Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Tuesday, 25 April 2017
Citizen Kane- An Analysis Of A Similar Opening Sequence
The opening titles (as shown below) are played with no sound, which makes a large impact on the viewer when the film does start and further emphasizes the haunting power of the opening theme in the next shot which perfectly fits the dark, gloomy and secluded visuals.
The close up shows a sign which says 'NO TRESPASSING', this connotes to the viewer that either someone dangerous is inside or perhaps someone of importance.The sign is dirty and worn out which could have been done to imply to the viewer that the grounds have not been well kept.
The camera (still using a close up) then pans up to to multiple shots of barbed wire. The viewer can't see anything past the wire, it's all distorted by fog. This could have been done to symbolize that people outside do not know what goes on inside or who lives there. It also works to create anticipation and mystery about what could be inside. Also, barbed wire is typically used in very heavily guarded locations which further implies that someone or something important inside.
After panning past multiple barbed fences (many fences were possibly shown to emphasize the size of the grounds, we are finally shown the building inside, which is a huge mansion on top of a hill - the sheer size of the building is very intimidating. It should also be noted that only one light is on in the mansion which implies that there aren't a lot of people inside.
We are then shown a shot of two small monkeys in the empty cage of a much larger animal - the tiger in front of the the mansion. This could be a visual metaphor for the likelihood of there being a very small amount of people in the mansion that is much larger than what they need. The exotic nature of these animals also shows the audience the wealth of the owner.
We are then shown a shot of some sort of dock, even in the reflection of the water the mansion's domineering presence over the grounds can still be felt.
The establishing shots continue and further emphasize the size of the mansion and its grounds, along with the wealth of the owner. The mystery continues to build as a lot of the screen is still obscured with fog. This continues and with each shot we get closer and closer to the mansion's lit up window. The closer we get to the building the more intimidating its size becomes.
Finally, we reach the the lit up window and the soundtrack intensifies until the light is shut off - this grabs the viewers attention. We then fade into the bedroom where an old man is seen lying down holding a glass object in front of the window we were just looking into.
We then fade into a snowy environment and are shown a small house in the snow. However, then the camera pulls back and it is revealed that we are looking into a snow globe. He then meekly whispers 'Rosebud' and the snow globe slips from his hand and smashes. The home in the snow globe is a lot smaller than the one he lives in, perhaps he is thinking about when he was younger and less wealthy, or maybe he would rather live in a smaller less lonely home. The way we slowly fade into the snow globe, in a way that fools many viewers into believing they're looking at a real place, could further hint towards the man fantasizing about a different life or time. The smashing of the globe could mean that his hopes of living that life are over or that he'll never have that life. The word 'Rosebud' intrigues the viewer and gives them the their first taste of the film's mystery.
We then cut to a woman, who is presumably a nurse, entering the room. She approaches the bed and then folds the man's lifeless arms across his chest and then covers his face with a blanket. This implies that he has died and cements the mystery plot.
The scene then fades to black. The screenshots were taken from this clip of the opening sequence below.
Filming Diary
Day One: Today we filmed quite a few shots without too many problems or issues. However the main issue we had whilst filming today was that people were talking outside of the shot (as we were in a public area. Because of this, we may have to either cut the sound out whilst editing and replace it with different audio, or we even re-shoot those shots.
Day 2; Today we re-shot most of the shots from day one as after viewing them, we noticed the sound in the background was evidently distracting from our actual product, and needed to be replaced. However today we were successful in replacing these shots as there were few people present, and when people did enter our shooting area, we just halted filming until it was clear.
Day 3: Unfortunately it began to rain heavily whilst we were shooting our product. This occurred fairly early into our filming, therefore at risk of the equipment suffering any water damage, we decided to pack up after a few shots and head back to school.
Day 4: Today was a very successful day of filming as the weather was pretty dry, which enabled us to stay out for a lengthy amount of time to complete almost of the shots required for our opening scene. The only issue we encountered was that we had the re-shoot the material form the previous rainy day as the quality of sound was poor.
Day 5: This was our final day of filming. We have had to use a different camera for filming our last few shots which initially caused a bit of confusion as to where our previous shots were. However after we had recovered those previous shots we were able to go out and complete of product. Due to the weather being quite pleasant, there was more people present in the surroundings areas where we were filming, however the sound isn't very noticeable and can easily be edited out.
Day 2; Today we re-shot most of the shots from day one as after viewing them, we noticed the sound in the background was evidently distracting from our actual product, and needed to be replaced. However today we were successful in replacing these shots as there were few people present, and when people did enter our shooting area, we just halted filming until it was clear.
