Vicky's Blog: Foundation Portfolio

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Evaluation

To see my evaluation, visit my wix website:

https://viickykostadinova.wixsite.com/asmediaevaluation

Final VIdeo and Group Blog Links

☆ Rough Cut and Feedback from the Audience

☆ Development of the "A Work in Progress" Logo

Production Diary: DAY FOUR (11/01/17)

(For more information on the fourth day, click on the image to see my diary entry on the group blog

On the fourth and FINAL day, we managed to reshoot all the bathroom scenes again, this time with barely any mistakes (which I'm thankful for due to the fact that the steadicam was unavailable again and holding the camera still was a real workout for me).

While we filmed in the bathroom with NO INTERRUPTIONS!! (since one of the dancers suggested we put a 'filming in progress' sign on the door in case anyone disturbs us), the dancers had plenty of time to practice and perfect their routine, checking for studio availability at the same time, so we move in as fast as it clears up. It was stressful and fast-paced, but we got all the bathroom scenes shot in half an hour, including some angles to play with in case of emergency.

As soon as the dance studio was free, we shot the scenes of Eleanor and Tory walking in, with panning shot, high angle and tracking shot behind her as all the dancers gather around to stat dancing. We did a couple of versions of that as we had different ideas which we could choose between in post-production. We also managed to record some background noise, by making the dancers talk continuously during the scene which we will use to increase the realism of the situation in the third scene.

In the last 25 minutes, we brought the shutter speed of the camera up, so we avoid any blurriness of the shots, as well as white balancing to adjust to the new light in the room and we shot the dance scenes back to back. This was very tiring for both the dancers and me and Erika, since they were forced to repeat the routine over and over again, while me and Erika struggled with the technicality of the shots, smoothness with no steadicam and helping to compliment the moves through camera work. The only reason we were able to organise all of this in such a short amount of time is because we had made a shot list for that day, researched on ways to film dace scenes and had had a practice during the failure the third day was.

Production Diary: DAY THREE (04/01/17)

(For more information on the third day, click on the image to see my diary entry on the group blog)

Day Three! FINAL DAY IF FILMING!! ... or so we thought.

Although we might look happy and excited to film on the image above, we seriously went through hell while filming. Not only was the filming moved to 18 days later, due to the college closing early for Christmas, but we also had other problems such as:

1) Studio Availability (constant change of location with bad lighting, until we only moved to our first location 20 minutes before the time to go.
2) Short amount of time to teach the dance and practice before filming.
3) Reshooting bathroom the scenes, since both Eliza (Eleanor) and Erika (Tory) wore different clothes which wouldn't make sense for continuity
4) A lot of people to work with and not enough time to manage and organise properly
5) Unavailable steadicam and blurry footage due to very low shutter speed mode on the camera.

Overall, the day was pretty unproductive and stressful, with barely any footage to use and the need of reshooting. Me and Erika took turns in filming, which was definitely a challenge with no steadicam (pretty sure I'm going to be sore for awhile now), but the footage is not as good as we expected it to be,

However, on the positive side, we got to practice things once more and get an idea of the way we need to plan ahead for busy shooting days like this one. The footage from this day can be mainly used for 'Behind the scenes', background noise to add in post - production and any backup shots if they are needed. Now, we only have one more day left to film - let's hope everything goes smooth and it is our last day of shooting!

Production Diary: DAY TWO (14/12/16)

(For more information on the second day, click on the image to see the group diary blog post)

Unlike what we predicted, the second day - where we filmed the bathroom scene seems to be the most stressful so far, as it had to be rescheduled a few times and there were a lot of problems to overcome.

For instance, the main prop - Eleanor's bag belonged to one of the actors, who unfortunately wasn't able to make it on the second day of shooting, so I had to buy the same bag to avoid reshooting the big alleyway scene. (Yay!! How's that for wasting money??) It a very exhausting day, since we had to cramp all the filming in 2 hours, without having any previous practice run of lines or having thought about angles as mush as we had for the alleyway scene.

Another thing we struggled with was the difficult location - A bathroom on the the first floor of Kingston College - secluded and smart location, right? What can go wrong? Except ... for people continuously coming in and out of the bathroom, disturbing both the actors and the set.

