Final Product - AS Opening Sequence 'Premonition'

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When looking back on my preliminary task it becomes startlingly obvious that my personal ability and skill in film-making has improved vastly over the duration of the AS Media Studies course. The quality of filming itself lacked steadiness, each shot was badly framed and 'wobbling' - this was counteracted in my later work as we used equipment such as a Tripod and FigRig which steadied and straightened our shots where needed.

In the preliminary task no real consideration to mise-en-scene took place. Costume, lighting, make up and setting wasn't thought about - we wore the clothes we happened to be wearing, used the natural lighting through the windows and filmed wherever was free at the time! After the careful construction of mise-en-scene in 'Premonition', I can now see how lack of consideration hinders audience understanding of the film - for example, the fact that Kayleigh who portrays the teacher character is wearing similar clothes to my own although I'm portraying a student character makes the storyline and characters hard to understand when watching the sequence.

We also didn't use any soundtrack in our preliminary task (only diegetic dialogue), at the time it didn't really seem relevant but after studying film further it is clear that soundtrack helps the flow of a film as well as understanding of the film's events. Even adding diegetic sounds for everyday objects such as the toaster sound in 'Premonition' enhances audience understanding and continuity/realism greatly.

Most importantly, my grasp on continuity editing has made a much needed improvement, both in filming the correct shots to create the effect of continuous flowing film and editing these shots in such a way that enhances this. Simple techniques such as match on action have been mastered to a greater level in my opening sequence for 'Premonition' - for example when Damien picks up and opens the red box (filming and editing that particular sequence took the longest but is the most effective example of continuity editing in the whole film). In my preliminary task we tried to master 'Match on Action' with a sequence of throwing paper in a bin, although this appeared to be effective at the time now with much more informed and intelligent hindsight it it clear that our editing of the shots wasn't precise enough and there is a significant 'jump' between the scenes which hinders the 'flow' of the film and is unrealistic.

What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the construction of our film we have used various different technologies to ensure the outcome was as we had originally desired and we achieved the best possible.

When filming we used cameras, as I had done media last year I was already familiar with the layout of a video camera but as they had been updated this type used a memory card not a tape reel. So we learned how to use the memory card, to film in sequence and to steady our shots on the camera. During this time, we also used a tripod which had been familiar with before to help us in steadying our shots and a fig rig, a large wheel construction in which the camera is placed in the middle, effective for tracking shots. We hadn't used a fig rig before so it took some time for us to learn how to steady our shots using a fig rig and how to handle it effectively. We used it for our starting shot which depicts walking along leaves from the point of view of a person, after several shots we did manage to work the rig to our favour after practice.

In editing process we used three different programs to perfect our opening sequence. Firstly, we used iMovie to edit clips, insert transitions etc, I had used the program before but I did learn how to cut clips more efficiently and use the effects available to my advantage. Some of our group weren't as acquainted with iMovie so the members of our group that were helped them to fully understand the program to the standard we do and edit effectively. When finished, I composed a soundtrack for the sequence on GarageBand, I hadn't really used the program before so learning how to use it was new to me and I asked a friend from outside of my media class to help me understand how to use it to a more advanced standard before composing a track and importing it into our movie. However, when the film was what we considered complete our audience feedback made it clear that the soundtrack wasn't really right for 'Premonition' - to quote some feedback 'The music was far too much of a juxtaposition and hindered my understanding of the film.' Following this feedback, we decided to use a mixture of different sound clips to create a modified soundtrack. We used LiveType, a software that enabled us to add professional looking titles to our movie. This proved the most difficult technology to master over the duration of our time constructing our opening sequence, we had trouble placing the titles and timing them correctly to look effective with our sequence. Eventually, we sought help from another source who taught us how to use the software properly, it was still tough to master but eventually we did manage to create the professional and interesting titles we were aiming for. Lastly, we used Final Cut (as I am seen using in the image below) to put our iMovie files and LiveType files together, creating our end product of moving image, editing, sound and titles.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We addressed our audience firstly through casting, we chose a young person to play the part of Damien so the target audience would find him easy to relate to and empathise with as he'd have relevance to themselves through age.

