Rough Edit 1

This is my first rough edit. I think that this is very close to how I want the film to end up. I think there are some things that I need to change, and I will put it to an audience to work out what needs editing. I do plan to have a monologue over the film to explain the narrative a bit more, but this edit was a quick one and I haven't added the monologue yet.

After Audience Feedback
After showing this edit to several people in my media class and in the rest of my year group, I found that the feedback was quite complimentary. They liked the fast pace of the music, and the quick editing (In particular the part with the zip). One thing that came up a lot was that the three "death bangs" when the shots of Faith come up were too quiet and could be much more dramatic if they were louder.

Codes and Conventions of Film Openings

In every film opening that I have studied, the production and distribution logos of the companies that have contributed to the production of the film will always come before any other titles. Sometimes these have been edited in a way that reflects the narrative of the film (E.g. 300, the Warner Bros logo was shaped like a shield and edited to look worn and dirty. This reflects the story because it is about Roman soldiers.
The first shot of a film will either be an establishing shot or the titles on a separate background. If the latter, the titles often reflect the narrative of the film. This is apparent in the film “Scream” where the titles are shown in a Sans Serif font, changing from white to blood red after the sounds of a scream and the slash of a knife.
The establishing shot idea is shown in the film “10 Things I Hate About You.” The first shot is a panning shot of the town in which the action is set. Establishing shots are often extreme- to mid-long shots. This means that anchorage of the setting can be easily established, and the narrative can begin quicker.Some films will try to involve intertextual references in the first few minutes. An example of this is “Scream.” The genre of this film is horror, and so the films that it makes reference to are in the same bracket. Whilst on the phone, the character shown at the start of the film is talking about the different scary movies she has seen. Several films are named, like “Halloween” and “Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Experimenting with The Equipment.

In order to experiment with the Camera and Tripod so that I could understand them more, I filmed an interview with my friend Ash Caton, in the run up to a stand up comedy gig that he was doing at the weekend. This was helpful to help me work out which angles gave which impressions, and to find out how to use the zoom to a good effect.

Music and Sounds

After looking through the websites listed below, I found the track that I plan to use for my film. It is called "Let's Party" and I got it from the Punk-Rock section of www.freeplaymusic.com. It is of the correct tempo and style that I need for the genre of film I am producing. It was also free to download and copyright free.

I think I will have the music playing all the way through the text apart from the black shots as it will make that section more dramatic.

The track that I have chosen is very conventional to the "teen drama" genre, as it is music that is most listened to by teenagers. It's fast pace and so keeps up with the fast editing that I will include in the text, and it will attract the audiences attention.

Websites for copyright-free music.

http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/index.html

This site has a vast range of sound effects and music tracks. It also provides numerous other links to similar free music websites.

http://akmmusic.co.uk/

This website has a vast catalogue of copyright free music, but it has to be paid for, unlike the previous site where the clips and music are free. This site provides sounds to the four terrestrial television channels, and therefore is a reliable source.

http://www.soundzabound.com/

This website is designed mostly for students to access sound clips, which can support a variety of programs, including iMovie. It does have a wide range of genres, but not that many clips under each heading.

http://www.trackline.com/acatalog/Store.html

The tracks on this website have to be paid for but it has a wide range of genres which include many different tracks.

http://freeplaymusic.com/

This site has a vast range of sound clips and music. They come in a wide range of formats and are available for free download.

http://www.deezer.com/

This is a site that has a mixture of music available from itunes. It includes copyrighted music as well as copyright free.

The class List.

freeplaymusic.com

deezer.com

akmmusic.co.uk

soundzabound.com

audio.lgfl.org.uk

audiojungle.net

musicmediatracks.com

trackline.com

podsafeaudio.com

tonspion.de

phlow-magazine.com

copyleft-music.com

Run-down of my shot sequence.

Shot 1 : A medium close-up of an ipod dock. A hand moves into the shot to put an ipod on and diegetic (non-copyrighted) music starts playing. This music carries on throughout the sequence.

Shot 2 : A medium long shot of a boy walking past a bookshelf. One of the books has the title of the film printed on the spine. He is dressed casually.

Shot 3 : After a jump-cut, there is a close up of the boy brushing his teeth in the mirror. His face is not shown yet. When he bends down the producers name is written into the mirror.

Shot 4 : Close-up of the boys shoulder as he's putting on a jacket. This signifies that he is going out. His face is still not shown. 

Shot 5 : Close-up of the boys hand grabbing a banana out of a fruit bowl. This shows that he is in a rush and wants to get out of the house quickly. 

Shot 6 : Mid-shot of boy leaving the house. He walks out of the front door and shuts it behind him. He doesn't have a bag or anything, he is just leaving to explore.

Shot 7 : Medium long-shot of the boy walking out of his house and walking down the lane. Pans out from the door up to the horizon.

Shot 8, 9 & 10 : Low angle shots of prominent parts of the town (All Saints school, Library, Riverside Park. These give the impression that he is exploring this town for the first time.

Shot 11 : Medium close up of the boy's face. Dialogue starts over this shot. He's walking down a fairly remote street, in contrast to the city he used to live in.

Shot 12 : A tracking shot of three girls walking past him. the one in the middle smiles at the boy, she is the female protagonist in the film.

Shot 13 : Medium close-up of the boys face. He smiles to himself that the girl has smiled at him. 

Shot 14 : Flashback scene. Brief shot of the same girl dead from an overdose. It's during a party. She is slumped against a sofa with her eyes open.

Shot 15 : The boy stops in the street. His face is no longer smiling. He then shakes his head and continues walking forward. (This is because he's telling his story in hindsight and so he knows what's going to happen to this girl.)

Ideas for Film Opening Task.

Idea the First.
"The Door" is a thriller / slasher movie aimed at a 18 - 35 youth audience. The BBFC rating would be an 18 due to graphic horror.
It opens on a boy, aged 17/18, moderately good-looking,  getting ready for school. He lives in a middle-class house in England. This is shown by an establishing shot of rolling hills on a murky day. Varying shots and angles are used in order to show the different stages of getting ready. Diegetic music is used in the opening sequence from the ipod station in his room. In one shot the boy is walking back from the bathroom and he passes a fairly nondescript door. The shot lingers on the door for just a fraction too long, so it gives the audience some idea that this door is relevant to the overall storyline.

Titles are worked into the mise-en-scene, written on posters or books (Intertextual reference "School of Rock")

This boy has only just moved to the area, and it is his first day of school. He is still exploring the town and getting to know his surroundings. He walks into the school confused and lost as it's an unfamiliar setting. He waits at the office to talk to the head of year about his scheduale and stuff. (Intertextual reference "10 Things I hate about You")

This light-hearted opening leaves narrative enigma as to why this film has been classed as a thriller film. There are no apparent sinister leanings.

Idea the Second.

This idea is more of a teen high school drama genre, and would have a lower BBFC rating as it wouldn't contain any graphic horror or violence.

Similar to the first idea, the film would open with a boy getting ready for school. This sequence would last much shorter than for "The Door", and would also include him leaving the house and walking around the town (possibly Leeds). He would be telling a story by voice-over, as though what he's thinking, rather than what he's saying. 

The film starts with the boy having moved to a new town, unsure of himself. He was always seen as a bit weird at his last school, but his Mum got a new job in Yorkshire. He used to live in London, where he hung around with a friendly crowd who never got into much trouble. In this school he makes friends with the wrong crowd, who do drugs and party every night. He falls in love with a girl, and does more and more stupid things in order to impress her. In the end she takes an accidental overdose at a party, gets rushed to hospital and dies.