Day 3: Unfortunately it began to rain heavily whilst we were shooting our product. This occurred fairly early into our filming, therefore at risk of the equipment suffering any water damage, we decided to pack up after a few shots and head back to school.
Day 4: Today was a very successful day of filming as the weather was pretty dry, which enabled us to stay out for a lengthy amount of time to complete almost of the shots required for our opening scene. The only issue we encountered was that we had the re-shoot the material form the previous rainy day as the quality of sound was poor.
Day 5: This was our final day of filming. We have had to use a different camera for filming our last few shots which initially caused a bit of confusion as to where our previous shots were. However after we had recovered those previous shots we were able to go out and complete of product. Due to the weather being quite pleasant, there was more people present in the surroundings areas where we were filming, however the sound isn't very noticeable and can easily be edited out.
City Of God Opening Sequence Analysis
The opening sequence starts out with with a series of frantic, quick, close ups of a knife being sharpened and chickens being killed in the process of making a meal. As this happens, shots of a confused chicken watching on in terror are shown and the chicken decides to escape. These first few cuts set the violent tone of the film and place us into its world. The sharpening of the knives connotes violence and death, while the escape of the chicken is used to represent an attempted escape from the impoverished Favelas. The happy, upbeat diegetic music, juxtaposed with the shots of violence and look of fear on the chicken's face and the sound of the knife being sharpened, could perhaps have been done in an attempt to show the differences in experience between the rich and the poor in Brazil.
The chicken then leaps from a ledge and lands on the street and the music cuts to silence on a shot of a bowl of blood: this is noticed by a group of poverty stricken teenagers brandishing guns who then begin to chase the chicken with the intent on killing it and the music starts up again. As they chase it through the streets, we're shown more of the neighbourhood which is in disarray- the streets are covered in litter and the walls are covered in graffiti- this shows us that these boys are not living in a rich neighbourhood. We're then shown a low shot at the eye level view of the chicken evading the boys, which makes us feel like we are the chicken which is running for its life, we then cut to a shot of the chase of the chicken from behind (the perspective of the boys) which furthers the idea that the escape of the chicken is a metaphor for an escape from poverty and also gives us the feeling of life in the Favelas being a race with the risk of death. Next, we cut to a shot of two boys speaking (clearly the protagonists) about risking death to get a good photo with the reward of getting a job at a newspaper: this furthers the idea of a race to escape poverty with the risk of death. In the pursuit a man is assaulted and threatened with a gun and gunshots are fired- this is when the fun and games stop and the danger begins to feel real.
The chicken then reaches a street and, in the midst of the chaos, a police car passes, notices the violence of the chase and stops at the end of the road; the protagonists now also reach the street. One of the protagonists then mentions that a man named 'Lil Ze' will kill him if he finds him and then the boys (assumedly with Lil Ze) arrive on the street and the protagonist freezes. Now the protagonist and the chicken are stuck in a standoff between the boys and the approaching police. The protagonist then freezes and and a 360 degree shot is shown of his surroundings and now both him and the viewer are aware of the mortal dangers that he's in. The protagonist and the chicken are both in the same situation both physically and metaphorically and this is furthered by the narrator's dialogue which says; 'If you run away, they get you and if you stay, they get you too'. The 360 degree shot then resumes and we are brought back to the protagonist's childhood in the sixties.
The chicken then leaps from a ledge and lands on the street and the music cuts to silence on a shot of a bowl of blood: this is noticed by a group of poverty stricken teenagers brandishing guns who then begin to chase the chicken with the intent on killing it and the music starts up again. As they chase it through the streets, we're shown more of the neighbourhood which is in disarray- the streets are covered in litter and the walls are covered in graffiti- this shows us that these boys are not living in a rich neighbourhood. We're then shown a low shot at the eye level view of the chicken evading the boys, which makes us feel like we are the chicken which is running for its life, we then cut to a shot of the chase of the chicken from behind (the perspective of the boys) which furthers the idea that the escape of the chicken is a metaphor for an escape from poverty and also gives us the feeling of life in the Favelas being a race with the risk of death. Next, we cut to a shot of two boys speaking (clearly the protagonists) about risking death to get a good photo with the reward of getting a job at a newspaper: this furthers the idea of a race to escape poverty with the risk of death. In the pursuit a man is assaulted and threatened with a gun and gunshots are fired- this is when the fun and games stop and the danger begins to feel real.