On that day, I was the one operating the camera and directing, along with Liyjan who took the Behind the Scenes pictures and Videos, while Erika made sure to practice her lines with Eliza. However, we could say that overall, the day was productive, as we technically filmed all the scenes we needed and have yet to look through them and decide if any reshoots are needed. Using the steadicam was definitely my favourite part of filming this scene, as it allowed me to shoot stable shot in difficult positions and an awkwardly long time.

But the point is, So far, we have two scenes and all that is left to film is one more day of the dancers! Exciting!!

Production Diary: DAY ONE (11/12/16)

(For more information on the first day, click on the image to see the group diary blog post)

First day of filming is done! Yay! The hardest part is finally done (or at least I hope it is). Overall filming took two hours (including one hour preparation), despite all the difficulties and even with some major distractions such as people walking past, loud noises, and a couple of mess ups and interruptions.

Since we knew we wanted to film in the dark, we arranged to meet an hour before the sun sets, and practice all the lines and make sure everyone knows what they're doing, so we are ready to shoot as soon as it gets dark. We filmed a variety of shots in order to have more flexibility during edit, and shot variations of improvisations from the cast, in order to set the tone of the scene.

As I was in this scene for the whole time, Erika had to film and direct most of it, while I ran lines with the actors and made sure everyone is CALM and ready.

During filming, some of the cast took the initiative to vlog 'Behind the Scenes' footage (while me and Erika were trying to keep calm), as well doing fake interviews at the end to lighten up the mood (which will be shown later on). Although this has only been one of the three days of filming, we have one scene down and ready to be edited and we look forward to shooting the next one - the bathroom scene!

Treatment Feedback

When me and Erika planned the presenting of the Treatment of our opening sequence, we made a short version of the treatment to show the class, that can be found here.

Unfortunately, I was sick during the presentation, so Erika saved all the feedback and questions, which we answered in a video form (this can be found in our group evaluation later on). The class gave us feedback in the form of sticky notes with positives, negatives, and questions, which I will comment on in this post:

Some of the positives were:

"I love the contrast between the two scenes"
Since we went for a gritty, typical british drama, we had to reach a breathtaking contrast, using binary oppositions between the two worlds we are shown in the opening sequence, but also between all the themes presented in pairs - gang and being able to stand up for yourself alone, friendship and secrecy, danger and safe heaven through dancing, etc.

"Theories have been applied and it's well thought through"
To make sure we keep it conventional, we used Prop's theory as a guide to creating out main characters, and Todorov's Narrative theory to make up the story for the whole film

"Original Ideas"

This statement is fairy arguable, since it could be compared to Step Up, which eventually became our inspiration for finishing off the idea. However, the idea 'struck us' while drafting boring ideas of drama opening sequences. Funnily enough, since I'm a dancer, Erika decided to base a story around a main character who dances, which turned out to be a "gangster interpretation of a Hannah Montana episode", in which I don't even dance.

Some of the critisisms and questions:
" I don't think the title Breaking Point fits"
The title is the hardest part of planning for us, as we struggle to find a punchy, fitting title that can accurately summarise the film. However, we hope to change it soon, if we get a better idea during production. It is definitely a priority for us.

"How would you film the alleyway scene in the dark?"
We are planning to use the reflectors, reflecting the main light coming from the street lamp right in the alleyway. However, if this doesn't work out, we would use the flashlights on our phones to light the scene, which hopefully with some clever filming would be masked.

"What is your secondary audience?"
For our secondary audience, we aim to attract middle aged people, who relate to the story by either remembering and looking back to the times they were going through something similar, or who are parents to teenagers in similar situations. Target audience isn't that much of a concern in drama movies, since it is a broad genre with often very relatable themes.

"How are you going to control the people on set?"
We would make sure everyone knows their script and what they are doing at all times. Also, seen as two fo the main characters are played by us, it would be easier to control the situation within. The only concern I have is the dance scenes, as it could be hard to get everyone to do it without making any mistakes and in sync. This could be achieved through practice.

"What outfits would the gang members wear?"
Even though the gang members aren't really seen, since they are meant to represent a shadow (funny, since all they do is shadow their two leaders), we see them wear casual, but fashionable clothes. This means they can wear any branded clothing in cold colours, hats and any big accessories they want since they are meant to look intimidating.

"How are you going to get a dance studio for the dance scenes?"
I dance, so the studio access would be pretty easy, getting the studio schedule from my dance teacher and fitting the filming schedule around that and the main characters' schedules.

