Opening Scenes

 A film opening is the first scene that you see at the beginning of a film. It establishes the main characters, the genre, the plot, and basically everything the audience needs to know about the movie. 

The opening scene should immediately hook the audience!

One way to hook the audience is to start with a BANG!

There are 6 different techniques used in opening scenes:

• Technique 1 - enter the villain - this technique is commonly used in action movies such as "The Dark Knight"

• Technique 2 - enter the hero - this techniques introduces main characters and key plot points. While making sure the audience is still along for the ride. 

• Technique 3 - establish relationships - this is commonly used in dramas

• Technique 4 - plot catalyst this introduces the main characters

• Technique 5 - Follow genre - used in establishing tone and introduces main characters

• Technique 6 - flip genre - common techniques: flashback, flash-forward, bookends, red herrings, McGuffins. 

Types of Opening scenes - 

• Prologue

• Prologue with a voice over 

• Prologue without a voice over 

• Inciting incident 

• Day in the life 

• Exciting 

• Uneventful

• Cold open 

• Flash forward 

Opening Scenes of "Venom", "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift," and "Guardians of the Galaxy"

Hey it's Xena! 

So recently we've been working on opening scenes. We made a list of our top  favorite movies and out of those 5 movies we chose 3 to find the length of the scene, the camera movements and angles, and finally summarize the entire scene.

 Venom 2018 ( Action/Adventure)

The opening scene to Venom is 4 minutes and 49 seconds long. In this time we see that the scene starts of in outer space, from there we start to see the opening credits and a small white speck that slowly increases in size as it come closer to the camera and is revealed to be a spaceship. There is some dialogue exchanged between the astronauts and the people on Earth. Then, the tone of the dialogue starts to sound like panic. We then see the spaceship start to crash through the atmosphere and then eventually crash in a forest. The camera then cuts to a different location that looks like mission control. A man in a suit exchanges dialogue with a women that likes to be a scientist and a women in front of a computer. He asked a women," Did we at least retrieve all of the samples." The women response with, " No, we have three of them, one of the organisms got out of containment and it's missing. We don't know which one." The camera then cuts back to the crash and we see and container being carried by two people in hazmat suits, we also see the bodies of two dead astronauts. When a women yells something in a different language and we see that one astronaut survived the crash. 

This connects to the overall plot of the story because it shows where these organisms came to Earth, how they can go from person to person, and it also show us some important characters. 

Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift 2006 (Action/Drama)

 The opening scene to Fast and Furious: Tokyo drift is 4 minutes and 37 seconds long. Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift is an action/ drama film. At the beginning of the opening scene, we hear hip-hop music and see high schoolers walking around and going through metal detectors. Then we see the main character of the movie enter the shot and stat getting a pat down. He makes eye contact with a boy in a mascot costume also gets pat down and smirks. The camera then cuts and zooms out revealing 15 different screens that seem to be from security cameras. We cut to a classroom then a parking lot where students are hitting an Indian piñata, then back to the main character who looks very amused by this action. The camera then cuts to an automotive garage where the main character is underneath a car. He sees someone getting dragged out by 3 boys and gets up to see what's going on, he sees the boy getting car paint sprayed on him and walks away, the camera then cuts back to the parking lot where he sees a girl painting her nails while going to his car. Dialogue is exchanged and the girl’s boyfriend comes over very upset, the main character gets in his car and drives away when the girl's boyfriend throws something through his window, so he stops the car and gets out with a wrench, the two men share looks and the opening scene ends. 

 

This connects to the overall plot of the film because it tells the reason why something will happen to the main character. 

Guardians of the Galaxy 2014 (Action/Sci-fi)

The opening scene to Guardians of the Galaxy is 1 minute and 51 seconds, its a action/sci-fi movie. The scene first open to the main character in what looks like a cave. the main character then puts on headphones and music and starts singing and dancing while kicking alien rats around. he then looks over a large gap and uses rockets in his shoes to get over it, he then comes across two large doors and opens it to reveal that he is trying to steal something the object is a sphere looking object.

This connects to the overall plot of the film because it shows the main character and it shows an object that might be important to the movie.  

Mise-en-scene

Hey it's Xena!

A couple days ago I learned about mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is the overall look and feel of a movie; the sum of everything the audience sees, hears, and experiences while viewing it. 

Mise-en-scene is a word originated from France which means "staging or putting on an action or scene." Mise-en-scene has two major visual components which are design and composition. Design means the look of the setting, props, lighting, and actors. Composition means the organization, distribution, balance, and the general relationship of actors and objects. Mise-en-scene is important for how it makes us feel. When planning a shot many decisions must be made, such as, the placement of people, objects, décor, their movement, lighting, camera angles, and camera movements.

