Narrative theories in opening sequences - by rose spencer

Narrative theories in an opening sequence:  JAWS

From the opening sequence in jaws it suggests that the film is based around the enigma theory because the audience assumes everything is peaceful, the music emphasises this creating an illusion that nothing is wrong. However, the climax’s during the music throughout suggests something is going to happen. The opening of Jaws intrigue’s the audience, gripping them into wanting to watch more. The dark gloomy setting contrasts with the peaceful relaxing music also suggesting not everything within the opening is as it seems.   

This first still from Jaws is a long shot and is the first indication that everything is not as it seems. The woman is running excitedly into the sea, everything appears to be normal but the audience notice that the sea is empty as no one else is in the sea but the woman. This automatically makes the audience ask questions as to why this is, suggesting something is not quite right and also leaving the audience wondering why there is no people in the sea on a hot day. This will make the audience continue to watch to find out why this is.

This second still taken from jaws is an underwater low angled shot from beneath the girl this suggests to the audience that something may be watching the girl from beneath creating a sense of mystery. The dark gloomy sea is also an indication that something is wrong from the fact the girl blends in becoming almost invisible, appearing just as a figure in the water this creates more questions for the audience as they want to know is there is something lurking beneath the waves.

This shot from the opening of Jaws is a close up of the girl, her facial expressions suggest that she is struggling to keep herself above water the audience are fascinated to find out what could be causing her to react this way in the water because they cannot see what is causing her to struggle, leaving the audience drawn to the film to find out more so they can make sense of what they have seen.

The fact that the girl all of a sudden starts to splash around in the water and the waves pick up make the audience wonder why. It allows the audience to think two different things: the girl is fine and she is messing around or something very bad will happen but neither her or the audience know why yet. This created the feeling of the unknown and makes the reader want to watch more. Linking to the enigma theory.

This final image from towards the end of the Jaws opening shows the girl gripping onto something floating, suggesting she has realised something is not right the dark setting also suggests something is not right and the audience question whether the girl is ok or not. This makes that want to watch more and they want the question is “is she ok” to be answered.

memento storyboard comparison

For my storyboard that I made with Alex, Reuben and George, I think we had some alright features and some bad features. Some good features were that, in our storyboard we had a good description of what happened in each shot with the camera shot. What we could have done better was we could have added more detailed frames on the storyboard, also I think we maybe could have added more detailed annotations on the frames as well. Our awful drawings were mimicked well by the people that filmed what we were doing, and to their credit, and thanks to what looks like a herculean effort, they worked fantastically with what they were given.

Narrative theories in opening sequence

How we would do an equilibrium theory opening sequence, based on The Hunger Games.


* Starts in a room peacefully by herself, door opens, dramatic turn around
* Man walks in with documents
* Reads documents
* Sees Peeta on documents 
* Goes through documents frantically
* Throws documents on ground
* Storms out
* Goes into a room full of people discussing around a table
* Zoom on her panicked face and she says “we have to find a cure”

Enigma code because it is not said what the documents say (what they detail) or where it starts 

Jaws is an enigma code from the opening scene from St Peters RC Comprehensive

Typical thriller synopses - by rose spencer

Typical thriller synopses:

The top 6 most popular thrillers in the box office during 2015/16 were:

• The hunger games - mockingjay part 2, a SIFI thriller -  After being chosen as the "Mockingjay" by the rebels fighting against the capital, Katniss Everdeen and District 13 engage in an all-out revolution against the autocratic Capitol to be rid of the hunger games. Hunger games would be considered an enigma because clues and hints are given about what may happen but the audience are left wondering what is going to happen throughout the film.

• The Martian, a SIFI thriller - After an exploratory mission goes wrong, lone astronaut Mark Watney is left for dead on the hostile surface of Mars and must use his scientific ingenuity to homestead an enclosed habitat where he can survive. Meanwhile, the astronauts he left behind realize the severity of his plight and join forces with an international coalition of scientists to launch a rescue mission in defiance of NASA protocol. This film would also be considered an enigma because the audience don't know what will happen to the characters in the film.

• Maze runner: the scorch trials, an action SIFI thriller - Thomas and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD's vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all. I would consider this film an enigma as we are left asking questions about the young boys and what will happen to them and why they are in the place they have found themselves.

• Bridge of spies, a history/drama thriller - In this historical drama set during the Cold War, a Brooklyn attorney is tasked with negotiating a prisoner exchange between an American pilot who was shot down over the USSR and a Soviet spy serving a 45-year sentence for espionage against the U.S. this film would come across as an enigma as the audience left watching are left asking questions about the success of the mission.

• The visit - The Visit is a comedic horror film from director M. Night Shyamalan that follows a pair of children whose lives are changed drastically when their mother takes them to visit their grandparents. After seeing their grandparents engaged in activities that they had been kept as a secret to the entire family previously, they are endangered and rendered potentially unable to ever return to their previous existence. This film is an enigma because the audience are left wondering what would make a mother leave her children with such people and why they behave the way they do

• The perfect guy is a drama thriller - In this suspenseful thriller successful lobbyist Leah Vaughn jumps into a new relationship with a stranger shortly after breaking up with her noncommittal boyfriend. But when her ex resurfaces she soon realizes that one of the two men is not who he appears to be. The final film is a equilibrium, everything appears fine at the beginning until certain things begin to reveal them selves, it could also be viewed as an enigma as we can only suspect something is not right until it is then reviled.

