The opening sequence for the film 'Se7en' is highly effective. THisopening sequence is itself very enigmatic. The shots used are all close ups of different objects, as a person does something. We are not shown details of this persons face, and it is difficult to piece togethor exactly what is going on. The use of consistent close up shots build up a feeling of obsession. This enables the film to develop and give the audience a sense of what is going to be happening at the start of the film. The font used, is very non conformist, it is scribbly, and not faded in and out slowly, but rather the text flashes, mirrors and mvoes around. This technique also strengthens the connotations of the genre. Because of the large number of close ups, the audience are left gripped , wondering what this person is doing. Thus i think this is an extremely effective opening sequence. The music also matches the title effects, and diorientates the audience more.
Monday, 5 November 2007
Analysing The Opening To 28 Days Later
I was going to analysae how the credits are incorporated to the beggining of this film, but have remembered that their are not any credits for creaters , director etc fo the film.The film is all shot to create a sense of realism, the film has no credtis at the beginning to make it appear more documentary in style, the effect Danny Boyle wanted to achieve for the film. It is straight in to the action, with footage shot as if it is a news story.
As there are no credits to analyse i am going to look at the opening to Dawn of The Dead.
UK Thrillers.
I was looking at the oipening sequence to 28 days later, and analysisng particularly how the credits are incorporated, also doing some research about the film , when i found out that it was made on a very low budget (only 5 million). I personally think the film is good, and takes the zombie sub genre, and utilises it well. Especiallly as the film became such a hit, i think it is a considerable directoing achievement.
Below is some information on the films success (wikipedia)
The film was a considerable success at the box office and became highly profitable on a budget of about £5 million ($9.8 million). In the UK, it took £6.1 million ($12 million), while in the US it became a surprise hit, taking over $45 million despite a limited release at fewer than 1,500 screens across the country. The film garnered around $82.7 million worldwide.
Critical views of the film were very positive (with a rating of 89% at RottenTomatoes [3]) the L.A. Times describing it as a "stylistic tour de force", and efilmcritic.com describing it as "raw, blistering and joyously uncompromising".
On the DVD commentary, Boyle and Garland frequently call it a post apocalyptic, horror and zombie film, commenting on scenes that were specific references to George A. Romero's original Dead trilogy. However, during the initial marketing of the film Boyle did try to distance the film from such labels. Boyle identified John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids as Garland's original inspiration for the story[2].
I was interested into researching more about Danny Boyles other work and how he got into directing film.
Boyle made his feature film directorial debut with Shallow Grave, an instant commercial and critical success. Next followed the film Trainspotting, based on the novel by Irvine Welsh. Besides being quite successful, the film is considered among the most influential and iconic British films of the 1990s.
Previously known to work with writer John Hodge, producer Andrew Macdonald and actor Ewan McGregor, in the internationally acclaimed Trainspotting, Boyle relocated to Hollywood to seek a production deal with a major US studio. He declined an offer to direct the fourth film of the Alien franchise, instead making A Life Less Ordinary using British finance.
Boyle's next project was an adaptation of the cult novel The Beach. He then collaborated with author Alex Garland on the post-apocalyptic zombie film 28 Days Later.
In 2004, Boyle directed the Frank Cottrell Boyce scripted Millions. His science-fiction film Sunshine, starring 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy, was released in 2007.
Boyle produced the sequel to 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, released on May 11, 2007.
Focusing on 28 days later i found that the general consesus on his directing style is "eclectic, adventurous and daring. This fearlessness has also lead to some uneven films as well. You can say this is a filmmaker whose best work is still ahead of him; yet his artistic output shows an inventiveness and versatility that matches even Sam Raimi."
I think when making my thriller i should look again more closely at his opening to 28 days later, as well as sunshine as he is clearly a renowned British director, and it would be good if i was to possibly use his opening sequences as an influence into making my thriller sequence more British in style, rather than basing it on American concepts.
The opening shot is usually a shot from the middle of the movie.
Often uses electronic music in his films.
Scotland - Often uses places, characters, actors or references to and relating to Scotland
Kinetic camera.
Always collaborates with John Murphy for Soundtrack production.
Sunday, 4 November 2007
Spike Lee : Researching him after watching His Heist Thriller Inside Man
His films frequently involve African Americans and African-American themes.
Films called "A Spike Lee Joint"
Frequently has characters directly address the camera. Frequently places actors on dollies to achieve a gliding or rotating effect against the background of the shot.
His films often have the phrase "Wake Up!" as in an urging to the awakening of maturity and social conscience.
Baseball: Every one of his narrative feature films makes reference to baseball teams and players.
Often casts Denzel Washington.
Inside Man : Inspiration for another idea
Inside Man is a 2006 crime-drama film starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Willem Dafoe and Jodie Foster, and directed by Spike Lee.
The opening sequence to Inside Man is very different to the usual thriller. In the sense that the audience is addressed directly by a character, breaking the concept of almost all other thrillers that we the audience, are only on lookers of the action, and are distanced from it.
Inside Man opens with a closeup of Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) sitting in confinement, though the location of the cell he is in is not revealed. He muses, to the audience, the difference between a cell and a prison. In a self-important tone, he offers to explain to the viewer his "perfect" plan for a bank robbery.[1]
The film flashes back to the robbers gathering in a van to prepare for the heist. (This begins the timeframe that will carry most of the film; though there are several flash-backs and flash-forwards within). Led by Russell, the robbers enter a bank disguised as painters. They first use infrared flashlights to knock out security cameras. They then brandish firearms and begin taking over the bank.