"What Camera and Editing Software would you use?"
We were fortunate enough to be able to use the Canon XF100, the best cameras in our school, along with a road mic attached to it, a steadicam and a tripod that is specifically for this type of camera. However, for some difficult shots, we will probably switch to DSLRs to use the steadicam, since it gets pretty heavy if the Canon XF100 is used. We will also record backup sound with our phones, and see if we could attach an input cable to the camera, in order to use my laptop as a second screen and look at the footage straight away since we have a limited amount of time. For editing, we will use Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, where animation is needed.

Opening Sequence Treatment

Treatment Outline:

The film I have chosen to do an opening sequence for will be a teenage drama film, called “Breaking Point”. The audience I’m aiming to entertain would be late teens (ages between 15 and 22), coming from working, middle and upper middle class, seeking for Status and Escape, putting them in the group E in the young and rubicam’s psychographic profiling. My secondary audience would be middle aged people who know what being a struggling, late teenager is like, or are parents of ones. Main themes would be dance, coming of age, conflict, friendship and struggles. The main binary oppositions the film will accent on are hard life vs freedom and happiness, crime and danger vs creativity, calm setting vs scary urban, intense mood vs upbeat and flowy (shown through the music). Music is a key convention to the opening sequence, as it opens up to introduce the character, with a rough, intense instrumental, and then develops into an upbeat inspirational song, representing the movie clearly in the opening. It would fit perfectly, as it is a dramatic, heavy song that has its high and low points. We will gain rights to use the song for our opening sequence, by emailing the record label that released it and asking for permission.

Todorov's Narrative Theory:

The storyline will follow a struggling girl with being kicked out of her house due to family problems, being forced to get involved with a gang in order to maintain her normal life and fund her dancing. When the narrative is broken down by the Todorov’s narrative theory, we end up with:
↣ Equilibrium:
Eleanor, main character gets kicked out of her house, owes money to gangs, and struggles with debts that stop her from paying for her dance school and general needs in order to keep her life up. (negative equilibrium – she has a bad life full of struggles)
↣ Disruption:
The gang she owes money to is looking for her, wanting their money asap – her life is endangered.
↣ Recognition:
Just when everything is going downhill for the main protagonist, she gets accepted into a dance competition, with the chance of winning a huge amount of money, which would help her pay her debts and finally start clean.
↣ Repair:
She finally takes her life in her own hands, getting a part time job to save up money, and keeps practising for the competition. However, she doesn’t win, the gang finds out and confronts her again, this time hurting her to prove a point (a period of violent scenes, fighting and drama takes over this part of the movie … seems like nothing can get any worse for her, everything is over).
↣ New Equilibrium:
She finds out she got scouted at the competition, which lands her a well-paid part-time job so she can finally stabilise. Stays to live with Tory until she finds her own place. The gang doesn’t bother her anymore and her life is finally stress-free. She is happy.
Overall, the idea of the film is to follow a linear narrative, and the opening sequence reflects on that.
Main themes would be dance, coming of age, conflict, friendship and struggles. The main binary oppositions the film will accent on are hard life vs freedom and happiness, crime and danger vs creativity, calm setting vs scary urban, intense mood vs upbeat and flowy (shown through the music). Music is a key convention to the opening sequence, as it opens up to introduce the character, with a rough, intense instrumental, and then develops into an upbeat inspirational song, representing the movie clearly in the opening. It would fit perfectly, as it is a dramatic, heavy song that has its high and low points. We will gain rights to use the song for our opening sequence, by emailing the record label that released it and asking for permission.

Overview and Concept:
The visuals in this opening sequence act as a big role, as drama openings are usually very dull and boring, so we need something that would grab the audience’s attention on the story. The editing would be fast paced and original – we would have transition fades from objects in order to make associations with certain memories and emphasise on the important bits from the first 3 minutes of the movie. The titles would be displayed originally, as moving titles around the dancers, using the movement as credit opening. The sound would be a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic to confuse the audience, cause shock and keep them on their toes. The music would start with an instrumental of a song to represent loneliness, fighting on your own and having to be a strong person no matter what. However, later on, after Eleanor gets approached by her best friend and gets dragged into the dance group, the lyrics start building up to show power and confidence – something unachievable when one is on their own. In terms of Camera movement, there would be a range of camera angles in order to show different sides to the story. There would be POV shots, where the audience gets involved in with the story and sees things from Eleanor’s perspective, wide shots will introduce different settings to the audience and give them an overview of the situation through stereotypes, medium shots and close-ups would accent on specific characters, objects, emotions or action. They would point the watcher’s attention to the key elements, not giving them a chance to lose interest. Change in angles will affect the way the audience views characters and their behaviour. Colour is another aspect of the film that accents on the binary oppositions. Warm, bright colours would be used in the dance scenes and when she is with friends and works on getting her life better, while darker, cold and uninviting colours will overtake the flashbacks, the violent, gang related scenes and everything to do with her dark past.

