Activity one

“With You” evaluation

Setting and Location• I looked at multiple Indie opening sequences to

create a opening that fit into that genera and give me a clearer understanding of what I would need to create.

• We shot our opening in two different locations, a bed room and a park/wood. Coming of age films often uses theses locations and we choice to combine them to create something that is unique and different

• From looking at two similar films such as Pretty in Pink and Perks of being a wall flower that were created in different decades. They both uses a bedroom opening, In pretty in pink it is entirely her getting ready, this is similar to our opening where the second half is the girl getting ready.

• We also choice to draw from the stillness of the bedroom scene in Perks of being a wallflower because after the crazy dream opening in our opening the stillness of her waling up is very effective.

Costume

• The use of costume in my media product “With you” is a way to show an insight into the character. In the first part of the opening the all black costume she is wearing is a reflection of her inner turmoil which makes her a characters relatable to the indie/alternative social group. The dark moody nature of her costume is juxtaposing to the calm serine background of the forest at the start. This sets a dark tense, atmosphere and suggest that the characters is very isolated.

• The atmosphere created by the costume is important as an opening should be about atmosphere rather than narrative as we learnt on a trip to the BFI. So I kept this in mind when choosing the costume of the character as it sets the first impression.

Genre

• The genre of my film is suggested through my opening and gives the audience an understanding of what the film might be about whilst still drawing them in (which is have learnt through feedback). The production companies at the start of the opening, which I created are small independent film houses hence the name “Tin house”. This sets up that it will be an independent film as no major film cooperation's are mentions such as “ 20th century fox”.

• The establishing shot of the girl walking in and toward the camera is foreshowing of her going on a journey of self discovery as she is on her own. Because of this it suggest in the opening that the film will be a coming of age teen film. This is also enhanced due to the girl being a young age of 17, which is audience will be able to relate to.

The Title’s • The title of our film stems form the genre. Our film follows a girl who is on a both metaphorical and literal journey of self discovery. And how relationships with people shape who you become, So we decided to use this to help come up with the idea for the title “With You” because she goes through the film with her friends but also with the audience as we would want it to be a very relatable movie.

• Coming of age/ indie films do follow a pattern in the titles order of appearance and we followed that to make it look professional. We wanted our film to be an indie film so we decide on trying out different quirky fonts that resemble the individual characters in the film and set up that atmosphere. getting inspiration from films such as Clueless, Breakfast Club and Napoleon Dynamite

Camera work + editing• My opening shows a variety of shots from wide shots to medium shots and a range of extreme close ups. I used a tripod through the filming process to ensure that the footage was still and would give it a more professional look in the final edit. Due to there being one character in the opening the shots are of her, the use of close ups give the audience a clear indication that she is the main charters. The use of extreme close create an intimate relationship with the audience and show the charades vulnerability. The use of the tripod was key to this as the stillness of the shots makes them very effective in creating a weir and tense atmosphere.

• To edit the opening I used “Final Cut X”, A complex and professional editing software and I also used “Motion” to create the clones at the start. Both programs are used professionally in the industry which gave me a lot of control over the footage which I needed to create the difficult clone section. I made it by motion tracking each shot that we shot separately, cropped it and layered it onto the main shot of the girl walking. This was very effective in showing the characters confutation and followed the conventions of a teen film in showing the troubled emotion of the protagonist.

Special effects• The special effects in my film create a very interesting start of the opening and resemble the confusion of the main character. I wanted to follow the convections of using one character in the opening of teen movies. But I also wanted to challenge the conventions by using SPX to create something unique. The special effects of the multiple clones of the character resemble the mind set of the main girl and has strong connotations of the indie alternative sub group mind-set which would appeal to my target audience. The use of the SPX foreshadows the characters struggle to accept herself in the rest of the film hence the multiple versions. I chose not to use any SPX through the rest of the opening after the dream to follow the conventions of a teen movie to give it balance and not apply to much narrative.