Editing update..

A number of problems have arisen from the editing process of my film opening - mainly due to the computers that we are using because my computer was repeatedly having malfunctions with Adobe Premiere Pro. This meant that the programme would crash and I would consequently lose my current work that was yet to be saved. However, after this happening 3 times I managed to work through the problem and have now been able to complete my editing!:)

I used a number of techniques/effects/transitions in order to edit my footage and I think that I have done this fitting with my opening because it is quite simple and not too complex and so I haven't used too many effects or irrelevant colours that don't fit with my theme or genre.

I originally had a lot of problems trying to create my heart rate monitor scan sequence. I tried to use Adobe Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere Pro and yet none of these were able to let me create the sequence that I had in mind and even drawing the scan was particularly difficult. I finally reached the conclusion that I was actually able to use the original scan image that I had created on SketchBookExpress app on my MacBook Pro. All I had to do was import this onto Adobe After Effects and then to place a blank white shape on top and to move it accordingly across the screen. I think it is actually quite effective and I was really glad to discover that I could construct it and include it within my film opening because it was one of my prominent intial ideas.

I also had a lot of struggle trying to find music for my opening that was copyright free and was fitting; but the actual problem was FINDING them because I didn't really know what I was looking for enough to be able to search for them. I stumbled around on a few websites and found my way onto 'http://www.jamendo.com/en' which allowed me to search for 'Royalty Free Music' and so I researched into piano instrumentals and managed to find a selection of appropriate songs. The one I chose to download was a piano instrumental called Oasis'Blue. However, after receiving feedback I might chose to change this later on.

EDITING TIME...

Printscreens of Editing

This is a snapshot of a still image that I have at the beginning of my film opening, I particularly like it because it has a very idyllic and almost surreal.

This is an example of the 'Cross Dissolve' transition that I am using within my film opening to fade between the scenes of footage and imaging. In this example it fades from an image of a field to one of a diary extract of Eliza's.

Another example of 'Cross Fade' transition

Example of my Ident

Revised script..

"A DAY IN THE LIFE OF..."

FADE IN:

EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - MORNING

Panning through the countryside; fresh morning. Birds chirping, soft piano music being played in the background.

ELIZA (V.O)

Many people in life have a sense of direction and know

what they want their future to hold, apparently, not me.

I seem to be going nowhere and at the age of 18, I have

nothing to say for myself; no achievements, nothing, not even

a library card or a bus pass. Even old people have those, clearly...

my - life - is - irrelevant.

I've never had a boyfriend - well, of course, I've dabbled in the

occasional 2 week fling, but nothing serious, 

nothing significant; never broken a bone, never even been 

to hospital, besides of course when I entered the world and left the

safety and comfort of my mother's womb.

As Gandhi said, "I don't have a message. My message

is my life." and "When I despair, I remember that truth and

love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers,

and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end

they always fall. 

Think of it...always."

It is only when I think of those who have less than me

that I realise how much I do have; 

a functional family who supports me, a good education, friends who love me...

Need I say more? I'm a pessimistic, optimistic, naïve, melodramatic, 

shy and pathetic teenager, who wants nothing more than to find

her meaning in life. But I have no idea how to go about it.

I'm waiting for a revelation, anything, hit me by a bus

and kick me in the teeth! Anything.

***And that's when it happened, it came from nowhere
and nobody could have foreseen it. A car spun off
the road, hit the verge and the driver lost control.
Things would be so vert different if it hadn't happened
but I suppose it was my destiny and
that's how my life changed for good.

"This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're
going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth.
But the good part is you get to decide how you're
going to mess it up. Just because you fail once, doesn't
mean you're gonna fail at everything.
Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe
in yourself."***

The 'starred; (*) pieces of text indicate the parts of the script that I have added to the inital draft. The second/final paragraph is a quote taken from Marilyn Monroe and it bares great signficance to the script because it is quite a mature and life-evaluating quote which is very influential.