Propp's Character Theory:
According to Propp’s character theory, there are 7 types of characters in every well-developed story. In our film we have categorised some of our characters and broken them down into:
↣ Heroine – Eleanor
She is the main protagonist, in her late teens, struggling with life, a dancer, gets involved with the wrong people which leads her to debt and puts her life in danger.
↣ The Helper – Tory
Eleanor’s best friend, distracts her from her hard life, tries her best to cheer her up and help with her struggles – offers her a place to stay towards the end of the movie when she finds out how bad her situation is. Stereotypical teenage girl, very girly and carefree, rather innocent and childish.
↣ The Villain (antagonist) – Jack and Camilla
Gang leaders, hate Eleanor with passion because of reason we find later on in the film. Very aggressive, cold and intimidating people. Guarded and mysterious, which scares the audience and warns they aren’t ones to be messed with.

Locations:

The opening sequence will occur in only two locations – a dance studio and a dark alleyway. The dance studio will be a soft, inviting environment, showing us what her ‘heaven’ looks like. We are going to use one of the dance studios in Kingston College – a roomy, all white and grey dance studio with intense lighting, a mirror wall and wooden doors. Contrast with the edgy, intense alleyway setting, which is dirty, dark, rough and claustrophobic.

Visual Effects:

Since drama movies don’t rely much on visual effects, we are only focusing on colour and lighting to add onto the illusion the storyline puts the audience in. The colour reflects on the mood of the scene through contrast – warm, friendly and peaceful colours (dance) vs cold, harsh and monotone colours (outside). In terms of lighting, we would use the bright, soft lighting in the dance studio to compliment the dancers and their movement, and contrast it with one, dim street light for the alleyway to create harsh shadows and accent on the ‘roughness’ of the situation.

Costumes:

Costumes would be used to represent characters through stereotypes:
↣ Hero – wears all black and baggy clothes, doesn’t put much effort in her appearance.
↣ Helper – exactly the opposite, wears a lot of pink, crop tops, very bright coloured clothing, well done makeup and hair – very girly, cheerleader stereotype.
↣ Villains – Dark colours, tight clothing for the girl, baggy for the boy, branded and well taken care of.
↣ Dancers – different outfits show off their personalities. Range of colours, variations of street dance, comfortable wear.

Props:

The Props we need would be:
↣ Fake Blood
↣ Weapons (knife)
↣ Masks
↣ Speakers
↣ Expensive things
↣ Fake drugs
↣ Money (fake, printed off)
↣ Dancing bag

Equipment:

The equipment we need when shooting is:
↣ 2 or 3 DSLR Cameras (Nikon and 2 Canon)
↣ 2 or 3 tripods
↣ A microphone
↣ Lighting and reflector
↣ Chargers for everything
↣ SD cards in case we run out of space
↣ Lenses for the cameras

Editing Software:

The programs we will use for editing are:
↣ Adobe Premiere Pro
↣ After Effects
↣ Audacity

Struggles:

When shooting, our main struggles would include:
↣ Mirrors, as there is danger of getting the equipment in the shot – we can solve this by practicing and checking the footage during filming.
↣ Cameras running out of battery – bringing Chargers on set
↣ Bad weather conditions – plan ahead, check the weather forecast and look for solutions in case something bad occurs.
↣ Location Availability – Book a specific time and practice loads beforehand
↣ Health and Safety while shooting – give everyone instructions and inform them of possible hazards

When editing, the struggles could be:
↣ Continuity – always double check the footage
↣ Bad quality and colour correction – edit carefully and use colour correctors.
↣ Sticking to the time frame of 2 minutes – fast shots, quick transitions, getting to the point quickly and efficiently. Being selective with shots
↣ Not enough footage – improvising, reshoots.

Preliminary Task and Evaluation

Evaluation:

In the preliminary task, we were asked to make a short film based on a conversation between two characters. After discussing ideas, the final product ended up being a conversation between a business woman in her office and a mysterious, unwanted messenger with shocking news. As a first time working together, we organised pretty well with the job roles, identified the genre, came up with a script, made storyboard and got actors. The longest process was the editing. Looking back on the product, I notice a few mistakes, things that went better than expected and things I would have done differently.

