Comparing our Film Opening to Other Films

Now having compared our overall film idea to other existing romantic-comedies, I am going to look specifically at comparing our film opening idea to other films. This is to ensure that our opening uses the generic conventions of a rom-com as well as giving hints to the storyline and keeping the audiences interest. I am going to compare our opening using the categories I have previously used to analyse other film openings with: Narrative, Character, Atmosphere,  Setting, Sound and Titles.

Narrative and Setting

Our opening consists of a woman at her desk typing her new column for her magazine. The camera will establish the setting by panning around the room and give hints to themes that will appear later in the film by tracking over her desk where there will be magazine cuttings and articles hinting her job and interests. We will hear a voiceover revealing what she is typing in her article talking about love and relationships however her face will not be totally revealed to keep the audience interested. Other films that use the voiceover technique are ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ (2006) and ‘A Cinderella Story’ (2004) – both use the voiceover technique, specifically in the openings.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aFhQ9uPsxM

The idea of the main characters face not being entirely revealed is also used in the film ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ (2009) where we hear a voiceover but do not see the characters face until the very end of the opening sequence.



The opening will also introduce the city style, office setting as we will see her typing at her desk. The film ‘The Proposal’ (2009) also introduces this city setting along with the busy office life in the opening sequence which is quite common among films of this genre.

Office Setting - The Proposal (2009)

Character

In our opening, only the main character is properly introduced which is similar to most other films of this particular genre. We are also introduced to the characters job and where they work as we see the main character Penelope Fox working at her desk in her office and we are made aware that she is a relationship columnist for a magazine. The film ‘Never Been Kissed’ (1999) uses a similar type of opening as in the first two minutes we only focus on the main female character who is speaking in the voiceover and on the screen. The character herself is not similar to our character but she has a similar career and the techniques used to present her are similar to the way we are planning on presenting our character.



We also plan on introducing the male protagonist through a photograph in the opening to hint to the audience that he will be a main character but not as main as the female character present in the opening. It is also to hint his relationship with the main female character as the photo will show them as a couple who are clearly romantically involved. Another film that uses photographs in the opening to show the characters relationship is the film ‘The Break-Up’ (2006).

Atmosphere

Most rom-coms open with a light hearted, romantic atmosphere and this is what we would like to depict in our opening. The voiceover will be discussing love and romance and we are thinking about having a romantic, relaxed song playing in the background to be in-keeping with the light, comfortable feel to the opening. We plan to introduce the comedy element by making the atmosphere change very suddenly by having an interrupting phone call that will cut through the relaxed feel.



Titles

We have decided that we would like our titles to be very simple, fading in and out of the shot however we would like to make our main title more creative by integrating it into the narrative of the opening. We are considering using white text for the titles as this is very common among romantic comedies and goes with the light hearted feel of the film.



Simple white titles in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)



Simple titles in Bridget Jones' Diary (2001)



Simple titles in Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)



Comparing our Film Idea to Other Films

Now that we have the ideas for our film as a whole, I am able to look at existing films of our chosen genre to compare the narratives and plot-lines to that of our own film. This is to help me ensure that our idea conforms to the generic conventions of other romantic-comedies. I have looked at comparing specific details of the whole plot idea with that of other films in this genre including the characters, storyline and general details.

Characters and Storyline

The Break Up (2006)

Our film has one main character with two other important characters alongside. The main character is a glamorous young woman who is very fashionable and professional who is in a relationship with a man who is somewhat opposite to her: very spontaneous and laid back. This type of relationship in other romantic-comedy films is a little uncommon however films such as ‘The Break Up’ (2006) use this idea of a couple who don’t entirely match. Our storyline also plans to have a break up between our main character (Penelope Fox) and her boyfriend which is common among romantic-comedies as one of the main events in the films. Films like ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2006) and ‘Valentine’s Day’ (2010) both also express this ‘break-up/make-up’ storyline.



The Devil Wears Prada (2006)



Valentines Day (2010)

We decided to have our main protagonist as a female character who is very likeable and relatable and this is very common in rom-com’s as we see the female usually battling some personal issues surrounding work and love. Films that include this sort of character are ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ (2001) and ‘Maid in Manhattan’ (2002).


