Filming Techniques- 180 degree rule

Match on Action

Definition of Match on Action:

Different types of shots connected to make the movement seem continues,these edits usually take place in the middle of an action.

what I Learnt from Opening Sequences

•My  media product was an opening sequence to a film. We were asked to produce a 2 minute piece of film, which enabled us to incorporate many conventions and techniques used in real media products. It became apparent that opening sequences are created and designed to establish characterisation, setting, genre and narrative. They often convey the visual style and ideology too. We watched a number of opening sequences from well known films, such SE7VEN, and the texas chainsaw massacre. They all used different techniques to be aimed at different audiences. I used typical conventions to portray the characterisation such as costume, props and performance to give the characters a sense of realism to unfold both them and the plot. It’s important to establish the characters and their attributes to the viewer in any film. My opening sequence uses the forms and conventions of a successful media product. This was enabled through the initial research of opening sequences carried out at the beginning of the course. Throughout the research I drew particular attention to what the main outcomes were of an opening sequence. I concluded that an opening sequence must be dramatic in order to gain instant attention and interest from the audience, to persuade them to want to watch the rest of the film. In both modern and historical media products, in particular the film industry, there are constant themes that run throughout. When constructing research on a variety of opening sequences around the genre of thriller, constant themes occurred. The setting was instantly established, introducing shots in which portrayed the genre and the characteristics stereotypical of thrillers, and finally opening up the narrative; leaving the audience wanting to watch the entire film.

Typical to opening sequences, the setting is immediately established within the first few seconds/minutes of the film. Psychological thrillers create an aroma in which the audience feels uneasy and I believe my opening sequence has achieved this. I also discovered that there are a variety of characters in which are common in thrillers.  These can be characters such as the ’victim’, the targeted character, and the ‘Perpetrator’, the character performing the attack. Therefore, we felt we had to use this convention of a thriller, but also developed both in order to raise even more tension. The final aspect of an opening sequence is the development of a plot and the fact that it needs to leave the audience wanting to watch the rest of the film as they want to find out the reasons or consequences for the actions they have just seen. Bryan Singer’s ‘The Usual Suspects’ shows how the narrative can be used to full effect in order to immediately draw in the viewer and create a ‘cliff-hanger’. A variety of characters are seen on a ship, yet only two are alive. You never see the face of one character and the other actually blows up the ship, killing himself in the process. Therefore, only one character knows why, how and who destroyed the ship; the audience are left with a lot of questions that the rest of the film needs to answer. We have completely taken this convention on board as there is no idea of who the attacker is, or why the girl is attacked, which leaves the audience in confusion; wanting to know why the girl was attacked and what was the consequences of the killers actions.