Final Idea - The last hit

THE LAST HIT

My final decision for the opening sequence I am going to produce, is based on my first idea. For this opening I wanted to portray a unique kind of hitman. A type of killer whose low paid insignificant job as a cleaner contrasts totally with his high profile description as a 'cool' killer. The lack lustre movements of a regular cleaner is remarkably different to his calm and callous demeanour as he prepares his tools to take a person's life.  As the title states 'The last Hit' the opening sequence will finish  and move into the main movie just as he is about to pull the trigger on his target. The audience is aware of  the name of the movie and so they will automatically think of ways his 'hit' would have gone wrong or wonder if it will  be the last hit. These thoughts will keep the suspense and the thrill will allow the audience to get captivated into the movie. 

Shots that will be taken

For the opening I will be using a range of extreme close-ups and mid range shots. The first few seconds will focus on the hitman's day job as a cleaner who works late hours. Then a close-up shot of the clock to depict  that unlike most stereotypical killers who rush into murders, this person has patience and an uneasy kind of quiteness about him.This will make  the audience unable to know what to expect. The next shot will be taken in his home. However, to maintain the suspense and contribute more to the atmosphere, his home will be darkness and an extreme close-up shot will be taken of him putting down his car keys on a table and then pressing the 'replay' button on his answer phone.  The shot that shows the movement of pressing the button is significant ,as if he is waiting for some message in particular. Just like the character, the audience also find themselves waiting ....At this stage the audible words will instruct the killer on his actions.

 

The next shot will be of the person's hand pushing the 'play' button on his radio. At this point the music will start. I will then take an over the shoulder shot of him putting on his black shirt, then another close-up shot will be taken of him tightening his tie.This is a significant shot as it shows his hands in total control as he tightens his tie.The next shot will be him putting on his gloves, this will be a close-up shot. the close-up shot will focus on his hands again , as if he wants to cover up whatever he is planning to do. The following shot will be of him unclipping a brief case. Then a medium range shot will be taken of him taking out a gun, then loading the magazine. Then another extreme close-up shot will be taken of him inserting the magazine into the gun and another shot of his clocking the gun. The next shot will be long range of him leaving his house and shutting the door. However we will then go back to the answering phone as he just receives an update on his target. This is the message that will keep the audience in suspense.

Below are a few fonts that I am considering to use for the opening sequence

 

Title appearance.

Below is a small clip which is of the title of the movie itself. I made the title on Adobe After Effects, because it had the necessary effects that I wanted to create and by using these effects, it would give the correct impression and convey the right atmosphere  to the audience. I used two effects- one to make the words appear and one to make it disappear. The first one I used is called 'Transporter' and this effect makes the letters of each word blur in at different times, which gives an eerie effect.The blur effect would also contribute to the effect of shrouding the whole affair in an air of mystery.The manner in which each letter gets some attention by getting bigger and smaller was also meant to affect the audience in a deep way- as if everything that they were going to see in the movie was significant and relevant. The use of the colour 'Black and White' in the title also causes a flurry of excitement as it contributes to a life and death kind of situation. The font also focussed on the letters being sharp and highly visible at times to cause a sense of seriousness.

Storyboard:

My six part story board provided the spring board from which sprang all my ideas. It helped me to solidify those ideas in my mind .Seeing it on paper helped me to identify the pros  and cons with the intial ideas. Also seeing the sequence of what I was planning to do helped me sort out what ideas I would keep and what I would delete. The ultimate conclusion was drawn after putting all the preliminary thoughts on the storyboard. There is no doubt about the usefulness of a storyboard and the opening sequence of  'The Last Hit' was born on a six part storyboard.

Script:

In the  opening sequence of 'The Last Hit' , the use of script is minimal. This is to heigthen the tension and increase the suspense. I believe that excessive dialogue would give away the plot and keeping the target audience in mind, ( educated and technologically aware), I felt that minimal words would enhance the effect.

The absence of any character saying words would add to the atmosphere of tension. I chose to use the answer phone to say' "Hey it's me, Information has been uploaded to your laptop now. Get the job done!" as the mechnanical device is not capable of evoking any emotion and it ties in with my character who portrays an emotionless personality. The mechanical words are relevant and ripe with a sense of foreboding that suits the thriller genre. The words 'It's me' will also create a sense of expectation in the audience to find out who the owner of the words is. The words 'uploaded to your laptop' is also used to highlight the use of technology in the movie and will persuade the target audience to wait in anticipation for the rest of the movie.

