Due to weather conditions we
had to make some changes to the story. For example, the actors we not
able to sit facing each other on the bench so they had to stand near the
bench, this meant we could not do the shot reverse shot of their
conversation. We were also not able to shoot in the forest because of
the snow, so we changed it so the female character ran in between a row of trees, this still gave the illusion she was in a forest. Apart from these sections the rest of narrative was kept the same
Editing
In the prelim task editing techniques such as action match, a dissolve
transition and straight cuts. The Action matches are used when the
female character opens the door and walks outside towards the male
character waiting for her.
Another action match is used when the female character is running from the male character.
Improvements:
From looking back at the final of our prelim task, I have seen a few improvements that could be made. For example, when filming we should think more about the positioning of the person filming. This is because in a number of shots the audience will be able to the shadow of the person filming. We should also take into consideration that when filming our location will not be silent, this will result in background noise meaning that dialogue is indistinct, therefore using the method of dubbing at the post production stages may result in a better over all product.
The title sequence starts with a middle aged man and woman sat in a seating area in what looks like a cafe due to the seating around them and the cups and plates on their table. The woman says to the man 'I love you pumpkin' to which the man replys 'and i love you honey bunny' straight after the male stands on his chair pointing a gun and shouts 'All right, everybody be cool, this is a robbery!'the woman then the woman also stands up and shouts 'Any of you fucking pricks move, and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of ya!' she is also pointing a gun. Once the dialouge has finished the song Pump it by Black Eyed Peas begins to play and the title 'Miramax films presents' the image of the two characters pointing guns has frozen on the screen. There is then a black out and the title 'A band apart' with a logo underneath.
A straight cut to the title 'And Jersey films production' this title is on a black background. 'A film by Quentin Tarantino' the titles are in yellow and are in the centre of the shot the font is clear to read. After this title the title 'Pulp Fiction' the scrolls up from the bottom of the shot on the left had side. This title is a lot larger than the titles before. The title then stops scrolling up when it reaches the centre of the shot. A white title then flashes on top of the title saying 'John Travolta'
The 'Pulp Fiction' title then begins to zoom out and the 'John Travolta' title flashes out. Then the title 'samuel L. Jackson' replaces the 'John Travolta' title. The title is the same font and size as before. The 'Pulp Fiction title is still zooming out. The 'Samuel L. Jackson' title then flashes out and is replaced by the title 'Una Thurman' once again the same size and font as before. The 'Pulp Fiction' title is even smaller now and the 'Una Thurman' title flashes out and is replaced by the title saying 'Harvey Keitel'. This title then flashes out and is replaced by the title saying 'Tim Roth'. That title then flashes out, and is replaced by the title saying 'Amanda Plummer'. The text is the same size and font as before, however the 'Pulp Fiction' title is now smaller than the titles that name the actors.
The next title is 'Maria de Medlerios' this then flashes out and is replaced by the title 'Ving Rhames' which then flashes out and is replaced by the title 'Eric Stoltz'. This then flashes out and is replaced by 'Rosanna Arquette' which then flashes out and is replaced by 'Christopher Walken' then finally 'And Bruce Willis' These are the main characters within the film. The next title is 'co-starring' this title is in yellow and is on a black background. These names then scroll up the shot like credits. The names on the titles are:
Paul Calderon
Bronagh Gallagher
Peter Greene
Stephen Hibbert
Angela Jones
Phil LaMarr
Robert Ruth
Julia Sweeney
Quentin Tarantino
Frank Whaley
Duane Whitaker Once this title has finished the next title flashes on screen. This time naming the people that have worked on the film. The titles start at the bottom of the hierarchy, starting with 'casting by Ronnie Yeskel C.S.A. Gary M. Zuckerbrod' This title is central and is in a yellow. The font is matching that of the titles before. The title then flashes out and the title 'Music supervisor Karyn Rachtman' flashes in matching the font from the title before. When that title flashes out the next title 'Costume Designer Betsy Heimann' replaces it, this title matches the previous titles. This title then flashes out and is replaced by the title 'Production designer David Wasco'. The title then flashes out like the previous titles and is replaced by the title 'Editor Sally Menke' in the same way as the titles before. The title flashes out and is replaced by the title 'Director of photography Andrze J Sekula' The next title does not only have one name on, but three. The title is 'Co-Executive producers' with the names 'Bon Weinstein' 'Harvey Weinstein' 'Richard N. Gladstein' The next title is similar to the title before, with it having three names on the same title. This title flashes in, in the same way as thr previous titles. The title is 'executive produces' with the names of 'Danny DeVito' 'Michael Shamberg' 'Stacey Sher' That title then flashes out and the title 'Stories by Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary' flashes in. This title flashes out to be replaced by the title 'Produced by Lawrence Bender' flashing in. This is the last title in the opening sequence. All the titles are in the same font and are either in yellow and white. The background for the sequence is always black. The music for the opening sequence is mexican type music, the music is that of the Black Eyes Peas - Pump it. However this music is not played throughout the whole of the opening sequence. When the 'Music supervisor' title comes up the music stops and the sound of a radio being tuned in is played and when the title 'Costume Designer' is on screen the song Jungle Boogie by Kool and the gang begins to play. This song is played until the end of the sequence.
