MOVIE OPENER BRAINSTORMING & RESEARCH

REFLECTING ON PAST STUDENTS' WORK

Today I'll be looking at some film openings produced by students who have taken this class in the past. They were sitting in the same spot as I am, newly introduced to the concept of film, and then did the same project I'm beginning to work on. While watching, I'll be taking some notes and letting you guys know how it helped with my brainstorming process.

RISE

In this opening sequence, we see a boy going out to a park to practice soccer. He is alone for a while in the park, save for some other people keeping to themselves. There is a lot of focus on his actions and equipment, which I feel shows how important this is to him, as well as the dedication required. There is good use of sound, the music only playing when the main character appears to be in his own little world of soccer. It immediately stops when another character shows up with a seemingly ominous presence. Once the first boy is ready to leave, he realizes the other boy has been standing there, waiting and watching. The two make eye contact and the audience is left to wonder what will happen next.

I definitely think this is an excellent example of what to do for a good project. The idea with the music only playing while focusing on the character listening to it was very pleasing to watch. Also, the lack of words showed that less is really more when trying to sell a movie. The close-ups of the two characters to highlight their emotions was a very effective use of the camera, something I plan on doing as well. One of my favorite things was the fade to white with the soccer ball as the medium. It was extremely creative.

DEAR LOVER

We begin with some establishing shots of the location, somewhere by a pond in the forest. We then see a girl sitting by the lake, and fade to black as she begins her story, crying onscreen. Then we are cut to a shot of the same girl being interviewed, asked if she misses "her", whomever that may be. The main character then continues, telling why she had to run away, as her mother was not accepting of her having a girlfriend. We then see two different settings, meeting the very sweet character we now know to be her girlfriend, Luna. The main character is snapped back to reality when alerted that there is someone behind her. We see this character's back, holding a letter, and can figure out that it is Luna from the repeated outfit. She drops the letter and holds her girlfriend's hand, assuring her she won't try to stop her. We find out then that more letters are passed, Luna at the mailbox. With suspense, the main character who is being interviewed, we now know grown up, five years later, mentions that one day, the letters stopped, but says she is getting ahead of herself, and opts to start from the beginning.

I loved how location was established, different parts of the same area with a variety of shot closenesses, something I would love to replicate in my own way. They also had a really nice use of cutting on action, showing us the girl throwing a plant, as well as it falling into the water in the same fashion as it was thrown, I hope if we use this we can achieve it with similar quality. One thing though that I will make mental note of, is to be very clear about who is who. I got very confused seeing the same girl, but wearing something a little different, thinking it was her on a different day, but then also thinking it could be the girl's mother. I think it was a mistake to leave Luna in the same outfit as in the little montage of her that was played. If I were showing a character on a later date, I would want to make it obvious that there was a passage of time. Another thing I hope to do is strategically place the title of the movie into the plot of the movie. The main character says that they always begin their letters with, "Dear Lover", which is the title of the film.

DARE TO THRILL

Upbeat, happy music plays as a group of kids is shown at a mall parking lot, looking very anticipatory. Text on the screen shows that they are there to complete a dare, a seemingly dangerous one that entails stealing the key to a man's heart in return for 1,000 dollars. The kids, however, show no signs of fear. They excitedly sprint, having found the key, which just so happened to go to a car. Loading in the vehicle, the kids excitedly murmur as their joyride begins. Many angles, cuts, and locations are shown, until the driver turns the volume all the way down, though music still plays, and the kids are out of the car. The camera sits at a low angle, looking up at the kids who have just opened the trunk, and look at its contents with surprised disgust, running backwards. The title of the film is displayed, and a portion of the scene starting from when the driver was lowering the volume plays again, this time with the music actually stopping. It again shows the kids running from the opened trunk in shock, then ends.

The text that this group used on the screen was different, showing that they made a good use of technology. It made their production seem very professional, which is something I hope to do personally. Another likable aspect was the stillness of the camera even though you could tell it was a handheld that the cameraman was running with. If we plan on doing a running shot, I think we can achieve the same levelness with the right technology. Furthermore, the way that the music stopped right in time with the volume lowering in the shot is something I will take note of if I plan on including music that characters are listening to as opposed to the audience.

ALWAYS WATCHING

We begin in a therapist's office, where a patient is getting help for his problem of stalking. More specifically, stalking the person who was his best friend. A clip of the two hanging out at a shopping center is shown, then the stalker looks creepily into the camera, the best friend offscreen. This occurs again, the stalker making note of another thing he misses about his best friend. Then, in the therapy session, he exclaims that his best friend, "took everything [he] ever wanted", and we are again sent to the past, a shot following the stalker walking ominously in the dark. Then as if the dark was a metaphor, the situation gets even darker as he admits to hurting him. The therapist tries to deescalate the situation in her office, but the situation of the past only escalates. The stalker breaks into the boy's house, following him, and sealing his mouth with duct tape. He tells of his plans to take his best friend's life, having learned everything about him to the extent that he could be him. The two boys flash back and forth in the mirror, each wearing the glasses which belong to the best friend. In therapy, he gets more out of control, but the therapist tells him to breathe, and tell the story again, but this time telling how he feels. He gets ready to do so, and the opening sequence ends.

