Shot by Shot Remake - The Killers

By the use of our storyboards drawn up in the previous lesson, we were able to create a remake of the opening scene of The Killers. In a short amount of  time we had to find a location which resembled the one in the movie (Cafe in Chapel Market).

Everyone in the group had a chance to operate the camera and direct each other,This way we were able to see who was better at what and be able to play to these strengths and weaknesses when it came to making our own thriller opening. We used the camera on and off the camera but we used the tripod more as it was easy to handle and our shots came out better. We brought in props that resembled the ones that were actually in The Killers opening , so our remake reflected the actual film as much as possible.

BEHIND THE SCENES SHOTS

FINAL PRODUCT - THE KILLERS REMAKE

After filming, we edited it using Final Cut Pro. We already knew how to edit because we'd been taught in previous lessons so this task was not very difficult as we had a good understanding of how to use the software and programmes. We were successful in putting the shots together to make a final piece and the majority of the shots in the video and the final video matched that of the Killers which is good, although, when we watched it back we saw that we had made a couple of mistakes, which could've easily been changed if we had more time. 

Shot by shot remake - Planning & Preparation

These are the photos of our storyboard.

Propp list:
-Book
-Drink

Location details:
The location of the story would be in a cafe near the college.

Cast/Crew:
Alan
Attilla
Dion
Joyce

Introduction to Cameras

BIG CLOSE UP

This is an example of a big close up - In the photo, included are his facial features (eyes, mouth nose, eyebrows), excluding the top of his head and chin.

WIDE SHOT

 This is a wide shot but we made a mistake of putting a person in the shot instead of just taking a picture of the area.

RULE OF THIRDS

This is a rule of thirds shot as we can see the persons head is at the top third of the picture. Also we decided to put the person on the left side of the frame which means that we are getting ready to get someone else in the frame. The right photo is a bad example of rule of thirds and there is a lot of unnecessary spaces and we cant see the bottom half of the persons body.

Worms eye view 

 These are two different types of examples of a worms eye view to show the feet of the person.

Over the shoulder

 This is a over the shoulder shot. This photo is not as clear as it should be as we cannot see the shoulder of the person clearly.

 Window Shot

This is a window shot of the person in the photo. The lighting is not as bright as the weather was not as sunny today.

RESEARCH - Conventions of Film Openings

From watching thriller openings we drew up a list on the conventions of film openings, this is what was included:

• Provides teasers to the story
• Special/Sound effects
• The sound is scary, atmospheric, eerie, builds tension, mysterious.
• The openings had titles (Title sequence) - Included the names of: the Director, Main cast (stars), Name of the film, Rest of cast - There was an order to which the names came in (Hierarchy)
• Film opening can give an insight to the characters, location and narrative
• There is sometimes dialogue, which could also provide teasers.
• Producers identification ( production company/producer)
• Sense of mood 

Below is an example of one of the conventions of film openings, Titles, and in this film (Enemy of state) the name of the film was first and then the two main stars of the film came after in large font, and then other cast members in smaller font.

This is a clip of the opening of the film Enemy of State. Through screen grabs I have already shown how this film opening follows one of the conventions of film openings. this clip shows that it follows majority of the conventions listed above for example, the are special and sound effects throughout the opening, the the titles didn't only include  the cast but the crew also, like the casting directer and producers. The sound  used was mysterious and builds tension, very orchestral with heavy use of violins.

Research - conventions of a thriller

The 4 main conventions of a thriller is Teasers, special effects, sound and titles

Teasers

Teasers are most at the start of a thriller film for example in the thriller se7en, it gives the audience  a clue of what the story is about.By doing this it hooks the audience towards the film more and makes them wanna watch more of the film. 

Editing

Editing makes the audience a little shock and gives more tension in the thriller. In most thrillers, they put in special effects to make the thriller more interesting and intense. Also by doing this, this makes the audience understand if the thriller would have alot of tension in it or not. Another reason why editing is very important is that it makes the audience feel really scared which is what the producers are targeting.

Sound

In most thrillers the sound usually builds up tension as you watch the opening. But some thrillers, it goes straight to a really scary sound. This helps the audience know what the atmosphere of the thriller is and how it is going to be.

Titles

The titles are always in the opening of a thriller so it could represent the directors and cast that are in the film. Also at the very start of the film, there is always a producer's identification so it makes the audience know who made the film and show to the audience's that they made the film. This is done so that they could be more successful and have more audience's watching their films.

This image is from the film SE7EN, this gives us teasers as we have no idea what the code means or if it would be linked to the movie.

In this movie (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) opening, there is non-diegetic sound which has a very high pace beat. By doing this, it makes the audience understand which type of genre it is and if the film would be scary or not. Also, in this opening there are also teasers, these are used to give a hint to the audience what the movie is about even further. The teaser that they show is aggressiveness and it seems like there is ink stuck onto somebody and they are trying to get out of it. Another Convention that this opening have is editing, editing is used in this opening to give the audience a better effect and to entertain them more. For example all the ink that is splashing around. This helps the audience want to watch more of the film. Finally the last convention that this opening have are titles. At the start of the opening we see Columbia pictures and Metro-GoldWYN-Mayer pictures, the company are always at the start to show that they are at the top and that they have made this movie. The titles also represents the directors which comes up during the whole of the opening.

RESEARCH - Convention of film openings

What are the conventions of film openings? 

The conventions of film openings for thrillers are:

• There will be a sense of mood
• The teasers to the story, this is called a hook
• There will be special effects and/or sound effects 
• Sound will be included. This will be to make it scary, atmospheric, eerie. The sound will also build up tension
• The titles. They mostly go in this order; producers ident, directors, stars, name of the film, rest of the cast. The order could change slightly between the stars and the directors. It just depends on who is more famous
• There could be an insight to the characters. this could possibly show the location of the film or the main place in the film and there could also be some narrative but it would not give away the film.  

This what it would look like. A little hook of the film with the tiles.
Sometimes, it could be just the hook and then the title or it could be
the title and then the title.

RESEARCH: Conventions of Film Openings

          Having watched some film openings in class, I noticed the three conventions which all openings had in common which was sound. The sounds in the opening were not necessarily scary though they gave the scene an intense atmosphere. Dialogue also was used in one opening as well as the sounds. By using dialogue the audience is getting an insight of what the story line is. There are teasers in the film opening .g. a shot of someone's image being scribbled on. Although you see those kind of shots in the film hardly anything is actually given away. The titles of the film  come in different structure some are presented with a black background continuing with the horror theme and some are present like any other ordinary film. On some films and the first title displayed is the production companies IDENT, this is to increase the companies popularity then comes the actors names in order of popularity.