We also used influences from other popular thriller genre productions such as 'Dexter' and 'Memento' which the audience would recognise and connect with and enjoy.

As a group, when filming we put a lot of effort into creating an interesting synopsis and mostly an interesting storyboard to ensure our end product was unique, edgy and contemporary. Thus, appealing to our niche target market.

The video below is a commentary by myself and group members which helps to explain the more technical aspects of the film and how we used them in order to attract our audience.

We also got audience feedback via social networking site Facebook. This has been noted as a hobby of our target demographic, therefore we considered this an extremely effective way to address our audience and gain feedback which would help us to improve our film...

It became clear that understanding of the storyline was an issue following these comments, we counteracted this by later adding effects to the opening dream sequence.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our audience would fit the 15-24 year old, young adult age bracket.

During casting we chose an actor who fitted the age group himself in order to allow the target audience to relate and empathise with the character on a more relative level than with a character older or younger than themselves.

The idealistic type of character for our audience would be students, people who work hard but like to have fun too and intelligent so as to understand the intelligent nature of 'Premonition' and Damien (the main character). Our audience would listen to alternative, 'indie' bands such as 'Crystal Castles' and 'Two Door Cinema Club' which have a more niche market than what is considered 'mainstream' music (for example, Rihanna). They may also listen to 'harder' niche market music such as 'Lamb of God', this is because the film itself is aimed at a smaller market and with its low budget could be considered an 'indie' film production - although produced by a relatively well established institution. The key demographic would consist of the type of people who shopped in independent stores for clothing, opting for more vintage styles (perhaps charity shops or purely vintage shops which sell individual pieces - such as those which are particularly common around Camden Market, London). Although, they may also indulge in more high street fashions such as Topshop. These people would probably play fantasy based video games such as 'Legend of Zelda' and perhaps even 'The Sims' as these both contain a similar element of surrealism to 'Premonition' (although, in terms of 'The Sims' this is dependant on the gamer themselves modifying the game to become surrealistic as it can be played with extensive realism). The ideal audience would use blogging sites such as 'Tumblr.com' which is based around fashion and indie culture as well as websites like 'Facebook' to connect with friends (which is typical of the age group) and perhaps MySpace.com which provides excellent access to unknown, unsigned or 'indie' label music artists - which would be of key interest to our demographic.

The person themselves would probably be moderately affluent, with a weekend job alongside their studies in order to afford music, fashion and going to the cinema in particular (hardworking!!!). Would probably aspire to be involved in the music/film/fashion business themselves and take a keen interest in these areas of media, they'd be intelligent and outspoken - would perhaps study to become a journalist.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A film company such as Vertigo Films would be the best to produce and distribute our film, Premonition. As ours is a British production it would fit well with Vertigo's distribution of purely British and classic British based films (such as 'The Firm', 'the Football Factory' and 'the Business').

Vertigo have also produced and distributed similar thriller films in the past, which is well suited to our film as 'Premonition' is a psychological-thriller involving some elements of romance. Some of the thriller films produced/distributed by Vertigo include 'Shrooms', 'Outcast' and 'The Children', each of the films are alternative, contemporary, edgy and slightly different from the 'classic' thriller film setup (a classic thriller film example, 'The Sixth Sense', eerie realism based around the supernatural/ghosts - very different from Shrooms which is very contemporary in using modern drug culture as a basis for a thriller genre movie). This further matches the style of our film as we tried to make Premonition new, interesting and outstanding amongst other films with a modern twist that isn't shown in many films in this genre.

As well as this, 'Premonition' would be a lower budget production which is a stance often adopted by 'Vertigo Films'. In our group during planning stages we decided that as a feature length film, we would have liked 'Premonitition' to be one of excellent artistic flair and intelligence, using our own initiative in cinematography, mise-en-scene and sound to create surrealism with less focus on 'special effects' editing which is evident in 'Hollywood' high-budget productions. Therefore, an institution such as 'MGM' or '20th Century Fox' would have been unsuitable to 'Premonition', but Vertigo is a perfect choice.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The only character seen by the audience in our opening sequence is Damien.