Bridget Jones

 

Marisa Ventura















With regards to setting, most romantic comedies have a busy, city setting with glamorous offices and jobs and we plan to use this same sort of setting. Our main character is a journalist, much like the character of Carrie Bradshaw in ‘Sex and the City’ as well as Rebecca Bloomwood in ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ (2009) who both write for magazines and books. These characters are also similar to our character of Penelope Fox in that they are extremely fashionable and likeable but do also find themselves in sticky situations easily which is common among characters in films of this particular genre.



Carrie Bradshaw - Sex and the City
Writer and Publushed Author



Rebecca Bloomwood - Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)
Journalist

 

Our storyline presents the main character Penelope Fox to have the ‘perfect life’ however this soon changes and she starts to fall from happiness as aspects of her life fall apart. It is common in the storylines of romantic-comedies for the main character to experience some sort of downfall before problems are overcome and perfection, as it were, is restored – most likely in a new way. The films ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ (2001), ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ (2009) and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2006) all depict this idea of perfection being destroyed and restored in both love and work. One of the most common aspects of a romantic-comedy is that the ending will be happy and the girl will ‘get the man’ and have turned over a new leaf or this will be at least hinted at the end of the film. We also plan to conform to this and will definitely have a positive ending to the film.

Storyboard and Script Diary

11/2/2011 - 18/2/2011

We have now been spending a number of lessons working on the storyboard and the script for our film opening in our group and are thinking more about specific details like the setting, mise-en-scene and the scripting. During these processes, our group has been working really well together and we have each been putting in our own ideas and discussed what we each imagine our film opening to be like. We have been looking into other films of our genre and comparing the narrative to our own narrative as well as thinking about the characters and what type of actors we would like to cast. We are all equally enthusiastic and inputting our ideas regularly to make sure that every person is happy when each new process is completed.
Below is the link to our group blog where you can view the storyboard work and script we have been working on:

http://ascvhsmediacjc.blogspot.com/2011/02/g321-storyboard-and-script-for-film.html

Initial Ideas Diary

8/2/2011

Today we discussed our Initial Ideas for our own film. We created a mind-map of our ideas and made sure to consider setting, characters, storyline, sound, certification, audience expectations, generic conventions ans signifiers. It was important that we considered our film as a whole and made sure that we completely understood the brief that we are to make the opening two minutes of the film, not the whole film or a trailer. To make sure that we understood what will be expected of us, we watched a student film that was a very low grade and a student film that was a top grade. I found this very helpful and meant that I could properly understand what we are aiming to create. We have considered the fact that we must make the characters relatable and realistic and so we have taken this into consideration within our group when thinking about our initial ideas.

Below are the links to the group blog to view the mindmap, list of scenes, character profiles and film brief:
http://ascvhsmediacjc.blogspot.com/

Romantic Comedy Film Openings

Having now come to the decision that we are definitely going to make our film opening in the Romantic Comedy genre, I have decided to look at some more current film openings specific to that genre. I have discussed the generic conventions used in the openings and considered the titling as these are extremely important to consider when creating my own opening.

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

The genre of this film is immediately introduced by the iconography of the wedding cake and the titles themselves seem to be written in an invitation format with the curly writing and the style of the film title itself with the flowers and cake making it clear that the film is about romance. The genre is enforced further by the non diegetic music in this opening sequence is very classical and is a song about love, emphasising the romantic comedy genre. The comedy element to the film is not a clearly shown in the opening however we are still able to tell this by the light hearted narrative with the characters getting up and getting ready. It is more particularly shown through the use of contrasts between the men with one getting up and ready straight away and with the other being more ‘lazy’ and staying in bed longer. The Narrative suggests that perhaps the characters are preparing to go to a wedding and there are multiple characters introduced which could be main characters throughout the film. The Atmosphere is extremely relaxed and calm which fits with the genre and it is suggested that the setting is in Britain because of the iconography of the typical ‘full English breakfast’.

The titles are very simple and are not distracting to the narrative which makes the audience concentrate more on what is happening than what the titles all say. The use of the white font means that the titles can be seen very easily on almost any background. The narrative is clearly open and leads onto something happening next and the themes of love, romance and family are hinted that they will be common throughout. It is clear that there are a number of main characters that will appear throughout the rest of the film as there is a very equal amount of screen-time given to each character and we are immediately introduced to each characters personality in the opening.  

