Analysing previous Media openings

we watched some openings from previous years at different levels to give us an idea of what we're working towards and also what not to do, such as bad editing or cliched storylines. we also looked at the mark scheme and what sort of grades we thought the opening would have got. this will help us know what is expected of us, and the mistakes that previous students have made that we shouldn't repeat.

opening one - room to breathe
this was a psychological thriller and i thought it derved a medium level 3 because:

• the opening felt like more of a trailer, as it had an ending and the title at the end
• it had good use of camera angles, from below, above, over the shoulder, eye level.
• it had music that fit the mood and helped set the scene, however it was quite badly edited
• the editing was a bit jumpy, such as the sound not fitting the scene exactly, when the girl screamed, the sound of her scream came after the visual of it, this is simply poor editing and could easily be fixed.
•  the end title was misspelt which showed poor editing and attention to detail

overall it was fairly good, the idea was interesting and captivating and not too conventional which is difficult when most ideas ahve already been explored. some of the editing was not so great however, so the pre production and production have been much more successful than the most production.

opening two - unrequited love
level 2/3

• wasnt an obvious thriller - not much of a genre within the opening
• camera shots were fairly repititve - no variation or exciting shots. mostly cu's and high angles
• typography - credits- was too quick, so not very easy to read
• editing wasnt great - shots were badly put together
• the colour red was used a lot - connotes danger
• very cliche stroyline - paper cutting - like in se7en
• good font - interesting and fitting

this opening was successful at it was loosely copied from the opening of the film "se7en" which is a very successful film with a well known opening, as it so good. however, the idea had already been done, and is now conventional for a psychological thriller. A succesful opening cannot simply mirror another one, as originality is something audiences expect.

opening three- root cause
i gave this a high level 3 or low 4

• film noir - clear genre
• good use of camera to establish setting as well as a variety of shots, making it interesting
• good music - fitting.
• black and white - fitted film noir genre
• attention to detail - props, costumes, to make the genre work
• a little cliche on the storyline

I really liked the clear film noir genre in this opening, and the attention to detial when setting the genre. they made good use of the semantic conventions of the genre within the mis en scene, by using props and costumes to familiarise the audience with the genre. However the plot line was not so succesful
from analysing these opening the thing i found out over anytthing else was to make an opening that whilst fit the codes and conventions of a thriller, was not cliche at all, and not been done many times before, as this makes the opening very similar and boring. i also learnt that attention to detail is important, especially within the mis en scene and props, as this is what makes the openings proffesional looking and believable, and sets the scene better. the opening that scored best all had smooth camera panning and tracking, a variety of shots, a variety of angles, were smoothly edited and had music that fit the mood.