The Inception Opening sequence starts with a black background, with the image of a spinning top in the bottom right corner. Red and white text enters the shot through a horizontal wipe. The text is basic and clear. The title says 'Written and Directed by Christopher Nolan'. This opening sequence starts at the top of hierarchic of who has worked on the film and works the way down. A vertical wipe down brings a red layer on top, the red layer leaves a black triangle at the bottom of the shot. The red layer forms the title 'Leonardo DiCaprio'. The shot then zooms into the D of DiCaprio. The spinning top from the first top then spins across the top layer there is also a title at this point of another actor in the film, this title is on a black background in a red font saying 'Ellen Page'. Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page are the two main stars in the film, which is why they are named first. The shot then zooms into the Ellen Page title, and a red spiral is former. During this shot there is the title 'Edited Lee Smith' on the outside layer of the spiral, on the next layer in there is the title 'production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas' this title is smaller that the title for the Editor of the film. In even smaller font in the inner layer of the spiral is the title 'Casting by' however the font is that small, you cannot see the name of the person that was head of casting. This spiral goes down the hierarchic of people working on the film, with the higher person on the outer layer and moving down the hierarchic the further in the spiral gets. There is then a zoom into the centre of the spiral to where another spiral is formed, however this spiral is not as clear as the previous spiral as it is zoomed in. This spiral is also in red like the previous spiral. On this spiral there is the title 'Joseph Gordon Levitt' who is another actor in the film. This actor has come after Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page due to the fact he is not biggest star in the film. The title is in a large simple font like the previous titles. There is a zoom into the R of Gordon, another title then enters the shot through the use of a horizontal wipe. This title is on a black background in white and red font saying 'Music by Hans Zimmer', this title wipes out the shot to the left. The red and black background rotate making new shapes. There is then a zoom into the black part of the background the shot then zooms out to form the title 'Dileep Rao'. There is then another zoom into the D of Dileep. The next shot shows a black and red background there is a title in the left side of the shot in white and red font on a black background said 'Director of photography Wally Pfister' The red and black parts of the background then blend to leave a mainly black background, whilst that is happening the title begins to exit the shot at the bottom of the shot. With only a little red left on the background, there is a zoom into the red left in the shot to where the next title 'Ken Watenbe' is formed. The title then rotates and zooms into the T of wantenbe to form a red background. The black title of 'Tom Hardy' zooms onto the red background before then zooming out so the title is readable. The sequence then rewinds quickly to the start of the opening sequence where there is only a little bit of the red background. the red background forms the letter T, the shot then zooms out so there is the title 'Inception' on screen. This title is on a black background in red font. The title is in the largest font that has been in the opening sequence and is central in comparison to the other titles that have been featured in the sequence.There is then a straight cut to waves against some rocks. Throughout the opening sequence the colours red, black and white are used, whether this be in the form of the background or the titles. Tension is built throughout the sequence through the use of music which included instruments such as violins. The music builds in pace as the title sequence goes on. Towards the end of the sequence when the title 'inception' is in the shot, the sound of waves begin become clear, and the music begins to fade, it is at this point that the image of crashing waves against a rock become visible to the audience.
