Media Studies Blog 2009-11

The titles that come up first is “Universal Pictures and Studio Canal present” “A working title production” “In assocciation with DNA films” This starts of with happy music the happy music tells the audience that it is going to be a happy film and it also shows people hugging this shows the plot “LOVE”  and it also tells us it is not going to be a horror. The quote that is in this when this happy scene has finished is “Love Actualy is all around” Then the film title is shown- “LOVE ACTUALY”.

The first scene opens and starts with a man singing a song about love “All you need is love” Then a wide shot. Then the actors in the movies names are shown while this scene is in motion. This doesn’t happen on all films as I found out watching “The ring” The camera moves all around the singer it pans. There are not many camera movements in this.

This is a Romantic Comedy.

This film starts with the paramount pictures logo which is a mountain with little stars in a circle with paramount pictures in the middle. it then says paramount pictures presents a lucasfilm  LTD production-a steven spielberg film. The film right from the begginning had music which is the main theme from all the indiana jones films. The tune is repeated quite alot through the film which then becomes a motif through out the film(s).

The film starts with a panning camera down the screen from the top of the screen moving to the bottom of the ground focusing on the boys (scouts) on the horses riding along there is a full shot of the boys on the horses so you can get the surroundings of the mountains etc. then it focus’s on the two boys climbing the cliff. There is then an over the shoulder shot which then moves to a point of view shot so we a the audience can see what the to boy are looking at. There is a close up of the boys face (young indiana jones) so you can see his facial expressions. there is then a two shot of the boys talking so you can see both there facial expressions and what there both thinking. there is a hand held camera used so you can see that there is panick and stress when young indiana jones is getting chased. there is a tracking shot of the boy on the horse and this follows him the whole way round on the chase. whilst this is happening there is up beat music playing which matchs the actions as there all sudden and upbeat. A dolly has been used when they are following the train and actors ll jump on to train and climb along the top and the side of the train.

There is a montage shot of the mountains in the opening section. this shows the different images of the mountains/cliffs and the scale of them, there is also a montage of the boys on the horses. When the music is playing it is turned down so you can hear the dialogue over the top of the music however the music is still dominating the scene. there has been a cutaway from the boy running from the train to the house. At the very end of the sequence there is a cut where the man puts the hat on young indiana jones head then he looks down and when he looks back up it is now grown up indiana jones (Harrison Ford). This has just been a flash back of indiana jones remembering something which he had been told that day and was now using it against them when he’s older.  The scenery round him has also changed as when he looked down he was in a house then when he looked up he’s now on a ship. there is also a change in the weather as when hes younger its very sunny it almost looks like they live in a desert and when he’s older its raining very heavily.

i think this is one of the best opening of a film i have seen as it keeps your interest as you want to find out what happens and it is very cleverly done with all the cuts and edits especially the one at the end with the hat as you dont expect it.

P.S. I Love You starts with the logo Summit Entertainment, then moves to the Alcon entertainment logo which is a man shooting an arrow. This film is in association with Grovesnor park films LLP.  The film starts with a soundtrack. ( The song which is played at the begginning is then used throughout the film as a motif).  You can tell that this film is a romantic comedy as the music used is a love song, and mentions the word “love” quite alot. The actions used also the facial expressions used in the opening scene are very romantic and the way they react and act with each other at the end of the scene shows that the married couple are in love.

The film has quite a quick start and this is representated in the up beat music. In the start of the film there is only the two main characters, this establishs the relationship between the two characters. there are other characters mentioned in the opening but you do not see them. The film opens with an establishing shot of the street that the two characers walk along. Then moves down so you can focus on the main two people in the film (Gerrard Butler-gerry, Hillary Swank-Holly). There is quite a few close ups used in the opening scene so you can see there facial expressions. There is quite alot of movement with the camera at the beggining exspecailly when there walking up the stairs, when they walk up the stairs it is almost like a hand held camera has been used.

During the opening scene there is a main song which is used as a motif then when they walk across the road natural sounds have been added which is then followed by them talking but all the sounds are going on together they have jsut been added over the top of ach other. i felt that this was a good opening to a film as it wasnt to long (maximum of 15 minutes). The opening also kept your interested there with the upbeat music and the fast pace of the story line which goes along with the storyline. so i feel that this is a good opening.

As a group we made many mistakes on this exercise, however, this helped us learn more about the filming process and what to do next time. Our first biggest mistake was not filming enough material, therefore, when editing we were left with a shortage of footage to use in our film, resulting in poor quality for the final product. Our planning before filming was good, however, we did not take into concideration many different aspects such as sound, costume and the white balance. We planned by using storyboards and mind maps. As we forgot to check the sound levels this meant that it was set on automatic, when we should have changed it to manual, this resulting in our preliminary excerise being far too loud. We had to film again due to costume changes – we had not planned what the actors were wearing on days of filming to ensure the continuity stayed the same, this meaning we had to film it all again in one session. We also began filming far too early as the starting sentences of the dialogue were missed out, other members of the group suggested next time doing a marker, which would also check the white balance and helps us search through our footage and know what is what.

As for our actual editing and shots, it was very slow, not quick enough changes between shots, this meaning it didn’t flow as well as it should have done. Our first shot at the beginning is of Laura walking into the shot, this worked well, however, we should have concidered using different angles during that shot, making the flow of the film quicker.