RESEARCH: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Today we watched the opening of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher,2011.) This is a dark and disturbing opening which portrays key thriller codes.

The opening of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo uses images that are dark and disturbing. For example images of bottomless dark water flowing which connote frightening ideas of drowning. Mixed in with this you have a range of images of the human body; for instance a body that is lying prone which has a metal collar with spikes on it, something that a dog may have. This is year again a disturbing image. The water that flows over this body is nightmarish as it is as if someone is being drowned.

Along with these images there is also a computer keyboard which is an important visual code for this film as it signals the genre and plot. We instantly know this story is going to involve someone who works with computers. In one sequence water gushes out of the mouth of a female figure as if she were vomiting which is a revolting and sickening image. Many of the images are of knotted and twisted forms whether they're human limbs or computer cables. The use of them being twisted is what the film is about. They are tangled in a web which is a metaphor for the story which is a mess although we see it untangle throughout the film.

There is an equally freighting image introduced of fire, which is almost as if someone is being set alight. Which warns the audience that something dangerous is going to happen. We then realise that out suspicion of the body being set alight to, are true as we see the charred remains of the human body. The eyeless skeleton stares into the eyes of the viewer which draws them in to find out what has happened here. We see a creature trying to escape from the flames suggesting that the flames are trying to capture someone in it's heat. This suggests that there is someone so innocent trying to escape from something so violent.

It is clear that if there are sexual relations in the film that they are clearly going to be dark and violent. As we see someone punching a women's face. The fact that they are not wearing clothes suggests that it is a sexual relationship. However the dark themes and images in the opening suggests it will not be romantic yet horrific and frightening as we are in the world of the thriller. 

The opening includes a female face being gagged and blindfolded, as if we are witnessing a glimpse into someone's nightmare world. We see an image of people going to kiss but even this isn't allowed as we see a variety of rapid cuts and the tempo increases with the audiences heart rate. The rapid cuts suggest the restless nightmare that the person is having. Even during this kiss there are images of death. The final part of the opening, which indicates it is something to do with computers is the way that the figures are all computer generated as if they aren't real.

The music includes screams in it suggesting it is clearly a troubled world that the girl lives in which is typical in a thriller film.

RESEARCH: QUANTUM OF SOLICE

I chose this one as everything flows together really well. At the beginning we see Daniel Craig emerge onto the screen with some sort of spot light on him. This instantly tells us who the main character is. We then get the name of him on the screen and then he shoots a bullet. We follow this bullet as it flies through the air, whilst it does this we see various different names come on screen. We end up going back to Daniel Craig as the camera follows him as he is pointing his gun. We follow him as he ends up as a naked female in a sexual position. This opening sequence pretty much sums up what James Bond is about. With the fighting scenes and the scenes that involve women. What I also like is how it is not a real person how ever he has been made on the computer. Everything seems to flow really smoothly and all connects with each other and the character of James Bond. The music at the beginning is the James Bond theme tune but then goes into a woman sining. The words mention 'dying' which is also a main aspect of the James Bond movie. The colours are all the same. There are the same orange and blueish green colours. This shows us that it is quite a dark movie and that it is a action movie as something bad possibly happens according to the colour scheme. 

RESEARCH: JUNO

I looked at the opening sequence for Juno (2007). I really liked this sequence as we follow her as she is walking through the town that she lives in. At first we see her walking as a person with a huge cartoon of orange juice. Suddenly the music gets faster and she walks into a cartoon world. We see her walking through the town as we go past names of people involved with the production of Juno. The fact that she is carrying orange juice is relevant as in the film you constantly see her walking around drinking her carton of orange juice. I also like the sequence as it has a almost funny, upbeat song being played which goes with the whole carton aspect of the film. Because she is a cartoon this also grabs attention as it is different to how most opening sequences would be shown. I think that the fact she is a carton fits into what the film is about. Because it is about a young girl getting pregnant in my opinion it is trying to emphasise how young this girl really is and how she is still only a child. At the end of the sequence she comes out of her cartoon world and back to reality as the movie begins. 

The music is an important part of the sequence as the lyrics of the song sings things like 'sweet honey bee' which tells us what the genre is in a way. It is obviously not some sort of thriller as these are happy songs. I could use the idea of walking through the town where the film is set and there are all the names of the people and directors of the film. The colours are bright and stand out. This also suggests that is a happy film and nothing bad goes on. 

RESEARCH: THRILLER CODES AND CONVENTIONS

Today I researched thriller codes and conventions to find out what made the thriller genre so successful. I decided to collate my findings on a Scoop It which can be seen here.

RESEARCH: DELICATESSEN

Delicatessen (1991) is a French film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Mac Caro.

Today I began my research on The Art Of The Title. The first sequence that I watched was Delicatessen. This film is a Black Comedy which means that it is meant to be slightly scary humor. This video is extremely useful to me as it shows me how professionals have made their opening sequence and gives me inspiration for mine. The reason that this is an excellent opening sequence is because of the way the camera glides over all the objects. This is useful as it gives the audience an idea of the mise en scene. The objects that are being shown obviously have something to do with the film. Another reason that the opening sequence is successful is because of the titles embedded in the old technologies and props. For example the photographers name has been edited to be placed into the camera. This is successful as it shows the audience why that persons name is being mentioned. This is also done with the person that did costumes as their name is sewn into an old label. This is used for the same reason: for the audience to see what their job is. A further reason for the opening sequence being a success is because we know that we are obviously somewhere dark, muggy and dirty as all of these objects are covered in dust. This also shows the audience that these objects must be old and we are somewhere that is normally used; an attic for example. The final reason that Delicatessen is useful is because the music flows with the objects that are being shown as the camera glides over them. It flows very well however is slightly upbeat to show that there is tension, suspense and enigma. This shows the audience that as everything is dirty it is not obvious the outcome of the film.