Answer phone: "Hey it's me, Information has been uploaded to your laptop now. Get the job done!"

Shot-List:

-Close up shot of answer phone

-Medium close shot of characters back

-Medium close shot of character's slevees

-Medium range shot of character wearing suit. Straight angle

-Titled medium range shot of characters shadow.

-Medium close, straight shot of character's tie.

-Tilted down, close up shot of hands.

-tilted down, close up shot of laptop.

-Low angle medium range shot of hands.

-High angle, medium close shot of props.

-Medium shot of suit.

-Low angle shot of hands.

-Straight, medium-close shot of hands.

-Birds eye, medium-close shot of gun.

-Birds eye, close-up shot of gun.

-Straight angle, medium range shot of character.

-Medium range shot of character. Also the shot focuses in.

-Long range shot of character moving closer.

Asset-List:

In my opening sequence I have  used  a variety of props and equipment to create the effect of the thriller genre.

Costume: 

     - Black Suit

     - Red Tie

     - Black Trousers

     - Black t-shirt

     - Leather gloves

Props:

     - Old mobile phone with battery and SIM

     - Credit Card

     - Gun with magazine

     - Laptop

     - Open hard-drive

     - Card reader

     - Folder disguised as case

     - Table light

     - CD case

     - DVD Player

Equipment:

     - Video Camera

     - Camera stand

     - Computer

Production Schedule:

Production Log:

I was able to complete all the filming necessary for the opening sequence in one day after I made sure that all the equipment and props I needed were ready. One factor that contributed to completing the shooting in one day was the fact that the settings and locations used was within reach and easily manageable.Once the location and equipment was ready, I managed to complete the entire filming in under 2 hours. I did not take many takes so that the final piece looked raw and sort of unpolished to suit the thriller genre. I was pleased that due to planning meticulously, everything went according to plan and I only had to retake the final scene where the main character is walking through the corridor. I had to wait till it turned dark outside to achieve the dark and eerie ambience. The first parts of my filming was done in one room and was all based in one corner around a table with one small table light on it. I was amazed to note what a little space, some ideas , a bit of imagination and a good video recorder could do!

Film Opening Initial Ideas

Idea 1

 

As I was looking around for ideas for my thriller genre, I became influenced by movies such as 'The Transporter' and 'Hitman' . In these movies the characters were  highly trained  organized crime hitmen. The movies focussed on how these men only did 'killing' for a living. This is where I wanted to be different, create a killer with a difference.In my own opening I wanted  to portray an average   working man  , someone on the lower strata of the society,  for example a cleaner,  who transforms  as private hitman and is extremely organized in his killings. In the opening sequence, I am planing to show a very short scene of a man cleaning the floor of a small business. However when he comes home he recives a call informing him of his next hit. The opening will show short clips of the main character getting ready. Scenes such as him putting on his suit, tie and gloves at extreme close-up shots and then finally him assembling his gun. There is a sense of deja -vu this time as the hitman doesn't get away with his killing but the audience will have to decide that. The main character will be wearing the stereotypical costume of a hitman, such as leather gloves, black suit, a clean pistol with a silencer etc. For the opening I will be using opera/orchestra music to show the state of mind the hitman is in. It will show him as calm and organized and also perhaps reflect his high standard of living and his taste for the finer things in life.

Idea 2

This idea will also be based as a thriller. Unlike most crime movies which focuses on catching a killer, this film will be taking on the point of view from the killer. The killer will take on two different lives, one at work where he if your average workman with normal work related problems however at night he is completely different. We see him portray himself, his personality shows his enjoyment and precision in his killings. He will be portrayed as a sadistic sociopath. I have been influenced regarding this idea from the tv series 'Dexter'. In my opening sequence I will  use film clips of my main character cleaning up after he has killed a person. There will be a few shots of him cleaning his equipment in water. I believe that by showing him doing this  will highlight the state of mind the killer is in. He is calm and organized. Extreme close up shots will be taken of his hands in surgical gloves as he is carefully cleaning each piece of equipment.I am quite interested in the idea about how hand movements say a lot about a particular person. Shaky movements show a nervous person while  steady and sharp hand movements portray a confident and collected person. I hope to use these ideas in my opening sequence.

