Student video analysis

1. Student Video Analysis
Jack Francis

2. Task -
• Student video analyses. Find 2-3 past student film openings to
analyse. Ensure at least one is from your genre. I’m looking for a
range of objective and subjective thoughts for each, so use the mark
criteria as guidance (you can even grade them if you like), but also say
what you like/dislike about them.
• Things to consider: camera, edits, pacing, mise-en-scene, sound,
acting, titles, concept…
• You can present how you like (Prezi, PowerPoint, Google Slides…etc.)
• Deadline: 25th.

3. Video 1 -
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwsUnPHRXEM

4. Costume-
• The two males whom seem to be captured are wearing a loose form
of school uniform; they both are wearing black trousers and a white
shirt, one of the two males (left) is wearing a brown leather jacket, so
in my opinion, I have reason to believe that the two males were
kidnapped after school as they are wearing school uniform just not
properly, like most students do after school they've slightly adjusted
what they are wearing , this is good as I instantly get a sense of there
age.

5. Lighting-
The entire opening sequence is shot in low key lighting, they’ve most
likely used a filter on the camera its self or they added it in, in editing. If
I were to describe the effect they’ve created using this filter in one
word it would be bleak, just like the two captured males chances of
survival, the filter has done a very good job at communicating to the
audience how to feel about the captured males position, if it was high
key, we’d be full of hope and almost know they are going to get to
safety but because its low key we are full of doubt.

6. Actors-
Captured male 1 –
Captured male 2 –
Captor -
This character is one of the two students captured by
the captor, he stabs the captor and get away, well that’s
what he thinks. A character like him would not fit into
our piece as he is presented as too young.
This character is one of the two students captured by
the captor, when running away from the captor he is
caught by him and is presumably killed by him, a
character like him would not fit into our piece as he is
presented as too young.
This character is most likely the villain as he's keeping
two students against there will, he runs with a slight
limp after he was stabbed by the two students with the
pen, he looks like a stereotypical criminal (skinhead, big
built and tall) someone like him would look perfect in
our piece.

7. Make-up-
Make-up isn’t particularly used in this production most likely because it
wouldn’t fit in anywhere, the one time I did spot some make-up was
close to the beginning of the piece, what most likely was a small water
droplet was used here in the image bellow to show the actor sweating
(showing that he’s nervous) we will be using a small amount of make-
up in our piece but it wont be one of our main objectives to show it in
our piece as our genre doesn’t require it as much as a horror film for
example.

8. Props-
A pen is the main prop, used in the opening, is slightly disappointing
that there are not any more props as it would be interesting to see, but
the pen does fit with the characters (students) as they most likely
would have a pen in there pocket, the pen is used to stab the captor,
fake blood is used to cover the tip.

9. Setting-
The opening is set in two separate locations, the first is an
abandoned/derelict building where the two students are being held,
this makes the opening very believable, as this is a location you would
expect for people to be held against there will, its abandoned and un
populated, the second is the surroundings of the building, almost an
orchard or a field that has been left for vegetation to grow, once again
its out the way and un-populated, I find this very effective and
believable and would love to have this kind of location to film our
piece.

10. Titles-
I very much admire how this production team have put together
they’re titles, they uses a simple white on black format, so its very clear
for the audience to read and its very easy for them to be informed,
after a few seconds the title transitions into a different title, this looks
very professional, I hope we can use something like this in our piece.

11. Concept-
Two males are captured and attempt to escape by stabbing they’re
captor, this backfires after as he chases them down, re-captures one of
them and then leaves one of the males to decide, leave his friend with
the captor most likely resulting in his friends death or go back and be re
captured.

12. Video 2-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InG7lrlw_3I

13. Costume-
The main character (the detective) is wearing a suit, in different parts
of the opening he’s wearing different parts of the suit but overall he’s
wearing a suit, the suit makes us give respect to the character as he’s
smartly dressed it also makes us think he's actually older than he is.

14. Lighting -
• The opening is shot entirely in black and white, the effect resembles
noir films, which the film is defiantly attempting to recreate, I think
we will try in editing to see what ours will look like.

15. Actors-
• The main character is a male, just like ours, but our main character
(Wilson) except this main character is good and abides by the law,
he's very smart and precise just like ours.

16. Make-up -
There is little make-up used in this piece, other than wounds which we
will be using in our piece, they have used make up effectively even with
the black and white filter, as we can tell its blood.

17. Props-
There are not many props used in this production, other than a piece of
paper filled with information, in my opinion I don’t think any props
were needed as the visuals were already filled with information.

18. Setting-
There are many settings in the piece, from an office, to a train station,
to a farm yard and a integration room, I really like all the separate
locations used,

19. Titles-
The titles are very cleverly done, they are real life titles on a
investigation web, as the camera is panning across murder victims it
also shows us the titles, I very much like this idea but feel like there
would be no way to implement it into our piece.

20. Concept-
A detective is stumped by a serial killer, he slowly finds clues to help
him investigate the case and he slowly catches up to the criminal, and
takes him in for questioning.