Week 2: Brainstorming

Rise:

This group did well with the lighting and colors. Whoever held the camera was able to follow the action occurring without moving too fast that it seemed blurry, or making me feel dizzy (considering the equipment available). This group did especially well in post synchronization by adding the music listened to by the main character and raising the volume of that music when he put on his headphones. While this felt like it could be an actual film opening, I was quite confused as to why so many angles of a teenager playing soccer were taken when more time could have been allocated towards building a deeper story. I did feel like there was an awkward cut from the first character to the introduction of the second character, but at the end when the two meet without speaking and such emotion displayed, I wondered what their history was. 

Offline:

- The editing... They wrote "Staring" instead of "Starring" 

- Did not peak my interest, I had to watch a few times to understand because I kept getting distracted 

- Good use of music to try to build suspense

- Camera angles and lighting are not always up to par

- Sort of confusing the way it was laid out, I couldn't tell if the girl in the cage was the girl on her phone 

Dear Lover:

- The voiceover quality sounded muffled a bit at times, but overall good

- Storyline made sense 

- I liked the establishing shots

- The jumps from her past broken self and seemingly confident present were intriguing, made it seem like there was a story to tell

- the ending was okay, it sparked some interest in what had happened, but the script was a bit cliche

Dare to Thrill:

- The Title effects were cool 

-  The change of camera angles flowed well with the action and background music

- exciting, and fun 

- I was a bit confused with the end

- The lowering of music volume was a good transition into the end of fun and the start of something possibly horrible 

- Is there a dead body? what was in the trunk?

- the guy acting surprised when the trunk was opened was really weird

Always Watching:

- The acting is a little off and strange

- the zooming in the beginning scene from the stalker and his ex best friend was not smooth

- I love the choice of music, it builds suspense, making it seem like the patient is eventually going to burst into a violent panic or something

- The stalker looking in from the window scene was creepy and effective, probably the best part 

- I did not want to keep watching this opening because overall the plot was followed through in a weird manner, but the group did manage to capture my attention when the stalker was cut off right as he was about to tell his story to the therapist

The Blue Boar:

- The music is too loud at times and does not allow the character to be heard well enough, the transition between soft and loud whenever there is dialogue and not is kind of bad

- The girl's lip-syncing was not the best

- I have no clue what the point of this was, I think maybe to show how the girl disobeyed her mother and became happier because of it?

- Some of her facial expressions were really strange 

-  I am sooo CONFUSED!!

White Coat:

- The camera and sound quality are AMAZING

- Despite there being no dialogue, the music and what was shown to the audience like the lab guy experimenting, to the patient number and choice of ominous music/ lighting enhanced the opening.

- Not much information was given, but what was helped build mystery and a yearning for what was to occur

- The diegetic noises such as the banging and boiling water were good add ons to the change of scenes 

Stalker:

-camera quality okay

- Where Is The Sound?

- The sudden camera clicks were frightening and the head turn at the creepy music gave off the sense the main character was being watched, but I did not particularly enjoy the change no sound to blasting noise

- After the girl opened the note, sudden sharp, chilling music came in and I was frightened and jumped, so I guess the group was able to engage the audience by making them feel fear as does the main character. 

- Even as this group effectively manipulated the extreme silence to scare the audience when adding in eerie chords, I didn't like how there was no noise other than when creepy music came on. There was simply too much silence.

Nostalgia:

- Leading up to the title NOSTALGIA was pretty good, but then the camera began to get really shaky

- I was a bit confused on the reasoning between the lady's side profile taken to the young girl's side profile, it didn't really flow or make sense to me (I understand that it was a jump from her now to her past self because of the title, but otherwise it was a strange jump)

- The background music fit the intended effect

- I was not left wanting more

Lost and Found:

- The transition in music from the introduction to the boy with headphones could have been better

- Sound quality was okay

- As soon as the main character began speaking I lost interest in the film. He was so monotone and what he was saying was what elementary students would have written in a short story assignment. I was interested though, when he said "but I feel like something's missing"

- This group also failed to notice starring was spelled "staring" in their opening

- I thought the boy and the girl who had bumped into each other had a more significant relationship than just strangers who bumped into each other, but as the film opening progressed only the girl was focused on

- I was confused between the boy and girl's connection 

- What was the point of the girl being told to work and then going off to work?

- If the pulling factor was supposed to be what the girl made it in to, it did not work. Perhaps if there was a greater significance tied to her acceptance then the film opening would have been interesting, but it seemed as if the group last minute added that piece in

All in all, watching these film openings have shown me the dos and don'ts of filming a short clip.  Even the smallest detail in filming such as background music volume, or diegetic sounds can impact the overall effect of the opening. It is also clear that acting should not be taken lightly as it can come off as awkward and ruin the story one is trying to tell. Many of the films that didn't do so great lacked a purpose or focus, or they looked like random short clips thrown together that did not flow well. I know now that remembering the wow factor that should leave the audience wanting more needs to be taken into account in every video clip. Editing is especially important because the emotions that people associate to a certain musical phrase deeply influences what the audience perceives as happy, sad, frightening, and so on. Keeping in mind what I emotions I want to evoke are based widely off of sound.