Our choices for Damien were to represent the hard-working, skilled, young man. He would have been to university, studied hard and got to be in a high standard job. We represent this mainly using costume, Damien is seen in a suit during the forest/dream scene, suggesting this is what he is used to wearing - hence why he wears it in his dreams and also when he gets ready for work in the following scene. A suit usually depicts smartness, in high ranked jobs men are often required to wear a suit or for special occasions, so the costume depicts our character well. We achieved this through casting by using an easily recognisable character similar

to most men of around the 15-24 age bracket. Slim build, short hair, average height and white as it is stereotyped in television and film that most men in these types of jobs are caucasian although this isn't necessarily true of the real world.

However, we do present the main male character in the first forest scene alike a victim of surrealism against the supernatural powers that are inferred by the mise-en-scene of the symbol, tilted camera angles/movement, and choices of soundtrack, this convention of a character is usually depicted by a woman in media productions, therefore we challenge the typical gender stereotype. Although, later in the opening sequence the character does convert into a typical male character heroic and dominant. During planning, as a group we decided to portray the character as 'dominant' by creating an air of arrogance about Damien as a character during the 'getting ready' scene - this was depicted through his acting, for example, when he is dressing himself in a flash manner looking in the mirror.

This example of comparing our two film sequences is interesting as we worked to portray Damien as a victim with use of a long shot to emphasise vulnerability which is also portrayed in the classic damsel in distress scene.

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products?

Our product is influenced mainly by two real media products.

The first of these products is 'Dexter', a popular American television drama series about a forensic blood-patternist working for the police who sets about murdering serial killers. The opening sequence for the show influenced our decisions for the house/getting ready scene from our film. Dexter uses a collection of close up shots to show the character performing a routine of somewhat ordinary household tasks before leaving the house (cutting an orange, flossing his teeth, breaking an egg etc), yet producers constructed this to appear sinister with this use of close ups. We replicated this by also using close up shots of everyday occur

rences (toaster, looking in the fridge, buttering toast etc). We also chose to place our titles in this scene, similarly to Dexter. We develop on these conventions by using a male as the dominant, powerful character in the scene which is something very common in the thriller film genre.. However, our inspiration for colour scheme throughout the film (including titles) was from the 2000 thriller film Memento...

The producers of Memento decided to use a blue colour scheme

throughout the movie, this inspired our costume design, props, location and titles. We felt blue was an effective use of colour for our thriller film as it conveys the eerie nature and feelings of our main character in the film.

We challenged typical thriller film stereotypes by using a male as the 'victim' type character in the dream scene (despite him also becoming the dominant hero) unlike Alice (Alice in Wonderland) and most films where this type of 'damsel in distress' character is portrayed by a female. This stereotype is usually only challenged by a 'femme fatale' character depicted in Film Noir genre thrillers in which the woman is depicted as the more dominant. However, we decided to oppose this and use a male victim figure in the scene, although he also acts as the hero. Alike 'Alice in Wonderland' in casting we chose Ryan to play Damien, he has blonde hair, blue eyes and he wears blue in the film, much alike Alice's character, challenged only by gender. In terms of stereotyping, the fair skin/eyes/hair combination is also one which conveys a victim or a 'goodie' character as opposed to dark complexions, hair/skin and eyes being related to the 'baddie. For example, Princess Aurora in 'Sleeping Beauty' is shown to have long blonde hair, pale skin and blue eyes, wearing feminine colours and soft feminine facial features versus the 'bad' character, 'Maleficent' has dark skin, eyes, clothing and sharp, harsh features.

The second of our main inspirational products was Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland'. We based the first (forest) scene from our opening sequence upon this movie. Our aim was to create an essence of surrealism to portray to our audience that the character was in a dream rather than reality. Alice in Wonderland captures this sense of surrealism through use of special effects and graphics as well as lighting sound etc. As we didn't have such access to special-effects equipment etc we made the most of lighting, prop, costume and particularly sound to convey this. The location was a forest, we decided the trees in the forest were helpful as we found many twisted branches to work with and create surrealism. Despite our access to special effects being quite limited, we did the make the most of the resources we did have opting for effects such as blur and colour manipulation during the editing stages of constructing our opening s

equence for 'Premonition'. Our use of sound meant we could use low resonant sounds to create eeriness and build tension as well as hyperbolic forest sounds to further enhance this and remove senses of realism from the scene thus accentuate surrealism.

