Mise en scene

Costume Ideas - Mise en scene

November 09, 2016

The Costume which we have been given is a suit. This is easily achievable for us as Herbie already owns a suit which he can wear for the filming. We've decided that Herbies mum should wear casual clothes that a mother would typically wear on an average day out with her son.

There was a slight issue with the suit that Herbie was supposed to wear as we hadn't realised that he had outgrown it. However we were able to compensate buy him wearing his school trousers, a shirt and Evie's school blazer and some posh shoes. Evie's blazer was slightly too big for him but we thought that this suited the film opening as it looks like he maybe wants to be older than he really is and this is shown by him wearing an oversized jacket. His mum just wore one of her average outfits that she would normally wear.

Mise en scene

Lighting Idea - Mise en scene

November 09, 2016

The mise-en-scène lighting condition we have been given is artificial lighting. The idea which we have come up with is to use glow sticks on the pathway to where he makes the paper boats to give it a more magical and imaginative feeling and to make it look like he was a direction to follow so it is like he already has a path set out of him.

Unfortunately when we got to our location we realised that we had forgotten to bring the glow sticks and it was not really possible for us to go back to get them so we decided to continue without the prop. In the end we didn't feel it was necessary for them to be used anyway as we didn't want to give too much away about the storyline within the opening two minutes of our film.

Mise en scene

Initial Ideas - Mise en scene

November 09, 2016

Our initial plot idea is about a young boy who uses his imagination to escape the boredom of his everyday life. His mum takes him to a playground where she sits on a bench, drinks a flask of tea and just sits on her phone totally ignoring her son and not realizing that he is not having a great time. He sits on a swing which is way to small for him and looks at his mum. There is an old newspaper laying next to him and as he rocks on the swing he kicks it. Looking around his environment he spots a close by river. He makes sure his mum is not paying attention (she is still on her phone), takes the piece of newspaper and runs off to the river. At the river he builds a small paper boat and lets it off very excited. As it slowly sails down the river he imagines a little man on the boat waving at him.
After that he stands on a boat pretending to be a sailor. 
In the end we felt that it was not necessary to include the last scene which would've been of Herbie imagining himself in the boat. We did not incorporate this as we felt that we had already revealed enough in the opening two minutes.

Mise-en scene


creating a mind map around our task



Looking for inspiration ('Submarine', 'Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children', music video of passenger 'young as the morning')





creating a mood board

rough ideas that came to Paula in the middle of the night / partly german





more ideas that came to Paula which she had to write on a piece of tissue



















Examples of an Opening Scene

October 19, 2016

1. The perks of being a wallflower

Image result for the perks of being a wallflower tunnelImage result for the perks of being a wallflower charlie writing

The film opening of 'The perks of being a wallflower' does not introduce much of the plot. All you can see is a passing-by tunnel at midnight and only at the end of the 2 minutes the key character Charlie is introduced.
Only when the credits stop and the shot of Charlie appears a little bit of monologue starts.
At the start of the opening you can hear the noise of a typewriter which accompanies the first titles of the main actors written in a typewriter font. This links to Charlie's passion for writing which is a main focus later on as he is given a typewriter by his crush Sam.
The only locations which are introduced in these first minutes is a highway and the tunnel which is an important part of the movie later on and the bedroom of Charlie.

2. Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone

Image result for harry potter and the philosopher's stone opening sceneImage result for harry potter and the philosopher's stone opening scene

The opening scene of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone' does give a bit of understanding of the plot but does not explain anything. All you get in these 2 minutes is an old man in with a magical device, a cat which turns into an old lady and a big man on a flying motorbike caring a little sleeping boy with a scar on his forehead.
There is a lot of dialog going on about the purpose of the little boy being there but nothing makes sense so you have to keep watching to understand the opening scene.
The key character Harry Potter is introduced, even though he is at a different age at that time as he is throughout the rest of the film, but the fact that all the dialog is based on his existence clarifies that he is the main character.
In the beginning is a shot of the 'Private Drive' sign, showing that they are in a (normal) living area, which is the only location in the opening scene.
The first two minutes do not contain any credits, only after about 3-4 minutes the credits start.

3. The Breakfast Club

Image result for the breakfast club opening

The opening scene of 'The breakfast club' only contains the credits of the film, like director, name of the film, production and actors, with some soundtrack playing in the background.

Student made opening scenes



This opening sequence is a little confusing. It starts with someone typing some sort of article and a bus accidents which is all over news. He then gets ready and walks through London when there is a shot of a building and it says 'Secret Intelligence Service'. It does not really explain any link between the accident and the guy but I'm thinking that he might have something to do with it because he was writing something like a report in the beginning. I do like the cinematography and how they captured the process of him getting ready whilst doing the credits and the different locations of London are captured very nice as well. There is only one key character and no dialog at all, except a reporter in the news talking about the bus accident.



