Facebook Brother (Improved preliminary task)

This is BASED on my  preliminary task using same footage though it has more of a narrative than than before. It has got more of a storey line and I am using the conventions of an Art House Film. I would see this as a warm up for my two minute feature film.
It is called Facebook Brother.

I edited this using iMovie 11. Basic editing was used in this with incidental music used throughout. I repeated a scene at the beginning numerous times to create a sinister effect which goes under the conventions of Art House. I use slow motion to give the effect of thought and give the effect that he is worried. As I go out the door, there is a fade to give the illusion of time. I use the conventions

I used the music from Amelie. I believed this music gave a more thought provoking effect to this.  I would like the audience to feel compassion and pathos towards the boy as if his world is falling apart. I used two  folly effect which are doors closing. This is because I did not record the doors closing, so in doing this made the scene a lot more accessible.

My class mates liked my re edit of my preliminary task however my teacher did not particularly like the slow motion as when slow motion is used, it means something big has happened. I used slow motion to create a nostalgia element to this. My teachers however did  liked the direful repetition of the contraption box. Which frightened them and really went down the route of a conventions of art house.

Opening Sequence Research

The Genre I have chosen is a hybrid genre of Art House/Fantasy.


One film that greatly appealed to me was Amelie. I thought the innocence of the girl interwoven with the music is extremely touching. This montage is mixed with slow motion so we can appreciate this girls intelligence. The montage style evokes that she is playful, and artistic and very independent which is very touching. As this opening scene opens up, we get a small girl around seven years old. The location is set in ones house. She has obviously alone a lot of the time. We the audience get a sense of mystery and we want want to work out who this girls is and what has brought her independence and intelligence upon her. She wears different clothes and draws on her hand to show her creative nature. Non diegetic music is used throughout this clip. This scene can be conventional for an art house fantasy mainly due to the fact of the girls mind, who is clearly into fantasy elements.
This is what I want to similarly incorporate into my film. I like it how the credits are done manually with the girls hands.

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The opening sequence of  Scott Pilgrim VS theWorld  can be seen as conventional for the fantasy element. Independent graphical effect are used which gives rather surreal fantasy qualities. I love the title sequence. When Scott strums the guitar, the vibrations are visible. I also like when we get a shot of Scott's band, I also love the fact that there is a small box that writes a small extract about them. This opening is quite surreal and many fantasy elements can be seen. A numerous number of characters can be seen in this opening. Scott Pilgrim, Knives Chau, Scott's 17 year old girl friend, Stephen Stills ("The Talent), Kim Pine, Young Neil, Three  settings are used. A kitchen where all the band are sitting. One scene is set outside a house when Scott greets Knives. The next is indoors within a living room where the band practice. By watching this, various questions are brought to us, for example why does Scott have such a young girl friend, what are the storey behind this band. Various folley effects are used in this for example a door bell. This is what I should incorporate in my film to make it more realistic. Diegetic turns to Non Diegetic music when the band start playing and it changes to credits.

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I also enjoy films by Tim Burton. I like the magical feel of a new world that he evokes in his film with a rather sinister feel. No characters are introduced in this sequence  however the incidental music gives us a sense of an eerie feel. Two settings are established. At the beginning, we get the externals of a massive tower like factory. The second location is done inside the factory with various concoctions being made with machinery. This is all done using graphics. The enigma created is questions like what is this magical place and there is obviously something magical about this place.The diegetic music makes me want to continue watching.  Various tracking shots are used to outline the factory.

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I liked Submarine directed by Richard Ayoade. I loved his opening due to this clever, We get introduced to one character who is called Oliver Tate. He is a thought provoking boy even to the extreme of foreshadowed his own funeral. This poignant moment I would love to include in my film.  The location shot of his room are used and he talks to us using voice over. This I believe is more affecting. A shot of the sea is also used which works fantastically over this shot. This genre goes under a hybrid genre of an Art House Comedy. There are definitely some art house qualities with the low budget and  I also found the typical simplistic, working weather (pathetic fallacy) greatly impacted the somber mood of the film which made this opening rather emotional and thought provoking. Low key lighting is used throughout which makes this scene which makes everything more atmospheric. Jump cuts are used when we meet Oliver Tate. This shows that he is quirky child. I would like to use this effect in my two minute opening. Various locations are used like a hamlet, and picturesque views of mountains, and a coast line showing that they live close to the sea. At the end of the two minutes we get a shot of a class room. Tracking shots are virtually through out this opening scene.

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Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton is a phantasy/action directed by Tim Burton. Five characters are
introduced. Alice, Alice's father, two friends and a butler. There are three locations incorporated in the opening two minutes. An establishing shot which is outside Alice's house, a living room and Alice's bedroom.  Due to them having a butler and living in a immodest house, we can work just from these two minutes that Alice comes from a rich family. An anomaly is just created when Alice keeps on having these nightmares about smiling cats and blue caterpillars. This film is conventional mainly due to the unknown and mysterious qualities that come under the phantasy element.

Tea Montage

For this task, I had to make a cup of tea in the style of a montage. A montage is the process of selecting and editing various clips in separate sections, with various camera angles to conclude with a minor story line. I had a total of three mintes of footage and cut it down to 12 seconds. I tried to do quick edits to make a rhythmic sound of the slurping of tea, to the pouring of water. I had some topical, vintage music which I thought suited the montage. I was filming on an iPhone 5 which is not ideal, however as whole it came out pretty well. I used iMovie to do all my cuts and I used a dissolve effect to the shot of me trying the tea. I used this to give the effect of time passing and the slurping of tea was my longest clip. This was to portray that all the work concluded to this blissful cup of tea. If I was to change it, I would of used more clips to gain continuity and I would of quietened down the music so one could hear the domestic  kitchen sounds of making tea. I thought my Match On Action at the end worked well when I pulled the cup of tea to my face and then it changed to me drinking it. 

Genre

For my introduction of my feature film, I have to choose what genre to include.

A genre is a style or category of a film.

I have come to a conclusion that I want a hybrid genre. This is when a combination of two ore more themes are used. I want to do an Art House Phantasy kind of film.

A sub genre is the most common, and traditional use of a type of theme. These could include 'chick flicks', fantasy films, or a horror type of film.

Film Conventions are various themes, techniques, camera angles, misen scene.

Take a Rom Com for example. The conventions would be:

Girl meets boy, they fall out, find someone else and then at the end suddenly realise they actually love each other like at the beginning of the film.

Opening Title Sequence Of My Film

For my feature film,  I need to entail a number of things:

Not much happens in the opening sequence of a film however an anomaly has to be portrayed.

1. I need to establish the protagonist or antagonist. i.e. a character or characters

2. I need to set up the narrative context - what's the story? Why would we want to watch more?

3. Establish a genre - How do we know it's a crime drama (for example) What are the conventions of your chosen genre?

4. Establish a location/setting

Brief

For my main task, I need to make an opening two minutes of a feature film. It has to entail one character, a setting that is relevant to the action, and an unanswered question that will be answered in the actual feature film.

I am thinking of doing Art House, with a bit of Fantasy and a Comedy twist.

An art house film is an independent and normally serious film, that is aimed at a niche audience rather than a mass audience. They rarely have feel good quality and they cover rather independent concepts.

They normally tell the truth about the world, and you come out of an art house film feeling more wise and clever about the world. Film makers make this kind of films, because they enjoy letting their imaginations go wild even though they are not earning much money.

One film that greatly appealed to me was Amelie. I thought the innocence of the girl interwoven with the music is extremely touching The montage, mixed with the slow motion. The montage style evokes that she is playful, and artistic and very independent which is very touching