Dexter, opening link.

http://www.artofthetitle2.com/media/tv/2006/dexter/dexter_480p.mov

Preliminary Task- Room Dialogue

"For this task we had to film an actor walking through a door and having a few lines of dialogue between him/her and another character. The idea I came up was to have an armed robbery, where the gunman prepares himself for the robbery .We follow him into the shop and then show the initial robbery.
  
Script

The robber is being followed by the camera and a mock CCTV camera is recording the robber walking into the store, whilst a customer is making a purchase at the store counter.

Clerk: That will be five ninety-nine. please.

The robber walks in the shop looking mysterious and gives a negative impression to the customer and the clerk.

Robber: Get down on the floor.

Robber: Make it fast and no one gets hurt.

Clerk: (sudden and scared reaction) Aaahh

Customer: (sudden and scared reaction) Please don't hurt me.

Storyboard

Shot-List

 Our first shot will be a close-up shot establishing a  shot of the robber putting his hood on from behind. Then we will cut to the shop where the customer is making the transaction with the shop clerk and we will do a pan shot behind the customer. We then cut to the robber walking and again we do a close-up following shot from behind. We cut back to the store and this time the clerk is giving the change back to the customer and we take a close-up over the shoulder shot but this time it is at an angle so we see the hands of both the clerk and customer. We move back to the robber but this time we take a following shot as he opens the door of the store. The final scene is taken as if it is the CCTV camera inside the store so it is a over-head shot.

Final Video 

 

Evaluation

To start off me and my partner (Nick Jacobs) started to gather ideas for the preliminary task keeping in mind the task we had to focus on.After discussing a few ideas, we finally concluded that we would go ahead with the robbery as it had some elements of a thriller.We began to draw out the storyboard which included the shot list to guide us in case we were stuck. We also needed a few actors who would play the roles of the robber, store owner and the victim.Jordan Stearn, Yvonne Godby and Ryan Oakley helped us. We then needed a room, originally we intended to use a classroom and set it up to look like a store however all the classrooms we checked were being used at the time, so we looked around for any other spaces we could use. Eventually we found a stock room to set the scene depicting a  kind of warehouse. The props we used were tights for Jordan's face and a fake gun which was brought by Nick from home. It took us about an hour or so before we managed to get all of the footage we needed, we then packed up and captured the footage on the computer and begin to edit the footage and sequenced it together.To make the tasks efficient, Nick and myself decided to split the work load in half, he took care of the camera angles and filming, and I took care of the editing and effects. Nick also made the soundtrack for the film using Logic Pro as we had some time to spare before deadline. All in all I found this task new and different from other tasks as we had to come up with new ideas and it had to be done in a short period of time. The task allowed me to be creative with what we shot. We did encounter a few obstacles on the way such as finding sets, and having the actors arrive on time but things worked out in the end. Sharing the load also really helped. I also realised the significance of time and how a short shot can take a lot of time.

Anchorman - Movie Opening Remake

For this task we had to choose a film opening to recreate, we had to draw up storyboards, gather actors, find a set, shoot the footage and edit it.

 

Luckily for me   in this opening, the camera angles that were required were not too complicated. The angles we were capturing were taken from a straight point-of-view, it was fairly simple. However the first few shots were the hardest as we had to get close-ups of the belt, the suit and we also had to use focusing techniques. We used a wide variety of shots in our opening sequence such as the racking shot, medium-close-up, extreme-close-up, close-up and medium-long. We were able to gain the angles we needed with great accuracy. A major part that guided us through the filming was the storyboard. Nick and I came to realize that because there were so many different shots we could have easily lost track of what point we were at, it also helped us to figure out the timings, the  camera angles we needed to use. The script was also very useful as the real opening has a lot of lines for the actor. 

