2011
HANNA

Action | Mystery | Thriller

A 16-year-old who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives.

Hanna (Ronan) is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a soldier; these come from being raised by her father (Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own (Ms. Blanchett). As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity

CHARACTERS

Hanna Heller

Erik Heller

Marissa Wiegler

CAMERA SHOTS

As shown in the beginning of the trailer, Hanna Heller was captured in which she asks to speak to Marissa Wiegler. The real Marissa Wiegler was unaware of who this girl is and what she is capable off. Therefore Marissa sent in someone else acting as herself to simply get some information from this girl. Here we have two/over the shoulder shot of Hanna Heller & the fake 'Marissa Wiegler' showing conversation between both & also emotion. This camera shot appears that the two have some sort of connection however we soon see that it was nothing but an act from Hanna.

In this fight scene with Erik Heller, we are firstly introduced to a low camera angle of him entering the scene, already this suggest that he in some way he is superior. As he enters, there is a continuous panning shot. Not only does this build tension however gives the audience an view of his surroundings, it sets the scene. 

As he walks down, the non diegetic music played builds tension, when the fights starts, the continuous panning, non diegetic & diegetic sounds work together giving a nice feel to the fast paced editing throughout.

OPENING SCENE

As you can see, in the opening scene the only information given to us is Film Company, Producer & name of the film 'Hanna'.

This opening scene is very effective as already audience are drawn into the film, they are able to suddenly see that this is no normal little girl & get a hint of her lifestyle.

Film Openings

2007

RUSH HOUR 3

Action | Comedy | Crime

After an attempted assassination on Ambassador Han, Lee and Carter head to Paris to protect a French woman with knowledge of the Triads' secret leaders.

The film opening here is similar to 'The taking of Pelham 123'. we can see the title of the film, director/cast, the setting & location has been established, audience meet the main character & there is a combination of Diegetic & Non Diegetic sounds.

from Donna

Hi Nerissa, Felix, Patrick and Remi

can you

write about the thriller of your choice (follow the pointer sheets I gave you) and add screen grabs
look up some blogs and find some that inspire you. make a note of these and we will discuss them after the holiday.
add a 'talk to camera' (you can film this on your phones) about your experience of the re-make. What did you learn from this and how will this prepare you for your final film title sequence?

Well done so far, please complete the above before our next lesson

Final product and comparison of original and own product

This is our final product for our remake of collateral.

We converted our editing piece from final cut pro into quick time so that we could post it on Blogger.

Our scene is about two females walking towards each other. They appear as if they have accidentally bumped into each other, but it was intentionally so they could do a bag swap.

The scene ends with the character Annie at the top of the staircase mysteriously looking at the camera to dramatize the scene. She then walks off followed by a dissolve.  

This is from the collateral original scene which is similar to ours. We have a close up of Annie in the beginning so that the audience know that she is one of the protagonists. 

Comparison of original to our own

This is an extreme close up. Audience feel closer to character  and are immediately attached to him. This camera shot demonstrates  that he is the protagonist. The prop of the sunglasses connote that he is trying to hide his identity.

Both people bump into each other. This is supposed to appear to the audience as an accident. This is intentional as there is a two shot showing the characters are both connected.

This is a close up of the iconic prop of the bag being picked up. There is a close up to suggest to the audience that a switch has been made.

This is similar to the collateral opening as both protagonists met at one point.

This is an extreme close-up of Annie she looks suspicious and the audience feel attached  to her.

This is a high angle shot of the bag.

The making of Collateral (Remake)

The making of Collateral (Remake)

After planning out our storyboard, we began our 45minutes of filming indoors.

Here are a few images showing us setting up the camcorder and tripod. 

We managed to set up very quickly and we adapted with the equipment well, it did

not take longer than five minutes allowing us to have more time to film. 

These images show us setting up our cast members working with the camera angles and 

testing the zoom and focus tools. 

Felix is setting up the camera settings whilst Annie and Christabel analyse the 

storyboard to prepare for the filming.

"AND CUT!"

These images show us in the process of filming and working with our

story board (right image)

Here are images of the remake in action. The image on the left shows

the cast and the camera man in action and the image on the right shows the

filming through the camera's perspective. 

"AND THATS A WRAP!"

This collection of images show our group packing up the equipment safely and working

together as a team to ensure the equipment is placed back carefully. 

 These are a few photos showing how much we really enjoyed making

the short remake. Our group had a really good feel of film productions and being on set.
We worked incredibly well as a team to achieve the final shots and this 

practical gives us an insight into our future project. 

Here are the screen shots of the editing process for our remake.


Difficulties that we faced and improvements:

• The match cuts were inaccurate which prevented us from creating seamless editing . This is a disadvantage because the audience can pick up on this fault
• We learnt that focusing every single shot is essential, otherwise we will end up with soft shots
• We struggled to follow the different shot types for example mid shots following the top of the head and shoulder
• In the process of filming we should have followed the story board that we planned previously, more precisely
• We didn't film enough shots and as a result the final piece includes several jump cuts, leading to a lack of continuity editing
• We developed an understanding of the important of pre-production planning. A detailed storyboard is a vital tool for a success film
• We learnt the importance of positioning the characters and the camera angles

The Making Of: Collateral

This is the making of our opening scene re-make 2004 film Collateral. Included are bloopers, etc.