Bridget Jones (2001)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aFhQ9uPsxM

Bridget Jones (2001) uses a voice over in the opening to demonstrate the genre of the film. It is very comical in the scripting, very British and makes it clear that it is a diary. The character discusses subjects like her love life and meeting a new man which emphasises the romantic element of the opening and she talks about the idea of her mother being the ‘match-maker’ which adds the comedy element. The setting in the opening is very homely which creates a very light atmosphere and it is clearly a family party which could be a common theme throughout the rest of the film. The comedy genre is also shown through the mise-en-scene specifically with the costumes as she says she is ‘wearing a carpet’.

The use of the untidy living room setting also has emphasis on the comedy element and it is clear that ‘Bridget’ will be the main character as she is central to the narrative and is in control of the story telling. The titles are not evident until around 5 minutes into the clip and are written in a handwriting font which fits with the diary element and the character points and gestures towards the main title which emphasises that that is the main film title. The soundtrack ‘All by myself’ gives a suggestion that the woman is unlucky in love and the comedy element is emphasised again by the miming of the song making the genre extremely clear. The narrative is the most prominent indication to the genre of the film particularly with the character drinking alcohol and being quite comical with the miming of the song.

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

In the opening of this film, the romantic-comedy genre is shown immediately through the use of the girly colours like pink which have connotations of romance and love. The theme of shopping is also immediately introduced by the setting of the shops and lots of props like shoes, and images of women trying on dresses. It is clear that the film is aimed at females as in the opening sequence there are only female characters introduced so that the target audience can relate to them. There is a clear theme of spending money and socialising in the film because of the narrative in the opening sequence. The comedy genre is emphasised by the contrast of the expensive sparkly shoes with the brown shoes that ‘last forever’. The iconography of the yellow cab gives and immediate indication that the film is set in America and the city setting is common in other films of this genre and seems very glamorous and exciting.

It is clear that the main character is the young girl who is admiring all of the women doing their shopping as we can hear the voiceover discussing this. The voiceover is clearly an older woman and she is talking about when she was a little girl which makes it clear that the main character will be this little girl as a grown woman. The atmosphere is very light hearted and happy and is particularly female orientated. There are no male characters in the opening which makes the female characters seem very dominant and independent. This opening uses a voiceover along with a non diegetic soundtrack. The music is directly related to the genre and the song sings about love and romance which then emphasises this. The titles also reflect the genre with the simple pink coloured writing which has connotations of romance and love and the glittering main film title emphasises the girlie themes.

Film Re-makes

Having completed the three re-makes of different genres, I now feel confident that i understand how a film opening should come together. I m now ready to look more closely at the specific genre we would like to use for our opening so that I can get a better understanding of that genre.

Here is a link to our group blog where you can view our film opening re-makes:
http://ascvhsmediacjc.blogspot.com/

The History of Romantic Comedies

Having now decided that we are going to focus on the Romantic-Comedy genre, I have decided to reseach into the history of the genre and some of the typical conventions and plotlines of the genre. This is to make me more familiar with the genre itself and how we should go about creating a film opening of this genre.

Since Ancient Greece, comedies had often involved sexual or social elements to them and it wasn’t until the Western Medieval period that there was the creation of romantic love and involving these situations in productions. This was when tales and adventures would involve a knight's battle’s on behalf of a lady, and so the modern themes of love were quickly woven into comedies introducing the idea of romance rather than heroic gestures.

Conventions of a Romantic Comedy

On a more modern basis, romantic comedy films involve light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as a true love able to overcome most obstacles. It is common that rom-com’s will have elements of screwball comedies which are more unconventional and behave in unexpected ways. The basic plot of a romantic comedy is that two protagonists, usually a man and a woman, meet, part ways due to an argument or other obstacle, then ultimately reunite. While the two protagonists are separated, one or both of them usually realizes that they are ideal for each other, or that they are in love with each other. Then, after one of the two makes some spectacular effort to find the other person and declare their love, or due to an astonishing coincidental encounter, the two meet again. Then, perhaps with some comic friction or awkwardness, they declare their love for each other and the film ends happily. The couple does not, however, have to marry, or live together "happily ever after". The ending of a romantic comedy is meant to affirm the primary importance of the love relationship in its protagonists' lives, even if they physically separate in the end.