FILMING WEEK

This week I have been busy with the camera. Filming took place on a field/verge near my house, which is an ideal place because of the lack of traffic and disruption. I am happy with all of my footage and feel that it will enable me to create an effective yet simple film opening; being that it relies solely upon the interest of the audience and the factor of the unknown - not knowing what will happen after the first 2minutes. 
I ended up filming at around 3.00pm because the light/sky was perfect and the ground wasn't too wet from the morning dew. I particularly like the point-of-view shots because the audience is able to watch the character's perspective; and the glare of the sun on the camera because it conveys connotations of purity and innocence, which are prominent themes in my film. I also filmed the audio of the narration, which took several takes for each part, to get it just right. I feel quietly confident with my progress so far. Fingers crossed!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower...

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an "epistolary novel written by American novelist Stephen Chbosky. It was published on February 1, 1999 by MTV. The story is narrated by a teenager who goes by the alias of "Charlie"; he describes various scenes in his life by writing a series of letters to an anonymous person, whom he does not know personally." The male protagonist Charlie is a teenager who struggles with teenage adolescence.  
The story explores topics such as introversion and awkward experiences and confrontations of adolescence; also touching briefly on drug use and Charlie's experiences with it.
The reason why I have chosen to research this film is because within the novel's progression, various works of literature and film are heavily referenced and their meanings are discussed frequently, particularly in helping Charlie to understand the reality of teenage life and within his education. This links to my media film opening because of my references to Gandhi and Marilyn Monroe.

Colour and Lighting...

The previous post has taught me that when I come to edit my media film I will most likely manipulate the brightness/contrast, gamma, curves of the shots because by simply doing this, a completely different mood is able to be conveyed to the audience. This will also work particularly with my opening sequence because of the nature scenes with the trees (and if the snow is still around next week then it can be incorporated too!)

Looking at the effect of lighting and colour

ADJUSTING CURVES
LOW LIGHTING
GAMMA
SATURATION
ORIGINAL COPY
HIGH LIGHTING

In my lesson I have been unable to do any filming or editing due to lack of technology and so I have been editing photos on Adobe Photoshop CS4 to explore the effect of lighting and colours within a shot. I played around with adjusting the curves, lighting, gamma, saturation, exposure and vibrance. I particularly like working with Adobe Photoshop because I have used the software before and being able to manipulate an image in order to change the impact of an image. My favourite image is the edit which has been fully saturated into black and white because the tree gives across quite a sinister mood; in comparison to the calm and tranquil mood of the original image.

Camera Shots

EWS (Extreme Wide Shot) - The view is so far from the subject that he/she isn't even visible. Often used as an establishing shot
VWS (Very Wide Shot) - The subject is visible (barely), but the emphasis is still on placing him in his environment
WS (Wide Shot) - The subject takes up the full frame, or at least as much as comfortably possible.
i.e. long shot, full shot
MS (Mid Shot) - Shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject
MCU (Medium Close Up) - Half way between a MS and a CU
CU (Close Up) - A certain feature or part of the subject takes up the whole frame
ECU (Extreme Close Up) - The ECU gets right in and shows extreme detail
Cut-In - Shows some (other) part of the subject in detail
Cut-Away - A shot of something other than the subject
Two-Shot - A shot of two people, framed similarly to a mid shot
Over-The-Shoulder Shot - Looking from behind a person at the subject
Point-of-View Shot - Shows a view from the subject's perspective
Weather Shot - The subject is the weather. Can be used for other purposes, i.e. background for graphics.

In my media film I am choosing to not reveal the main character in the opening sequence in order to allow the audience to want to watch on, particularly because after the title sequence she will be in hospital and so her appearance may not be as it was before. The audience is able to empathise with her character and is curious as to how the accident has affected her life.
Therefore the main shots that I will be using will be Establishing Shots; in order for the audience to identify the location and Point-of-View Shots; which will enable the audience to be in her perspective; Weather Shots because my opening will be quite 'nature-based' in order for the audience to be led into a false sense of security, tranquillity and calm; before she meets her untimely accident which will be quite shocking but also very ambiguous. This links well with my Ident; Juxtaposed Productions, the definition of 'juxtaposition' being "an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast."
This then eliminates the need for costumes because they will not be seen in the opening sequence however, there will be props that I choose to include that hold great significance.

