Flashbacks/Forwards in film

In a film opening, flashbacks/forwards can be used to make the audience aware of time or events that have happened. For example, there may be a flashback to a time in the characters childhood that is relevant to the current scene, or there may be a flash forwards showing an event in the future, or even a montage of future events so that the film opened in the past but by the end of the montage they are well into the future and the films narrative remains in that time.

Mean Girls

In this film there is a brief flashback as Cady tells us about her time in africa. Rather than inserting clips of the time Cady lived in africa, there are photos and at the transitions between these photos there is a flash which i think is very original and different. The voiceover also matches with what the pictures show, for example when she says she had a "great life" she is smiling, but when she talks about her mum getting offered a job she looks confused and worried.

The use of flashbacks here are to inform us and give us insight into what her life was like, but there are different ways of using flashbacks/forwards to portray meaning, as you will see below.



Up

In this film there you can the little boy taking a picture and at the flash of the camera, there is a flash forwards to the day of their wedding, both characters are young and in the montage we see them grow older until the mans wife dies. The montage isn't really a flash forward as such its just like a fast forward of their lives, however the camera flashing with the wedding scene after it definitely is.

The use of flash forwards here is very touching because we see that the two characters were childhood friends that grew up together and fell in love, the gap of what happened between then and their wedding day doesn't need to be filled. The montage is also very touching as it is portraying a message that the love these characters have for each other is timeless.

As you can see from the two examples, flashbacks/forwards can be used for different purposes, showing time and change or showing how someones life used to be. There are also many different and unique ways they can be used but the two above are my favourites.

Music in Film

Bride Wars

You can see the opening of bride wars by clicking here

This opening starts with a fun up-beat tune and then a close up shot of a wedding scrapbook covered in fun colours and materials is shown, there is then a montage of shots all relevant to a wedding shown for example a bride and groom cake stand. Throughout all of this the fun music is playing and that too is also relevant.

The first lyric is "I found so many things I dreamed of" followed by lyrics including "days go by and were still laughing" and "he's all mine and were never alone". All of these lyrics are positive and are strongly linked to romance, as well as weddings (from the shots and clips as the music is playing). This immediately tells the audience that the story is upbeat, like the tune, and is about love.

Aside from the lyrics, the tune itself is infectious, it instantly makes you feel happy and positive, it sets a light hearted and fun atmosphere and personally, would make me want to continue watching.

Titanic

I have done a post about this film opening and I talk about music a lot in it you can find that here however to summarise, the music is very depressing, it has a low base and instead of singing lyrics, notes are sung in a very slow but moving way. Unlike the opening for "Bride Wars" it doesn't make the audience feel happy and it isn't upbeat, however still very powerful and informative along with the shots in the background telling us it will be a sad story as the sad music plays in the background of people on the titanic waving goodbye to their families. Another thing I mentioned in the post is that at most of the higher notes there is a transition in shots moving from different people on the ship waving to their loved ones, it heightens the emotion and sets the mood making us feel as if the film and storyline itself may not have such a happy ending due to the strong focus of the 'goodbyes' in the opening. Finally, the music resembles traditional Irish music and Ireland was the last 'port of call' before the titanic set sail, so it is very fitting

Music does an incredible job of setting the atmosphere and mood, it is something people listen to everyday and they will listen to different songs depending on their mood, which is why I think having music in an opening is a very good way of letting the audience know what the overall mood, atmosphere or feel of the film may be, people strongly connect to music and therefore I believe its a powerful thing to include.

The only disadvantage to using music for the whole opening is that it may not give enough information about what the film is going to entail, the titanic is a very well known story across the world therefore it isn't really a problem in the film's opening, however if a less known film only  had music in it for the first few minutes the audience may get bored or make an instant judgment about the whole film based on the music, therefore I think in an opening it would be better to only have music in the first half.

Secret Intelligence Service - Student textual analysis

'Secret intelligent service' is a student made film coming under the genre of sci-fi/mystery/spy. You can see the opening for this below.