Once we learned about this opening sequence and the way the camera glides over all these different objects we decided to make an opening sequence with this idea in mind. We all bought in props to use which were something that looked or was Vietnamese. We bought in different things such as bowls, chopsticks, kimonos and old newspapers so that it looked authentic. We then glided our camera over these objects by hand to get the effect that Delicatessen does. We named our project Cherie because that was the name of the girl in it who is French living in Vietnam. This can be seen here. I  learnt from filming this piece of work that the filming must be up to standard for example we filmed too quickly so we didn't get the richness that we could have done. We also learnt about what titles to use for our opening sequence and the spacing. We had to make sure that we put the titles in a relevant space rather than just throwing them onto the page. I learnt that we must take this into account when filming rather than leaving it last minute, at the editing. 

RESEARCH: THE ART OF THE TITLE

Today I began research of different film openings. The main place that I decided to research was The Art Of The Title. This has hundreds of film openings that can give me inspiration for my film opening. This is my main research to give me ideas and to see how professionals in the business do it. We watched a video named A Brief History Of Title Design. This was a video with many different snippets of opening sequences from The Art Of The Title. This can be seen here.

• One of the videos on here that I liked was the Sherlock Holmes (2009, Guy Ritchie) one. 
• The genre of the film is a crime mystery film.
• I liked this because of the colours that they used as they set the scene. There were sepia tones which are old fashioned. This sets the mise en scene. 
• I also like it as the drawing of the characters are meant to look extremely real. I like the idea of this as if they are drawn people but it looks incredibly real. 
• I could do this in my opening sequence as it makes the whole sequence flow better as the drawing people turn real.

• Another one of the snippets that I liked was Juno (2007 Jason Reitman). 
• The genre of the film is a rom-com. 
• Another reason that I like this is because she is yet again a real person walking in a cartoon world. This is successful as it instantly appeals to the target audience of young people. 
• It is colourful with bright colours such as blue and yellow. 
• The whole area is cartoon like which goes with the style of the titles as they are quite large, cartoon like and young looking. 
• The bright colours and use of cartoon style would appeal to the target audience as it looks fun.

• A third part that I liked the idea of was Saturday Night Fever (1977, John Badham). 
• The genre of the film is drama and music. 
• I liked the way that they used John Travoltas face. This is because he is well known and people like him. If they see that he is almost the face of this film it will encourage people to watch it. This film could appeal to a certain target market: people who are fans of Travolata. 
• The reason that I also like this is because the words of the title itself are fun just like the colour and style of the writing as it is glowing, pink and slightly flowing which goes with the whole disco theme of the film. 
• I also like how the camera pans onto his shoes as the titles walk with him. We get straight into the film as we are tracking him with the title.

• I also liked the look of the Se7en (1995, David Fincher) opening sequence.
• This is an American thriller film. 
•  I like this becuase they are trying to be unique and incorporate the 7 into the title. This would appeal to people as it is unique and original rather than a classic Seven.
• The background is dark, black which demonstrates the genre of the film: thriller.
•  The writing used is white to contrast with the dark background. 
• The font of the title is very different as it is not just block capitals that are bold and filled in. They have some blank gaps where the white colour is missing. 

• A final sequence that I liked the look of from this video was the Series of Unfortunate Events (2004, Brad Silberling.) 
• The genre if this film is action, adventure and it is a family film.
• This is because it is yet again one that looks cartoon like however these cartoon looks exactly like the actors. 
• There are also lots of different shapes in the sequence, which look slightly distorted and aren't neat. This could suggest that the film is not what it seems which is just like the title: unfortunate. 
• All the different, tiny shapes and images used in the opening sequence such as the air balloon with the eye on it are very abstract and are slightly strange. 
• I also like this because it suggests a strange, yet fun, story. 

• In conclusion I have seen lots of different sequences using two different effects on their opening sequences such as the idea of having a fake background and the people are themselves. This appeals to people as it is not just the typical people but there are effects which audiences like. 
• I also have found out that the titles are extremely important. They say so much about the film and the world of the film: the classify the genre and can set the mise en scene. 

RESEARCH: WATCHING OTHER STUDENTS FILM OPENINGS

I firstly decided to look at my own schools projects. I began with Titans Hammer. This was a mockumentary so not of the same genre that I would want to do. However they did use different editing techniques and also had different camera angles such as close up shots and mid shots, there is also craine shots. I then watched Banshee. The film had a lot of mystery and enigma as the film was quite dark and had very cold colours to it.  You saw someone swinging on a swing however you do not find out who it is. This draws the people in to found out what is going on. After this I watched Wotch. You could tell this was a thriller instantly due to the music that creates suspense. They had lots of different camera angles of the same thing which was a great effect to add. There was over the shoulder shots and tracking shots which follows the action. After this I decided to look at other schools. I started to watch Hurtwood House as I knew this was a good school for media. I firstly watched Year of the Serpent. It had very good camera angles even from the beginning as we watches someone hand doing different things. There was also a tilt shot which creates suspense to show what someone was doing to another person. The music went really well as it created enigma and mystery as to what was going on. The editing was good as we could see the titles clearly as they were whit on the black. However when the name came up on the screen it was very plain which is something I would've improved. Finally I watched Equinox. Suspense was created instantly with great camera shots as the camera focuses and then unfocused. We didn't see any people until 30 seconds in where before we had been looking at objects to set the scene. They had diegetic and non diegetic sound for example the radio beeping was diegetic and the music was non diegetic. There was different shots such as when the man moves into the camera. The story is very unclear which really creates enigma.