Review on narration

Remember Me is a 2010 American romantic, coming-of-age drama film directed by Allen Coulter, with the screenplay by Will Fetters. The cast includes Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, Chris Cooper, Lena Olin and Pierce Brosnan. The film was released March 12th 2010, had a budget of $16million and went on to take in $56,223,951 at the Box Office. The distributor was Summit Entertainment.
I have chosen to look at this film because the main character Tyler in the opening gives the insightful quote; "Gandhi said that whatever you do in life will be insignificant but it is very important that you do it...". This quote relates to my media film because I am intrigued by the use of famous historical figures whose words are able to have a great and significant impact upon peoples lives.

When his character is first seen, the script describes him as TYLER ROTH, early twenties, handsome, looking haggard. He is sitting on the floor, shirtless, bed head, wrapped in a blanket.

Copyright music...

COPYRIGHT-

Wikipedia definition - "literally, 'the right to copy.' Prior to 1886, no effective international law of copyright existed. The first major international copyright law conventions were the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works created in 1886. It is not within the scope of this document to examine the various changes, additions, and ancillary agreements to the Berne Convention. Beginning in 1976, copyright protection in the United States has been extended to a work of music immediately after it is created. Legal protection is extended to the work without the need to register it with the U.S. Copyright office. A work must be registered, however, before a copyright owner may bring suit against a party which has allegedly infringed on this original work."


Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. It is intended to ensure that the creators of musical works get paid for their work. A purchaser of recorded music owns the media on which the music is stored, rather than the music itself. A purchaser has limited rights to use and reproduce the recorded work without a separately arranged agreement.

Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works. It often refers to copying intellectual property without written permission from the copyright holder, which is typically a publisher or other business representing or assigned by the work's creator.
Research obtained from http://www.wikipedia.org/

Editing my title sequence...

I have been making my title sequence for my film and creating random names for the different people involved in my production.

juxtaposed productions presents

a film by karen fisher

starring marissa kendall, phoebe morris, luca douglas, zak archer

casting by georgina howe

music by scott myers, billy palmer

costumes designed by tilly wallis

edited by sean berry, tyler hartley

production designed by dom gregory

director of photography laura stokes

co-producers molly davey, amelie preston

co-executive producers patrick skinner, yasmin gibbs

executive producers corey bentley, imogen morgan

written by eva hutchinson, callum byrne

a day in the life of…

produced by ethan murray, rupert tyler

directed by nicole o’malley

I have been using Adobe AfterEffects because I find it easier to use in regards to editing text and being able to manipulate the positioning and movement in comparison to Adobe PremierPro, so I will have to import the final sequence into PremierePro when I put it into my film.

Analysis of a Title Sequence: SE7EN

00.03  New Line Cinema Presents

00.06  An Arnold Kopelson Production

00.10  A film by David Fincher

00.13  Brad Pitt

00.18  Morgan Freeman

00.23  Se7en

00.28  Gwyneth Paltrow

00.33  Richard Rowntree

00.38  R. Lee Ermey
00.41  John C McGinley
00.46  Julie Araskog, Mark Boone Junior
00.53  John Casrini, Reginald E. Cathey, Peter Crombie

00.57  Hawthorne Jones, Michael Massee, Leland Orser

01.03  Richard Portnow, Richard Schiff, Pamala Tyson

01.10  Casting by Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, Kerry Borden

01.16  Music by Howard Shore

01.21  Costumes designed by Michael Kaplan

01.24  Edited by Richard Francis-Bruce

01.26  Production designed by Arthur Max

01.34  Director of photography Darius Khondji

01.38  Co-Producers Stephen Brown, Nana Greenwald, Sanford Panitch

01.44  Co-Executive Producers Lynn Harris, Richard Saperstein

01.49  Executive Producers Gianni Nunnari, Dan Kolsrud, Ann Kopelson

01.54  Written by Andrew Kevin Walker

01.57  SE7EN

01.58  Produced by Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle

02.03  Directed by David Fincher

Plans for filming...SCHEDULE

Try and get the bulk of the filming done on Sunday 29th January!!!

