Movie Opener Brainstorming & Research
For what appears to be a drama type of movie opening with soccer accompanying it not as a focal point but rather as a means to convey the emotions of the characters, RISE has a good opening sequence. I believe that their camera angles and transitions as the character was getting ready to play were great and felt full of action. It really felt like a Nike commercial with how much they showcased every minor detail on the equipment and the natural lighting from the sun worked great for this type of setting. If I had to give a critique, it would be that camera angles at times were a bit shaky at times. Also, the clips of him playing soccer felt repetitive very quickly and honestly made me bored at the beginning of the movie. Overall, a pretty decent opening sequence.
2. Dear Lover
Dear lover comes across as a drama and coming of age story of a young girl experiencing heartache. Right off the bat, the music that accompanies the opening sequence is what I notice as it perfectly fits the theme that they are trying to convey. Though the lighting was superb and so was the variety of camera angles, I felt as though the different camera angles were a bit forced and disrupted the. natural feeling of the film. To add to this, the cuts and transitions felt a bit rough compared to other films and could've been done much better especially considering the fact that this type of film would typically make use of dissolve and fade in/out.
3. Dare to Thrill
This might be my favorite one of the opening sequences that we have been provided and I honestly feel as though that this group did the best that they could do with the topic that they had chosen. The hype music along with the group of friends moving about gives off an action film vibe and this theory is confirmed when the music picks up the pace as they get in the car and drive around. The lighting was a given as the lights of the car shone brightly in the night and the camera angles could not have been better in my opinion with a variety of cuts during the drive. The quick cuts in between when showing the interior of the car is also excellent as it further build up excitement for what is to come without giving away too much of what the movie would be about.
4. Always Watching
Something that stood out to me in this film opening would be how it has much more dialogue in comparison to the other ones. Others tended to veer towards a film opening that would work without dialogue as too much could go wrong such as emotion in the words as well as mic quality, but this group makes extensive use of dialogue in the introduction to their movie. I especially liked how they used a flashback so as to provide a bit of background information of who out character is and what type of past he has experienced.
5. The Blue Boar
Immediately, the costumes of this film caught my interest. Given the limited resources, this old type of costume couldn't have been easy to get or even make. Contrast to the peaceful surroundings, the extreme close ups and close ups create a rather eerie feeling during the character dialogue. One critique I have would be to have slightly dimmer lighting so as to get that eerie feeling across better as well as more abrupt cuts and transitions for the same purpose.
6. White Coat
I think that this film opening easily makes the best use of lighting in comparison to the other films and it is really important for this creepy, almost horror themed movie that they are going for. I also like how they don't let the opening credits distract from what is going on in the scene by making them rather small and putting them in the corner. The abundance of cuts and jump cuts add to the horror vibe as it shows the scenery as well as the restrained character, almost hinting towards the fact that he is going to be treated as a lab rat. The scientists using the flasks and test tubes add to this suspicion when he injects a red fluid into a glass which greatly contrasts the mostly dark and dim colored film thus far.
7. Stalker
Truth be told I feel as though this film opening was lacking in many ways. They went for a topic that is heavily reliant on the acting o the students, which one can't expect a lot out of. I also feel as though the cuts didn't feel very natural as the time of day would change very frequently in between them. Not only this, the lighting failed to provide the eerie feeling that was expected from a film titled "Stalker". The lack of people besides our main character despite them going into public areas only adds to the unnatural feeling that this film is giving.
8. Nostalgia
Though I do feel as though that this film opening creates a mysterious feeling and makes me curious as to what happened, I do believe that the plot is a bit too vague as it is difficult to understand what is going on. One thing that especially stood out was the rough camera work when displaying the painting. I feel as though a much more steady camera would've been better than handheld in this situation because of the classy and proper music that they have chosen for the background.
Takeaways
Overall, the major takeaway that I got from these films would be the importance of camerawork as well as lighting. The two best films in my opinion were "Dare to Thrill" and "White Coat". Dare to thrill had excellent camera work which is necessary for such an action packed movie and White Coat had exceptional lighting in order to convey the theme of the movie properly. Those that were lacking in both categories felt just wrong to me, so these will no doubt be crucial when making our film opening. Though we can't expect too much from the acting department, costumes and props can make up for this and convey the character's emotions through that rather than their dialogue. More than anything, I have learned the it is essential to not make it boring as no one wants to watch a boring film. I found that people become too absorbed in the idea of making something within their capabilities and forget this key detail, so I hope that our opening project will catch the eye of whoever watches it.
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