My trip to the BFI

A couple of weeks ago my media class went on a trip to the BFI in central London where we attended a 3 hour lecture , at the start of this lecture the chief of the BFI showed us some professional film opening scenes and how different techniques like sound and mise-en-scene can be used effectively to make our opening scene appealing and interesting. The chief then gave us a website called art of the title which explains opening scenes in depth and this website has proved very helpful , I've been using it lately to analyse different elements in opening scenes , for example the order in which titles are placed in and how long they are shown.
We then preceded to watch some other opening scenes that students from the past have made, we then had to give them a grade level from 1 to 4 and explain why we gave them the grade. This was useful because it  showed me what the examiners look for and what mistakes many students have made so we don't make the same mistake with my group. We were then told what opening scene concepts we should avoid doing like saw type horrors because it has been done too many times. The most valuable piece of information that I received the whole day was when the chief said that its less time consuming and better if we choose a location that isn't far from where we live, on a whole I found the day very productive.

Paul

Yesterday I watched the film Paul starring Simon Peg and directed by Greg Mottola on television , the opening scene showed how a little girl made an encounter with an alien spaceship, this opening scene was interesting because it did a good job of building suspense by not actually showing the spaceship. The audience assume there's a spaceship because of the clever use of lighting and diabetic sound. This scene showed me how by using lighting and diabetic sound in an effective way , you can create something that the audience does not see but knows what it is like for example the spaceship. I will definitely incorporate the use of these techniques in my opening scene , the film continued to be entertaining and very humorous , Simon Peg's character was made likeable and his comical timing was brilliant. On a whole I really enjoying this film.

Film Pitch

Pitch

Title: The drop

Genre: Thriller.

Time period: Contemporary.

Location: UK, London.

Budget: Low to medium.

Target market/Demographic: Young males and females aged 18-25.

LOGLINE:

This thriller is based in central London about a mysterious man who is wanted around the world for pulling off some of the biggest heist in history. But when he accidently clashes with three teenagers who find his bag which contains his loot, he sets about finding them, any way possible. From this point on the teenagers and the mysterious man are playing the game of cat and mouse within London but this game ends with deadly consequences.

TREATMENT:
This mysterious man who has successfully concealed his identity for more than a decade while travelling around the world is now has his sights on the most valuable diamonds kept in London. He is no stranger in pulling off a clean robbery since he has had many years of practice, performing some of the biggest heist in history. We see him successfully pull off this dangerous and risky heist however whilst he makes his clean getaway he suddenly gets spotted by an undercover MI6 agent.

The mysterious man also notices the MI6 agent and is forced to think fast in order to escape and get rid of the stolen goods so guided by the adrenaline he throws the bag off a bridge into what he thinks is the river teams, however he misses and the bag drops into the hands of three ordinary London teenagers who are suddenly caught in the middle of the mix, the mysterious man sees this but is forced to leave it with the three teenagers in order to escape from the MI6 agent. The teenagers were so shocked that they could only stand back and watch how the mysterious man got away with the MI6 agent chasing behind him. They teenagers then have a discussion whether or not to open the bag, until when they finally make the decision to open it to their surprise they find diamonds. They are now faced with the mission of trying to head to safety while avoiding the mysterious man who has managed to get away from the agent and sets about finding the three teenagers who have yet to rely how much danger they are in, the next 48hours will change their lives forever.

This type of thriller has been shown by films like 4,3,2,1 and Adulthood, to keep the audience on the edge of their seats because it has a cat and mouse element to it (for example here this element is used between the teenagers and the mysterious man). It captures the audience’s attention because it makes them want to find out if the teenagers successfully get away or if the mysterious man finds them before they get to safety, the use of this element in a thriller has been shown to be very successful by the popular movie Catch Me If You Can. 

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