My Ident - Juxtaposed Productions

This is the ident that I have created using Adobe AfterEffects that I intend to use for my media film. I chose to keep it fairly simple because I did not want it to detract from the image of the film and for it to remain fairly impartial and uninfluencial upon the audience.
I particularly like the font that I used because it is interesting and adds more depth to the ident.

Teletubbies

For this task we had to remake the opening title sequence for the Teletubbies. We were given a similar background image of the sky, the foreground and the baby's face; we then had to create the shape of the sun and create the sequence so that it flowed accordingly to the original sequence.

First AfterEffects Experiment - Anatomy of a Murder

This was my first introduction to using Adobe AfterEffects CS4 and we were given the task of creating a title sequence for 'Anatomy of a Murder'. We had to create the shapes and text and then design the sequence as we thought appropriate and fitting.
I enjoyed the task because it was a good, in-depth introduction to the software and I felt comfortable with using it afterwards.

Ideal props to include in my film opening...

Location for filming...

LITTLE ELLINGHAM, NORFOLK

I have chosen to do my filming in my village because the fields and location is very ideal and is quite isolated, so I do not have to worry about the interruption of lots of cars and loud background noises.

Narration...

A narrator, within any story, is the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of the three entities responsible for story-telling of any kind. The others are the author and audience; the latter called the 'reader' when referring specifically to literature.

In the case of my media film, I am using narration through Eliza, therefore making her the viewpoint character. The effect of doing this is that straight away the audience is able to relate to and empathise with her character, just through her dialogue.

A narrator may tell the story from his own point of view (as a fictive entity) or from the point of view of one of the characters in the story. The act or process of this is referred to as narration. Along with exposition, argumentation, and description, narration (broadly defined) is one of four rhetorical modes of discourse. More narrowly defined, narration is the fiction-writing mode whereby the narrator communicates directly to the reader.

In my media film, I have chosen to not show the character of Eliza within the opening sequence to establish an element of the unknown for the audience. The aim of my opening is to leave the audience asking questions and to want to watch further, which is or should be the aim of all film-makers.

ELIZA...

Character profile and moodboard:

ELIZA NIAMH MURRAY
Age: 18
D.O.B.: 28th December 1991 (Film set in 2010)
Star Sign: Capricorn
Nationality: British
Hair colour: Blonde
Eye colour: Hazel
Hometown: Rural village in Norfolk, originally from Yorkshire
Hobbies: Reading, listening to old music, being outside
Other siblings: None
Relationship status: Single

Heart Rate Monitor...

Using the SketchBookExpress on my MacBook Pro I was able to create a design for the scan of a Heart Rate Monitor which would be used in hospitals. The initial one that I completed looked quite similar however, the line has no depth and doesn't look overly realistic.

For this reason, I decided to copy the sketch and to lay it on top of the original, slightly out of place. This creates the necessary depth and makes it look like the line has more 'life' and is much more realistic, also with more of an aspect that it could be moving.

This image I will be using during my title sequence.

Research into my chosen genre...

"Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles."
My film opening is following the genre of a Romantic Comedy however, I wish to challenge that concept by not displaying to the audience within the opening two-minutes a possible romance which will take place.

“

In a typical romantic comedy the two lovers tend to be young, likeable, and apparently meant for each other, yet they are kept apart by some complicating circumstance (e.g., class differences, parental interference; a previous girlfriend or boyfriend) until, surmounting all obstacles, they are finally wed. A wedding-bells, fairy-tale-style happy ending is practically mandatory.[5]

”

A few of the top Rom-Com's of the decade:
Juno, About a Boy, Bridget Jones' Diary, Amélie, Wall-E, The Silence of Sleep.

Script: Initial Draft

"A DAY IN THE LIFE OF..."

FADE IN:

EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - MORNING

Panning through the countryside; fresh morning. Birds chirping, soft piano music being played in the background.

ELIZA (V.O)

Many people in life have a sense of direction and know

what they want their future to hold, apparently, not me.