The chicken then reaches a street and, in the midst of the chaos, a police car passes, notices the violence of the chase and stops at the end of the road; the protagonists now also reach the street. One of the protagonists then mentions that a man named 'Lil Ze' will kill him if he finds him and then the boys (assumedly with Lil Ze) arrive on the street and the protagonist freezes. Now the protagonist and the chicken are stuck in a standoff between the boys and the approaching police. The protagonist then freezes and and a 360 degree shot is shown of his surroundings and now both him and the viewer are aware of the mortal dangers that he's in. The protagonist and the chicken are both in the same situation both physically and metaphorically and this is furthered by the narrator's dialogue which says; 'If you run away, they get you and if you stay, they get you too'. The 360 degree shot then resumes and we are brought back to the protagonist's childhood in the sixties.
Mise En Scene
The opening scene opens with a high-angle shot of the main character laying motionless on the ground. The high-angle shot signifies that since the character, Kevin, is unconscious he is helpless and therefore powerless. After Kevin wakes up and walks up to the bodies, the shot of him walking up to one of the body is a low-angle shot. This, now, portrays Kevin as the powerful one compared to the bodies since he is on his feet and the bodies are helplessly laying on the ground. Kevin goes from being the powerless one to the being the powerful one.
Throughout the opening sequence are shot with low-key lighting and colour graded to look a little darker too. This matches the tone and the themes of the overall plot of the film which explore some adult and dark themes such as mental illness and cold-blooded murder.
The sound within the opening sequence is all non-diegetic. The dialogue, the chirping of the birds, the score of course, are all added in post. The music slowly creeps in at the start and melds in with the chirping of the birds. As he is getting up and walking towards the bodies the music is slowly getting louder creating suspense. The score and the noises of the birds chirping are both diegetic and so is the main character saying "Hello". The "Hello" is dubbed.
The dark red blood, which is on the main character's hand when he touches the back of his head, and the shirt he's wearing which also has red on it tells us that not only the character is in pain but also that he is dangerous. The red that he wears signifies death and love and soon he comes across two dead bodies of his loved ones but Kevin, the main character, is oblivious to them being related to him. This creates some foreshadowing for what's about to come in the film later on as the plot moves on.
Throughout the opening sequence are shot with low-key lighting and colour graded to look a little darker too. This matches the tone and the themes of the overall plot of the film which explore some adult and dark themes such as mental illness and cold-blooded murder.
The sound within the opening sequence is all non-diegetic. The dialogue, the chirping of the birds, the score of course, are all added in post. The music slowly creeps in at the start and melds in with the chirping of the birds. As he is getting up and walking towards the bodies the music is slowly getting louder creating suspense. The score and the noises of the birds chirping are both diegetic and so is the main character saying "Hello". The "Hello" is dubbed.
The dark red blood, which is on the main character's hand when he touches the back of his head, and the shirt he's wearing which also has red on it tells us that not only the character is in pain but also that he is dangerous. The red that he wears signifies death and love and soon he comes across two dead bodies of his loved ones but Kevin, the main character, is oblivious to them being related to him. This creates some foreshadowing for what's about to come in the film later on as the plot moves on.
Editing
When it came to making our film, we included a range of different editing techniques. For example, we edited in the eerie music from the brilliant thriller Memento. Also, by adding in the Seinfeld theme when the phone rings, we get a contrast between seriousness and comedy.
We used various camera shots when making our opening sequence as we believed that it would show we had a greater understanding of editing in general. Some of the shots included:
- Tracking shots
- POV shots
- Extreme close ups/close ups
- Establishing shots
- Wide shots
Our opening sequence consisted of continuity editing. We did this by putting the scenes in a certain order so that not too much information is given away in the first couple of scenes. For example, in the first shot, we see a man lying on the ground not moving. This will leave the audience asking questions as they do not yet know what is happening. However as the film goes on, the story begins to unravel, as well as the audiences understanding of the plot.
Our opening sequence consisted of continuity editing. We did this by putting the scenes in a certain order so that not too much information is given away in the first couple of scenes. For example, in the first shot, we see a man lying on the ground not moving. This will leave the audience asking questions as they do not yet know what is happening. However as the film goes on, the story begins to unravel, as well as the audiences understanding of the plot.
Monday, 24 April 2017
Location Scouting
When it came to filming we decided to choose the location shown in the first image. We chose this location because it was much more secluded and barren than the other locations, one of which we could even see cars passing in the background, which would completely ruin the lonely atmosphere of our film.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)