- What Went Well
The enigma code was a significant theme to the preliminary task, as it built a lot of tension throughout, kept the audience's interest and ended on a 'cliff hanger'. This helped the product really stand out as a thriller as it kept all the genre conventions, such as low lighting, dark colours, intense background music and an abrupt beginning. The sound in the video was something we were initially worried about, as the video was shot on DSLRs and no external mics, but it turned out better than expected. In post-production, music and sound effects were added to help intensify the mood and give the video a more professional appeal. All the transitions in this were straight cuts, serving their purpose of intensifying the mood and helped to accent on the variety of shots used.

- What did you learn?
This was an interesting experience, as it was our first time working on a thriller piece. We learned the genre codes and conventions for thriller, the difficulty in scheduling and recasting, the problems you have to keep in mind when organising locations (such as availability and lighting), and the settings you need to film on when shooting on DSLRs. However, the most important thing we learned about filming was to always bring chargers for the camera in case we need to film for longer than intended.

- What would you do differently next time?
In future, we would keep in mind the lighting required to film at certain locations, the importance of filming on cameras on the same setting and would remember to white balance before filming. Another thing we need to keep an eye on is the focus - as seen in our product, the focus shifted a few times while the characters were talking, confusing the audience on the focus of the scene. We would also add titles in the beginning to introduce the company and the name of the short film, and consider different ways of recording audio (such as external mics) to intensify the characters' speech even more. The most important thing to keep in mind, however, would be the steadiness of the camera in longer shots, as there was shaking and shifting of the camera that distracts the audience from the scene.

- Were there any problems?
The biggest problem during filming was the fact the e changed cameras and the settings we shot on. This didn't give us enough flexibility during post-production and made the footage look grainy and unprofessional. When we tried to fix it, it brought the quality down and any colour correction made it look unrealistic and unprofessional. Another problem we faced during filming was the availability of the actors and locations, which made us reschedule a couple of times and wasted a lot of time. Also, the camera we initially filmed on ran out of battery while filming, causing us discomfort.

- How did you overcome them?
Somehow, we managed to make the footage look slightly better with some colour correction and making the low quality shots shorter. In order to overcome the availability problem, we had to change the location we were shooting at and re-shoot everything, as well as replacing one of the actors with someone with more flexible timetable that matched ours and the times the location was available at.

Institutional Research

Target Audience Research

We asked our primary target audience (upper middle class teens and young adults) a few questions to get an overall idea of what we need to put in our opening sequence in order to fulfill the audience's needs and meet their expectations.

We asked them 14 questions:

1. What's your Favorite Film Genre?
2. Do you enjoy and often watch drama films?
3. Any Sub-genres that you know of?
4. How likely, on a scale from 1 to 5, are you to see the following sub-genres of drama film?

> Crime Drama

> Historical Drama

> Horror Drama

> Comedy Drama

> Psychodrama

> Romantic Drama

5. Can you name any drama films?

6. Have you heard of the following:

> Boyhood

> Gravity

> 12 Years a Slave

> Perks of Being a Wallflower

> The King's Speech

> Goodfellas

> Final Destination

> Silver Linings Playbook

7. What is most important to you in a drama film?

8. What themes do you enjoy in drama?
9. What storylines are interesting to you in drama?

10. Can you name any typical character type that you would expect in a drama film?
11. What characters do you enjoy watching the most?

12. What conventions do you enjoy watching the most?
13. What locations do you think would be most appropriate for a drama film?

14. Overall, what do you think makes a good drama film?

The Results We Got:

