🍿 12. Movie Opener Brainstorming & Research 🍿

   

 We've arrived at the conclusion that we would use the idea from our brainstorming session, which was "a student being burnt out with their busy schedule and showcasing the chaos (showcasing her at work, fast pacing music that builds up, jump cuts of her at work and school doing rigorous acts until she can't take it anymore)."

1st video (RISE): I love the camera angles, the natural lighting, and the invigorating edits used to give a sense of energy and rivalry. The music perfectly fit in with the emotions and 'feel' of the sport, representing how much passion the protagonist has for soccer.  However, I felt as though a few clips could have been shortened, for example, when the "opponent" was introduced, the shots of him walking felt a little bit long and it would've felt more natural if it had been shortened by like 2 seconds. I believe that this was one of the best videos out of all the ones Mrs. Wozniak has posted, and it definitely makes me aspire to have an amazing quality video just like in RISE.

2nd video (Dear Lover): I really enjoyed the plot of the movie and the storyline, since it built up some tension and gave a clear idea as to what genre it would be (an emotional movie). Unfortunately, the production could have used some work, and I wasn't a fan of the hand-held shots of the scenery of the pond within the first 20 seconds since it felt low-quality and slightly low-effort. I appreciated the effort in the acting, makeup, and clothing of the characters, along with the accurate portrayal of the reality of living in a toxic household and the experience of being a gay woman and the homophobia that comes along with it. I loved the cut-off at the end, as it gave a really intriguing cliffhanger for the rest of the movie and kept me interested to know what would happen.

3rd video (Dare to Thrill): In the beginning, it shows a group of friends embarking on a journey together, but the low lighting made the opening feel low-quality. I feel as though some better lighting to show their faces would enhance the quality by a lot and the audience would be able to see the characters' faces and clothing to give an insight into their emotions and personalities. The opening title of the movie accurately shows that this movie will be rooted in technology, possibly where they receive their missions/tasks from, and gives a slight mystery about the movie. The soundtrack fit the overall feel of the movie opening quite well and gives a great energy, along with the editing. Towards the end, when they find something shocking in the trunk of the car, it gives a great amount of suspense and curiosity to know what happens next and how dark of a turn this movie takes.

4th video (Always Watching): While the beginning of the movie shows the actors in low-key lighting and with a golden-hour lighting (which I always love), I feel as though there could have been a light or two added to give some light to the characters faces. The suspense from the music quickly built up and portrayed how sinister the murderer was, and the jump cuts to the flashbacks of the murderer's relationship with his "friend" was done well. The editing could have used a little bit of work in regards to the sudden cuts and how it interfered with the audio, along with the sound quality, but the story itself and the plot were pretty interesting and tense.

5th video (The Blue Boar): The costumes for this film opening were PHENOMENAL!!! It really gives a sense of the period of time that the movie is set in, along with the music. The acting was executed perfectly and the editing used gave a great insight into the protagonist's curious mind and rebellious personality. I don't really enjoy musicals and rarely watch them on my own time, but I felt as though the singing was perfect, almost like a Disney princess! The clips of her building the "logo" of the boar was super impressive, and the fade into the drawn logo was another icing on the cake.

6th video (White Coat): This is by far the most ominous movie out of the seven videos posted, and everything about this movie opener contributes to that feeling! I don't know why, but the smoke and potion mixing reminds me of Breaking Bad... and I love it. The setting of this movie is impressive and greatly contributes to the "mad scientist conducting crazy experiments" vibe, along with the white lab coats, gloves and N95 mask. I also love the sudden "DUN" noise when the title of the movie pops up on screen after the Patient has been released from bondage. I'm definitely going to take in some inspiration for the style of editing and the great use of audio throughout the two minutes.

7th video (Stalker.): This movie opener seems like your ordinary, amateur film student project. Unfortunately, the poor quality of the editing of the audio motifs, such as the suspenseful violin, don't blend in very well and instead sounds very "sharp" if that makes sense. The camera clicks also don't fit in very well and sounds pretty artificial. In the middle of the video, when the main character finds a note in her pencil pouch, the sudden suspenseful violin cuts in slightly awkwardly and again, and the heart thumping was another awkward addition that didn't fit in quite well. It sounds really harsh, but I wouldn't use any of the techniques used in this video, especially since everything seemed super rushed and... yeah.

 After watching each one of the videos from past AICE Media Studies students, Rebecca and I concluded that we wanted little-to-no dialogue or speech in our 2-minute project to not downgrade the quality of our film. We also wanted to utilize still-shots rather than shaky hand-held shots. One of my super dire needs for our movie opener has to be good lighting and smooth editing, along with natural diegetic sound that doesn't sound artificial or super awkward. Another thing to consider is the setting for our story, as we want something that will be a good fit for our character's personality and state of mind as she goes through her stressful day.