Evaluating other students work

Brotherhood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKaCBbfkrFM&list=PLA3F5E2FBDCB81F78

I have chosen an AS media studies thriller opening sequence video called Brotherhood to evaluate because its different to a lot of the other thriller sequences as its not a horror. It contains a lot of different shots and angles and the editing is done really well; the music throughout is incidental, keeping the tone and pace of the opening quite calm but speeding up and increasing in volume when they want to make it more dramatic or emotional.

The first thing we see is the production company name 'BOSS LIGHT MEDIA' accompanied by no sound, its a blue screen that turns to black and then the titles sets on fire and fades into ashes floating away which makes it look very professional.
 

 

It begins with an incredible shot of clouds to start with, it has been edited so that it is sped up so we can see different cloud formation; it makes a lot of sense because in the next clip the character wakes up from a  dream and I think clouds can symbolise that sort of weightless, dreamy state you could be in when you sleep even though he wakes up in a panic. This is shown by his facial expression and the fact that he holds a gun; pointing it around the room shown through jump cuts which shows a bit of disorientation and the fact he is panicked and has anxiety. It is a good shot because its close enough to see his emotion on his face which enable the audience to think "what's happened?" "why is he so anxious?" so we feel curious about his character.
 

A little part of the clip from when he wakes up are the credits which appear (as in the picture on the bottom left) fading on and off screen; stating the two actors in the clip as well as who produced it and another reference to Boss Light Media. The credits don't overlap the character, they're always in a space that's not too occupied with movement which makes it easy to read.

 

For the next 20 or so seconds there are jump cuts of him getting dressed and a mid shot of his legs/trousers and him attaching the gun to his belt which shows he needs security and that he's potentially dangerous. Followed by close up jump cuts of him sorting through lots of empty cigarette packets which to me makes it seem like the character is stressed out because of the amount of boxes there are; I think these shots are good because it tells us information about his character. Then there's a high angle shot of him walking down the stairs followed by a close up of him putting his shoes on, showing us he is going out. Then a mid shot of him, gun in hand, leaving the house, looking around suspiciously. All of these shots put together speed up the process of him getting ready to leave to house; all of the cut aways focusing on things the character is doing, makes it look professional and keeps the continuity of his day/routine clear and gives us little details about the character.

 

As he travels walking on a pathway with a cut away to him running with the gun, then across the road; which was nicely edited to make it seem like he carelessly walked not paying attention to what's around him; then him walking across fields in a wide shot using fades while he walks, skipping the distance otherwise it would be very boring to watch for the audience. Once he gets to his final place there is an over the shoulder shot of him looking out in the distance to the buildings and the music then gets louder and a little more up tempo which makes me think something will happen which it does and even though this was not planned it started raining which actually made the scene more dramatic and the camera made it look clear which I personally think is brilliant. This is a good reason to not stick completely to a story board because sometimes something can happen and it could make the opening so much better than your original idea.

 

Once he gets startled and stands up pointing the gun around there is a nice close up of his face capturing the emotion in that moment. The camera from a side angle still in the close up moves across slightly which makes it look dramatic and sad. The sound then stops in a fade and the title "BROTHERHOOD" appears in white on a plain black screen. This is followed by a completely different scene of another day, him reading the news paper having breakfast, a complete change of perspective for the character who looks fine, like he's just having a normal, happy day and the lighting is a lot warmer which contributes to that sort of happy tone.

 

Overall I think that this thriller opening is brilliant, the editing is spot on, keeping continuity and the camera shots make it seem dramatic and a little bit tense but good because it captures a lot of emotion from the character. The sound is effective in terms of keeping the emotion sad and then happy for the next day; there isn't any dialogue either which helps it look like an opening and we don't have to see how good the character is as an actor although with the close ups of facial expression we see that he is. I think that this opening would get full marks because the filming is great, the editing is perfect as well as the mise en scene which make him look like a normal every day person.