Right off the bat something I noticed that I would probably not want to replicate is the recording of a conversation with both characters in frame. I think there is a lot more versatility and in-depth emotion to be shown when we focus on one character at a time as they are reacting to what another character says, or expressing themselves to this character. The jump cut they used when the stalker was looking directly into the camera after just being with his best friend was very creepy, and something that I think would very effectively set that horrific tone if that was something I wanted to go for in my own film. Also, the time jumping through flashbacks to set the story was very effective, I was able to understand not only that the character had ended up in therapy, but into the why and specifics.

THE BLUE BOAR

A girl and her mother in period-appropriate clothing walk through nature, and from the words of the mother they are planning to go check on their potatoes. Her mother tells her she needs to stop acting in improper ways, as she was caught drawing. She assures her mother that it won't happen again, but in her mind she romanticizes the world around her, singing and interacting with nature and its beauty. She gathers various parts of plants, arranging them into some sort of shape. Its silhouette is outlined, with technology, and the title rolls.

The differentiation between her creative imagination and the real world when her mother spoke to her was very clear. The haze, achieved likely through editing, was visually impressive and got the point across, which I would do myself if we end up needing to separate two different places or mindsets in our own film. It was very cool that she created the score on her own, which might be something my group does as we have some musicians in our midst.

WHITE COAT

Ominous music plays as we see close-ups of items around the location, hinting at, but not directly showing what is occurring. Everything is bathed in a blue light. We see a character tied up, yet calm, and are then introduced to another character who looks to be mixing a chemical concoction. The one who was tied up to a chair breaks himself free, his facial expression never changing, while the other continues to work. He finds a toolbox open, and in the blue fox he grabs it, inspecting it closely. The character clad in the white coat keeps up with his precise mixing, and we see in his workspace a sticker indicating that the person tied up who has just stood up is a patient of his. The patient inspects the chemical mixture at the workspace, indicating that these were events that occurred at a past time to the current one for him. He opens up a box that is glowing a neon yellow-green from within, and looks up scarily. 

I have to say, I'm a sucker for allusions to the title of the movie within the movie. It's called White Coat, and the character sure is wearing one. I would totally go for something like that with out project, except it would be more coming-of-age, I hope. Something a little nit-picky, but still important to me, is that we make sure our sounds stay constant despite changing to another shot of the same scene. When the liquid was pouring, it stopped abruptly as the other character showed up, if we have something like this I think it will be more effective for us to record the sound as a foley and add it in later so there isn't that awkward gap in sound. 

STALKER

A character is sleeping comfortably in her bed when her alarm goes off, waking her gently from slumber. She rises slowly and opens her blinds. Getting ready to start her day, she combs her hair, and is startled when she hears a camera flash in her vicinity. She appears confused and glances out her window, where there is no one or nothing to be seen. Brushing it off, she continues with her day. Time has passed, and she is now at school looking through her folder and pencil pouch when she finds a note inside. She bolts fearfully to her car, dropping the letter on her way. Her car fails to start, and she looks into the camera, where her "stalker" seems to have materialized, her screaming cut off by the end of the film opening.

I do think this project could have utilized sound a little more to their advantage. If I am seeing action onscreen, I want to almost physically be there through the two senses available, sight and hearing. Using foley, they could have emphasized sounds that weren't that loud, or if the intention was to make it as though everything was quiet for creepiness, do that and make little things emphasized so they really pop. I want my film opening to be very similar to real life, and the lack of sounds in some portions didn't feel that way to me. The use of close-ups only when the girl's emotions were very distressed or confused was an effective tool for letting us into her world. When a character feels something deeply, I want my audience to see it and really let it sink in, maybe even resonate.

NOSTALGIA

Nostalgia Google Drive Link

We are shown a very green area, the camera tilting up to show the sky as soft, reflective music begins to play. Then, we see a painting, followed by an elderly woman, alternating between the two. Another painting, but the varied shot of the woman comes again, constant. She grabs hold of a branch of a bush, letting go then repeating the same sort of motion on her chest. We see some things that look like heirlooms, things she must hold close to her heart, as she again grabs and releases, going back for one item once more. Beautiful pink flowers change to an image of the woman with a man and a lobster. She smiles sadly and turns to the side. Then, a girl dressed exactly the same, but much younger appears in her same spot, a perfect match cut, as we follow her eye-line to the sky. 

The use of a physical medium to introduce a character was a nice touch. We as the audience are inclined then to associate the painting with the woman, and the woman in the painting can be assumed to be representative of that same character. The symbolic motion of the main character grabbing at things but leaving them out of reach, the only thing she actually grabs being a jewelry box with her picture could mean so many things. This is the sort of suspense I hope to create, with clever symbolism that will reveal itself later.