NOTE: I decided to change my film opening theme to action adventure since it will flows much better with the story board that I have created.
My storyboard depicts an action type adventure with a diver(myself) on a boat, where the camera works it’s way into showing me driving the boat to an exotic location that is “unknown”, and then cool underwater pictures are shown up to the point where I find “the mysterious object”.  The camera then flips back to a view from the boat just as I surface in the water yelling: “I found it!!”  Upbeat music and specific close in camera angles will also be featured to create mystery and interest.

What others did?

"Rise" Film Opening:  uses very bold and defined lettering at the beginning and all of the camera angles are very narrow only focusing on very specific and key elements in the soccer scene shown. This focuses the viewers attention and shows a very structured mind set by the video creator.

"Dear Lover" Film Opening:  the background voice narrating while the story unfolds is very effective in drawing the viewer into the scenes.  The sudden story drop off at the end also leaves the viewer wanting to know more.

"Dare to Thrill" Film Opening:  The music and car along with camera angles with so much action suggests something bad is going to happen.  The viewer feels edgy until finally the ending appears with all of the individuals looking in horror.

"Always Watching" Film opening: poor video quality and the theme wasn't particularly appealing.  Didn't look like much work was put into the project as a whole.

For my film opening genre I chose to do a theme following guy films.  Of the several film openings I viewed, several factors that I found to be very important were music, camera angle, dialogue, and even scenery.  In several of the film openings, the video starts with thrilling or upbeat music that helps draw the viewer in.  Of the videos I watched that had slow or depressing music, these clips didn't have the same effect of engaging the viewer.  Camera angles were another factor I found to be very important.  Clips with focused and close up camera angles had a far more interesting attraction to the viewer than plain, open, or panning camera angles that didn't have a specific focus.  A further element that affected how I judged film openings was dialogue.  Clips that had bold words such as "Rise" or "Dare to Thrill" with very little unnecessary dialogue I felt to be far better than clips with continuous dialogue and narrating.  Through these two specific clips having little text, they mostly rely on camera and actions to express their goal in the film opening.  This approach was far better than many other clips I watched where characters simply talked and narrated, which quickly looses the viewers attention.  Finally, scenery was also very important to the clips I watched.  Film openings that had interesting elements such as cars and sports drew the viewer in far better than film openings with plain rooms, landscape, or hallways.
Overall, I found reviewing several film openings by other students to be very helpful.  These videos helped narrow the ideas I was thinking of for my own video, as well as showing me some definite things not to do in my own film opening.

What Inspired Me? 1/11

Guy films:

For my personal film opening genre, the one genre that really stood out to me among all of the other genre choices was the genre of “Guy Films”.  A lot of my favorite movies from over the years are actually guy films, which I never really thought about until I wrote this review.  Among my favorite guy films include: Animal House, Caddy Shack, James Bond License to Kill, and Dirty Harry. 

Animal House is definitely a film at the top of my list for guy films.  With the beginning of the movie showing two of the main characters going to a frat party it really opens up the “Guy feeling” of the movie.  The way the beginning of Animal House shows the two characters talking about and interacting with the female characters at the party establishes the film as a more male dominated theme.  The division of social groups of being a dweeb, jock, or nerd also begins to establish the ability of the characters to be a part of the “cool” frat house, especially among the men shown in the opening several minutes.  Through this, Animal House shows itself as being a guy film.

Caddy Shack is another great guy film that also comes to mind.  Through the opening of this movie focusing solely on the life of Danny, Caddy Shack begins to show the life of a caddy working at a wealthy golf course where his life is mixed with girls and adult humor.  Near the beginning of Caddy Shack, several scenes are also shown of the caddy shack itself where all the caddy’s hang out and hoarse around for a good part of the day.  These scenes express a lot of how the guys acted and lived in the movie, making Caddy Shack a great example of a guy film. 

James Bond’s movie License to Kill is also a great representation of a guy film.  With the opening scene opening up with Bond and one of his buddies chasing a drug lord in a coast guard helicopter and finally parachuting into a wedding, this opening sequence really exhibits a very macho feeling to the viewer.  With all of the action fight scenes being mixed in with the quick paced opening of this movie, License to Kill really shows Bond and his buddy as total bad asses that will do any “macho” thing to catch the bad guy.