Script

Our group decided against using dialogue in our opening sequence and therefore we do not have a written script.

We chose not to use diaogue because we felt this would further create surrealism for the audience and allow them to focus on the screenplay and our well composed shots. As well as this, we used soundtrack instead to develop audience understanding and further build surrealism rather then achieving this through character speech. As a group we felt that dialogue was simply unnecessary as there is only one character involved in the opening sequence so there wouldn't be anybody for him to talk to and would overtake our well thought through use of non-diegetic soundtrack and diegetic sound effects (birds, toaster, keys etc...).

However, we did use a form of scripted speech as we did plan a heavy breathing sequence

Working On Our Film

During the production of our opening sequence, our group has spent a lot of our free time as well as time in class to ensure we have perfected our piece to the best of our ability and secure the best possible grade. During filming, we used our class time, free periods and the weekends to make sure we filmed shots the best we could.

Afterwards, during editing we spent a lot of time during class, after school and free periods. For example, Gemma and I were in school until 18:30 working on our film (James and Ryan worked after school on another day).

Shot List

Group Members: Katie, Gemma, James and Ryan

Title of Production: Premonition

Shot number:	Brief description of the action (what is going to happen in this shot?)	Description of Shot Type and Camera Movement
1	Leaves within the frame leading up to character	Tracking, close up. Fig Rig to be used in this shot.
2	Damien’s eyes open, he looks around.	Panning, long shot. Create the effect of opening eyes using the lens cap of the camera.
3	Audience is shown the symbol in the giftbox	Close up. Giftbox prop needed.
4	Damien uses the toilet	Long shot. Toilet prop needed, socks and dressing gown costume also.
5	Toast pops up from toaster	Extreme Close Up. Props needed for the shot; toaster and toast.
6	Damien opens fridge	Mid-shot. Fridge, butter and jam needed.
7	Damien gets ready for work	Panning upwards, long shot. Suit costume needed for shot.
8	Damien leaves the house	Steady long-shot. Symbol prop on door.

Title fonts

This font is called 'Walk Around The Block', the reason I picked out this as one of my key fonts was how the light structure of this title would contrast with the forest scene but would relate effortlessly to the light 'getting ready' house sequence, which would follow this title. The white centre of the letters could connote the empty holes of questions that are yet to be answered throughout the film.

This font is called 'Jailbird Jenna'. The font grabbed my attention as it is bold, upper case and moderately traditional. However, the unmatched, strewn placement of letters could connote the instability of Damien's thoughts in the film and his lack of understanding.

This font is called 'DreamScar', which is initially relative to the film itself. The font is appropriate as a lot of the letters use symbolism, such as dagger shape for the 'T', the font also has some parts of the letters missing which connotes the missing information the audience watch the film to answer. The font is also bold and the shape of letters is moderately traditional which fits in with the typical Thriller genre titles.

Sound

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=30608

This sound is a clock 'tick tock' which would be used as a diegetic noise in the starting forest scene when Damien comes across the clocks around the trees (symbolising 'time running out'). This would emphasise the sound of clocks in the mind of the character and for the reader.

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=15396

We may also use a diegetic sound similar to this for the scene which involves toast being ejected from a toaster. This is because we discussed how this would work during filming and came to the conclusion that the sound picked up by the camera from our toaster wouldn't be adequate.

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=48970

We discussed in our group a non-diegetic sound alike this one, with a 'zoom' edge would be appropriate to our forest sequence, it could be used between shots as a transition/sound bridge and it gives a sense of eeriness to the whole scene.

Locations, props and costumes

These are the location shots of where we filmed our opening sequence (aforementioned in the 'research' section).