I seem to be going nowhere and at the age of 18, I have

nothing to say for myself; no achievements, nothing, not even

a library card or a bus pass. Even old people have those, clearly...

my - life - is - irrelevant.

I've never had a boyfriend - well, of course, I've dabbled in the

occasional 2 week fling, but nothing serious, 

nothing significant; never broken a bone, never even been 

to hospital, besides of course when I entered the world and left the

safety and comfort of my mother's womb.

As Gandhi said, "I don't have a message. My message

is my life." and "When I despair, I remember that truth and

love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers,

and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end

they always fall. 

Think of it...always."

It is only when I think of those who have less than me

that I realise how much I do have; 

a functional family who supports me, a good education, friends who love me...

Need I say more? I'm a pessimistic, optimistic, naïve, melodramatic, 

shy and pathetic teenager, who wants nothing more than to find

her meaning in life. But I have no idea how to go about it.

I'm waiting for a revelation, anything, hit me by a bus

and kick me in the teeth! Anything.

This is a first draft for my script and is part of a narrative voiceover in which the main female protagonist, Eliza, opens the film with a monologue which provides the audience with an insight into her life and the moral dilemmas and stereotypical 'teen-life dramas' that she faces. 

The words that I have highlighted in bold all hold great significance. "I seem to be going nowhere" - Eliza is a confused teenager who is struggling to understand and piece together her future. 

Gandhi quotes - provide her character with a more philosophical interest and she becomes more in-depth. They also bear significance and irony to the rest of the film.This was also used in Allen Coulter's 2010 film Remember Me which I thought was incredibly effective and has a great dramatic impact upon the audience.

"I'm waiting for a revelation, anything, hit me by a bus and kick me in the teeth! Anything." = Irony, she will be hit by a vehicle and will be left hospital-ridden and so by saying this, it could be said that she is 'tempting fate'.
COUNTRYSIDE:

 GANDHI:

 MONROE:

 REMEMBER ME:

RESEARCH

• Inspirational quotes from Mahatma Gandhi and Marilyn Monroe
• Classical piano music for backing (Listen to)
• Films with female narration in opening
• Life support machines

Gandhi
"Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart."
"The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience."
"The real love is to love them that hate you, to love your neighbour even though you distrust him."
"If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm."
"Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr, but let no one lust for martyrdom."
"I don't have a message. My message is my life."
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it...always."

Monroe
"This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're going to fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself."

Classical Music Tchaikovsky -

Nutcracker: Dance Of The Sugar-Plum Fairy

1892

Tchaikovsky -

Nutcracker: Waltz Of The Flowers

1892

Chopin -

Funeral March

1829

Life Support Machine

What audience do I want to target? And film synopsis.

Mainstream Plus?

Genre: Drama, Romantic Comedy

Summer is a 24 year-old female with an English Literature degree. She likes mainstream films but also isn't afraid of watching crossovers and those which test the boundaries. She is quite girly but not soppy or pathetic. Her guilty pleasure is going to see rom-coms and dramas with her mum and younger sister who is at University studying Art Textiles. Summer likes films which are relatable to real life and which manipulate the audience's emotions through the use of music.

FILM SYNOPSIS

Eliza, opens with an outside shot panning through the countryside, bitter cold day, soft piano music in the background. She begins talking through narration (as herself), talking about how generic her life is, she wants something exciting and 'out-of-the-ordinary' to happen. She gives insightful quotes from the likes of William Shakespeare, Marilyn Monroe and Mahatma Gandhi.

She has no relationship history besides a 2-week long romance with her best friend Smith, when they were 12.

She's never had a broken bone, never been to hospital, besides when she was entering the world and leaving her mother's womb.

^This is ironic because she then goes on to have an accident which will change her life entirely and she becomes hospital-ridden.

As the accident happens, the screen fades out into white and the film titles fades in with a hospital 'beep'ing on top and then her heart rate stops and the title fades out and merges into her heart rate monitor, *beeeee-eeeeeep*

Leaves the audience thinking, does she die, what is going to happen?

