision'  its wrong, because it films over the wrong shoulder of the speaker, thus making them look like they're facing the same side.
The picture to the right is a perfect example of how the 180 Degree Rule should be used ->>>

Coursework...

My name is Indya Phillips,16, I go to Harris Academy South Norwood as a Year 12 student.
One of the subjects I chose to do as an A Level was Media Studies and as my coursework I must create a blog.
Happy Reading :)