Blink Murder

The Main Task

Blink Murder is the name we gave to the film that we made the opening sequence for as part of our main task. The brief was to create a 2 minute opening sequence for a film of any genre, including titles and a soundtrack, with no copyrighted materials. Please click the HQ option at the side to view in high quality and improve your viewing experience! Enjoy : )

The Prelim - Ugliest Jumper Ever

The Preliminary Exercise

This is our preliminary exercise, which we called Ugliest Jumper Ever. The aim was to create a sequence demonstrating good continuity techniques, and had to show match on action, shot/reverse-shot, and the 180-degree rule. The brief stated that it had to be 30 seconds long, and comprise of a character opening a door, crossing a room, and sitting down in a chair opposite another character with whom s/he exchanges a few lines of dialogue. Again, please click the HQ option for a better viewing experience!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Extended 'Atonement' Trailer Analysis



I think this trailer (for Joe Wright's Atonement, 2007) is really effective, and the different shot types and distances are a big part of creating such an impact.
The trailer opens with an ELS of a large country mansion, used as an establishing shot to reveal the setting and the characters likely to be involved.
The camera tilts down towards the garden and there is a fade into the next shot, emphasising the size of the garden. This is an ELS and shows two girls
lying beside each other on the lawn.
0:10 is a high-key lit MCU of a pretty young woman, one of the protagonists, wearing a bathing suit and cap, looking to her right, perhaps to or away from someone.
At this distance we can see her expression, a little of her costume, and, from the background and the previous shot, we can deduce she is swimming in a lake.
This then fades to a LS of a bathroom, with low-key lighting, and we see a man sit up in the bath. There is a cut (rather than a fade, to signify it's the same
scene) to a MCU of the man lying back down in the bath and looking at the ceiling or out of the window. At this distance the audience can see his expression,
which is quite purposeful. He is evidently another protagonist in the story.
0:16 is a MS of the same young man, intently typing on an old typewriter. From what we have seen so far we can assume the film is set in the past. This shot allows
the audience to see not only the man, but, being from a side angle, the typewriter and the background clutter of the room too. The room is quite dark, and he is
wearing a white vest. There is then an ECU to the paper with the letters being typed onto it.
There's a cut back to the girl who is diving in the lake - it's an ELS in order to show this.
In the next shot, a new character is introduced properly (she's the other girl who was sitting on the lawn) with an ECU. She's facing the camera but looking down
at something we can't see. Presumably it's what's in the next shot - it's an ELS showing the young woman stepping out of the fountain wearing a skin-coloured slip, while the man stands in front of her watching. His back is to the camera and he's dressed in a shirt and trousers. Here, the ELS shows us the whole picture that the girl looking out of the window is seeing, so we know what's going on.
We then see a MCU of the woman, frowning slightly (presumably) at the man.
The trailer continues this way - there is almost no dialogue, apart from at 0:35-38, 0:52-55.
A wide range of shots is used throughout, e.g. an ECU at 0:33, a LS at 0.40, and an ELS at 1:37.

There is a large variety of shots put together and shown in quick succession which gives the audience a lot of information to take in, but doesn't give away too much of the story, instead enticing the audience to see the film to find out more.
As well as variety in shot distance, the director has made use of different angles and camera movements too.
For example, the second shot of the trailer, at 0:07, is a crane shot. At 0:45, a high angle is used, as it is from the perspective of the girl looking out of a window. On the other hand, 1:24 shows a low angle shot.
The trailer also demonstrates the use of pans and tilts, such as at 1:13-18, where a tilt is used effectively to slowly reveal something to the audience.
Towards the end, a lot of the shots are also slowed slightly, making them more dramatic and having a greater impact upon the audience.

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