Looking at Student Film Openings

We watched three student film openings and then analysed the strength's and weaknesses of the sequences.

Student Film 1





Weaknesses:

I thought that this opening sequence gave a bit too much away and ruined the suspense of it all, like for example you saw most of the victims that the women was planning to do something bad to and in a way knew most of the plot.I wouldn't really want to watch on as I kind of already had a clear idea of what was going to happen, this for me is not what I expect from a horror film as I really like the build up and tension during the films. Another weakness to this was that the editing techniques were a lot like the effects used in a trailer so it did not really seem like an opening as such.

Strengths:

I thought the titles were not very obvious and the way they were placed in the right corner of the screen made them blend in and not cause a destraction from the film. I really think that it is very important for a film to have invisible like titles as the audience does not get distracted and can understand what is going on. I also really thought the eerie music set a very suspenseful atmosphere and did make you wonder what was going to happen next. Strength of the opening was the large red title near the opening, the colour connotes death and reveals to the audience that this theme will play out through the film.



Student Film 2





Weaknesses:

This opening went on for a bit too long and after a while dragged on, I thought they were trying to overplay the whole stalker theme but instead gave a bit too much away and ruined the whole creepy effect of the film. Like for example the young blonde female was shown walking alone really did keep your attention on the film as you wanted to make sure she was safe but as the screams started you had an idea of what had happened to her which ruined the plot of the movie.
I also thought that there were only a few angles and made the sequences very basic and boring, it also become very repetitive and lost its sense of mystery.

Strengths:

The music and sound effects gave the film a much needed push in the right direction and made it very suspenseful and shocking. I also liked the way this opening showed the characters very early on and made you aware of who was who so you did not become confused. The editing was very clever and I liked the montage of clips near the end, made a huge dramatic impact on the horror genre.


Student Film 3




Weaknesses:

The titles were very basic and were not very professional, didn't really look like much effort was put in during the editing process. The 'one bad apple productions' title at the beginning did not really blend in and distracted myself from the atmospheric music as I was very confused as it was out of place. It was also very bright and unprofessional. I also picked up on the way the actress smiled when the camera backed up from the mid shot, this made me lose my curiosity in the film as she was meant to be dead which made it unrealistic. There was also a very bad continuity editing mistake involving the windscreen wipers, it also could have easily been cut out which indicates to the audience that not a lot of time was put into creating this opening.

Strength's:

There was a good use of eerie music which set the scene and signifies that something bad might happen.
The transition effects were very slow and not obvious which made the scenes flow well, I also liked the way this opening sequence had no ending unlike the other two films which were a lot like trailers. It also gave the film more suspense and had the audience wanting to know more.