Film Opening = Mise en Scene

Location:
In order to present our film opening with a gothic theme we had to think about location. After researching gothic settings such as graveyards, remote houses, castles and mansions we decided that

wherever we chose it would need to be dark, gloomy and have a mysterious feeling to it. Finally we chose to film in a local church and to also include some shots of the graveyard to ensure that gothic and enigmatic theme was defiantly captured.

Costume:
We decided to use a simplistic costume so it didn't draw attention away from the setting and storyline. The costume consisted of a white top and black trousers. The contrast of the white and black represents life and death which is a key theme in our opening.

Religious Imagery:
We use a lot of religious imagery to accentuate the theme of the opening. One shot we use is of a candle with wax dripping down the sides, this is an obvious religious object which helps enhance the other religious elements in our opening.  Another shot we were keen to capture was one of the cross, we took this show from a low angle to present the cross as superior to the audience and actors in the opening.

Film Opening = Script

ANTI-CHRIST SCRIPT

Fade in: PRODUCTION LOGO.

Fade out: Music begins, SLOW TRACKING POINT OF VIEW SHOT, reveals central protagonist.

                                                                                                            DISSOLVE TO:

1. SHOWS BOTH CHARACTERS.

Stood in identical places, same clothing. Look the same but younger and older.

                                                                                                            DISSOLVE TO:

2. CHURCH SETTING.

MID shot of stained glass window. Pans SLOWLY down to central protagonist (Christa). LOW ANGLE SHOT of pews and Christa. Then shots of religious imagery and symbolism. Followed by a SLOW PANNING SHOT showing stained glass window, crucifix and lit candles. Point of view shot, handheld camera, SLIGHT LOW ANGLE shot looking at stained glass windows and ambient candle lighting surrounding it.

                                                                                                            DISSOLVE TO:

3. SIDE PROFILE OF BOTH CHARACTERS.

Reciting LORDS PRAYER, close up shot of faces.

                                                                                                DISSOLVE TO:

4. EXIT CHURCH. ENTERS EXTERNAL CHURCH SHOTS. GRAVEYARD.

Music fades out. WIND and HIGH PITCHED METALLIC sounds. Shots of trees blowing in wind and gravestones. MID SHOT of Christa sat on bench, back to the camera, hair blowing in wind, shot SLOWED DOWN.

                                                                                                            DISSOLVE TO:

5. ENTER CHURCH AGAIN.

SHOT REVERSE SHOT of Christa entering Church, face isn’t shown. MUSIC CHANGE to METALLIC SOUND, reveals image of crucifix lit by candle light. CLOSE UP SHOT of burning match, slightly slowed down. Close up shot of MOTH struggling and then shot of flickering candles, flickering candle and distressed moth mirror each other. Crista OPENS CHURCH DOOR, music changes: builds tension. Exit Christa.

                                                                                                            DISSOLVE TO:

6. ENTERING EXTERNAL SHOTS.

Christa RUNS OUT of Church, music mirrors running by increasing in speed. LONG POINT OF VIEW SHOT. SLIGHTLY TRACKING, as if someone is running after her. FADE OUTS show Christa further away at certain points. Camera STOPS ABRUPTLY.

                                                                                                            FADE TO:

7. FILM TITLE.

Title begins overlaying action, then FADES OUT to black, while title is still on screen. Contrasts between red and black. Title moves SLIGHTY TO RIGHT, then fades out. Leaves black screen.

END.

Film Opening: Pitch/Treatment

Christa

The film begins in a church setting with a young girl who is crying. A few flash forwards reveal the same setting with an older girl stood in the church with multiple dead bodies around her on the floor.  This will also reveal that she is the second coming of Christ called Christa. Christa has returned to earth with the knowledge that God is going to destroy Earth, using natural disasters, because the humans have ruined it too much with pollution and destruction and God believes there is nothing he can do to save it. Christa disagrees with God and has come to earth to try and save it, and is quickly identified as the Anti-Christ. While attempting to save Earth, Christa has to encounter natural disasters forced upon her by God. Once Christa saves the world from being destroyed and defeats the natural disasters forced upon her she is banished to hell by her father, God, for going against his wishes.                                       

Film Opening = Idea Origins

In preparation for creating our film opening we decided to watch a selection of films to get a variety of ideas. We watched movies such as The Exorcist and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, these themes of horror and gothic genre caught our eye and we decided to try and replicate these themes in our opening, focusing mainly on the gothic theme. To do this we had to think about many aspects such as location, costume, mise en scene etc.

Film Opening = Initial Ideas

Whilst deciding what we wanted are film opening to be about, we came up with three initial ideas all being from different genres.