London City Scape - Video Editing

 

This is the video I had to produce in Adobe Premier, I used small clips of London provided by my teacher and then with the use of Adobe After Effects I made the Opening and then made a montage of clips on Premier. I used a fading effect for the main song the end. The song was provided to me by my teacher, it is a royalty free piece of music. The montage of clips had a cross dissolve transaction effect on it to make the video flow. On one of the short clips I used a cross dissolve and a placed a large blur on it which was used as a transaction. This provided variety and enhanced its effect.

Media Studies - Movie Opening Analysis

 

Pirates of the Caribbean 3

The opening scene of Pirates of the Caribbean is the continuation of the previous movie. The Opening is a very dramatic scene as it could be showing the death of the most important character in the movie. The Movie consists of many effects and has been edited a lot to emphasise the feelings it is trying to convey. The opening starts with a blurred image of a rope that is used to hang people, this suddenly makes the audience realize that something unexpected will happen. The camera then moves onto panning the large army to show the scale of the problem. The selection of music also emphasizes the dire situation and adds to the suspense.

American Psycho

'American Psycho' opens with the credit sequence, the music begins in the indent, this is very slow, low pitched music, which makes the audience feel apprehensive, and weary and are likely to expect something unfortunate  to happen. We are then introduced to the credits which are displaced in sans-serif font on a white, blank background. The sound effects in the background gives us the impression that something that is not right is currently happening.The credits is very simple, the plain white background and the ordinary font style gives the impression of simplicity and smartness as everything looks very sleek and organized. There is a hint of themes that could be included in the movie as there are drops of 'blood' dripping down from the screen as the text appears. The text appears and disappears very steadily by fading in and out, this effect makes the credits look very casual and calm. The font style is bold and all the letters are  written is capitals giving a vivid sense of dominance to the movie and indicates that the characters and storyline are very masculine and that every thing that will happen in the movie is organized and planned meticulously. The sound at this point begins very quietly and softly and as the blood drops appear on the screen instant sounds are played adding a mysterious and suspicious approach to the credits. As the drops come onto the screen gradually,  the sound becomes more intense. The vivid sounds of the drops suddenly stops and then an instrumental music piece is played. This sound is very fast-paced and high-pitched making it sound tense and builds dramatic tension.

Casino Royale

The editing speed stars slow, establishing the surroundings, and quickens towards the climax of the sequence where 007's identity is revealed. Straight cuts are mainly used throughout creating continuity however some transitions follow bullets that are fired or people as they run out of shot. The music is in sync with the style and sequence as it is quite rocky in style and connotes action and a fast paced narrative. The colors used are mainly primary colors such as green,red,blue and yellow but black and white are also used.The black and red are quite frequent and this is typical of a thriller as they predict danger.The props are also typical of a thriller and include things such as guns,knives and playing cards. Guns in particular connote crime and murder, again establishing narrative.The costume is very smart and sophisticated such as expensive suits and by using this it creates an image or a stereo type of what a  well paid spy would look like. The effects used are mainly animation, using block colors to create silhouettes of people fighting and of the protagonist to hide his identity. This also establishes the narrative as  naturally secretive and mysterious. 

Every Picture Tells a Story...

THIS was the first PROJECT assigned to me. I had to TAKE six pictures to EXPLAIN a story. The PICTURES above are take from different ANGLES and from DIFFERENT distances.Each shot depicts a part of the story . The expression on the face says a lot. The distance between the two characters denotes a sense of mounting tension. As the distance between the characters close, the tension also increases.This shows the significance of each shot and the relevance it has to the overall plot.

Trainspotting Clip

This CLIP is the opening SCENE from TRAINSPOTTING. This was the CLIP that is LINKED to my MOODboard.. The pace of actions in  this clip is quite rushed as it shows there is a sense of urgency. The colours used denote a sense of doom and gloom, the rather yellowish, faded and brownish tinges and shades could foretell negative and untoward events. The music also creates a rather uneasy atmosphere in which unexpected turns and situations could crop up. The absence of any dialogue contributes to the existing sense of dismay. The audience feel a sort of impending doom as they watch the opening clip.

Trainspotting Mood Board

THIS mood board is to show the feelings THAT have BEEN portrayed in 'TRAINSPOTTING'. The THEME of this MOOD board is ADDICTION. Addiction is a common theme that runs throughout the entire MOVIE. DRUG ABUSE is the main point that LEAD the characters to make wrong decisions.

Obed Thomas - AS Media Studies