This prop is a red gift-box, this prop is extremely important to the forest scene. The giftbox is used to introduce the all important symbol to our character.
This image shows the blue colour scheme kitchen and toaster prop which is used in the house scene.
This dressing gown is part of costume for the character of Damien, also fitting with the blue colour scheme

Props

For the first scene there will not be many props but the ones we do use will be important to the storyline. We want to have some clocks scattered around showing different times which hope to get the audience thinking that it is not real and is a dream. Another prop we will us in this scene is a small box that will have the symbol inside it. The second scene will use a lot more props as it is set in a home. The props that will be important to the story are a toilet, cup of tea, bread that will be toasted in a toaster and a knife and butter. Smaller props will include a set of keys, plates and other items that are around a normal home.

Costumes

There are two main costumes that the main actor will be wearing. The first one being a blue dressing gown which he will be wearing in him premonition and also while before he gets dressed in the next scene. We decided to put him in the dressing gown in both scenes to link the two scene together and to help to audience understand that the first half is a dream. The dressing gown will be blue as it is the main colour scheme. The other costume will be a grey suit which he will put on in the end of the second scene. The suit will show that the character may have a good job and cares about his appearance.

written description by Gemma Flinders, Photographs taken by Katie Lee and James Sullivan

Casting

We chose Ryan Clark to play Damien as he is of average height, innocent looking - but not necessarily weak. He is dressed smart throughout the film to reflect his intelligent nature (a characteristic to hope to be reflected in and to attract our target audience). Damien works as a clinical psychologist with a keen interest in Cognitive and Psychodynamic psychology (hence his later interest in dreams/premonitions) which means he wears a suit mainly during the film, but in the opening sequence we do see him dressed in nightclothes alike the picture shown at the top. The character is of around 21 years old. The audience should instantly relate to and like his character, we chose a fair haired, white actor to further ensure that our film abides by the conventions of film and drama's stereotype of a university educated, working male.

Ryan also has GCSEs in Drama and Expressive Arts which increased his credibility for the part.

Character Description

We want the character Damien to look a little something like this (particularly in the opening 'getting ready' scene). The man is smart, not intimidating yet not weak - qualities we want to be portrayed through the character. Damien is to be of average height, young adult age (18-20) relating to target audience possibly quite fair haired which is often associated with 'good' characters in films as we would want our audience to instantly identify with Damien as being the 'goodie'. The stereotypical view of a 'smart' psychologist type character in film and drama is usually white, we have decided not to challenge this stereotype so as the audience understanding of the character is increased. The smart type, hardworking character also relates to our target audience as we aim to attract young, intelligent students who would understand the complex concept of 'Premoniton'.

Shooting Schedule

The shooting schedule was put together for the purpose of keeping our filming organised in order to finish the project in time for editing.

Premonition: Film Synopsis

Premonition:

Our main character, Damien, has continuous premonitions in his dreams involving specific reference to a symbol (pictured to the right).

As these dreams become increasingly frequent and vivid, Damien becomes fascinated by this symbol and makes it his own business to find out what it means within the real world. The symbol is on advertisements, clothing and other manufactured products and although it seems to go unnoticed, Damien realises that people are becoming emotionally affiliated with it. As well as this, he also faces troubles at home when his girlfriend begins to turn against him.

Damien's intense research into the symbol produces no deep results and is he is kickstarted into physical action when he discovers a tattoo of the symbol on his girlfriend's neck while she sleeps thus explaining the way she's been acting.

The next month Damien spends examining the REM of his girlfriend in order to discover as much information as possible, the name of a man is repeatedly evident. He tries to find the man to no avail and later realises the man only exists in dreams/premonitions. People in the world around all seem to be becoming brainwashed by the symbol and eventually people are spending 23 hours a day asleep - the only place they can see their Master.

Damien finds out that if he applies pressure to the tattoo on his girlfriend's neck it allows him to intercept her dream, he there interrupts a meeting with the organisation and its followers with the intention to kill the master... (cliffhanger).

The film's ending is reflected in the opening sequence very quickly as the symbol is used in both the initial 'forest scene' and the 'getting ready/house' scene.