WORKING TITLES:

"A Day in The Life Of.."

"Life Beyond Reason"

Audiences

How might we categorise audiences?
AGE, GENDER, BACKGROUND, SOCIAL CLASS, EDUCATION, FAVOURITE GENRE, AREA OF INTEREST, CULTURAL BACKGROUND, RELIGION, ETHICS, JOB, AREA, STEREOTYPES.

The Registrar General's Social Scale is the way the British Government defines the populace through their occupation:
Groups A, B, C1 --> Middle class
Groups C2, D, E --> Working class

Abraham Maslow created the Hierarchy of needs and it is clear that the middle class is targeted more as an audience because they have much more disposable income than the working class.

Possibly a better way of defining audiences is by categorising them by the values and attitudes they hold and the lifestyle they have; these are psychographic variables. One of the better known systems is the Values, Attitudes and Lifestyles. (Actualisers, Fulfilleds, Achievers, Experiencers, Believers, Strives, Makers and Strugglers).

CINEMA CITY TRIP - ANIMAL KINGDOM

UK cinema attendance history

            1948 UK Box Office admissions = 500million

            1975 Jaws released – becomes the first summer ‘blockbuster’

            1980 UK Box Office admissions = 50m

            1984 Multiplex cinemas open (Milton Keynes)
            2008 UK Box Office admissions = 164.2m

Distributors

                        Dominate 85% of the market

            Columbia

            Walt Disney

            20^th Century Fox

            Paramount

            Warner Brothers

            Universal

Independent cinemas are privately owned and profit-driven, they are non-profit making and receive public subsidy. They show films from countries such as USA, UK, France, Canada, China, Spain and Italy.

Programme Analysis

            MAINSTREAM

            CROSSOVER

            CHALLENGING

            SPECIALIST

Benefits of digital technology is the choice, quality, alternative content and spectacle.

Animal Kingdom à Australian independent movie

                                    Winner of the Sundance Award 2010

                                    Sony Pictures Classics

It was written and directed by David Michôd and had a budget of $5.2million.

AS Level Essay 1 Textual Analysis of ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ and ‘Atonement’

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The two film sequences that I have chosen to analyse are Justin Chadwick’s 2008 film ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ and Joe Wright’s 2007 film ‘Atonement’; they both follow the Drama genre, which is the reason why I chose to analyse them because they both follow the same purpose and audience but go about different means of achieving them. The Other Boleyn Girl and Atonement were both originally written as a novels in 2001 by Philippa Gregory and Ian McEwan.

<!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->The sequences that I have chosen to analyse are the openings because I find that they convey the most vital information to the audience and they are immediately able to understand the tone of the film and initial judgements are made.

The Other Boleyn Girl opens with a hazy yellow field of crop and the titling is in simple white block capitals which doesn’t follow the theme of 16^th-century royalty and aristocrats, in accordance the music is also calming and playful. Almost a minute into the scene, three children, aged around 6 or 7, - 2 girls and a boy – are seen running and playing in the field, they are in the centre of the shot. They do not seem to ‘have a care in the world’ as they play and fall over recklessly whilst their father discusses their futures in terms of the girls being betrothed.

All in all the scene is very mellowing for the audience and they are yet to find out the importance of the Boleyn daughters.

Joe Wright goes along a very different route with the opening of Atonement for the titling begins on a black background and white typewriter lettering, a typewriter can also be heard in the background. The scene then opens on a child’s bedroom and Briony Tallis can be seen completing her play at a desk. The music begins very soft and as just a simple piano and the clicking of the typewriter then goes on to become a fast-paced tune, which follows her anxiety and excitement at completing her play as she walks around her large house in search of her mother.

In terms of mise-en-scene, the setting is a very dated grand house and the props follow the time-period, along with the clothing.

Both films are similar in the way that they are having to focus on a specific time period and the lighting of both films is in broad daylight which makes the audience feel secure and they are able to see everything within the frames. However, the positioning of characters and objects within the frames are very different; for example, the opening sequences are not remotely similar because The Other Boleyn Girl is calm and serene whereas the typewriter noise in the background in Atonement heightens the tension and pace.