Meanwhile, the police show up and surround the bank. Detectives Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) and Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
I am looking mostly at the opening sequence to the film, as it is what i have to make. The opening sequence really stands out to me because of the direct address to the audience, which immediateely made me feel more involved with the film, as well as interested as to whether we were given a small amount of priviliged information characters in the film would not know. The fact that at the end we see where Russell is hiding has inspired the film title and brought the narrative full circle gives a sense of accomplishment to the audience, i was also impressed at how the complexities in the plot were all tied together by the end to give a clever finish.
Again like Running Scared where the narrative begins not at the start, but at the end of the plot, i thought was a clever technique , the fact there was direct address also made a large impact and made me engage and focus on the film in greater detail. An idea i could possibly incorporate with my thriller, although dialogue can be difficult in terms of sound quality and acting skills.
I thought the mise en scene when Clive Owen is addressing the audience was extremely well done. The dark shdowy light created enigma as to where exactly this character was?. Its setting was also effective in creating a sense of entrapment which was done with the closer moving brick wall. The camerwork also created this with a medium close up.
The transition from this direct address , to a different time in the narrative, was done with a dissolve clearly showing to the audience that time had either passed or we were backwards in the narrative.
The music that accompanies the opening to Inside Man is also extremely unusual, being Hindu (Chaiyya Chaiyya ). It is infact a bollywood hit song from a extremely successful bollywood film. This reflecs Spike Lees of representing different cultures in his films, and he has creatively combined Bollywood with Hollywood to create a great effect. Spike says himself "I've been blessed with the opportunity to express the views of black people who otherwise don't have access to power and the media. I have to take advantage of that while I'm still bankable." I think it adds a considerable amount of individuality to the film, and its opening sequence is more memorable, as the usual hip hop track could have been used here, but wasnt, making it different. Maybe in my film i could use a boldy different music choice like this.
The step backwards in the narrative, then continues the film from the start of the Heist where we follow the team of painters , soon to be bank robbers on their journey through the city towards the bank. The music makes the opening more pacey, and after the direct address means the audience is expecting action.
The sequence also cuts away to different parts of the citys monuments. Such as the bull, to help show where the film is set, and give the audience a greater concept of the surroundings after the enigmatic, and confined shots from Clive Owen when he in trapped.
This films opening sequence has inspired another idea. Similar to my first and similar to Inside Man, it would begin at the closing stages of the film. In this case with our gangster or mentally unstable physco killer (still not sure which character it would be yet) arrested and placed in a grimy police cell. Here they would look dirty, and sleep deprived , staring into empty space. The camera would then ease in on them focusing on their face, and blurring the foreground. The character would close their eyes slowly as if drifting to sleep, then suddenly we would have white flashes, and a montage of shots from hat would be the last 3 weeks would flash up. Him kiiling people, gunfights or shots, a girl, police, all shots would probarbly contain common signifiers of the thriller genre. Then suddenly the last shot would be of red blood cells in the blood stream ( Like the medical shots showin in House )the camera would then zoom out of the body, through a bloody cut , and shirt to a low angle of our physco with a chainsaw, or axe, or the gangster in a sharp looking suite with a gun. In both shots though we would be focusing on their eyes, which would suddenly open. And in the case of the gangster scenario , we would be in some sort of grimy hide out most likely urban where he is reloading his gun, about to shoot another gangster. He shoots him, and there are blood splatters and stains on the floor etc, as the other man dies and falls to the floor. He then heads for a door, we have a close up of his hand opening it. Then a long shot from outside in the street as he opens it ( chance to use continuity editing ) and walks outside , then walks along the street. I think here we could then slow the shot down for a dramtic effect and have agressive, yet reflective music over the top. With credits either superimpose over the footage, or coming up in the corner. The idea behind the gangster scenariois he wants out of the mob, and they see it as betraal so put a hit out on him. In order for him to escape he has many people to kill. And eventually is arrested for one of them.
The idea for the physco character would be similar in most ways. Except he may be with an axe, holding a young blonde girl or women hostage. Police outside ordering him to let her go. Eventully he brabs her by te nck and opens the door to a simialr location as the gangster would be and we have the same shot of him and his victim walking along the road. With credits.
I think both of these ideas are ambitious and i probarbly havent descbribed them very well,but ould be possible to do well if planned enough with te right locations and actors. Plus i think the chance to use special effects would really impact on the audience.
Martin Scorsese : Research into his work and him
Frequently casts Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Joe Pesci and
[slow-motion] Makes use of slow motion techniques (e.g., Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980)).
His lead characters are often sociopathic and/or want to be accepted in society.Extensive white lighting in scenes of his films.
Often uses diagetic music (i.e., source of music is visible on-screen).
His blonde leading ladies are usually seen through the eyes of the protagonist as angelic and ethereal; they always wear white in their first scene and are photographed in slow-motion (Cybill Shepherd in _Taxi Driver (1976)_ ; Cathy Moriarty's white bikini in Raging Bull (1980); Sharon Stone's white minidress in Casino (1995)). As the movie progresses, these ladies usually prove to be anything *but* angelic.
Often uses long tracking shots (a notoriously difficult shot to perfect) which is why he has been dubbed by some as the King of the Tracking Shot .
Often uses freeze frames (e.g., Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Departed)
Frequently uses music by The Rolling Stones ("Mean Streets", "Goodfellas", "Casino", "The Departed"), especially the song "Gimme Shelter"
Often begins his movies with the childhood of his main characters (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Goodfellas, Kundun, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed)
Cameo appearences of his families in his movies
