Evaluating past students work

Evaluating past students work has helped me to gain a greater insight into how the opening of a thriller should and also shouldnt be like. This will give me a better idea of what to include for my final product to be a success.
I analysed in detail, the mise-en-scene, camera, editing and sound against the common conventions which make up a thriller genre. In doing this, I could notice small mistakes groups made on there product which would help to prevent me doing the same, improving my film opening.

Room to Breath
This was the first opening I analysed. The camera used high angles which was positive because it showed weakness towards the character on screen which was the desired affect as she had been locked away. Also, the high amount of CU's give the audience more detail as to what the character looked like, helping the viewer have an opinion on them immediately. However, I felt that in this example, there was not enough variety with the camera shots and angles which made it a little less ingaging to watch. Also, another negative side to "Room to breath" was that the camera was very jumpy which often resulted in shots appearing blurred on screen. This does not make it look as proffessional.
The editng was consistent throughout as each shot was between 4-5 seconds. This shows that obvious thought was put into this. Although consistency is good, in this case it could of been used better. This is because using a cut every 4-5 seconds is not long enough for an opening scene because the audience havent got enough time to think about what the narrative may include. Additionally, the scene with the girl in the cupboard becomes a little too tideous because the viewer is seeing the same thing too much. To improve this aspect, more variety is needed to boost the entertainment.
Furthermore, sound is used well in areas. The diegetic sound of "the way you look tonight" is upbeat which suits the atmosphere at the beginning of the scene, but then becomes eerie and stops when the audience is presented with the locked up girl, which is also a good use of editing as it is done at the right moment. However, no sound bridge was used inbetween cuts which creates a blank space, losing the interest of the audience.
Lastly, mise-en-scene has been touched on in parts. The girl has been locked up, looking defencless which is commonly seen in thriller films which is a good aspect of the opening. Also, the lighting in the cuboard is dark, creating a sinister tone. On the other hand, some areas of the mise-en-scene could of been better. The typography was in fancy writing, making it very difficult to read. This needs to be bolder and more blocky.

Unrequited Love
This was the second example I looked at which I thought looked more proffessional. This is because all the shots appeared steady where it was appropriate. However, while the actual filming was of a high quality, all the shots were CU's and high angles, making it too repetitive.
This groups editing was weak, which should of been worked on a lot more. There was a lag between shots which would make the viewer lose interest, while all the shots were roughly the same in length, increasing the dullness of the opening. Lastly, the text which showed the title of the film and the people involved was not edited properly. This is because the text disappeared too quickly, allowing the onlooker little time to read it.
Non Diegetic sound was used but the same sound was not kept consistent throughout making it seem unprofessional leading to an overall poor production
Mise-en-scene was good in "Unrequited Love." Images of cutting paper was used which is typical of thriller genres such as Se7en where this is shown in the title sequence. Also, the colour red is include heavily. This colour connotes danger and violence which is a typical theme in thriller movies improving the production.

Root Cause
The third title sequence which I anlaysed closely was "Root Cause". I believed out of all the examples. this had the best use of camera. Although it wqasnt quite as steady as "Unrequited Love" it was still a good standard. Also, their were a variety of shots such as CU's, MS's and LS's. The camera also used both high angles when showing the victim, portraying them in a weak position, and low angles for the main characters showing them in a dominant light, common in thriller movies meaning that this group have thought carefully about their target genre.
Sound was also used well. Both diegetic and non diegetic sound which made the opening more exciting for the viewer to watch. Also, using both was better as it added more energy.
In the mise-en-scene violence was included. This is seen lots in thrillers, going along with the target genre. Furthermore, props were used such as a spanner to pick teeth meaning it is a weapon in the film, again something which would not be unexpected in this genre. I believe this was the best example out of the ones i watched.