Editing the Re-makes of Openings Diary

Session One – Thursday 3^rd February (2 hours)

In this session we uploaded our clips from the camera to the computer and we decided to first edit our re-make of Vertigo as this had the least editing needed to be done to it so we used this as an opportunity to familiarise ourselves with the basics of the iMovie program that we have used before. We managed to edit a considerable amount of the footage in this session putting everything together except for the titles. We worked well whilst doing this with one person controlling the computer and all of us discussing what we thought would look best and what would be most similar to the film opening we were copying.

Session Two – Friday 4^th February (1 hour)

In our second session one of our group members was not available and so two of us continued with the editing of the next film. We began by completing the titles on the Vertigo clip however we did find it very difficult to match the timings of the titles, music and the image on the screen in the same way as the original opening. We then began to work on our opening of The Strangers (2008) which was more time consuming than we had expected as we came across some problems using the editing equipment and it was more difficult to edit than we had imagined. We managed to put together most of the clip itself and just need to add the sound and check that the timings are correct and we can then move on to completing our Juno re-make.

Session Three- Monday 7^th February (1hour)

This session put together the sound and timings of our remake of The Strangers (2008) which worked pretty well however it was fairly difficult to match the sound with the images towards the end of the opening. This did take longer than expected however we did still have time to put the clips for Juno in the correct order ready to start working on the transitions and title’s for this re-make.

Session Four – Tuesday 8^th February (1 hour)

Today we managed to complete the editing if our Juno remake and we were able to add all of the transitions and titles in the correct places. This was fairly easy as we are now used to the editing software again and able to work quickly and efficiently. We also added the sound and are now going to be able to go over all three of our remakes to fix and tweak at timings etc. in our next session.

Session Five - Friday 11th February (1 hour)

This was our final session of editing and we were just concentrating on tweaking the last parts of timing and the overall presentation of the re-makes. We have now completed our re-makes and are ready to evaluate how well they went.

Timeline of Titles

I have watched the opening of the film The Holiday (2006) and have noted down in a timeline the order of the titles. This is to help me see when titles should appear and in what order as well as when in the narrative they should appear on the screen.

0.02 – Institution presents...

0.14 – Second Institution presents...

0.34 – Director’s name

0.40 – Main actress name

0.45 – Second Main actress name

0.50 – Third actors name

1.03 – Fourth actors name

1.24 – Film Title

1.43 – Other actors name

1.50 – Second other actors name

1.56 – Third actors name

1.59 – Casting directors names

2.15 – Music editor

2.20 – Costume Designer

2.45 – Editor

2.49 – Production Designer

2.54 – Photography Director

3.04 – Executive Producer

3.10 – Producers Names.

Our brief states that we are to create the opening two minutes of a film however in this film the titles go on for around three minutes as there are rather a lot of titles and so I have therefore done the same thing for another opening that is closer to our brief. I have looked at the opening sequence of 50 First Dates (2004) which is very different to the first opening as the titles are complete after only 47 seconds but the order is very similar to that of the first opening: Institution Logo's first, followed by production companies and then the film titleand the actors names after that.

0.02 – Institution Logo

0.25 – Institution presents...

0.30 – Production Company

0.35 – Production Company

0.41 – Production Company

0.47 – Film Title

Using Jellybabies to create Film Openings

We spent a lesson looking at film genres by creating some film openings using Jellybabies and post-it notes. We had to put together some different openings of films with different genres to help us learn the importance of timings, narrative and titles. In our group, we put together three different film openings: Action, Horror and Comedy. We considered the length of each shot, narrative and the timings of the titles as well as music.

Film Opening One: ACTION

With our first attempt, we found that we over-complicated the opening and moved more into creadting a short film. At I think that we timed the titles well but our Narrative needed to be improved. I think that we had too many characters and too much going on for this to be the opening of an Action movie.

Film Opening Two: HORROR

We also made a similar mistake  with our horror opening however I think we made better use of camera angles and sound for this opening but we must ensure that we do not forget that we are only making an opening for a film.

Film Opening Three: COMEDY



With our comedy opening I think the Narrative is again, over complicated and confusing. I think we have the correct light hearted atmosphere but we have again over complicated things.