In the opening to this film we see there is a Sci-fi element to it between 0:7-0:11, we can also take a guess that the plot may be sad as well as mysterious as the sad music plays in the background of this ident as if something devastating has occurred. The shot then cuts to a man writing what seems to be a very important letter headed 'SIS Intelligence Report: Potential London Threat' with the date of 2005. From this we can tell that the film is quite serious and could be about a spy. We then hear a baby cry and the atmosphere appears to be stressful for the man due to this and the fact that, unknown to him, the important letter did not save. We are shown a clip of a bombing that cuts straight to news reports overlapping each other emphasising the stress levels by doing so and showing devastating pieces of news, we also see an ambulance come in. This is all done in black and white which is very clever as it shows something in a raw and plain state where emotions are heavier and duller, there is more focus. We then hear an alarm clock go off and this man we think could be a spy, get ready. After he is ready there are establishing shots of London showing iconic buildings and the classic red London busses, letting the audience know the exact location. There are also very good shots and angles, particularly as the man is crossing the bridge in order to get to his final destination. We see a big building and at this point the title comes up across it with 'Secret Intelligence Service' so we therefore assume this is a spy building - especially as the man comes up to it and we get a point of view from a security camera.

The plot theme is revealed that the film is all about mystery and secret intelligence, it is very enticing as the London Bombings are such an important topic, so when brought up and people are given the directors theory or take on a story behind it, it is likely they will want to watch - even if they know it is not a true story. We can see that the plot will most likely revolve around these bombing and that some form of a secret mission is included later.

Only one key character seems to have been introduced, being the man, there is also a shot with his wife or girlfriend sleeping beside him who could become a key part later on in the story, however as far as the opening is concerned the main character is the man who appears to be a spy, as we see that this 'secret intelligence service' plays a critical part in the story. We see that this man is also a family man because we hear his baby cry through the baby monitor at night and he gets up from writing the letter to attend him/her. So overall, 3 possible key characters have been revealed.

There is no dialogue except for the news reports, this also emphasises and highlights their importance, especially due to he fact it is the only thing the audience can here and have a full understanding of. In cases like this, less is definitely more as a lot of the plot or themes of it are not hard to guess, so I think that the silence is a good thing here.

A way in which this film challenges the usual conventions of a Sci-fi film is that at the start there is no harmony, it jumps straight into an issue and stress unlike others which usually slowly build up to it. It conforms to the usual genre because straight away we see there is some kind of a fight between good and evil right from the start where we see the potential spy write a letter to the intelligence service about a threat. Another way it conforms to the usual conventions is that the lighting is dark, which emphasises the dark intentions and situations of what the film is based around (the bombings).

I really like the use of angles here and the fact that only relevant speech is used. I also like the use of lighting, again to only highlight the important things such as the bright computer screen with a letter about a potential threat. Even though I find sci-fi and mysterious spy films enticing, I don't personally want to use this as a genre in my final film opening as so far it is not my favourite. I also feel like in order for any sci-fi film to be good, it has to be professionally made with professional equipment and access to certain locations or tools to make it, as technology plays a big part in it and as students we don't have access to this kind of material therefore I would rather make an excellent film in a different genre that appeals to me more.

Insanity - Student made analysis.

Below is a horror student made opening called 'Insanity'.

From the start of the film we can tell that the main character is taking a journey, we can see this from the backpack and the map he pulls out pointing to his destination. When he reaches his destination he looks up at it as if it is highly important, almost with hope and fear. As he trips up the entrance steps we see a silhouette figure behind him, as if they caused him to fall. As he turns around a scary, possessed looking face appears making the audience jump. The only part of the plot revealed is that he was on a journey and as he reaches it a dark character appears, the only question we are left asking is 'where was he on his way to?' because everything else seems basic and predictable, there's some form of a 'monster' that will harm him in some way. Due to this it is not something that really creates suspense, instead it just causes the audience to jump a little bit. Even though the story may unfold to be very good, I don't feel like the opening is very enticing and not enough of the story is revealed to make me personally want to watch.