Storyboard

This is our basic storyboard, we plan to follow the storyboard to finish filming in time for editing, however when filming if we feel a certain shot doesn't quite work the way we want it to we may re-shoot.

Initial Ideas

The main idea for the whole opening sequence is that it will be set in two scenes. The first being a forest scene, which portrays our character having a strange dream/premonition involving the symbol (pictured above). The second scene being a scene filmed in a house, showing the main character (Damien) getting ready to go to work.


We put down some ideas about Cinematography, we have decided to use a tilted angle for some scenes to connote the idea of something being strange or abnormal and another main idea we had was to use a sequence of close up/extreme close ups to portray a series of average actions as slightly more sinister. Our inspiration for this was the opening sequence of a popular television programme 'Dexter'.

We also discussed ideas for the Mise en Scene of our film, deciding on bed clothes for our main male character (a dressing gown, slippers etc..) and a prodominently blue and neutral colour scheme. This colour scheme will be reflected by both costume and prop, for example, blue dressing gown, blue gift (prop). In the first forest scene, we will use a lot of clocks to connote the idea of time running out and to further portray a sense of eeriness. The forest scene will be filmed in Nonsuch park as during some of our location research we discovered that this forest best fits our ideas, lots of trees and greenery. The 'getting ready' scene, influenced by 'Dexter', will be filmed in my own home as my house has easy access, a neutral colour scheme throughout and a blue kitchen. We decided on a house scene as the analysing of our questionnaire results during the research stage of the project showed that the idea of a house setting was popular with our target audience.

For editing and sound, a prominent idea was a low resonant sound during the dream forest scene to further convey the idea of something not being 'quite right' and to draw in the audience using tension. At the moment, our ideas for titles is to use bold font in blue alongside the scene in the house, but the name of the film 'Premonition' to appear on its own on a black background between the forest scene and the house scene. At the end of the house scene to depict a symbol appearing on the back of a door, we will use a shot of the blank door and then a shot of the door with the symbol using a cross fade effect to create fluency between the shots and give a supernatural, magical effect. We also discussed using a blade sound or a zoom sound whenever the symbol is seen or appears, thus creating a Motif for the symbol so when the sound is made the audience understand the symbol is present or something in relation to the symbol is about to happen.

Our Thriller Questionnaire

This is our group questionnaire. The first image shows a completed version of the questionnaire, filled out by a member of our target market and the second is a blank version which was given to the entire key demographic sample (which consisted of twenty-four 15-21 year olds we believe fitted our expectation).

The Questionnaire was carefully put together by our group to ensure we gathered appropriate answers which allowed us to adapt our film to fit the preferences of our target audience. For example, ‘What setting do you find most fitting with a Thriller genre film?’ was a multiple choice question which collected quantitative data, thus allowing us to interpret the data into a graph so we analyse the results for our benefit. We also used Likert Scale style answers to collect interpretable quantitative data. For example, ‘On this scale, how would you describe the Psychological Thriller Genre?’

We also collected more unique answers which further reflected the true opinions of the person filling out the questionnaire, qualitative data. Which although was hard to interpret, gave us a better insight into detail for adapting our movie.

Conventions of a Thriller Film.

- Dark lighting
- Dark/blue colour schemes (seen in both images)
- Opening sequence foreshadowing the ending of the film
- Match on action
- Psychological
- Clues throughout
- Twists in the plot
- Special effects
- Low resonant sounding music
- Bold, traditional font on titles
- Quick cuts
- Shadows
- Obsession
- Large use of Establishing shots and Close up/extreme close up shots.

Audience Research

We created a questionnaire on thriller films for our target audience (15-21 years old) with the hope that some would give their time to fill in a survey to help us gather information on how to create a successful thriller film opening that would attract the attention of the key demographic.

Our questionnaire asked questions based on the genre, settings and characters using a variety of both open and closed questions, so that we could collect both qualitative and quantitative data. The survey also asked for personal details such as age, gender and ethnicity so we could further analyse our results.

