- The first screenshot shows the title of our opening and the name of the production studio. I chose the slightly cracked and falling apart font for Mendacity to foreshadow the crumbling of Mitch's empire. I also chose this font because it attracts the audience's attention due to it looking different and unusual to other titles. The background is red to foreshadow the bloodshed that will ensue later on in the film when Mitch's mob starts to slowly degrade. The bloodshed is also foreshadowed by the bloodsplatter that drops when the title is revealed.
- The second shot is a shot that shows the setting in our opening. Our opening uses 3 different locations but we don't use long drawn out establishing shots as we want to keep pace when the shots change. We also include characters in each of our shots showing setting as we found the time limit tight enough as it is. The shot shows an open wooded area to show how far from society we are and how alone we are which also shows how vulnerable Me and Matt are for a possible attack.
- The third shot shows Harry in his costume and one of the main props in our opening. We thought it was the best for all of the characters in our opening to be wearing formal suits to keep with the genre of the film being a crime to show we are from a formal well organised mob. The fact that all of our characters are dressed in suits also makes the opening more realistic as it is similar to other crime films such as "Scarface" or "Pulp Fiction". The baseball bat Harry is carrying is very important for our opening to work. We felt that if Harry had a gun or knife it would not be as hardhitting to the audience and both knives and guns are used all the time in crime films whereas a baseball bat is less common and makes the brutal attacks much more personal which adds some background to Harry's character as it shows him as a ruthless killer that might enjoy using a baseball bat to perform beatings to other weapons.
- The fourth shot shows a piece of camerawork and editing that i was very pleased with. The shot shows the fade of the sky that blends into the sky of the next shot to show the change of scene. I think this shot works well to stitch a difficult scene change together. This technique is rarely used in crime films but i think it works well, i got the idea for the camerawork from a BMX riders video when the camera panned to the sky and merged seamlessly into the next shot and i thought it would be great for our opening. The editing was easy for this shot as i spent so long making sure the camerawork was right that i only hade to put a simple cross-fade between the two shots to make it seamlessly merge onto the next shot.
- The fifth shot shows the opening credits that fade in and out of shots when Mitch is getting ready. The font of the credits is very typical of a crime film as it is easy to read and simple to show that the film is very straight and doesn't mess about. The font also has sharp edges to show the unforgiving nature of a crime film in that if you make one mistake your dead. The titles fade in and out of shots make it easy for the audience to read the credits as the transition is not sudden which might put the audience off as they are takenaback for a few seconds. The fading credits is also used in various film openings to keep the opening flowy and laidback rather than sudden and high paced, which we use to show Mitch's morning routine is laidback showing that he has no troubles in his life. The titles are also contrasting colours to make them stand out and be easy to read for the viewer.
- The sixth shot is the first glimpse the viewer gets of the case which is main part of the opening and a key factor in the story for the whole film. The story of our film is very similar to various crime films in that Mitch is a kingpin mobster and Me and Matt are henchman, the case has very important goods in it and me and matt lose it to an ex-member of the mob who got blackmailed and is out for revenge. Due to Me and Matt losing the case the mob goes under and we follow Mitch try and regain his status by completing a huge job. The opening sets up the story by showing Mitch in his home looking laid back with everything going his way. The opening then shows me and Matt collecting the case and encountering the ex mob member and ultimately losing the case which foreshadows the collapse of Mitch's empire. The opening is also similar to other crime films showing a mob at it's highest point and then quickly collapsing then having to come back from nothing, such as "Scarface".
- The seventh shot is a shot from inside the case looking out at Me and Matt. This shot is not used often but is used in one film (Pulp Fiction) where the whole film revolves around one case. The shot shows the genre of the film by showing both Me and Matts costumes which show the audience the genre is crime because it follows the conventions of a sophisticated mob being formal and caring about looking good despite what job they are completing. The shot also shows Matt standing over me as i look into the case which also shows the audience the genre is crime because stereotypically in crime films the henchman are in pairs or more, one person does the work and one watches for other people looking intimidating to allow work to get completed without interruptions.
- The eighth shot is Mitch getting ready in the morning. This shot is the first shot the audience see of Mitch and that is intended because it is the first character they interact with so naturally want to find more out about him and because he is shown doing normal activites when he is getting ready in the morning the audience can relate to him and a connection is made between Mitch and the audience. This technique to introduce characters in crime films is not widely used, normally in crime films the characters in the opening are introduced by making the audience intrigued with something about the character or what they are saying. A good example of this is in the Godfather opening which is just a very slow reverse zoom from Al Pacino's face but it does make the audience intrigued to find out more about this character. I however do think this technique works well for our opening as it quickly creates a link between Mitch and the audience which is good as it makes Mitch seem like a good guy when his empire crumbles.
- The ninth shot is of the crash zoom used to show Harry looking menacing but also show the viewer the length of the alleyway. Many crime films use tracking shots and follow characters through scenes (one being the most obvious is when the camera follows John Travolta through the burger bar in Pulp Fiction) however because our opening was made on a very very tight budget we obviously could not invest in top of the range camera equipment however we still wanted to exaggerate Harry's presence so I thought up the idea of using a crash zoom which works just as effectively as a track would.
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