The most common thriller narrative's are the enigma theory and the most common sub - genre is the drama or SIFI thriller.

Opening of the visit:

1. the children arrive at the grandparents house and knock at the door
2. they go inside and say good bye to the mother, the granddad takes the bags upstairs
3. the front door closes and the children look around confused everything looks the same but the grandparents are acting in a weird way.
4. they walk into the living room and the grandma starts saying weird things to the children and making strange noises.
5. she grabs one of the children and starts to shake them violently
6. the other child screams and runs upstairs, as the other child screams the granddad runs in shouting stop before chasing after the other child
7. the granddad locks the child in a room and tells the child to stay in the room
8. there is a loud crash and gang from the living room and the child screams, bursting into tears.
9. everything goes silent the grandma comes upstairs and gets the other child and tells them everything ok asking if the children wanted to make cookies
10. the children walk with the grandma into the kitchen looking very confused but carry on to make cookies

Thriller Genre

Thriller genre from St Peters RC Comprehensive

Typical thriller synopses

Fast and furious 7
Deckard Shaw seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his family for his comatose brother.
Equilibrium theory

Hunger games mockingjay part 2
Katniss Everdeen is in District 13 after she shatters the games forever. Under the leadership of President Coin and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta and a nation moved by her courage.
Equilibrium theory

Spectre
A cryptic message from Bond's past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE.
Enigma

Mission impossible Rogue nation
Ethan and team take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate - an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF.
Enigma

The Revenant
A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
Equilibrium

Jason Bourne 
The CIA's most dangerous former operative is drawn out of hiding to uncover more explosive truths about his past.
Enigma
 
Most of the successful thrillers have a spy or action sub-genre and they tend to follow an equilibrium or enigma narrative. The reason they seem to be more spy and concentrated is because it entices people and its more exciting.

Thriller synopsis from St Peters RC Comprehensive

thriller synopses.

Fast and furious 7
Deckard Shaw seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his family for his comatose brother.

Equilibrium theory

Hunger games mockingjay part 2
Katniss Everdeen is in District 13 after she shatters the games forever. Under the leadership of President Coin and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta and a nation moved by her courage.

Equilibrium

Spectre
A cryptic message from Bond's past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE.

Enigma

Mission impossible Rogue nation
Ethan and team take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate - an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF.
Enigma



The Revenant
A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.


Equilibrium

Jason Bourne 


The CIA's most dangerous former operative is drawn out of hiding to uncover more explosive truths about his past.
Enigma

Most of the successful thrillers have a spy or action sub-genre and they tend to follow an equilibrium or enigma narrative. The reason they seem to be more spy and concentrated is because it entices people and its more exciting.

In-Depth Analysis of Editing

Jack Reacher

Cuts The quick cuts between the cctv footage of the van and the shots of the van give off the impression that the van is being watched. This giving off the feelings of tension and suspicion as to why the vans being watched. The quick cutting between the shots adds to the fast pace of the opening sequence again adding to the tension. This allowing the theme of action thriller to be seen through the fast pace cutting.

Match on Action The man on action shot is when the villain arrives at the carpark whilst he is walking with the gun. At the beginning of the shot you see him walking, leaving the audience in suspense at what he is walking to but as the man turns around the shot goes directly to the gun. This giving off the theme of action thriller as guns are typically seen on action thrillers.

Cutaway In this part of the film there is almost a cutaway shot. This is when the shot focuses on the man working at the desk pushing the lever, going away to a few different shots then returning back to the lever. This implies the theme of action thriller as the shots in between are showing quick cuts adding suspense and questions as to what the man at the desk is doing?

                               

Smash Cut Again during the film there is almost another shot, a smash cut. This is when the villain drives his van backward out of the space after the shooting had taken place. This is very abrupt, happening very suddenly. This implying an action thriller as he is seen to be trying to make a quick getaway; fleeing the scene of the crime before he is caught.

Iris During the shooting scene the villain is looking through the target on the gun, this is similar to an iris shot as we are only seeing what the villain sees through the target whilst he is looking for his victims. Whilst the shooting is going on we are still only seeing through a small circle on the screen. This is to direct the focus completely onto the victims. This allows us to see the action close up which is taking place, not letting the audience miss I minor detail which is happening on the sidewalk. This giving the genre of action thriller due to the focus on victims being murdered.

in depth analysis of editing - by rose spencer

 

Editing techniques

Editing techniques from St Peters RC Comprehensive

practising storyboards. Hugo Holmes

For my storyboard that I made with Alex, Reuben and George, I think we had some alright features and some bad features. Some good features were that, in our storyboard we had a good description of what happened in each shot with the camera shot. What we could have done better was we could have added more detailed frames on the storyboard, also I think we maybe could have added more detailed annotations on the frames as well. Our awful drawings were mimicked well by the people that filmed what we were doing, and to their credit, and thanks to what looks like a herculean effort, they worked fantastically with what they were given.

practicing storyboarding / Memento - by rose spencer

Peer's interpretation of the story board:








this is the part of the opening I created in a story board for another group to turn into the short film opening above. I think our story board was effective as the group who filmed it were able to re create the original as close as possible with the available resources. for future reference I think I would need to be more specific when writing the detail on how to do each frame so they flow better and the re creation can be closer to the original as possible. also I think it would have been better if we had included sound effects in the story board so the group recreating the story board could include them to make the opening more effective.

