Film Opening Project (blog 2)

I've been doing some more research on film openings, and I think I'm starting to get a clearer idea of approaches we can take for our film opening. Because we do not have a multi-million dollar budget, it's crucial that we try not to create a story where the use of effects (or CGI) would be needed. However, it is equally important that we challenge ourselves and come up with a story where we can showcase our techniques. I guess it's about finding a balance in between difficulty (I'm still trying to find it though).

I did a bit more research on some film openings to expand ideas on how we can shoot our film opening, looking at techniques more than anything else. Although the audience does not get the clearest idea of what about to happen, the film opening for Se7en (1995) is nonetheless interesting. It beautifully establishes tone despite the simplicity of shots. Seeing this in my AICE Media class made my skin crawl, and I didn't even see one character or hear a bit of dialogue. Perhaps it's the lack of dialogue that gives this opening an advantage.

I know that I would not want to make a film opening about a serial killer or some type of mystery story, but the shooting shows how there is no need to film elaborate scenes to get a point across. If it serves for our story, maybe we can take inspiration from this approach.

On the subject of stories, I do have an idea. Rather than looking or taking inspiration from stories I like, I decided to focus on themes I would want to explore within our story. Through this approach, I'm hoping to make sure whatever story we chose will be a story we all want to film. Also, I'm hoping this can guarantee that our group won't become bored as this project progresses (thus losing our passion to create something cool).

Growing up strictly in suburban towns, I have noticed that there is a spectrum to the middle-class. There is also a specific way in which certain groups interact with others (sort of like an unspoken rulebook) which I think would be a pretty cool idea to explore. Although this idea isn't a theme per se, it connects with the theme of social classes (specifically the nature of the middle class). I have also thought about centralizing this theme within the realm of high school; there is already so much to unpack about high-schoolers in middle-class areas, so much.

However, I am apprehensive about taking on this idea because I think that other students in my class are probably thinking about covering this theme too. It's not that I want our story to be "quirky!" or "unique!", I just don't want to limit our options of using interesting techniques to tell a story that has been told before. There's so many directions we can take it's a bit overwhelming... I guess I maybe need to pitch a few of my ideas to my other group members so we can finally come up with a story we all enjoy.

I'll let you know how this goes, hopefully the brainstorming process will be over soon.