 This student made film opening takes part in London and whilst a boy is filmed, walking through the city to meet some guys in a parking lot, the credits appear, which looks very professional. The shots are filmed very well and the greenish filter makes it look like a real movie. The key character is introduced in the first couple of minutes and the security guys and the another man appear very soon after that. There is not a lot of dialog and they seem to focus on body language and action.



This opening scene is about a boy who gets lost in the woods after his car broke down and he can not get any signal. It is quite a typical story and except from the start where the boy tries to call someone for help, there is not a lot of dialog. There are quite a low of locations, like his car, the woods and a house he finds. The boy is the key character and the centre of the video and the only other character that appears in the video is a dead guy he finds in the house. The credits at the beginning are well made I think and the moody filter over the shots work well with the story of being lost and walking through a scary forest and a abandoned house.

Diamond 9

October 17, 2016

A film opening should...



Based on now reading the mark scheme, my/our AS Level coursework (a 2 minute opening sequence to a film) should...


Film Review

Film - Stand by me / childhood

October 14, 2016

"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"

The story of the four boys Chris, Teddy, Vern and Gordie, is the focus of the movie "Stand by me". On their way to search for a missing dead body, you get a great insight in their friendship and the way it has influenced their childhood. Throughout the trip they talk about their lives, cry of laughter and of sadness, tell each other stories and act like simple young boys who randomly leave their homes to wander off on their own.

The older version of Gordie starts off by telling the story of how he and his three friends found a dead body. The flashback of all of them as 12 year old boys starts with them already being in a very close friendship. The way they talk to each other, very relaxed and not thinking about what to say, you can tell that they already know each other for quite a while.
When you are twelve you do not really know what serious things will expect you when you are older and I especially remember the summers when I was younger, where I lived each day without thinking about the next, and I think that is what Gordie and his friends did. The idea of finding a dead body would seem ridiculous when you are older, but when you are still a child you do not think about any consequences and just do it.

In your childhood you go through many changes and experiences that influence the outcome of you as a person. Especially their relationship to their dads is a main topic and something they seem to worry about. Their dads are their biggest role model even though they do not have the best impact on their sons. Gordie's dad blames him for staying alive and thinks he should be dead instead of his brother and Teddy's father is know as being a 'loony'. Still they are both defending their dads because they are a big influence on their childhood.

The film gives a great impression of how it feels to be young and enjoy your childhood. Thinking about my younger siblings, who grow up with social media and smartphones, I feel very sorry for them for not experiencing such great adventures.

Film Review

Film - A week with Marilyn

September 17, 2016

"All people ever see is Marilyn Monroe. As soon as they realize I'm not her, they run."

(How do I as a viewer engage with the character Marilyn?)

I personally think that Marilyn is a misunderstood character. Everyone expects her to be a serious woman because of her success, but no one really makes the effort to try and understand her as a human being. Especially on set and with all the production members, she feels very insecure and constantly needs reassurance from her acting coach Paula, and the obvious disappointment of some people on set create even more pressure to be the Marilyn everyone exspects.

In the spotlight of everyones attention, she knows how to fulfill the stereotype of being the sexy, naive blonde woman and she embrasses the new identity she has created herself. Although she knows how to pose and show her body, she does not know how to show what is going on inside of her, so no one seems to take her seriously. What people often do not get is that behind all the show is still is a personality and feelings that can get hurt. In the end it is just a new identity that hides the real one from the world of fame. 

Instead of thinking of her as an annoying and attention seeking character I feel empathy for her. I feel sorry for the way the lets other people make her feel, but even more for the way she makes herself feel. She is full of insecurities because no one ever told her how to stand up for herself. Moving from family to family and without a mother to tell her how truly amazing she is, she never learnt anything about true friendship or love, never had the experience of real trust and there has never been anyone to guid her to be herself and loved her for the way she was and not for Marilyn and her success. 


On the one hand she is that very insecure woman who trusts others far to easily but on the other hand she totally knows her effect on the male population. Growing up as this naiv woman, the only way to cure her self doubts are compliments and because of her effect on man she always thought that these compliments are a way to make her feel better, but truly they make it worse. She is not seen as a person, but as an object which is nice to look at and supposed to be sexy all the time and because she was never told about her true worth as a woman, she believes all these comments about her appearence and forgets that she is worth more than just her looks.
At the point where Colin and Marilyn built up a close relationship, she relies on him in her worst moments, when anxiety and depression kick in. He makes her happy, laugh and see things differently, but just like her identity, she changes her mind about him many times. I think sometimes she uses Marilyn as protection, as something to hide behind. When she was on the trip with Colin, where they visited the castel, she has really been herself. On the way back you could see how her mood dropped and how presumably her self doubts came back to her because she knew that this was just a distraction from being Marilyn.

I think all in all she was just a woman that had to grow up and become independent far to early. You can tell that by the way she changes her mind and her mood throughout the movie and I do not think that she does all that because she needs the attention and likes to be the center of everything. I think it is the opposite, because all the people and all the expectations are far too much.