British Film Institute - AS Media Study Day

On the 11th November  we attended a programme held at the British Film Institute,in Southbank which focused on making film openings.At the beginning we listened to Tom Woodcock, who is a film and media teacher so had years of experience of the coursework that we were going to be completing. We took part in activities and became familiar with Macro and Micro Conventions, which appeared to be quite useful for myself as it made me realise how crucial the opening is in terms of giving the audience enough to leave them in anticipation yet not giving away too much.

We watched some openings like Napoleon Dynamite,Casino Royale and The Wedding Singer, and we had to predict macro elements like the genre,narrative, character, themes and atmosphere which were presented in each film. This task made me think more in depth when watching the opening compared to how I would usually at home and it gave me an idea as to how different genres have vaguely given hidden clues which appear to be relevant to the plot of the movie.

In addition, we looked at other openings to identify Micro Conventions (colour, lighting, font,framing,costume,props and setting) and to see what elements were consistent. When doing this task I found the opening to the movie 'Seven' quite similar to the aesthetic we were aiming for with our opening such as the lighting is quite dark in each shot and the font was messy and child-like giving that typical horror look. Likewise it got me thinking about the importance of leaving negative space for the titles as it helps give the opening a better look rather than having the writing covering an important action happening.

In the evening, there was a useful interview style talk with Dexter Fletcher, who is and actor and successful director. He spoke about the success of his films such as " Wild Bill" and " Eddie the Eagle" and the struggles he faced whilst filming such as finding a suitable location.

Also he gave his opinion on the importance of the opening titles and whether he made that a focus to lead the audience in or actually was more interested in whats going on in terms of acting.

Something that I found stayed with me is the fact that he had told us you can still produce  a successful film with a low budget, as the viewers will still obtain the same information that you put across as well as still being plugged in if the plot is interesting and unique.