In Question 1, the most popular answers we got were Horror and Action. However, there were some selecting Comedy, Thriller, Crime and even Romance. Through Question 2, we found that 3 out of the 5 participants don't particularly enjoy watching drama films, which is good for our range of audience, since we were able to get the feedback that can potentially help us attract audience that doesn't necessarily keep up with drama movies. Question 3 was a leading question onto Question 4, since we were able to introduce the participants to Crime Drama, Historical Drama, Horror Drama, Comedy Drama, Psychodrama and Romantic Drama. We got them to rate them in terms of how likely they are to see them, 1 being the least and 5 being the most. For Crime Drama, the interest was between 2 and 4, which falls in the middle of the scale. For Historical Drama, the interest was low - 1 and 2 being the only answers we got (which was expected for the audience we aim at and interviewed). The interest in Horror Drama, however was on two ends, having half of the participants saying there is no way they would watch it and the other half giving it ranking of 4 and 5. The ranking for Comedy Drama was varied around the whole scale, so the only conclusion we got was that it is a very hard genre to investigate and define. Most of the participants have low interest in Romantic Drama, except for one, who gave it a rate of 4. In Question 5, where we asked for examples of drama movies, we got 3 answers - 12 years a Slave, Pride and Prejudice and Lucy. This means that drama movies are only remembered if they have an exceptional storyline and grab the audience - giving us the overall impression of the genre as competitive. From Question 6, we found out that the most popular drama movies are Gravity, 12 Years a Slave and Goodfellas. The slightly less popular films were Perks of Being a Wallflower, The King's Speech and Final Destination. The only movies half of our participants have heard of were Boyhood and Silver Linings Playbook. Question 7 told us that the only things that make a good drama movie are storyline (mentioned by everyone), theme and characters. Most popular themes, as we find out in Question 8, are Loss (mentioned by everyone), Coming of Age and Bullying. When asking about storylines in Question 9, we got Family Struggles (being a popular answer) and Bullying. The most popular characters from Question 10 the hero, the villain (them being a killer, a double faced friend or a bully for example), the character who our protagonist confines with (a friend, family member, love interest, etc.) and damsel in distress, which is usually the main character at some point. From Question 11 we found out that sometimes the audience needs a relating point with the character in order to build an emotional bond and keep their interest, while others like to watch characters completely different to. In terms of conventions (asked in Question 12), people seem to enjoy Conflict and Struggle the most, followed by Character Development and Real Life Stories. In Question 13, we asked about locations expected from drama movies. The Answers we got were Big Cities, High Schools, Hospitals and Countrysides. We finished our interviews with Question 14, where we asked what makes a good drama film, where we got answers such as Story, Characters, Good Romance, True Story, Action and a good plot twist.

Credits Research

For this task, I looked at two opening sequences - Step Up (First Image) and The Dark Knight (Second Image). They are both openings for drama movies, which means they would have similar conventions and a certain theme. The first thing that I noticed was that they had quite simple fonts, relying on the content showing to make the scenes and the names memorable. Both sequences were action packed and had a build up of their own to show how intense and thrilling the movie would be. In the Step Up one, we see a lot of dancing and deep contrast between the two social groups, hinting on how the conflict in this movie would be binary opposition - driven. Even though The Dark Knight opening relies on visuals created by CGI, it succeeds to build up tension through the music and the type of animation we are introduced to, which is made to mainly compliment the titles. What surprised me during my research is that different titles had certain pauses between displaying the next name - depending on the importance of the role they are crediting. Names were mentioned in certain order and smaller actors and crew members were mentioned in groups. The difference between the two opening sequences is that In the Step Up one, we had the name of the movie in the beginning, to give a good introduction to the scene and start it off, while in The Dark Knight, where the action and tension was a main theme, the title of the film was mentioned as the thing the audience has been brought on their toes for. Soundtrack was another important key in the opening sequences, as it sets a tone to the scene and for the whole movie. The music in Step Up stays the same throughout the whole opening, telling us that the film would be quite simple and one track minded. The Dark Knight, however, has a lot of music changes, different moods and tones, setting the audience up for an intense,complex and layered storyline.

Opening Sequence Analysis

Now You See Me

➸Narrative

The Narrative of this opening sequence is linear, as it introduces all of the characters in their environment one by one. This allows us to compare them and pay close attention to each one of them as an individual, before they are put together under one label.

➸Camera Work

- First Scene (J. Daniel Atlas):

Close Ups:

Close Ups are used in this scene to direct the audience's attention towards specific details. Lets us have a closer look and gets us involved in the performance. Works in his advantage as his job is to direct our attention towards something as a distraction while the real action happens behind the camera. They are also used to show the reaction of the girl he's performing the trick on,in order to demonstrate the effect he has on people.

