Song Choice selection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjydOI4MEIw - Scene where Nathan kills Hao Zheng / scene where hes walking towards bathroom. Alternatively, where hes on the way to the meeting interluding with the monologue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DohRa9lsx0Q&feature=related - Scene where Nathan kills Hao Zheng / scene where hes walking towards bathroom. Alternatively, where hes on the way to the meeting interluding with the monologue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO-fkzxcBWY&feature=fvst - Hao Zheng dying. A more sad, dark song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gar9E2tEA1Q

The main theme song for the trailer. Play in the background quietly for monologue parts while picking up for scenes focusing on the visuals.



Examples of film openings

A film opening is meant to grab the audiences attention, make the audience start thinking about the plot of the film and introduce the audience to some key characters. Usually, this is done by having some sort of mini storyline to gain the audiences interest. This is done perfectly in the film "The Dark Knight".

The genre of the film can normally be detected from a film opening, which is what I'll be trying to achieve with mine. For example, with the above you can already tell it will be a crime action/thriller film, whereas the opening of my film will let the audience know they're in for a psychological crime film.

In the above, the music helps set the tone for the genre of a crime thriller. The music is tense and also helps grab the audiences attention and build interest.

This is a very useful effect that I will definitely take into consideration. The non diagetic sound or lack of can help build tension and suspense which will help to make the opening interesting.

Music Selection

Notes: Possible song choices for scenes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjydOI4MEIw - Scene where Nathan kills Hao Zheng / scene where hes walking towards bathroom. Alternatively, where hes on the way to the meeting interluding with the monologue


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DohRa9lsx0Q&feature=related - Scene where Nathan kills Hao Zheng / scene where hes walking towards bathroom. Alternatively, where hes on the way to the meeting interluding with the monologue

Final Decision

I have now decided to create the opening of a film. The premise will be around an up and coming drug distributer who increasingly becomes aware and accepting of his violent, psychopathic tendencies. The film will be a thriller, but with elements of black comedy in it.


The whole opening will last around 4-5 minutes and show one of the characters violent outbursts so the audience come to terms with what kind of person he is. Numerous monologues will also be used to illustrate his thoughts of the situation around him and establish his opinion of the world around him.

Ideas for Project

My ideal media choice would be a movie opening scene, however I'll be keeping an open mind and being flexible so that I can work properly with my project partners, Tanya and Kadesha.

A film opening scene seems the ideal choice for me at the moment because of the situation we're in. Being A2 media students obviously means our available resources are greatly rrestricted, therefore utilising acting skills and camera angles will likely be important. A film trailer normally focuses on the most exciting parts of the film which means that there is likely to be the use of special effects and technology, which we will likely not have the budget to cover.

The film opening scene should attract the audience and keep them wanting to continue watching. It should get the audiences attention while introducing some of the main chracters. The acting will be vital here so we'll be redoing these opening shots numerous times until the acting seems dynamic and smooth enough to use.

Here's an example of some fairly entertaining opening scenes that mantains a fairly low budget

Comedy - Superbad

Ideas for song choice

After talking to the rest of my group, I decided to get a shortlist of possible song choices.

My ideal song choice would be lovely day by Bill Withers

The song is extremely lively and catchy which would mean making the video entertaining and funny would be extremely easy. HOWEVER, a major bonus would be the fact that it is so lively and energetic, a video contradicting it could be hugely successful in challenging conventional expectations. It's important we do this properly so thte audience is not confused and understands what we're trying to do, but means that the video would have to be linear to the song but in a different genre.

Goodwin's Theory

Goodwin's theory of the music video is a basic format that all music videos follow, with certain characteristics present in all songs.

The first song I chose was Heatwave by Wiley, as a number of these principles are quite obvious in the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qimiWfZAtXw

One of these is the obvious links between lyrics and visuals. Just 7 seconds into the song the lyrics "sunshine in your face" coincidide with a lighting effect that is meant to imitate the sun shining on the women in the video

Another example is at 1:52 of the song where the artist, Wiley, says "I wanna see an ice cream vibe on the road" and a female is holding an ice cream cone during the video.

This is a clear link between the images seen in the video and the lyrics, used to back up and reinfornce what the artist is saying.

The objectification of women can be seen numerous times in the video, as shown below

Exposing the female body suggestively

An example of the objectification of women, as they are all seen dancing around in a circle around the artist. The artist is seen as the focus of their attention. This is also an example of voyeurism, as there are other characters looking at the artist and showing interest in him.

The whole theme of the video is enjoying the hot weather in the summer time. The images seen in the video are very suggestive and quite blatant to the fact the artist is also "enjoying" the women on display. Cetrtain parts of female body are shown to sexualise the video as seen above.

Idea for final project

My idea for my project would be a story based around a very disturbed chracter. Although on the outside, "Dave" is a regular academic student, he hides a psychopathic alter ego from his friends, family and teachers. The opening of the movie could be show the character going through his daily motions, showing him getting ready for school, the normal things. However the theme would be offering an insight into the characters thoughts by having him narrate his thoughts asd he goes through this.

In an opening of around 4-5 minutes, the audience would be able to get an idea of just the kind of psychopathic character this is. As his anger is silently surpressed but described in his thoughts, intense music could play in the background which would really add some sheen into the scenes. A sample of the intense music used to illustrate his thoughts can be viewed in the link I found below, preferably using the first minute or so of it

 <----May need to edit parts out

Other significant chracters can be given clear introudctions, as I like the whole idea of black comedy in films. An example of this could be the introduction a few characters were given in the film "Inglorious Bastards". I wouldn't exactly imitate the fonts and styles used as this may obliterate any seriousness from these scenes, however I would use thew idea of adding mini titles and a screen freeze to introduce the character, as seen below

Maybe a sleek silver or black font would be more acceptable when introducing characters.

You can see the idea of an intense psychological scene here, a clip taken from the film, "American Psycho". The importance of this is the monologue into the characters persona as he is constantly outdone by his colleagues.