Analysis of past students work - 'Smile'

I've decided to analyse another past students work as after viewing and analysing the first one I felt it helped me realise just how constricted we are in our technology and time limit - this made me start thinking about our own video and I'm not sure if it's slightly far fetched. After this I have been watching as many previous students work as possible to get a better idea of what other students did.

The thriller opening I have decided to analyse this time is called 'Smile', aaaand here it is;

Strengths:

* I think the use of the voice over worked really well - it's the only form of dialogue in the entire clip so we fully focus on what he is saying. Also the voice over starts as soon as the clip starts, surprising the audience as perhaps we are not expecting it, but it also hooks you by surprising you as you immediately listen to the facts he is saying.

* I thought the use of different shot types in this clip were brilliant, there are a range of close ups, mid shots and long shots, high and low angles and the use of panning is fantastic on the cork board. I thought the shots of the friends sitting together worked well as there were only mid and long shots on them - making it seem as if we are looking at the group of friends from an outsiders point of view, perhaps the antagonists point of view which is stereotypical of a thriller film.

* The cross cutting between the scenes of the friends and scenes of the antagonist reading, and looking at pictures works really well as it creates a mysterious atmosphere as the audience don't understand whats happening.

* One of the best things about this thriller opening is the integration of the credits and titles into the film itself - they are all written on various polaroids, meaning we look at the titles whilst getting an idea of whats going on in the opening still which I think is really intelligent. At the end the antagonist writes 'smile' on a polaroid of what looks like a girl lying on the floor - leaving the audience wondering whats happening, who this man is, who this girl is, and why he is obsessed with her.

Weaknesses:

* I think the main thing that could have been improved was the use of costumes - every character was wearing dark clothes which usually connotes evil and antagonists, therefore the audience may become confused and think that the group of friends are all antagonists, when actually they are supposed to be the protagonists. The costumes should suggest to the audience who each character is and what part they play in the film - meaning the protagonists would usually be wearing bright clothing to connote goodness.

* The lighting was all key lighting in each scene, and for the friend scenes this worked really well as it was meant to be a happy, lighthearted scene - however on the clips of the antagonists hands reading and tearing up paper there is also quite bright lighting, and I think it would have worked better if there were shadows or dark lighting on this scenes as it would show that he was the antagonist therefore the audience can immediately judge him and feel a certain way about him.

* Although the music worked well, I think it could have come in at an earlier point to make the clip more tense, and the music could have become faster and more climatic towards the end to make the ending more of a climax as opposed to the music staying the same throughout.

I think this was a really good thriller opening; the story was really well thought out and it's very clear whats happening, whilst still holding back information for the audience to wonder whats going on. The music fitted well with the story and the acting was really good. The lighting could have been improved and also the use of costume would have made the characters easier to identify with. I also think the integration of credits was brilliant and perhaps this could be something we could think about in our thriller opening.