This pie chart represents the results of this question on our survey, 'What type of location/setting do

you find most effective in a thriller genre film?'

The data collected suggests that people from our target audience like thrillers that use a home

setting.

The second chart (bar chart) tells us that the majority of the target audience are very open and positive to the idea of a mixed romance/thriller genre film.

I intend to use this information to adapt how we create our thriller opening sequence in order to appeal to our key demographic.

We will try to find an effective way to film our thriller partly in a home setting, I believe people may find this an interesting setting for a thriller because they would be able to relate to it on a more personal level rather than a cemetery as people are not often in a cemetery and the idea is very cliched in this genre of film. During some planning sessions our group has discussed how we could approach this and have considered perhaps filming a sequence of close-up shots showing a man getting ready on his way to work, making something very normal seem quite sinister - inspired by the opening sequence of an episode of TV drama 'Dexter'.

Our synopsis will also partly reflect the romance/thriller genre as the idea proved very popular with the target audience, although it may not be particularly evident in the opening sequence.

Our target audience would stereotypically something like this. We intend to adapt our film to appeal to young adults of around 15-21 years old, smart, student-type characters who enjoy to have fun and relax as well as work hard. As our film would be quite psychological, it would require the full attention of the audience and the audience to be able to interpret ideas intelligently with a high attention span and attention to detail - hence our decision for sophisticated target audience. Thrillers also tend to appeal to this age group on a general scale.

Analysis of Memento opening and film.

1. The first image is a black title screen with the title of the film, 'Memento' written across the centre of the frame in a traditional, bold, blue font. The colour of the font fades from a dark to light blue which could represent the further image of a polaroid fading away and also could connote the nature of the film which shows events in reverse order. The traditional font tells the audience that the film isn't comical or romantic but serious and gives nothing really away about the plot of the film.

2. The second image is an extreme close up of polaroid photo depicting a murder scene, the colour of the 'Memento' title still remains blue and the shirt of the man who has been murdered is the same blue colour. This colour scheme continues throughout the film and connotes the sadness that lies within the main character on his search to find his wife's 'killer'

3. The third shot is an extreme close up of the same polaroid photo but it has faded, which tells the audience the film is running in reverse. This takes up the full foreground and fills the whole frame which suggests that the polaroid reflects the whole film. The tilted angle on both this image and image 2 connotes that something isn't quite right and mystery.


4. The fourth image is a close up shot of the main character taking a photo with the polaroid camera, the camera is situated central in the frame suggesting the importance of the photographs to the film and the character holding it. The camera is being held in front of his face so the identity of the character remains relatively unknown and gives adds the feeling of mystery. The dull colour of the costume and the dull lighting connote the dark event which has taken place and foreshadows the mood throughout the whole film.

5. The tilted angle shows an extreme close up of blood trickling across the floor. The tilted angle again suggests something wrong has happened and the extreme close up ensures the audience pays attention to what they are seeing and appreciate how sinister the scene is. The deep scarlet colour of the blood connotes death and also the passion that the murderer feels for his wife when he's endevouring to seek revenge on his wife's killer.

6. The bullet lying on the floor creates an instantly negative effect as a bullet never leads to positive connotations. The bullet is in the foreground and takes central placement within the frame composition suggesting that it carries a lot of power and also depicting death. The dull lighting conjures the idea of evil and a dark subject matter mirrored throughout.

7. The bloodstained glasses take central frame, the glasses are an everyday object for people and this connotes that just an average person has been killed. This evokes pathos from the audience toward the man that has died on a more personal level and allows them to empathise more with the character as a human.

8. We see the murderers face and the bullet returning to the gun he had just killed the man with, the lighting is dark suggesting an element of evil. However, across the other side of his face light shines on his face from the window which could portray a split personality, good and evil.

The title of the film, 'Memento' refers to a physical memory, such as a photo, video etc. In the opening sequence, the title 'Memento' appears at the very beginning. The font is traditional, bold, large and blue, we first see the title centred against a plain black background which slowly fades into the image of a polaroid photograph. Therefore, in this case the title here is the opening of the film and is also a reference to the first image we see and referred to throughout the entire film. The colour blue is continued throughout the film through props, setting and general mise-en-scene. The black background at the beginning is also replicated in the various black and white scenes used in the film which reflects the dark subject matter and essence.