The clip starts with the sounds of thunder as the 'Columbia pictures' sequence fades in at first the only image we see is a bright light which is then a graphic match of the torch the statue is holding. The sound of the thunder slowly fades out at the same time as the 'Columbia pictures' sequence, we then hear traffic accompanied by airy music which builds tension as the image of a landscape with tall skyscrapers fades in, the the location doesn't look that of a wealthy area just the standard american city. The shot slowly zooms in making the text on screen saying 'Columbia pictures presents' more clear, the text is a faded white colour which matches the colour of the surrounding locations, the text is bold it is quite a plain font such as Arial, and appears to look 3D. The clip then straight cuts to a closer into the city showing a mid-shot showing the huge buildings towering over the cars which are made to look tiny compared to the buildings.This clip also has text on, the same colour and font as before saying 'A Ho'fflundapolone production'. The music is slowly building up at this point of the sequence, which is building tension for the audience which establishes the genre of the film. another straight cut shows numerous buildings towering over the roads of the city. This is establishing the location as a busy american city, as skyscrapers are often associated with America. The text is at an angle saying 'An indelible picture' A horizontal wipe then shows another close up of the skyscrapers, the text slowly moves into the shot. The text is still the same font, but is now moving down the hierarchy of actors in the films. The first actress shown is Jodie Foster . A pan then moves on to show different sections of the city with the text 'Forest Whitaker' who is another main actor in the film. A straight cut shows more buildings and busy roads. The shots are slowly moving into the inner city. As this happens the sound of traffic becomes more clear and cars become visible this allows the audience to be able to see the yellow taxis which are associated with New York City. This establishes the location even more allowing the audience to know the location of the film before the action of the film has even started. The next actor listed is 'Dwight Yoakam', followed by Jared Leto. After this,whilst establishing the location a wipe shows the New York buildings with 'Panic Room' on top, this time the text is larger than before and is a lot clearer in comparison to the titles showing the actors within the film. After this the music begins to pick up pace and the shots return back to naming characters starting with Kristen Stewart, followed by Anne Magnuson and Ian Buchanan. These two actors share their name on the same shot. This is then followed by Patrick Bauchau and Paul Schulze who's names also share the same shot. This is happening whilst the location is being established even more, Like before the shots are slowly moving in closer to the inner city of New York as the roads get filled with more and more traffic the music becomes more intense building tension for audience. The titles then begins to move up the Hierarchy of people working on the film. The titles start with 'casting by Laray Yayfield' followed by 'Costume designer Michael Kaplan'. Then 'music by Howard Shore', followed by 'Film editors James Haygood .A.C.E and Angus wall' next is 'production designer Arthur Max', followed by 'director of photography Conrad W. Hall and Darius Khondji A.S.C..A.F.C' the next title is 'Produced by Gavin Polone, Judy Hofflund, David Koepp, Cean Chaffin', Then 'written by David Koepp'. Then finally the 'Directed David Fincher' As the hierarchy of people working on set is shown the shot begins to show buildings shown from a low angle and finally when the director is named we begin to hear talking of what audiences assume is the main character, and the location has changed to Central Park which is a iconic New York setting, the audience can still see the buildings from earlier on in the sequence in the background, which shows audience the film is still in central New York. A straight cut followed by a tilt down shows a busy New York walkway, at this point the music begins with fade and the dialogue of the female becomes more clear, the sequence finishes showing the woman that was talking, walking quickly through the crowd of people accompanied by another woman. Panic Room trailer
The trailer starts by showing that the film is a Columbia pictures film. However the shot of the Columbia picture isn't as long as that of the opening sequence. The shot the uses a fade up which then shows the New York location this is done by showing the skyscrapers. However in the opening sequence the location is established by using long shots in the trailer the this is done within two seconds before fading to a house, there is dialogue at this point, it is the voice of a man describing the house that is being shown in the shot. Various fades show different parts of the house such as the staircase, the hallway and different rooms. A child is shown going through a room on her scooter, the a fade shows 3 adults stood in a hallway of the house discussing the house. This shows the audience the characters that are going to be within the film. Then a fade shows the panic room, and as the male character in the trailer says 'Panic Room' the music changes from lullaby, relaxing type of music to more airy and tension building music, which sounds like grave yard bells ringing in the background. The male character then goes onto give a description of the panic room, this gives audience an idea of the film is about and where the majority of the film will be shot. The next shot of the trailer shows the mother and daughter living in the house and then shows a break in, from this part quick shots are taken, and various shots are shown such as the mother and daughter running into the panic room, and various shots of the people breaking in and destroying parts of the house and trying to get into the panic room. Throughout the trailer a selection of shots are used to build up the trailer. These shots a not necessarily in chronological order, however they do build tension for the audience. The point of the trailer is to try and get people to go and see the film in cinema. Therefore the trailer has to be action packed ad be exciting for the audience. Where as the opening sequence does not have to be action packed like the trailer because the audience are already there viewing the film, so they may have a basic idea of what the film is about due to seeing the trailer before hand. If the trailer is not action packed and does no appeal to audiences, the film may not be as popular which will in return make the film not as successful as it could potentially be if it had a exciting trailer.
It is clear to tell the difference between the opening sequence and the trailer. This is because the trailer shows snippets from the film. These snippets include the basic storyline without giving too much away. The aim of the thriller is to target their audience and try to persuade them to see the film when it is released into the cinema. The opening sequence does not have to be as exciting as the thriller, this is because the audience has already made the choice to see the film therefore the tension and excitement can be built gradually.
