Film Trailers and Film Opening Sequences

The differences between film trailers and film opening sequences is essential to know for the production of the opening sequence that my production company will be making. Here is a list of features prominant in film trailers and film opening sequences.

Film Trailers:

- Gives information about the film

- Fade to black editing techniques are often used

- Shows a montage of clips from the film

- Shows sections of the film that will grab audiences and encourage them to watch the film at the cinima

- Title of the film is shown at the end of the clip with voice over and actors names

- The trailer will have a tag line e.g "My time as a human was over. But I've never felt more alive.
I was born to be a vampire." from Twilight Breaking Dawn part 1

- Institutions logo is shown at the start

Film opening sequence:

- Details of cast and crew and institution producing the film

- Title is shown at the start after the institutes and the actors names have been shown

- An indication to character or character type

- Indication of historical period

- Information regarding mood and tone

- Information about genre

- Questions the viewer finds intriguing

- Patterns and types of editing that will be echoed in the remainder of the film

- mise en scene and cinematography that will be echoes or elaborated upon later in the film

- Sets the film up

- Titles /Credits may be integrated into the setting of the film

Here is a film trailer of Les Miserables to illistrate the difference between film trailers and opening sequences

The film trailer shows a montage of clips from the film to create tension and excitement in the audience.

Here is the typical tag line at the end of the trailer.
During the trailer there is a lot of fades to black. The editing is fast and creates tension and suspense; typical of a trailer.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Our short film shows continuity editing well as there is logical flow between shots and there is smooth and sheek transitions between the frames. In continuity editing, techniques like match on action, the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot are normally used as they help to illistrate the narrative of the story, allowing the audience to follow the storyline without confusion.

All shots were placed in chronological order and each one flowed smoothly to the next to make sure continuity was continued throughout our short film. We have also used all of these continuity techniques during our short film and we have used things such as transitions between shots and different camera angles to emphasise continuity and to fit with our genre of Super-Hero. All of the shots we used showed continuity because we used shots like the point of view shot and over the shoulder shots that give the audience an idea of space and how the scene is composed.

We demonstrate a match on a action during the scene where the actor walks through the door and we see him opening the door from one side and coming through the other side. By using match on action we are able to convey to the audience a sense of continuity and make the scene flow. This is used to ensure the audience understands what is happening in the film.

we have used shot reverse shot during the bit where the male superhero is telling his mum that he is a Superhero. this shows the audience the emotion on each actors face and fits well in the scene helping the audience to see the struggle in the Superhero telling his mum.

 We incorporated the 180 degree editing rule to prevent the audience from feeling sick or disoriantated during viewing. this was shown in the male always being on the left and the female always being on the right. the pan form right to left also didnt go beyond 180 degrees.

 Our group worked very well together. at the start of the planning we were distracted and didnt focus enough on the task in hand but by the production stage we were focused and managed to complete the product in time. There were a few pre-production issues. one of these was one of the planned actors didn't turn up for filming so I had to stand in for them. This meant I wasn't as involved in the filming as I would have liked to been which is something I am going to improve on during the next filming stage we do.

If we were to film this piece again many improvements would be made to enhance the film quality and audience enjoyment. We would film the piece in a diffenet location to make the film look more professional and more realistic. Filming on the school grounds created a very unprofessional looking piece. We would have used more non-diagetic sound throughout the piece to build up more tension.

 Our planning was very poor. This meant our film was not as good as it could have been. to improve the planning more background research would be made, the timeline would be more creative and the script would be more detailed and directions for the actor would have been written down.

 We used transitions at the start of the piece and at the end of it and only used cuts during the actual film. I feel that transitions would have made the film a better quality and have more audience enjoyment. This will be improved on in the next production.

I have learnt alot about the editing software and tips and tricks to use. we filmed each scene three times and so edited a lot to get the best bits into the film.
 I have learnt a lot about the use of cameras and computer software during the course of this film production task. I have learnt how to edit clips to a higher degree than I knew before meaning I can edit faster and more efficently.

Preliminary video

Script

THE CONFESSION

Int: in an interrogation room, it’s a grey looking room with no light windows

HERO:

  Mum, I have something to tell you

MUM:

 What’s wrong?

HERO:

 I don’t know if you will be annoyed

MUM:

I won’t just tell me

HERO:

Mum … I’m a super hero

MUM:

 What?

HERO:

I’m a superhero mum.

Shot List

Shot list

·         Medium shot on the main male character

·         Close up on the characters feet

·         Close up on characters face

·         Medium shot

·          Close up of feet

·         Close up of characters back of head

·         The pan across to door

·         Close up on the door handle

·         Medium shot on character with match on action

·         Panning across to table

·         Close up (shot reverse shot)

·         Close up close up (shot reverse shot)

·         Wide angle

·         Over the shoulder shot

End.

Story Board

 

This story board will help us because we can clearly see the order of our film and how it will run.

Preliminary Task: Choosing Our Genre

We have decided to create a Superhero themed clip because we feel we can include tension and suspense through our camera shots, storyline and editing to create an enjoyable piece of film. creating the short film will greatly help me when creating my opening sequence in editing, filming and planing skills.

Candidate number and name

Joe Waters
7536