A final example of a guy film is Dirty Harry.  The opening to Dirty Harry shows Clint Eastwood climbing up staircases, walking down narrow alley ways, and walking along beautiful rooflines while a somewhat suspenseful music plays as he walks.  In addition to this, Eastwood is shown in a suit with dark sunglasses and a very blunt expression on his face throughout the entire scene.  This opening portion of Dirty Harry really portrays Eastwood as a man that has a very rough personality and is very laid back since he doesn’t smile or say a single word in the entire opening scene.  As a result, Dirty Harry’s opening reflects very nicely into the theme of guy films.

Through the opening scenes of all four of these movies, the theme of guy films is really strongly represented by the way each character or scene is portrayed, as well as the way music is incorporated into the way the characters are shown.  Due to this, each film fits very well into the theme of a “Guy Film”.

Week 8/9 - My Film Opening Project: Genre/Group

December 16, 2018

Genre: Guy Films

Group: Just Me

My Favorite Genre-Video

Video Link:  https://youtu.be/UFOZpHc_-eU

Our favorite Genre

My Favorite Genre - PowerPoint

    

        

        

 

Q2 Week 3 Essay on Marvel's clip

The clip from Agent Carter expresses a multitude of both media editing techniques as well as camera angling styles; which include camera shots, angles, movement and composition, editing, sound, and mise-en-scène.

A key component to the viewed portion of the agent carter clip is the use of camera features in the filming of the scenes.  The way the camera is angled and shot in the clips we see has an especially large impact upon the way the viewer sees agent Carter.  By the camera always giving a full angle view and shot of the headquarters where Carter works at, the camera shows clearly how Carter is very much alone being the only woman present and being tucked away in a corner.  The camera angle and shots also manifest their importance in the scenes where agent cater is fighting through only showing her from behind or with very close range and narrow perspectives.  The movement of the camera is also an important part to the way Carter and her surroundings are portrayed through the way the camera follows here as a focus throughout all the scenes to show Carter as the key character the viewer should be focused on.  The camera composition seen in this clip further adds to the clips overall effect through placing the people and physical objects such as when Carter is walking by the car in a very equal fashion to show and bring balance to every scene shown in the clip.  A part where the camera composition is somewhat uneven is when carter’s hand with the gun is shown pointed at the last bad guy’s head due to how much of her hand and gun the viewer sees, and yet so little of the villain’s head. 

The clip from Carter’s TV show also features several examples of editing techniques.  A jump cut is featured between the scenes where Carter goes from hanging up the phone to walking towards the building where the villains are at.  A cross cut is featured when carter and the last villain both have guns and are searching for each other as the image rapidly switches between the two individuals.  A shot/counter shot reaction can also be seen In this clip from Carter’s TV show through the relation between the phone and alarm, her attention every time the alarm goes off, and her boss’s actions towards his men and her when the call comes in. 

Sound effects are also a very key part to the way this video clip is assembled and tied together as well.  A use of diegetic sound in the clip is well seen when Carter can be heard shuffling through papers and moving her desk drawers as information is asked of her.  A crescendo from the clip is very well shown from the change from carter answering the phone to when she is walking to confront the villains.  A diminuendo can be seen in the clip when carter beats the two villains and the music does down as it is just her and the other villain with the gun left.  A sforzando is shown in Carter’s clip when she makes contact with the face of the two villains using her large suitcase.

A final key component to the Carter clip is Mise-En-Scene.  The setting of the large bustling room with continuous activity and the shuffling of papers in the beginning of the clip creates a setting of focused and active people in a very fast paced business.  As the clip progresses, the setting changes to an outside group of men in a building that Carter confronts at night where it is very dark, and as a result the setting becomes ominous and low key.  The only type of lighting shown throughout the entire clip is low key lighting through the dark room, office, street at night, and buildings shown near the end of the clip.  All of the costumes are 1940’s vintage in very dark colors with no bright or outstanding styles that differentiate much between the characters shown.  The clip form Agent Carter mostly features deep space scenes showing in great detail what is behind and, on each character, and individual shown.  In the clip shown, there are several examples of blocking; especially during the confrontations between Carter and her boss at the office.  Furthermore, special effects are used in the opening scene of Captain America crashing the enormous plane into the frozen arctic as he is still talking with Carter. 

Through these several key elements of camera shots, angles, movement and composition, as well as editing, sound, and mise-en-scène, the Agent Carter video clip does a very thorough job of expressing and developing all of these elements.