The framing and composition of The Other Boleyn Girl is also quite picturesque in the way that the director chose to have several shots of the locations before the interior is displayed in able to let the audience establish the setting and mood. This happens in two main scenes of the opening at the church at which Mary Boleyn is to be married and at the home of Henry VIII where Catherine of Aragon has just given birth to a still born child.

Both of the openings open in a happy and content environment however within the course of only 5-6 minutes, the tone drops and a great deal of empathy is felt for the characters because in The Other Boleyn Girl, Catherine of Aragon is still unable to provide her husband, Henry VIII, with an heir to the throne which has caused them grief and despair. Likewise, in Atonement, Briony has proved unsuccessful in getting the twins to understand the importance of her play, the significance of it and the pride that she feels having completed it and wanting to perform it. There is also a great sense of naïvety on her part for she does not sense the sexual tension between her older sister, Cecilia and the servant’s son, Robbie Turner. Her play is of great importance to the wider film because in the Prologue of the play she speaks of ‘spontaneous Arabella who ran away with an extrinsic fellow’, this is dramatic hindsight for it symbolises what will happen later on in the film between Cecilia and Robbie.

The Other Boleyn Girl also includes the use of dramatic hindsight for the intimacy of the siblings plays a strong part because they all remain close and protective of each other and when Anne is unable to give Henry a son, she looks toward her brother to be able to help her and it is clear that only a strong character could ask that of their brother/sister.

            The opening sequences also allow the audience to understand and interpret the relationships between siblings; The Other Boleyn Girl allows the audience to watch a close-knit relationship between the 3 siblings develop from their younger years up until Mary’s wedding day, all in the matter of a few minutes. It is also clear that Anne, Mary and their brother, George share such a close family unit that they have conversations based upon wit and banter and they do not worry about taking things too seriously at this present time for they are quite excitable.

Atonement allows the audience to see Briony’s relationships between her mother, sister and the other people that she shares her home with.

The genre of the two films is also very well established because within the opening sequences.

According to the website, http://www.filmsite.org/dramafilms.html, “drama films are serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature. A dramatic film shows us human beings at their best, their worst, and everything in-between.”

Overall, the two films are quite similar in the aspects that they focus on and the actors and actresses portray the characters very well in the opening sequence, so much so that the audience is drawn into each film and is able to empathise.

The Hangover Part 2 & 3

We planned to film the rest of the indoor and outdoor shots at Jake’s house however, my luck did not seem to be on my side because two days before shooting I managed to fall off my not-so-trustworthy pink moped, consequently, leaving me with a fractured nose and a face looking rather black and blue. Despite this, filming carried on minus me but not everything went to plan and we were lacking actors and actresses so we scheduled to refilm it the following weekend when everyone could actually attend. The wedding cake had already been wonderfully made by Evie and had been devoured the previous week and so this was about the only piece of filming that we would be using prior to our third stint of filming. Everything went to plan with Ben’s parents playing a bridesmaid and the bride’s father, Jake’s mum as the mother of the bride, myself as the bride (“oh dear!”) and Evie, Ben and Bill as extras within the shots with Jake being in charge of the camera. We all pitched in as Director and Producer.

All in all, we managed to complete the rest of the task in that one day and then used Jake’s microphone and Mac Laptop software to overdub the dialogue and sound for the outdoor scene with Phil and the voiceover telephone messages.

We were pleased with what we had managed to achieve given that we had a non-existent budget and had to rely on our personal resources for props and costume.

We then used the remaining week of Media Studies lessons and free-periods to edit our piece together using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 which we all worked together on as a group rather than making two different copies from which we would choose the best. Bill and Evie were also given the task of making the title sequence for ‘The Hangover’ and establishing the background music of the film opening.

Everything seemed to be going extremely well and it was only too obvious that something needed to go wrong and so for an unknown reason, we managed to lose all of our audio from our final cutting which then required some time to rectify the error by having to cut the clips again in order to establish what we had already achieved.

THE FINAL PIECE: