Half term Progress

What have I done?

My group and I have done various things going towards our media course. One of the main things we have done is our continuity task. What this is is a short piece of film (roughly about 2 minutes maximum) which involves 3 editing techniques: match on action; shot/reverse shot; and the 180 degree rule. The continuity task is a good thing to have done because it teaches you simple filming and editing skills (for those who haven't done GCSE Media) and shows how to construct a linear story narrative in film. Another thing that I have done as part of my media course is analyse various opening credits in blockbuster films.

What have I learnt?

From this half term of learning about Media, I have learnt about how to make a successful opening for a movie. I have learnt this through looking at different movie opening which have received good critic acclaim such as: Seven; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Dawn of the Dead; and RocknRolla. Looking at these opening credits inspired me about the ideas towards our opening credits because each of these opening credits are unique with certain features of them which make them stand out and make them so critically acclaimed, so taking features of these opening credits will make our opening credits stand out and be memorable. An example of these features that make these particular film openings memorable include:

• The music - The music from these film openings made the opening memorable because for example: in the opening for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the music in this opening was dramatic and impactful, making the audience feel on edge and disturbed by the opening, keeping them intrigued. Another example is in the opening for Dawn of the Dead. The music in this film opening makes it memorable because the song used was Johnny Cash's "The Man comes around". This song made the opening memorable because the song lyrics relate to death and death being inevitable and the genre of "Dawn of the Dead" is horror/thriller with the main subject of it being zombies, who are remembered for eating human flesh and killing.

• The montage/editing - The use of montage in these film openings made them memorable because as an audience, it is easier to remember the genre of the film from the montage, or who is in the film to make it appealing for the audience. For example: in the film opening for RocknRolla, they use a montage of the actors with the actors in different poses representing their character in the film. This would make this opening memorable because the audience would remember their favourite actor from the montage and continue to watch the film, looking out for their favourite actor. Also, in the opening for Dawn of the Dead, they use a montage a clips of different destruction scenes (people running down the street; vans & lorries crashing into walls; zombies running after people; etc). This use of a montage makes this film opening memorable because it identifies the genre for the audience and keeps them interested as the montage makes them question why there is a clip of all these different destruction scenes in a movie about zombies and death.

What will I take forward to next half term?

As we go towards filming, I will take this knowledge of these opening credits and use them towards our own opening credits. I think this will benefit our group, as well as me, because the film "Dawn of the Dead" is a horror film, and our opening credits are for a horror film, so we can use elements from this to influence our own opening credits. Also, another point I will take forward to next half term is using the target audience research to influence what we include in our opening credits. I think this will benefit the opening credits because if we use our target audience research, then we can create the best set of opening credits suitable for our opening credits.