The re-making of the Opening scene of: Collateral

This is a clip of us during the re-making of the opening scene in the 2004 film Collateral. Also included are a few "Bloopers".

Health & Safety Tutorial for Cameras

During the tutorial, we were introduced to a top of the range JVC G4-HM100E Camcorder. We were taught how to use the camera and other components in order to film our thriller opening. The equipment we were inducted on consisted of:

• JVC Camcorder
• Battery
• Memory Card
• Tripod

This is the JVC Camcorder. We were taught how to turn it on, begin recording, opening and closing the lens protector and other various things. These are the basics when it comes to recording videos. We were also shown how to place memory sticks into the camera correctly and how to remove them. We were shown how to place, replace and take out specified batteries out of the camcorder. We were shown how to correctly place the camcorder on a tripod in order to get a firm shot of our subjects. And finally, we were taught the basic filming mistakes so we would not make them ourselves. One example of one is the "Rule of Thirds".

"Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" is one of my all time favourite movies. It does indeed seem to follow quite a lot of the traditional conventions of a film opening. We are shown:

• The title of the film
• The Director & Cast (however the cast are shown later in the opening sequence compared to the establishment of the director)
• A mischievous, laid-back backing track. This shows that the movie will be a comedy
• The "New Line Cinema" logo, who are film distributors and producers.
• The setting is shown but only briefly. There is a brief wide shot of an area which is seconds later established as Hoboken, New Jersey.
• The two main protagonists are immediately introduced. However it is indicated that Harold (John Cho) is more significant than Kumar (Kal Penn) because he is introduced first.

The Health and Safety Tutorial

The camcorder

We learn about all the features of the camera such as how to insert and remove the battery, how to open and close the lens, where to put the SDHC card in and how to put it in and also how to work the tripod.


The SDHC card

We learnt that each group would get two cards that allow up to 1hour recording time on each card. the number on the card would correspond the harddrive number of the group. We also learnt how to put the card in the camera and which way the card should be inserted. If there was any problems with the card then we learnt that the problem could be that the lock switch is on which is helpful because we shouldn't have any problems that we cant sort for ourselves with the camera.


The Battery

We learnt where the battery goes in to the camera and also learnt hot to put it in and take it out properly.

FILM OPENINGS - PREZI

Soul Plane - Conventional Film Opening on Prezi

Research & Practice

The picture below

This is a wide shot of the group. It isn't correct because there is too much space above out heads. The picture should have been taken closer so it abides by the thirds rule.

The picture to the left

This is a close up body shot of Christabell's feet.

The picture  to the right

This is a long shot  which is also abiding by the rule of thirds. The problem with this picture is that the light from outside is putting the person in the picture in shadow therefore if we wanted to have a shot like this we would also have to 

have some front lighting  to counteract the back lighting.

The picture to the left

this is an over the shoulder shot of two people talking. this also abides by the rule of thirds.

The picture to the right

this is a picture of a person looking out of a window. This also shows that because there is background lighting , problems are caused with the lighting in the rest of the shot, therefore showing that  a shot near a window would also require having  some front lighting so that the rest of the shot isn't in darkness.

The shot above

This is a two shot that also reiterates the points of light and darkness shown in the picture above.

Conventions Of Film Openings

In most film openings there are a few things that happen or are shown. These things are;

• The title of the film
• The sense of pace of the film
• The director, cast etc of the film
• Music (non-diegetic sound) is played, this also sets the scene of the film and often mirrors the genre of the film
• The institutional institutional ident/logo for the production and distribution companies are shown
• The main characters may be shown/met
• There may be a combination of diegetic and non-diegetic sound

We watched the opening of 'Taking of Pelham 123' as an example.

The ident of Columbia pictures is clearly shown at the start. Then followed by a panning overview of the city (setting the scene) showing the audience where the film is set. We then get all the information such as the producer, production and distribution companies before the non-diegetic music is played. The main characters are then introduced by name as well as given more camera time than the extra's then the title of the film is shown.

Classic openings

Classic openings usually start with specific features. We watched the opening of the 1960's movie 'Psycho' which had these classical features. some of these features are;

• There is was an establishing shot of a city scape (setting the scene)
• It honed in on a building
• It had a long shot of the window where the scene would be set
• Then a close up on widow into the room characters where in

Health & Safety

The Camcorder

We learn about all the features of the camera such as how to insert and remove the battery, how to open and close the lens, where to put the SDHC card in and how to put it in and also how to work the tripod.


The SDHC card

We learnt that each group would get two cards that allow up to 1hour recording time on each card. the number on the card would correspond the hardrive number of the group. We also learnt how to put the card in the camera and which way the card should be inserted. If there was any problems with the card then we learnt that the problem could be that the lock switch is on which is helpful because we shouldn't have any problems that we cant sort for ourselves with the camera.

The Battery
We learnt where the battery goes in to the camera and also learnt hot to put it in and take it out properly.