This exersise has helped me to understand that we must keep things very simple and not over-use particular elements. I have learned how easy it is to over-complicate the narrative and create more of a short film than an opening but trying to put too much into the opening. It has definately helped me to understand why timings and the order of titles are important to film openings and how to appropriately use them.

Filming our Re-makes of the Openings Diary

Tuesday 25^th January – Thursday 27^th January

The first re-make we filmed was our version of Juno (2007). This was because it had the most shots and so we decided we would get the largest amount of filming done first. We chose to film this outside and used on of our groups members to play Juno whilst two of us operated the equipment and filmed it. We managed to complete this filming quite quickly as we made sure that we were organised in what we were doing by having the storyboard and shot-list with us at all times.

We then decided that we would film our re-make of Vertigo (1958). Initially we were going to use one of us as the woman in the opening and have two of us film it however we found this quite difficult and therefore decided to be more creative by drawing out the character onto paper and filming that instead. We weren’t as time effective when creating this opening as we spent a lot of time preparing for it and did also waste some time in our first attempt and therefore this task did take longer than we had anticipated.

The final opening we filmed was The Strangers (2008) for which we used images of houses printed out and we used a camera on a dolly to create the effect of driving past the houses. For this film, we used our time very effectively as we had prepared everything in advance and we all worked together to film the opening. We had one person doing the camerawork, another checking the storyboard and another using the shot-list for timings.

Overall We worked very well as a group however we were sometimes not as time effective as we would have liked but we managed to improve when making the final film. We worked very well with the equipment and using the facilities that we had. I also think that we all contributed well towards the filming as we each had a turn at being in charge of one film each. From doing this, I have learnt that it is important to use all of our time effectively and that it is useful to each take a different piece of responsibility.

Looking at Genre by Re-making Existing Film Openings

Friday 21^st January

We are currently considering what genre we would like to use for our film and have been given the task of re-making three film openings of the following genres: Comedy, Horror and Thriller. Of the choices we were given, we chose to re-make Juno (2007), Vertigo (1958) and The Strangers (2008). I have analysed each opening so that I am more familiar with particular aspects of the genre and how it is shown. It is also to help us look at the combination of timings with regards to narrative, music and titles.

JUNO (2007)

http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/0069-Juno

Genre: Comedy

Narrative: A teenage girl walking around a town, possibly local to her, she is going somewhere.

Character: Girl drinking Sunny D, tom boy clothes, teenager and perhaps the runners are significant.

Atmosphere: Light hearted, happy, relaxed

Themes: Friendship and Love – family? due to the style of music and lyrics.

Setting: Town and local streets, she seems to know the area.

Sound: Happy music singing about friendship and love and sticking together. The style of music is comical, fitting in with the genre.

Titles: Cartoon writing, bright colours and 3-d lettering that emphasise the comical, not serious element.  

Vertigo (1958)

Genre: Thriller

Narrative: Woman’s face, alone in dark? Eyes look shocked suddenly, scared

Character: Innocent woman who is alone, perhaps kidnapped?

Atmosphere: Tense, scary, frightening

Themes: the symbol that comes from her eye is quite hypnotic and disorientating

Setting:  unknown, somewhere dark, increases tension and questioning

Sound: Music is quite tense and hypnotic

Titles: Capitals showing the genre is very serious and the titles appear each time the music becomes more intense and the film titles itself: Vertigo comes from the woman’s eye which indicates the idea of hypnosis again.

The Strangers (2008)

0- 1.30 mins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWp14gtZ-u0

Genre: Horror

Narrative: A voice and subtitles give an outline of the films context and plot explaining that it is based on true events and states that ‘brutal events’ are involved.

Character: We are told about two characters – Kristen McKay and James Hoyt and it is implied that something terrible will happen to them.

Atmosphere: Very tense, talking about crimes and the use of fade to blacks indicate the idea of the unknown.

Themes: Danger, crime, fear

Setting:  A ‘summer home’ in America

Sound: A mysterious voice is used to read out the words on the screen, which is quite frightening. We can hear only the sound of a car engine and the sound of the wind as the car moves along.

Titles: There are no titles in this opening and the words at the start are very plainly written in orange text which gives the idea of seriousness and by not revealing any titles gives the fear of the unknowen and makes the content seem very real.


