Student Film Analysis

I am going to analyse some student film openings in order to see the type of thing I could possibly do with mine and see whatI think looks good and what doesn't look so good, to help improve the quality of my own.

'Thief'- Thriller Opening

This opening is clearly meant to be a thriller, but I do not think it really fits this genre. Thrillers generally have the audience scared ad on the edge of their seat and given an adrenaline rush, but this seemed a bit too everyday, so did not have a that much of an affect on the audience. Maybe the rest of the film would have some thrilling moments, but, to me, the genre is not set and not clear in the opening.

The use of continuity editing makes the piece easy to follow, which is good. It uses a good mixture of cuts and transitions, to keep it interesting and cut quickly at times where suspense is building or to make it seem eerie (such as when you see the their watching and stalking the girls). The match on action and the thief skateboarded passed was done really well.

The sound used is very appropriate for the genre. It's quite eerie and build tension, leaving the audience on the edge of their seat, as a good thriller film should. It does jump slightly, part way through though, making it seem unprofessional and loses the atmosphere.

Camera is a bit shaky throughout, which could have been sorted by using a tripod, to make it seem more professional. The use of different camera angles worked really well, such as the very low angles on the feet and they walked. they kept it interesting and added to the mystery element making it more thrilling. 

I feel the mise-en-scene is appropriate to what's going on (a mugging), but not necessarily appropriate to the genre of a thriller. I feel maybe the setting and costume could have been thought about more to make it more thrilling and give it a darker feel.

Titles are used in apporiate place in the clip. They are integrated and appear next to the appropriate actors/characters, however I feel a better font could have been used, in order to make it fit the genre a bit more.

The characters in the piece aren't believable enough to me. Maybe more time could have been spent in getting better actors, or better directing could have been done. But, in terms of an opening, you get introduces to the main characters and learn a little about them, but not too much, which is a good technique because it leave the audience wanting to continue watching to find out more.

'Class Mates'- Romantic Comedy Opening

The conventional use of a main male and female character in this clip make it clear that romance is going to be a theme. However, the twist at the end and the boy's quite humorous character add comedy to it, making it seem like it will be a romantic comedy film.

The opening has some quite fast cuts at times, which can be slightly annoying to watch sometimes, but there is a good use of smooth transitions at times as well. 

The sound in the clip isn't very good at all. It all fits the light theme of the film, but there are many different sounds which sharply cut from one to another and sometimes even play over each other, making it sound messy and unprofessional.

The mise-en-scene is very good, typical everyday setting like many other romcom's and it enables the characters to be relatable and believable.

The camera is very good throughout, with nice steady shots. The clip also includes some close up at appropriate times to make it more interesting.

The characters seen are very believable and we get a good sense of the type of characters they are, without giving too much of the plot away, which is how an opening should be. The characters are in their natural setting and at times are humorous, making them funny and likeable.

Titles in the clip are integrated, but are not consistent. Some titles are digital, where as others are actually in the footage, which makes the opening seem poorly thought out. the integration is good, however. Most of the titles are put on/in to objects that the characters are interacting with which is a creative way of doing it. the film title at the end is also nicely done.