Medium Shots:

The Voyeuristic medium shots here are necessary as they release the tension built up previously by the intense close ups combined with the music and the visuals. The audience relates as this frame is more natural and simplistic - a real life point of view. It also shows us the relationship between the performer and his audience - he is surrounded by them, but the space between then also helps him blend in and doesn't allow him to stand out as some kind of idol - he is an ordinary person as far as we are concerned (nothing about him is too special)

Cut Away Shot:

Cut Away to the cards shows us the subject of focus, main aspect to the scene and it uses stereotypes of magicians to deliver a message. As street performance are known for doing basic tricks everyone has seen, it sets us with the expectation of a small and harmless trick. However, as we see in the next shot, he turns something simple and easy into a bigger trick which leaves us amazed of his skills and tells us about his style of performing - starting off with something simple to work his way up.

Low and High Angle:

When the trick is revealed, we see the building from a low angle, making it more impressive and unachievable. An ariel is used to transition the shot of the magician and the crowd up to the building, making us compare what we see and be completely amazed by the result of this not so simple and ordinary trick. Later on, after a couple of ariel shots, we are back to looking at the amazed crowd, with the J. Daniel Atlas in the middle, however from a high angle. This gets the audience to see them as small and harmless, nothing in comparison to what we had just been sown - as if they are not as important anymore - they are part of something bigger.

- Second Scene (Merritt McKinney)

Cut Away Shot:

The scene starts with a cut away of his poster advertising his business. It shows us that he is more serious about his job and reputation and his main focus is to make money instead of entertain people. The camera zooms out from the picture to let us compare him to what he looks like on the poster.

Medium Shots:

The medium shots in this scene focus on the way he hypnotizes the woman and his body language while talking to both her and her husband. That way the audience can focus on his swift and smooth movements and can clearly see he is the one in control in this situation.

Over The Shoulder Shot:

Over the shoulder shots are used to get a better perception of the story, as we invade two characters' personal space. It shows us the facial expressions and reaction of one character in result of the actions of the other. During the conversation between the two men, the close ups combined with over the shoulder shots really get the audience involved in the conversation making the atmosphere intense and keeping them on their toes.

Extreme Close Ups:

The ECU shots in this scene intensify on the pressure the man is under, help us direct our attention on where the performer's focus is on and lets the audience in on his technique - the only act in this opening sequence which is explained and makes sense to everyone. Even though ECUs are meant to intimidate the audience, the man's face expressions and look of fear and feeling uncomfortable help us feel more powerful and in control, as in we're in Merritt McKinney's shoes. His privacy is completely invaded and feel as if we are let in on his life and into his head just like the performer working with him in this scene.

- Third Scene (Jack Wilder)

Establishing Shot:

The introduction of the third character, Jack Wilder starts off with an establishing shot to show that the location is very important for this event. Jack seems to be the simplest performer out of the others, since he is at a public cruise and barely gathering a small crowd. The fact that he is in New York makes him seem like an ordinary person, as it's normal to have street performers in big cities. By the way he is introduced, the audience is left with the impression that he is small and not significant on the big scale.

Panning Long Shot:
The camera pans around him as he goes up the stairs to reveal him in a long shot later. This is a normal point of view and lets the audience select their subject of focus, as his job is to make distractions and direct people's attention in the wrong direction without having to be the centre of attention.

Over The Shoulder, Medium Shot:

This shot allows us to look at his trick from the crowd's point of view without any fancy shots or too much attention on details. Since the angle is at a normal height, he doesn't seem powerful or powerless. The various positions of the camera and the shaking makes it more realistic, as we get a good view of his trick from a few angles. Last medium shot shows his interaction with the person who figured out his trick, as in their exchange is normal, without focusing on any detail, letting the audience focus selectively and miss out on the fact that Jack has robbed the citizen.

Close Ups:

The close ups in this scene only focus on the trick - the spoon bending, making it look believable as this is the first time we get close and we don't have a chance to see the point at which he swaps the spoons. Unlike the other scenes, where the purpose of the close up shots is to focus on the characters' face expressions and their reaction to something, the close ups here focus on subjects. Jack is positioned behind the spoon as he is not important in this - he is behind the scenes.

- Fourth Scene (Henley Reeves)

Long Shot, Ariel:
Similarly to Jack's introduction, Henley also starts with the camera circling her to reveal that she is high up, surrounded by people, admired and respected as a big performer - the most known performer out of the four. Every long shot she is introduced in is short and followed by the audience's reaction to her (mostly men)

Extreme Close Up:
Tells us that the important part of this scene is the fact that her hands and her feet are locked - naturally the part the audience looks at at acts like those.

