Comparison of three student title openings

The first video of an AS group film opening was of a high standard in my opinion. This is due to the various and successful camera shots used, film editing of the piece and engaging plot of the clip. As shown, the group conformed the 180 degree rule, aiding to make the video affective, they also used the camera technique ‘shot, reverse shot’, allowing the audience to view the emotions and actions performed by characters efficiently in a short space of time. Match on action was used throughout the to help build up suspension and create a sense of realism (Verisimilitude), an example of this would be when the young boy is being chased by the character in the suit as they took different routes to end up at the same destination. Lastly, I thought the synchronous text moving in time with the characters, this was affective as this was a technical code showing their skill. However, I found that there sound could be improved slightly and made more clearer, nevertheless this is a good opening that could help me to generate ideas for my own piece of work.

I found this second example ’AS Media Studies – Opening Sequence to a Thriller Final’ to be of a very high standard. This video was so impressive as the camera shots used, such as match on action and XCU, were included successfully. XCU are commonly used to show important objects and/or characters, it was used to show the significance and value of the tool used, possibly connoting it being a murder weapon of some sort.

The music was used quite intelligently, as sound motif was used. A sound track that is immediately synonymous, in the audiences’ point of view, with a particular genre, in this case a thriller/horror. Lastly, although not seen to be graded, the acting and realism of the actors was very impressive and decent. This helped to improve my experience when watching the video and enhance the entertainment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vud3lVQutk (This embedding code has been disabled, however here is the link to the video)

The final video I viewed ‘The masked man AS media opening sequence Thriller’ was reasonably entertaining but however was not as impressive as the first. This was down to a lack of engagement with the audience, for example, the plot or storyline of the clip was not very clear, although this could be a deliberate technique being used as it is a common convention in opening sequences.  Also, I found that the clip was rather short and the title could have been presented in clearer format as it did not particularly stand out. On the other hand I thought that the music choice was appropriate and therefore effective, also, the way in which the text was presented was pleasant, one of their technical codes. Lastly, I believe that the groups’ camera shots could be improved further, for instance XCU would have been more affective in some events rather than XLS. Overall I do not think this video was of a high standard and therefore hope mine will be of better quality.