The setting in the opening sequence is the setting in which two men are killed by the main character. It is an abandoned building, this builds a sense of isolation as the characters are alone in the building which makes the whole scene feel a lot more sinister in it's atmosphere. Thus, evoking pathos for the characters who are about to die and cannot run. Other key settings include, a dark lit bar which adds an edge of sardonicism to the humour of the characters (especially Natalie) and the Hotel room where we are mostly introduced to the ways of the main character (for example, black and white phone calls, tattoos).

The most important prop throughout this whole film is the polaroid photos taken of characters, it leads on from the title of the film and is the base plot relating to our main character.

The opening sequence is made of mainly extreme close-ups and close ups, which doesn't reveal much about surroundings which could create an eerie atmosphere but the uses of close ups could also do this as we see sinister actions in great detail. A murder, blood and the photo of a crime scene which often leads the audience into thinking deeply about what they see in each shot, further intensified by the opening's slow movement. This ensures also that the audience are fully focused on the main object within the frame. The music is a low, resonant string sound which is often related within films and the media to death or grief, it sets an instantly negative tone to the movie, the hyperbolic and diegetic sound of a camera shutter enhances the idea of a 'memento' as the audience take notice of the taking of the photo due to the shutter sound being so loud. The film is edited as if we are going back in time from the beginning to end, which could be a connotation of the twisted, scrambled thoughts in the main character's mind.

The title sequence relates to the rest of the film in many ways, for example, the title 'Memento' alone is referenced to through the use of main props (photographs) throughout. As well as this a blue colour scheme is also consistent and reflects the emotions of the main character. As well as many various physical traces which are seen both in the opening sequence and the following movie, the audience are also left wanting answers to a lot of questions after the opening sequence, therefore the film relates to this by answering them.

Wallander

1. Image one tracks along green fields, the colours are dull and could reflect the dark subject matter of the episode. The tracking later cuts to an image of the girls, an edit is made using the sound of a 'zoom' which creates the idea that the camera has zoomed in on girls from a distance although it has not.

2. The second image is a well composed shot of the two girls from behind. The girls take up both sides of the frame but the background takes central position and we see tyre tracks and a tree in the distance, the still could connote many ideas. As we watch further we understand the tyre tracks were those of a taxi driver.

3. The scarlet blood on the window connotes the idea of death and as we know it also mirrors the denotation as the man in the car does die and we see his taxi identity card on the right side of the frame. This allows the audience to identify and empathise with the character on a more personal level as they can appreciate the man who has died as a human like themselves. The image of the girls in the background suggests to the audience that they have a connection to what has happened with the man in the car, the fact that they out of focus may connote that they feel no remorse or guilt for what they have done, no clear, focused emotion.

4. The fourth image confirms what we took from the previous shot as we see the girl holding the bloodied knife in her hand taking central position within the frame, this later is used in match on action with image 6, the Wallander theme tune, which replicates the image of a blade using triangles.



The opening scene shows the tracking of an establishing shot across vast green land and fields, this cuts to a shot of two girls walking. The use of a 'zooming' noise sound bridge between the two shots gives the impression of zooming from the establishing shot to the mid-shot.


In terms of mise-en-scene, the girls are dressed typically in teenage style clothes so the audience can instantly identify, their faces and hands are covered in blood and one of them (the more dominant character) holds a knife. When we see the murdered taxi driver, there is a close up shot of his twitching hand, an identity badge and a photo of him and his son which evokes pathos from the viewer as we see the character as a person rather than just an object on screen.


The girls are breathing heavily, a non-diegetic low resonant sound connotes the fear and danger of what is happening. When the girl drops the knife a hyperbolic blade noise is sounded.


As well as this, when the knife is dropped the triangular shape of the blade is reconstructed within the opening credits (visible in the image above) which is an example of match on action. The shots of Wallander, the main character, are half in light and half in darkness which connotes his two sided character