 After learning about mise-en-scene we were given a mini photography project. In this project you had to make a scene and take multiple shots at different angles. The photos that you took had to look realistic. For example, someone had different pieces of Barbie furniture and they made it look like a living room, in the background they had a beautiful beach scenery. 

Before learning about mise-en-scene I didn't know a single thing about it. Some questions I had before learning about this topic was, "How do you pronounce this word?" "How am I supposed to remember all of this information?" "How important is mise-en-scene to a movie?" But as I learned more about the topic I learned how to pronounce it and I learned how important it is to have mise-en-scene in a movie. 
Resources:
file:///home/chronos/u-ddc92013bcfddb3e29f8e747f09b93d879b43f2f/MyFiles/Downloads/Mise%20en%20Scene%20PowerPoint%20presentation%20PDF.pdf

Cinematography

Hey it's Xena! 

A few weeks ago my class was leaning about cinematography. Cinematography is the art of using, moving and positioning the camera and camera lens. 

 There are many different types of camera angles and shot types. Some of these angles are overshot, a high angle shot, an eye level shot, a low angle shot, an under shot, and a point of view shot. Some shot types are an extreme long shot, a long shot, full shot, medium shot, medium close up, close up, and extreme close up. Some camera movement angles are tracking, planning, tilting, dolling, dolly in, dolly out, whip pan, zoom, reverse dolly zoom, cane/boom shot, steady cam./gimble, hand held, rack focus. All camera angles have a purpose. An overshot is directly above the action looking straight down. A high angle shot can imply that someone is weak or small. An eye level view can give the audience a sense of realism. A low angle shot can make the subject look intimidating, strong, or important. An under shot can be used to convey/carry extreme power. A point of view shot is used the show the perspective of a subject. Just like angles have a purpose so do different shot types. An extreme long shot is used to set a time and place. A long shot is  used to show the subject from a distance, emphasizing a place or location. A full shot emphasizes action and movement rather than the emotional state of a subject. A medium shot focuses on the character while still showing some environment. A medium close up allows us to focus on facial expressions and mannerisms helping us with the characters emotional state. A close up is used to see the subjects emotions and reactions. An extreme close up is used to emphasize a small area or detail of the subject.

After we were given all this information, we were assigned a PowerPoint slide. For this slide the had to take various pictures with different types of angle. When we were finished taking these pictures we uploaded them to the computer and put them on the PowerPoint slide. We also had to find two images of the same shot or angle.

Before learning about the different camera angles, shots, and movements I knew nothing about it. But when we first got introduced to this topic the only questions I had were, "How many different types of camera angles could there possibly be?" and "What purpose do they serve in a movie?" But once we had learned the material I learned the most used camera angles and shot types in today's movies. And that they have many different purposes in a movie.

Resources:
https://www.acmi.net.au/education/school-program-and-resources/film-it-cinematography/
https://lessonbucket.com/filmmaking/shot-composition/angle/undershot/#:~:text=An%20undershot%20is%20when%20the,used%20to%20convey%20extreme%20power.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/tips-and-solutions/filmmaking-101-camera-shot-types

Genre

Hey it's Xena!

Recently in class we've been learning about genre. The definition of genre is "kind" or "type." After learning information about the topic we did a PowerPoint presentation.
There are many different genres. Such as, horror, sci-fi, action, comedy, drama, detective/crime, romance, thriller, and western. Every kind of genre has it's own conventions that make it the genre it is. A horror film give the audience a sense of fear. Sci-fi gives a feeling of something beyond our current means. Action gives a feeling of stress but it is short lived. Comedy gives a feeling of happiness and laughter. Drama can give a feeling of hurt or guilt. Detective films can give a feeling of vicarious thrill. 
After learning about different types of genres we were told to make a PowerPoint presentation. My group chose to go with the detective/ crime genre. On the presentation we had to be able to define the genre, analyze the genre, the history of the genre, and the social functions. 

PowerPoint - 
 file:///home/chronos/u-ddc92013bcfddb3e29f8e747f09b93d879b43f2f/MyFiles/Downloads/Presentation9.pdf
History - The crime genre first started in the 1600's. This genre has progressed from "Sherlock Holmes" in 1900 to "Law & Order: SVU" which first aired in 1999.
 Social Functions - The crime genre gives the audience the ability to process emotions through characters without having to go through the pain themselves. 
Specific Characters - the one who solves the crime, the one who committed the crime, and the victim(s).
Camera Techniques -  High and Low angle shot, close ups and extreme close ups, dolly zooms, and handheld shots.

Resources :
https://scienceandsamosa.com/why-people-like-action-movies-some-science-to-it/
https://blogs.svvsd.org/coalridgechronicle/2014/02/04/drama-affects-everyone-2/