Opening sequence analysis 2

 Joker opening sequence.

The opening sequence to ‘Joker’ starts with a slow zoom in from a corridor into a dress room with the main protagonist in the centre of the camera shots. The camera continues to zoom in slowly and pan around the characters back to his right shoulder so we can see his face in the reflection of his makeup mirror. The camera then cuts to an extreme close up of the jokers face, only having his lips in frame first as he puts on some clown face paint, and then slowly the camera cranes upwards revealing his nose, eyes and forehead

There are then a few shot reverse shows between his hand holding a makeup brush and the close ups of his face. There is then an over the shoulder shot to capture the reflection of the characters face in the mirror to show the characters environment and provides the audience with the location. These shots are handheld to create a more natural feeling to the opening sequence as it is set inside a busy dressing room. The editing is slow for these few shots which makes the transition between the jokers fake smile and his frown more dramatic and shows the audience he hates his job, creating a depressing mood of atmosphere.

Soft piano music comes into play and then amplifies as the camera cuts outside to the busy streets. There is diegetic sound of the piano and the sound of people walking and talking next to passing cars. Warner Bros titles and production company titles start to appear on screen as the camera cuts between extreme long shots at high angles of Joaquin Phoenix dancing on the road with a shop sign, and close ups of him in the street to show is melodramatic facial expression.

After this, a group of boys attack the clown and steal his sign. They run down the road as the camera follows in a tracking shot. We track the boys run across the road as well as the clown in some high and shots and shot reverse shots to show the difference between the hooligans and the desperate clown. As they run into the street we hear the sound of cars bee bing and screeching to a break.

The camera tracks the boys to the entrance of an alley way and then pans as they turn left. we then get a high angle of the alleys that shows the boys being followed by the clown as he screams for them to come back. When Joaquin finally catches up to the young teens, he is suddenly hit in the face by his sign from one of the boys hiding behind a wall. This violence is shown at a front on camera angle to show the hard impact of him running into the swing of the sign. The boys then proceed to beat him up and kick him while he is lying on the ground. This is shown at a high angle, canted shot to portray the clowns weakness and vulnerability as well make the scene more sympathetic.

When the boys run off and leave the clown lying on the floor, we can hear the non diegetic sound of violins playing as the camera slowly zooms out while focused on him lying on the floor. The sound of the characters panting has been amplified to emphasise his injury’s and suffering which makes the audience feel sympathy towards him. The camera proceeds to zoom out and capture his facial and body expression to properly show the audience that Joaquin is severely injured. The title ‘Joker’ suddenly appears on screen in a vibrant yellow to stand out from the grey, bleak background of the alley.

28th jan 180* rule

 In our pre-recorded lesson we studied the 180 degree rule when taking photos or videos. This rule tells the audience who is talking and where the dialogue is directed to. For example, an over the shoulder shot of someone on the right should direct their characters and cameras view to the left of the screen to the other character. As long as the camera is 180 degrees of the straight line between the two focus points the actors/ characters should being viewing each-other at all times any angle within 180 degrees.

Below are some photos of me using the rule of the 180 degrees to direct the figures eye sight to the other figure.

Opening sequence idea research 2

 Recently my group came up with another idea for an opening sequence that is very different to our original idea of the ballerina. The new idea is that a man would go into his office/ study and we would get several different camera angles: low, high, tilt, mid and close shots of his study. Inside the study would be a record player which would provide the diegetic music to create a more creepy atmosphere for the sequence. Throughout the mans study there would be jars with parts of animals or flowers inside of them and books containing images of anatomy. We would also track the man walking around his study without revealing his face. These shots would be of his feet, arms and hands as he waltzes around the room to the music. We think it would be good for the idea to expand into human trophies as well as animal one. For example, there could be a cupboard or draw full of little boxes victims pony tails or bracelets with a Polaroid image of the murder. This entirely depends on how we would manage to get props for this.

Below are some example shots of the layout and idea we want to have in our sequence.

Researching set for our opening sequence

Researching set and design ideas for our opening sequence:

We came up with the idea that the basement should be dingy and mysterious, so we blended dark colour scheme with unusual props/ objectives to create a dark and creepy setting.

To make the location disturbing, we thought it would be best to blend household items and miscleneaoas junk amongst peoples worst fears: clowns, needles, blood etc...

rule of 3rd-Thursday 21 jan recorded lesson

 Our work for today was to watch a pre recorded lesson on the Hurtwood stream that was posted by Matt. He made an informative video about how to angle, light and position your camera to make interesting and eye pleasing shots.

At first Matt spoke about the rule of thirds (grid method) for taking photos. The rule follows a three line grid like this:

The grid rule is to capture points of interest and detail on the intersections of the lines. This makes the photo more dynamic. If the photo is taken like this at an angle it gives the image more depth. 

In this photo we can see the man is placed on the left vertical line with his head and waist on the higher and lower intersections.

The next thing Matt mentioned was background and lighting.  He talked about how having a plain background compared to one with more detail doesn’t looks as interesting. lighting also plays a big role in photography as it can add texture to the image and provide visual depth as well as mood and atmosphere.

The next thing that we learnt about was the levelling of the camera. Photos that don’t capture a lot of detail typically don’t look very good, which is why you use levelling. For example, if you want to look at something on the table you would just tilt your head, however, with a camera you need to lower yourself down to avoid getting a high or low tilt. Being at a higher or lower height is interesting and unusual which makes the image for unique and more professional. Following this rule and the ‘rule of thirds’ we will be able to capture more dynamic and interesting shots with a camera.