From doing this task I have lernt that the story boards need to be more detailed so that when creating the video it is clear what it is we need to achieve and so that we know exactly what it is that we need to have in the video. The story board should include every element that should be involved in each frame so that there is no confusion about what should be happening in each of the frames

 When creating our opening sequence, we will need to make sure that the story board is clear and includes everything we need so that nothing is forgotten when we make the opening sequence. In our opening sequence we will make sure that we follow the story board so that we do not forget any of our ideas.









This is the original opening of the film Memento. I think our version of part of the opening resembles the original very well because of the story board that we created and how we included all the necessary detail.

in depth analysis of a thriller opening.

Positioning:

In this shot, Jim Phelps is sat to the right of the frame and the stewardess is in the centre. This makes the crowd think about what's going on, as we have no idea who he is.

Lighting:

In the same shot, The lighting emphasises Phelps and does not shine as brightly on the flight attendant, showing that Mr. Phelps could be an important character. In total, in this shot builds tension and leaves the crowd wondering what will happen later in the movie.

Expression/acting:

This expression shows intrigue, as he seems interested to see what will be on the tape.

Very soon after, however, he seems bored and tired, as if he’s already seen the tape before. On the other hand, viewers have no idea what’s happening, giving reason to watch the movie on.

Hair and make-up:

Phelps’ hair is tied up, suggesting he’s important and is also busy.

Costume:

The man is dressed in a very nice suit and which suggests the same as hair and make-up does.

Setting:

Clearly, the opening scene is set in an aeroplane. This could mean that Jim Phelps is on important business. The fact that we can only see two people on the aeroplane makes you think about the verisimilitude of the situation. In a typical thriller, something monumental happens the second the main character steps out. This should have people waiting to see what happens next.

Props:

There are plenty of props in this sequence. These include: Cassette players, cassettes, cigarettes, flowers, headphones and several more. The multitude of props in this scene are to highlight the potential wealth of Jim Phelps, emphasising the viewers knowledge of him being important/rich.

In-depth Analysis of Thriller Opening

Lighting:
This is a shot from where someone lights a match in a black setting, lighting something for it to make this and in doing so lighting up the picture. This adding to the theme as it implies suspense, sudden changes and surprising, this could be showing the quick fast pace as well as jumpy nature of the film.

Costume:
The use of glasses here demonstrates the typical image of someone who is clever. This adding to the theme as  this could be the clever person behind all of the action, rather than doing it himself.  

Positioning/Acting:
The fact that the person in focus is sitting down and the air hostess is standing up offering him a film shows the superiority the man has over other people, this showing that he could be a wealthy man of power.

Lighting:
The background to this shot is very dark and gloomy. the only light in the shot is on the mans face. This can be showing the mans importance as well as the importance of him just in this scene showing that he could be the best at what he does, e.g. spy.

Expressions:
The look on his face and the positioning of his hand implies deep thought being put into something, meaning he is focusing hard on what he is watching.  This implies the sub genre as the man is watching a video about a certain target, displaying the next adventure he will take, this deep trail of thought displays the seriousness of the matter.

Positioning:

The mans face is positioned to be the only thing focused on in this shot, this showing the importance of his presence in the film.

Props:
The use of these props here can show that the individual is wealthy, due to not everyone at this time being able to have all of these. This showing that he could be an important person, this adding to the sub genre of the film showing that working in a secret job can pay off well!

Setting:
The setting of this film is on a quiet plane with hardly any lighting, this showing that the man could be travelling at night time. The setting adds to the theme as its giving suspense to the programme as people will start to question where he is going and why. The dark and gloomy background could suggest the unhappy nature of the programme and imply what is to come.

Hair and makeup:
This shows a fact file of a woman who will be working with the individual. This woman is well presented due to her clothes as well as her neat hair and makeup (red lips). This showing that the woman is most likely wealthy due to being able to present her self well, demonstrating that the programme will contain many individuals like this due to the man on the plane being similar to the woman in being very presentable wearing his suit.

in depth analysis of a thriller opening - by rose spencer

Mission impossible research by rose spencer

learning how to storyboard.

What went well was that I think we got all the effects and shots right, writing down everything that was in the shot at the time and, although in a very basic fashion, everything that needed to was expressed. It would be even better if we put more detail into the pictures, maybe even annotating them at certain stages, and in the descriptions, we could have put how long each shot lasted. The point of this task was to learn how we could plan each of our narratives and effectively putting it in the form of a storyboard. We learnt how to do this. Now, we will be able to tell what would be a good idea for our oprning sequence.