Opening sequence


Trailer


The opening sequence of the Davinci code is very inviting, as it almost forces the viewer to continue watching. It does this in many ways by using a range of techniques. A lot of close ups are used in the trailer of photo's on the wall. However they are not just random photo's, each photo is shown for a reason. Each of the photo's that is shown on a close up looks very sad and depressed, this is to try and reinforce the mood that the guy running away is in. This draws the viewers in even further as they want to find out why he is running away and in a negative mood. The non diegetic sound of th soundtrack over the titles helps to portray the negative mood to the audience as it is very mellow and scary, which conveys to the audience the sinister opening they are about to see. As the opening sequence begins, the music takes a different scay tone, and becomes really low pitched and deep dark sounds, which portray trouble for the man running. At the end of the opening sequence, the camera takes a close up look at a beheaded man, which seems to seal the old guy's fate as he gets shot. This is a good technique used to foreshadow up and coming events. The high camera angle used when he is running away is a clever shot to use, as it shows how small and insignificant he is. To contrast this, the evil guy has a low angle shot, to show how powerful and controlling he is. A lot of pan shots are used in this opening sequencewhich helps to establish the scene. Although it's not a master shot, these shots still help to identify the setting as we as the audience can easily tell he's in a museum as there is a lot of corridors and paintings on the walls. Another low angle shot of the guy who is about to die is used to portray how low status he has, and that he is in the least commanding position, as he is about to be killed.

In the trailer to the Davinci code it starts off with slow paced montage edited clips which seem pleasant as they have a nice soft soundtrack with a comforting voice over the top, briefly exaplaining the story. However, once the trailer develops a bit more, we find out the it isn't so relaxed. The audience can tell this change in mood as the clips become shorter and faster paced, the camera moves around a lot more and is rearely static, and the music gains pace and takes a more sinister tone. The colours used at the start of the trailer seem happy and bright, but again, as the trailer develops the coulours turn from a bright white, to dull grey's and blacks, which makes the mood of the trailer drop and everything seem more scary and sad. The way that the camera keeps referring back to the photo's draws the audience in, as they want to know why they kept being shown, and the photos being shown are very sad and the way the camera presents them creates even more tension, by having extreme close ups concentrating on distinctive features like eyes, as if they are staring right at the audience.

In the opening sequence to Se7en there is many techniques used to draw you into the film and make you want to watch the rest of the film. In the titles sequence as long as the titles appearing and revealing people that had something to do with the film, there are many close up shots of normal house hold objects, like books and paper and pictures. However, the way the creator has filmed these objects makes them very scary and spooky. The mise en scene used for the opening scene is very carefully chosen, as all the objects filmed are very dark, dull and boring, which creates tension for the audience as they want to know why they have been portrayed like that. The use of close ups is also very crucial to the opening scene as it zooms right in to the object and makes it seem out of context and spooky. The fact that the there are hands in a lot of the shots makes the audience feel creaped out as they do not know who's hands they are, and they want to find out who's hands they are. The way that the titles are shown on the screen are even scary, as they look like they have been roughly scribbled and they they disappear eerily also as they just fade out into the dark and shadowy background, which also acts as an aid to create tension because the colour black is very scary and in a way portrays fate and death.

In the trailer of Se7en there are many different effects that are used to advertise and portray the film. In the trailer, there is a narration which helps to inform the viewers of important information to do with the film. In this trailer, the narrator briefly tells the story so that the audience want to watch the film. This narration is non diegetic sound and is there purposely for the audience. The narration is also there to introduce actors that are starring in the film. This attracts the viewers attention as if there is a famous person or a really good actor in the film, this will make the viewer want to see it. Also more important information like the release date and the age rating is narrated on the trailer so that viewers can make sure that they see it. In the trailer there is a montage of clips which help to portray the fast paced and action packed film, if it was one continuous clip it would be hard not to tell the whole story. The trailer of Se7en also shows part of the story and gives vague information about the characters, so the audience can have a rough understanding of what the character is going to be like. In the trailer there is some written words that appear on the screen, the usual ones, like release date and actors and then there are certain words that are repeated on the screen and this is used to draw the viewers attention. Because the words repeated are in red, this automatically creates tension, as red is seen as an uneasy and unflattering colour. So seeing this, makes the viewers want to know why it is written in red.

Title sequence and trailers

In films there are title sequences and trailers, and people often get mistaken as to which is which. however, once you know the difference you will never get them mistaken again.

Trailer- in a trailer, this is where you watch a montage of the clips which it's main attempt is to grab the readers attention and draw the viewers into wanting to watch the film. however, the creators of the trailer may not have any other part of the actual film, as the trailer is like a separate art. Although the idea of a trailer is to inform you about the film, it does not want to reveal the whole film or spoil the story line to the audience as if you reveal to much then they don't even need to watch the film. The trailer needs to also reveal the rough story line, so that it makes the audience want to watch it.

Opening sequence- an opening sequence is similar to a trailer however in many ways it is different. In an opening sequence the idea is to draw the viewer in to the film so they want to carry on watching the film. if the opening sequence is poor people may just turn it off. Although the opening sequence is slower paced, it still does need to reveal some important information like maybe a bit of background information about the character. Or sometimes, the opening sequence can be the most action packed part of the film like a death or something, and then the majority of the film is about why the death happened.

Preliminary task peer feedback

The peer feedback from my task has helped me a lot as i have taken note of the EBI's so that i can use these in the future, and make my piece better and more effective. Also i received a lot of positive feedback on my piece which made me feel proud of my work.

Positive feedback (WWW): used a great rage of shots including high angle. used good match on action on the Juice carton and the Door handle, was a clever original idea with the Juice and CCTV, good editing effects, good innovation and flare,good shot reverse shot, flowed well.

Negative feedback (EBI): i didn't use a master shot to establish setting and scene, need to use more match on action and need to make it more interesting.

By doing this preliminary task i have improved my skill with camera work, and thought about match on action and the idea of continuity, i have also extended the knowledge of my media vocabulary, which helps when analysing peers. This will help me in the future when it comes to my final piece and coursework.