Preparing for our presentation on Monday the 18th January

 Today me and my group held our own Microsoft Teams meeting where we recapped our thoughts for both of our opening sequence ideas. We talked about the set, who we would cast, location, timings (day, noon or night), music and props. We went through the order of camera shots we would like to include I.e. close ups, slow mo etc... and how/ when we would use them to create enigma codes.

We also discussed what kind of questions we should prepare for such as “how would we film this?” And “what is the rest of the story about?”.

The thriller is about a boy who leaves school and as he rides his bike down the road back to his house. As he is riding his bike and listening to music he gets to a T junction where a man is standing in a mask and trying to kill him. He turns his bike around and cycles back for the school to look for his art teacher (who just left the other way), the boys phone falls out of his pocket as he cycles away from the chasing murderer. The boy arrives at school and hides in the classrooms and the canteen, and must spend the night there until the teachers arrive in the morning. 

Wednesday 12th January group meeting- pitching ideas

Today in media (on zoom) we were put into ‘Breakout rooms’ in our smaller media groups. We discussed which ideas we liked the best and the two we decided on were the- Thriller chase at night on the bike - The Ballet Dancer with mental health issues.

We started to drift towards the Ballet dancer idea because due to COVID limiting our possibilities for locations and work space, we thought shooting this would be the easiest.

We decided that instead of having the idea that it would be a horror it would be a story telling psycho film. We would do this by having no jump scares or obvious evil presence/ character, but we would make the music distort and include close up camera shots of hands and eyes to make the audience feel uncomfortable. There would also be no speech throughout the whole clip, just music. The audience would get most of the information from the detailed dressing room where there would be photos of the girls dead mother and a get well soon card from 2006 to hint that the mother died.

As a group we also discussed set and location. The video would be very practical to shoot as it would all take place within the media stage room where we would build our set of the stage dressing room. This would give us no time limit during the day as the lighting would be supplied by lights rather than natural lighting. 

We therefore desired the ballet sequence would be easier to film, but we also like the idea of the thriller/ killer as it is an easier story to depict.

Opening sequence 2- class feedback

 I pitched my idea if the drunk driver crashing the car and killing his friends to the class, and the feedback I received was very productive.

1. How will the story continue if they all die- the driver will remain alive and the film will be about him going back to school and work with the guilty consciousness of a murderer. He will struggle with life until and go to councillors meetings to cope with the mental pain.

2. How will I present an animal in the road- it will be a front view of the drivers face as he sees a small animal in the road, swerves and crashes the car (the animal is not shown on camera)

3. How will I do a car crash- have the driver swerve and have a black screen and then fade into the accident or change angle of the car so we see the back end swerve for a split second (close up of the back wheels perhaps)

4. Am I going to fit this in 2 minutes- yes as setting the scene of the drunk lads should take about 20 seconds and then have them get into the car, the hesitation before driving can be 15 seconds, and the actual driving would be about 30-40 seconds of cuts and music, until they crash, which will be another 30 seconds of the close ups of the boys, and the drinks and end on the car radio screen.

Opening sequence idea 2 (lockdown lessons)

 Set at a campsite (log cabin) or abandoned site (building site)

It’s late in the evening and the boys are drinking and listening to music laughing, they get a text to come home as it’s late and they get into the car

One is very drunk and can’t drive so the learner driver says he can drive everyone home and that they done need to call a cab

There will be a long shot and a pause of silence to foreshadow the danger that will inevitably occur

They agree and get into the car

There is a long shot and medium shot of the two boys helping their drunk friend into the car

As the driver gets in, their is a shot that follows him through into the car and pans from the passenger seat back to his face

Close up of the drivers face to show visible confusion to how to drive the car, SRS, eye-line match cut

He starts the car and it shrieks forward, the camera who’ll start at the front lines and cut to the front wheels and track it for a short distance and then tilt up and pan with the car out of the campsite

The boys will be in the car laughing to the music while one is practically unconscious.

Loud music with close ups of the cars steering wheel, radio, dash mirror and close ups of the boys having a good time. This adds tension as the fast ish paced cuts give unnaturally close detail making the audience uncomfortable.

Am animal, not clear to identify, will run In front of the car and cause the driver to swerve, which topples the car into a ditch/ crash into a tree or bush (whichever is easier to shoot)

Hand held shot in the car which is very unsteady to show danger

The music will still be playing but fade slightly as the screen switches shots between the campfire at the camp and the bottles of beer and the boys who have cut heads and bleeding noses (unconscious and dead)

Can either fade into a black screen or end with the mum calling the phone.

Monday the 9th January Diary entry

 Today was our first media lesson back from the Christmas Holiday. It’s wasn’t like the normal lessons we have as we are currently in tier 5 lockdown, which means we are having online classes through Microsoft Teams as school are closed across the UK for the next 5 weeks (presumably). As everything is online, my other classes and activities such as dance and theatre are also through zoom/ Microsoft teams etc... 

Today our media teacher Becky talked to us about what is going to happen regarding our classes and practical projects such as our opening sequence. We hope that we will be back at school in time to film and edit our videos, however, if we are unable to return our task at hand is to come up with another media opening sequence idea that is more COVID friendly- socially distanced, no contact, fewer people on set, different locations to avoid populated areas. We are then going to pitch these ideas to our class on Tuesday and Wednesday to practice our presentation skills as well as receive feedback to improve our ideas. After the presentation the other students will ask about my idea, to which I will need to answer their questions or explain the plot. This will be good preparation for the upcoming presentation where we explain our final idea for the opening sequence through Powerpoint/ story board to our Becky and some of the other media teachers.