Film Opening = Introducing Scene Research

The Fault in Our Stars 

During the introductory scene of the film, the '20th Century Fox' sign is shown; from this shot, the camera pans up towards the night sky showing dim stars in the background, making a reference to the film title. This lighting creates a calm, soft and gentle mood feel for the start of the film. When the

narrative voice starts talking, it shows Hazel and this tells the audience that it is her voice speaking over the shots. The first shot shown of Hazel is of her eyes, a close-up shot, used purely to show emotion in the emotion in the character on the screen, hence why it is used in this scene. Whilst watching this part of the scene, I decided that I wanted to replicate this use of a close-up shot in my opening. The camera then flashes to the stars, again creating that calming mood, and then flashes back to Hazel however this time from a shot which is further away. This shows the audience that she is lying on the grass, this High Angel Shot gives the viewers a sense of power over, in this case Hazel, whoever/whatever is on the screen during the shot, and it can also show the audience more of the scenery around the main focus.

It then shows flashes of scenes from later on in the film. All the scenes shown are happy and this is juxtaposing what Hazel is saying in the voice over, as she is talking about how there is never a

'perfect girl' to 'perfect relationship'. The lighting in this scene is shown as bright which enforces the theme of happiness. However, in one scene, when Hazel and her boyfriend, Gus, are in a doorway,

the lighting is dim but the open doorway allows light to shine through and lights up the two of them

in the shot. This shows the audience that they are the two main focuses of the shot. When Hazel says 'not the typical girl' it flashes back to her lying on the grass. This shows the audience that Hazel isn't a 'typical girl' and hints at the plot for the rest of the film.

At the end of the opening scene the title appears in stars. It looks like it is written in chalk, this may be because chalk can be daily removed, like the 'fault' in the stars. It is also written in blue and white writing, both of the colours are associated with hospitals and this plays a main part in the film.

After watching this opening I was more familiar with different shots and techniques I could use in my own opening with Millie. It also gave us inspiration to recreate certain lighting points and to use some shots which caught our interest, in particular the close up shot.

Preliminary Task = Evaluation

In our preliminary task we had to film a shot-reverse-shot, match on action and a 180 degree rule of someone walking into a room, pulling out a chair and then sitting down.
The purpose of the task was to show that we can use cameras and successfully edit our work afterwards. I found this task helped me because this was the first I had filmed or edited and it gave me a chance to practise and learn the skills in order to make my film opening better.
As I didn't do Media for a GCSE, I found the preliminary task a great way to start my coursework because it allowed to plan, film and practise editing for later creating my film opening. Millie, Charlie and I brainstormed different ideas/scenarios we could do and this helped us then decide what resource etc.  we would need. We decided we wanted a crime theme and decided this this idea would work well with incorporating the shot-reverse-shot, 180 degree rule and match on action shots.
Despite the majority of our preliminary task going well, I believe it could have been better if we had been more focused, as it was our first time being film/filming we were giggling and having to restart many shots, taking longer to film the shots. Another problem was that some shots didn't completely match up, however I believe this is because Millie and I were new to filming and editing, but Charlie had previous experience and managed to edit the parts that didn't match up very well together to create a flowing image. Regardless of these minor faults I believe Millie, Charlie and I produced a good preliminary task.

Preliminary Task =Final Product

Here is a link to our final product for our preliminary task.
Millie, Charlie and Ella's Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task = Script

Our script for our preliminary task was very minimal and not very detailed. We kind of used it as a base and added to it as we filmed, deciding where we would use the shot-reverse-shot, 180 degree rule and the match on action shot.

P1- Juan
P2- Badger

P2 is sat in a room.
P1walks down the corridor and into the room, he pulls out a chair and sits opposite P2.
P2 turns on a light, next to them, which is on the table.
P1 becomes angry and throws the paper onto the ground.
P1 gets up and tosses the chair across the room.
P2 stays seated.
P1 exists.

Preliminary Task = Brainstorm of initial ideas

Millie, Charlie and I all came up with different ideas for what our preliminary task could be about. One idea we came up with was a argument/conversation between Millie and I. We thought an argument would be a good idea because you could use shot-reverse-shot to see different facial expressions shown throughout the conversation. We also thought that it would be easy to include the match on action shot, as one person would arrive to talk to the other. However, we didn't use this idea because Millie and I weren't comfortable with the amount of acting we would have to do, in order to give the full effect of an argument. After deciding we didn't want to pursue this idea we came up with another one. Our second idea was a police interrogation scene, we again thought it would be easy to include a shot-reverse-shot due to the conversation aspect of the scene and the match on action shot could again be used to introduce one character to another. Charlie came up with an idea to film from the corner of the room and add an effect to the shot to make it look like CCTV, this would also allow us to demonstrate good editing skills. We also chose to use dim lighting to add to the mood of the scene and this allowed Millie and I to feel more comfortable, so we chose to go ahead with this idea for our preliminary task.

Match On Action Shot

This image here is an example of Match on Action. The images shows an argument between two people from 3 angles. It is an editing technique where one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. This portrays a continuous sense of the same action rather than matching two separate things.
In this image we can see an argument happening between two people. The first shot is of the women over the mans shoulder, it then changes to showing the man from behind the women and then back to the women from behind the man. This creates a sense of many cameras  being used at once and showing all angles of the scene, instead of one camera shooting from one angle.