There are two key characters revealed, one the man that is shown for the majority of the film and the second being the 'monster'. This isn't usually a bad thing because in a horror film these are the only two really important characters (the protagonist and villain, good/evil) and in the first two minutes we can be shown a possible reason behind this however in this opening we aren't given much insight, which I think is important, even if it is just a bit.

There is no dialogue except for when the man falls and expresses his pain, there is a very quiet tense background noise playing that is unidentifiable however it is not complete silence. I do believe this goes well with the horror genre as it doesn't emphasise fear alone, it shows something bad may be coming and there are other things going on through this minimal noise. The man is unsuspecting, therefore complete silence would be portraying the wrong message - that he was afraid.

Another way the conventions of a horror film are conformed to is the idea of the 'calm before the storm' as at the beginning the sequence and atmosphere appears to  be particularly calm with only a hint of nervousness, presumably due to the location he knew he was travelling to, with the storm coming as the mysterious and horrifying figure appears.

Even though the idea of showing contrast between good and evil or rich and poor (Barthes symbolic codes) appeals to me and that is a big part in horror movies, I have decided that for my own media opening I will not use a Horror film as I don't enjoy watching them and I find them quite predictable and pointless, I don't feel as though the opening can give the audience much insight in order to entice them like other genres can and for that reason I am not interested in looking further into this genre with the intention of making a Horror myself, although I may look at some for inspiration in terms of the narrative.

Inner Evil - Student Textual Analysis

Inner evil is a student made thriller opening, you can see the video for it below.

In terms of how much is introduced, there is not a whole lot however it makes us ask questions and learn a bit about the character. There are two assumptions that we can make from this plot

1. The girl is constantly paranoid, she has scary visions or dreams where she is getting or has been abused that we can not yet tell apart in terms of whether they could happen or are only her imaginations, the plot could be about this girl constantly living in her own fear worrying about things that could happen and 'what if's and that is the concept behind her idea of the inner evil - she is her own worst enemy.
2. The girl is living in fear due to consequences of her own actions, she may have done something where she knows she will be taken vengeance to and for that reason is always on the look out.

Either way, we can assume that the plot will be full of tension and suspense, therefore quite thrilling, there are questions to be answered such as 'why is the girl so afraid' and 'who is the girl following her, is it imagination or reality?' which is a good thing because it keeps us guessing and therefore cause us to keep watching.

We have only been introduced to two characters, one being the paranoid girl you can see for the majority of the video and the other being someone we are unsure of resembling that girl who we can guess that is either a figment of imagination, inner evil character or a real life replica of her out to get her.

There is no dialogue in this opening, it is mainly heavy breathing and gasping. I personally believe this is effective because silence emphasises fear, when you are quiet it is like you're constantly listening out for something or someone to jump out at you, just like the girl seems to be. It fits in well with the story.

Usual conventions or themes of a thriller is that no answers are immediately revealed, once one question is answered another appears, it keeps the audience on constant edge. I would usually expect a mystery to have been solved, new information to cause a rage or a fight between the good and evil. This film seems to conform to this aspect due to the fact there is an obvious line between who the good and evil is, especially due to the evil wearing dark and the good wearing light clothes, however it challenges the typical element of this genre as it seems that the good and evil are the same person and the girl is fighting a battle against herself, which I find very interesting.

I really like the use of flash-forwards and flashbacks to visions that this girl has whether they may be real or not, for example in the video above from 1:55 - 2:05 where we are shown the girl being kid-knapped for a second as she turns round the corner and then realise that we were seeing a worry she had after the real life version of her turned the corner and there was no one there. This is a clever technique as it causes the audience to believe something bad has happened when in fact it hasn't, causing the constant 'rollercoaster' of tension, suspense and relief. This is a flash-forward, an example of a flashback to a vision or a dream she may have had is from 1:36 - 1:43 where she seems to remember seeing someone cut her throat with her key and looks down at it as if she feels she is about to have de-ja-vu.