In our group, we have decided to each create a storyboard and shot-list for one film each and then we will work together to film the openings. This was to make sure that the work was distributed equally and that we all were making an input to the task.

Looking at Student Films

We have been looking at film openings created by previous students to help us see what sort of thing we should produce. I have evaluated a few strengths and weaknesses of each opening to see what sort of mistakes have been made in the past as well as thinking about what things worked well to help us to create a better film opening.

Student Film 1



This film opening shows good use of the production logos and the titles match the genre of the film. The music used in the opening also fits with the genre of Horror as it has quite a scary and mysterious feel to it. The use of the static sound effect is a little distracting and makes it seem more like a film trailer than an opening as it seems like seperate pieces of the storyline have been put together as opposed to a flowing opening. The use of the flashback makes it more of a trailer as it doesn't particularly fit with the rest of the narrative. Flashbacks and transitions are more commonly used in trailers rather than openings and I think this is what makes this seem more of a trailer. I also think that the use of the blur transition makes it clear that the clip is an opening however the narrative is closed and it seems to be more of a short film than an opening as it is very unlikely that this much would happen in the opening sequence making it difficult to imagine where the narrative would go next. The camerawork is also quite shaky and off-putting and the flashback of the two characters hugging doesn't seem to fit with the narrative.

The use of mise-en-scene in this opening does have a specific relation to genre however. The images of blood and fire are very specifically linked to the horror genre and immediately give the audience the impression that the genre is horror. The use of the outdoor setting is also quite eerie, especially with the music and tone of the opening. I think that to make the setting seem even more of a horror setting they could maybe have looked at editing the lighting to give more of a scary effect. I think that to make it a more successful opening the narrative should be simplified and open so that it would seem as there there is something more going to happen.

Student Film 2



This film opening of Shadowing makes the Horror genre very clear. The camerawork on this piece is very steady and the range of camera angles are appropriately used for the genre. I also think that the titles are very good and fitting specifically with the film titles itself 'Shadowing' as the transition used to show this matches the word itself. Although I think that the beginning seems like a film opening i think that it then changes to become more of a trailer with the montage at the end.

The use of the photo's at the start of the opening are a little confusing as one of the people does not appear at any other point in the opening sequence. I think that the use of the static sound effect between transitions of the shots make this opening seem very much like a trailer. I really like the use of the voiceover as it gives an element for foreshadowing what is to come if the film were to continue. I think that if there was not a montage and no screaming at the end then it would seem a lot more like an opening and would have more of a direction to follow if the film were to continue. The use of setting and lighting however is very clever as it has specific relation to the horror genre being dark and isolated.The use of the voice over fits also with the genre however it adds to the element of trailer and the sound use at the end is more that of a trailer, revealing different parts of what could be to come in the film as opposed to leaving the events to happen if it were to continue as a regular film.

There is a section after the photos appear where the screen is just a plain black and a lot of titles are flashing up which I think takes away from the reset of the narrative and seems quite rushed. I think that the titles needed to be a lot slower to stick with the eerie and uncomfortable feel which has the element of building up tension for something to happen.

Student Film 3


The opening of this student film I think is the most like an opening rather than a trailer. This is because the narrative is entirely linear and open, leaving the audience to guess what will happen next. The use of the red title reflects the genre and the camerawork is very good however there are some continuity errors in the film itself. For example, we see the girl in the car smile and the arm on the floor moves which distracts the audience and the film becomes less believable. I also think that the font the titles are in does not go with the genre and they also change too quickly which I find distracting and the production logo at the start 'One Bad Apple' seems too bright and colourful for the type of film that this opening represents.

I really like the use of the music in this opening as it is very mysterious and leads you to think that something really terrible has happened. I think that the little use of dialogue is also very clever and I find it quite intruguing making me want to watch the rest of the film. I also like the simplicity of this opening as not a lot happens which is mcuh more typical for this genre of film. The simple transitions and titling make it more believable and it is more like a real film opening. I do think that perhaps there could be more relevance in the use of mise-en scene perhaps with thinks like the setting and the lighting as it does not give a hude indication to the genre however I think that this is the most like a real film opening.

By looking at past student films, I have been able to see what sorts of things work and what doesn't which means that I will be able to consider these things when I start to plan and make my film. It has also helped me to see what has been done before and what I can do to make a more original film opening.