Student film openings
Evaluation
My Mother and I
What went well
What I liked about this film opening was the narrative, the story was different to other film openings which made it capturing to watch. The ideas were clever how they used a house lounge to illustrate no change over 30 years as the setting was the same and the board game was still sat on the table how it was many years ago. This presented an eerie atmosphere which makes the audience think it may have something to do with thriller, the music and titles used also show this.
The setting used was good and the music at the start caught my attention believing something spooky was about the happen. The use of the television was also effective because the silence apart from the television created suspense I also liked how the sound of the man talking on it faded as the character walked away.
To improve
The setting used was good and the music at the start caught my attention believing something spooky was about the happen. The use of the television was also effective because the silence apart from the television created suspense I also liked how the sound of the man talking on it faded as the character walked away.
To improve
The genre was unclear in this opening scene as the music gave an impression of horror or thriller but then the acting followed suggested something different. I think the titles could have been improved and could have maybe added more, they could have done by using the setting and surroundings by adding titles onto objects in the room. When the man is introduced I think the part where he walks upstairs takes too long as it got a bit repetitive so they could have cut down or sped it up. Even though the music is capturing, it doesn't fit the genre so using a different sound could have helped.
Editing and camera
I liked how shots were used within this video as there were sudden changes and swapping between views of the house, this showed the family home setting. Close ups were used, especially within the first scene where the young boy was shown, a close up is used when the mother says 'Will you look after me when im older' I liked this because it then leads on to the rest of the story showing how this boy is important 30 years later. Tracking shots are used as he walks upstairs and a static shot is used before this in the lounge.
Editing was used to add titles for this film opening, they could have spent more time editing these as there is room for improvement, other than that editing was good and was used well to lead onto next shots, I liked how fading was used at the end of some scenes.
Grade
Editing and camera
I liked how shots were used within this video as there were sudden changes and swapping between views of the house, this showed the family home setting. Close ups were used, especially within the first scene where the young boy was shown, a close up is used when the mother says 'Will you look after me when im older' I liked this because it then leads on to the rest of the story showing how this boy is important 30 years later. Tracking shots are used as he walks upstairs and a static shot is used before this in the lounge.
Editing was used to add titles for this film opening, they could have spent more time editing these as there is room for improvement, other than that editing was good and was used well to lead onto next shots, I liked how fading was used at the end of some scenes.
Grade
As there are both good and bad points for this film opening I would give it a high level three. I think it followed many points in level three but lacked some in level four so given this, I would say around 42 marks out of 60.
Luna
What went well
What I really liked about this opening was the narrative, I loved the used of settings the people used such as London and the beach and how they used different times of day as some scenes were in darkness and some were in the day. The use of many settings in the film made it much more INTERSETING to watch as they switched from inside to outside and wore different clothing. I liked the music they used as it fitted the filming nicely, I then really liked how the film reversed back on all the events they did to show how the two people met. The genre was really clear in this film opening which is good as it would immediately attract the audience they are looking for. The actors were also really accurate on facial expressions when in every scene which made it even better.
To improve
Grade
I would give this opening a high grade of level four at around 58 marks as there wasn't much to say to improve, everything they needed was included so a high mark is deserved.
Michael
What went well
I really liked the narrative for this opening scene, I liked the change from a typical heart broken girl to a heartbroken boy which made it a lot more entertaining to watch. The music choice was good as it fits the mood of the character which was also shown by what the boy did, I liked the simple choices made where the desk was just a normal bedroom setting for the character. The continued camera movement across the location was good as it showed how time was moving slowly for the character and made the scene flow smoothly. I also really liked the titles added to the clip as they looked professional which added a great finishing touch to the original well developed opening scene.
To improve
The only critisms I could make for this opening scene is the acting, more sad facial expressions could be used to show how upset the boy was as at times he didn't look as sad as a person experiencing a breakup. Apart from this everything else was really good, titles could have been used even better by adding them to surroundings like on objects but were still good.
Grade
I would give this film opening a grade of level four as it followed all the good points on the mark scheme, I would give it a total of around 56 as it did lack a few points on receiving full marks.