Overall I think this is an excellent film opening, I like the concept of a thriller however if I decide to incorporate the element into my film opening I would only mildly include it as I would like there to be suspense however I wouldn't like the audience to be strongly on a constant edge as I personally feel the film becomes less enjoyable.

Fast+Slow paced film openings

Jurassic Park

In the opening of jurassic park, particularly for the first two minutes the editing is quite slow paced, the first shot for example of the leaves rustling lasts for 5 seconds and then from 1:12-1:19 there is a zoom shot of a man holding a gun. This pace lasts up until about 2 minutes into the opening, however this isn't a bad thing, it adds to the intensity of the mood and atmosphere and audience as they wait to see what it is the army of men are waiting to fight.

The fast paced editing style begins around 2:44 as one of the men fall and gets attacked by the monster, there are high levels of suspense and stress at this point, therefore the editing style fits in with the story. You will see this below.

Fast and Furious

Below you will see a one minute clip from the film 'Fast and Furious', the fast paced editing begins around 0:25 seconds where we see many different short shots of different parts and angles of the car, for example we see the man accelerating, changing gear, the car moving off, a different angle emphasising the car's speed, the speedometer and so on.

Unlike some films, in this particular clip the editing style doesn't increase tension or stress, instead it is used to emphasise how fast the car is going and rather than being something negative causing the audience to worry for a character, its positive and brings excitement.

However, before all the fast paced editing begins, from 0:00-0:17 in particular the editing style used is quite slow with one pan shot lasting 12 seconds followed by a slow downwards tilt lasting the remaining 5. This sets the scene and time of day as we see night has just passed during the pan, letting us know it is the morning. It is also useful as its an establishing shot, we know the location of it is in the city due to all the buildings and lights we can see.

Editing Styles

Editing is mainly categorised into two parts in terms of speed; fast paced and slow paced.

Fast pace editing: This is where quite short clips are put together lasting no more than around 2 seconds perhaps of different things to give an effect of speed, or to show high action levels for example in a chase scene - it is mostly used in action and thriller movies

Slow paced editing: Here relatively long clips will be used giving the film a more relaxed feel in comparison with fast paced editing, it'll consist of shots that are around 5 or more seconds long, it can be used to portray intimacy between characters or a serious conversation as well as showing any emotions the character might have.


Other types of editing are...

Continuity Editing
This aims to create a sense of reality with time moving forward. It has been nicknamed 'Invisible Editing' because the technique doesn't draw attention to the process of editing.

Jump Cut
This is an abrupt cut in the middle of a continuous shot where the action is very noticeable and advanced in time and/or cut between two similar shots, this is usually done to create an artistic effect of discontinuity

Cross Cutting
This technique either alternates, interweaves, or intersperses a narrative action (scene, sequence or event) with another that's usually in a different location or place, combining the two.
This technique most often suggests parallel action (events simultaneously taking place) which can be used to build dramatic tension, for example in chase scenes

Cutaways
This is a brief shot that momentarily interrupts continuous action by briefly inserting another action related to it, its followed by a cutback to the original shot.

Freeze frame
This is an effect where the frame is temporarily frozen in order for the focus to be on one particular element or event

Eye-Line Match
This type of edit cuts from a character to what it is they've been looking at, it can be compared to a point of view shot

Graphic Match
This is an effect such as a transition where two different objects of the same shape are dissolved into one another

Juxtaposition
This is the placement of two opposed images on either side of either side with contrasting meanings in order to create an effect, this can be done in the editing process as well as placement of objects before they're filmed

Montage
This is a rapid succession of shots that show events moving through time, for example there can be a montage of someone training for a race which would consist of different shots from different times of the person training which would give the overall effect of showing this person has been training over a long period of time.