I like your variety of establishing shots. I think fewer, held longer, may be more effective? I particularly like the still shot behind the moving leaf, very nice. The shot with the jogger is also great, just could have been held longer. Choose a style for your establishing shots and for continuity, stick to it. if you're going to do moving / panning shots, do them all like that. If they're going to be still, in one position, make them all like that.
A few more shots like close-ups of main characters to show terror/ fear etc would have really helped the audience connect with the victim and build the suspense of the scene. Even meeting him before the scene starts with close-up's of his face while being dragged to the bridge could have helped set the scene for us a bit better? Definitely for the length of the opening sequence, having fewer establishing shots would have been better.
Thinking about building suspense, your music worked well, it shows a strong relationship between the visual elements and the sound you've chosen . A note for next time, think about dynamic shifts in music at poignant parts of the scene. Music shifts / changes to reflect an intense part of the scene / action of what's happening on screen helps to progress the audience through the levels of tension. This mood shift / gear shift would have been good to have been around the time when the victim is brought face to face with his friends at the point of the swap, maybe?
Thinking about versimilitude is also really important - how believable is your storyline? I feel like slight tweaks in the narrative would have helped the audience be absorbed into the world of the story - not questioning things like why Bridgette checked the Money and says 'it's real' then when Hunter's character checks it, he sees straight away it's not. Also little details like the victim and his friends not running away for their lives instead they hang out on the bridge after the hand over. Think about this for your next one. In real life, what would be happening? Get some feedback at your storyboard / script stage so people can point out whether the action seems realistic.
Plan to also get a better variety of shots for your next one. Your shots here are well done and your placement of characters / location and framing of it all, is great! If you added in a few more closeup shots it would have given you a whole lot more to play around with in editing. This is hugely important for a thriller, being a convention of a thriller, you don't usually see everything in wide shots / long shots because usually you want the audience to connect with the vulnerable characters / the victim and / or the bad guys by seeing facials and emotion conveyed through the close-up shots.
That bridge scene, as the climax, also needed to be directed a bit better so that it was an impacting, scary thing to watch. You did well with the footage you had in the end, but even re-shooting parts of it with close-up's / other shots so you had quicker shots and played around the making a 'scuffle' scene in editing, could have really ramped up how scary that part was. That was just missing a bit
Great Title reflecting the theme and action for the film. Love it.
Another note would be to think very carefully about the effects you use and make them really match stylistically with your theme/ style of your movie. I would look really intentionally at the effects you choose for your next one. Set a style / mood / theme for your thriller sub-genre (get some inspiration for this with other thriller movies) and get a really coherent feel for your foundation portfolio.
Overall this is a much better opening sequence than PT 1 and you're learning valuable tools throughout this process. I'm looking forward to seeing you refine these skills even more, for your Foundation Portfolio :)
Hi Chloe
ReplyDeleteOverall Score: 15/20
I like your variety of establishing shots. I think fewer, held longer, may be more effective? I particularly like the still shot behind the moving leaf, very nice. The shot with the jogger is also great, just could have been held longer. Choose a style for your establishing shots and for continuity, stick to it. if you're going to do moving / panning shots, do them all like that. If they're going to be still, in one position, make them all like that.
A few more shots like close-ups of main characters to show terror/ fear etc would have really helped the audience connect with the victim and build the suspense of the scene. Even meeting him before the scene starts with close-up's of his face while being dragged to the bridge could have helped set the scene for us a bit better? Definitely for the length of the opening sequence, having fewer establishing shots would have been better.
Thinking about building suspense, your music worked well, it shows a strong relationship between the visual elements and the sound you've chosen . A note for next time, think about dynamic shifts in music at poignant parts of the scene. Music shifts / changes to reflect an intense part of the scene / action of what's happening on screen helps to progress the audience through the levels of tension. This mood shift / gear shift would have been good to have been around the time when the victim is brought face to face with his friends at the point of the swap, maybe?
Thinking about versimilitude is also really important - how believable is your storyline? I feel like slight tweaks in the narrative would have helped the audience be absorbed into the world of the story - not questioning things like why Bridgette checked the Money and says 'it's real' then when Hunter's character checks it, he sees straight away it's not. Also little details like the victim and his friends not running away for their lives instead they hang out on the bridge after the hand over. Think about this for your next one. In real life, what would be happening? Get some feedback at your storyboard / script stage so people can point out whether the action seems realistic.
Plan to also get a better variety of shots for your next one. Your shots here are well done and your placement of characters / location and framing of it all, is great! If you added in a few more closeup shots it would have given you a whole lot more to play around with in editing. This is hugely important for a thriller, being a convention of a thriller, you don't usually see everything in wide shots / long shots because usually you want the audience to connect with the vulnerable characters / the victim and / or the bad guys by seeing facials and emotion conveyed through the close-up shots.
That bridge scene, as the climax, also needed to be directed a bit better so that it was an impacting, scary thing to watch. You did well with the footage you had in the end, but even re-shooting parts of it with close-up's / other shots so you had quicker shots and played around the making a 'scuffle' scene in editing, could have really ramped up how scary that part was. That was just missing a bit
Great Title reflecting the theme and action for the film. Love it.
Another note would be to think very carefully about the effects you use and make them really match stylistically with your theme/ style of your movie. I would look really intentionally at the effects you choose for your next one. Set a style / mood / theme for your thriller sub-genre (get some inspiration for this with other thriller movies) and get a really coherent feel for your foundation portfolio.
Overall this is a much better opening sequence than PT 1 and you're learning valuable tools throughout this process. I'm looking forward to seeing you refine these skills even more, for your Foundation Portfolio :)