Cut Away Shot:

Slanted angle focuses on the clock, zooming in and building up the pressure. Her time is running out and the frame duration decreases to build up anticipation and chaos. Gets the audience involved and keeps their interest on the eventful scene.

➸ Mise-en-Scene

- First Scene (J. Daniel Atlas):
The first scene, where J. Daniel Atlas performs, takes place on the streets of a big city. This is an example of using stereotypes to show where you can usually find magicians. He seems to have gathered a crowd in the middle of an empty central place at night, entertaining them with card tricks. The colours used in this are rather dark and simple, as if something is meant to go unnoticed. The contrast between everyone's outfits, the cards and the big buildings help us direct our attention at the right thing in each shot.

- Second Scene (Merritt McKinney):
The setting of the second scene seems to be some type of holiday place, where Merritt McKinney sets his small business workshop. There are a lot of people around them, making it look like some type of a coffee shop or a restaurant, while the landscape seen through the window hints on a holiday escape place. There is nothing professional about the place he performs his hypnosis at, except for the one poster of him from years ago, which seems unreliable since it's outdated and nontraditional. The colours seem to be bright and vibrant, but also not too intense and in some way calming - typical for a holiday place.

- Third Scene (Jack Wilder):
Jack is the simplest performer out of all, doing his tricks in front of tourists at a cheap tour boat under the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. The skyline behind him and the city colours represent him as a typical urban boy who has learned to work with what he can to get attention and be noticed - this is why him performing a trick is not surprising.

- Fourth Scene (Henley Reeves):
Henley performs her trick in a theater (stage setting) in a big city, since she seems to be the most successful out of the four. The place is full of people who paid to see her, cheering and admiring her, which tells us she is popular and well known. The colours in this scene contrast between dark and serious colours and bright, dreamy colours (such as baby blue and silver).This reflects on the mood change throughout this scene as it is dark and scary, only to turn out to be a joke.

➸ Lighting

The lighting in this opening sequence is high key throughout all four scenes, That way nothing looks too suspicious and the audience feels like they have the choice of being fooled and distracted (reflects on the idea of being a magician and performing under the spotlight). It makes us feel as if they have nothing to hide and everything is out in the open - as if we are in control of the situation.

➸ Sound

- Diegetic

The diegetic sounds in this movie clip are the dialogues between the characters and the reaction of the audience on the first, third and fourth scene.
- Non-Diegetic
There is a background music, which changes tempo throughout to help the characters' different personalities to come out and really shine through.

➸ Editing

The movie clip starts off with longer frames to introduce each character slowly, focusing on specific aspects, The scenes where a trick is about to happen tend to be shorter to build up tension and provoke anticipation in the audience.

➸Representation

- Each character introduction starts off with an establishing shot to show their environment and where they can be seen performing, giving us an idea of what kind of performer they are. This tells us that location plays a big role in this movie and it affects each character personally.

- J. Daniel Atlas is presented as a street magician who is mainly focused on women and always being the centre of attention. He tries to make a show by grabbing random people and making them a part from his performance pulling tricks on them. That way he is more remembered and interesting for his subject of interest - attractive women on the street. He is the stereotype for a jobless man in his 20s, coming from a middle class family in a big city, who believes he has a special talent in magic.

- Merritt McKinney is the hypnosis old, bald man who uses his skills of persuasion to bribe and manipulate people for more money and his personal enjoyment. He is the more like 'the star who never made it' type of guy as he seems to be hung up on his 5 minutes of fame which were evidently awhile ago. He comes across as a smart and 'sneaky' type of person who wouldn't bother to step over others in order to take the easy way out of things. Overall, he doesn't look trustworthy.

- Jack Wilder is a younger version of Atlas, as he gathers a similar type of crowd in a similar setting in order to do simple tricks to mask something bigger (just like Atlas). He could be the stereotype of a boy coming from a bad background who has learnt to do simple tricks in order to make enough to live off it. He performs a small trick, which turns out to be a distraction while he goes for a bigger goal - robbing innocent people. This confirms the stereotype of a street boy.

- Henley Reeves's character is slightly more complex. While she breaks the stereotype for women, being more successful than the other performers and doing just fine on her own, she is also fulfilling the stereotype for a female performer. She wears tight, shiny outfits in bright colours to grab more attention and distract the audience from what she is actually doing. Her audience is mainly made up of men, which is understandable since she uses he feminine side and the old case of damsel in distress to her advantage, making the audience believe her when she claims to be in danger.