Analysis of a project: C grade

Analysis of another students C grade project

The next project I am analysing is a C grade project, which is an average example titled 'The Search'. The titles are well executed, as they fade in and out of the screen in a sleek manner, and are very simplistic, displayed on a reverse block background, which really makes the text stand out. These titles continue to appear and re-appear throughout the opening sequence, however I personally would have preferred the rest of the titles to appear over the top of the video, rather than breaking up the pictures.


The titles are very simplistic.

The non diegetic music, involves short bell-like bursts, which does create an eerie atmosphere, especially when combined with the home video recording of a child, which makes the audience wonder what the significance of the child is, and if the child will be a focal point in the narrative. However, the footage is of poor quality, but could be down to it being an older clip and so the technology wasn't available. This makes the audience feel unsettled and uneasy, as this isn't typical of a thriller to include this, but never the less it is still very effective.


This makes the audience question the significance of the child, but the quality of the footage is poor.

Another good point to note is that a variety of camera shots were used throughout the opening, and so this shows good camera skills as well as the editing being well executed, and so this candidate obviously knew what they were doing. However, in parts, the lighting is too low key and appropriate lighting hasn't been used, making the footage slightly grainy in places. This will have limited the mark as lighting is such a huge element of filming. This is something I can learn from when I come to film my final task in order to obtain a higher grade.

Poorly lit footage has resulted in parts of the opening being grainy.

There is a fair amount of dialogue in this opening, especially towards the middle when a voice over of a lady is used. I think that less dialogue should have been used, and so the focus is more on the action of the character, rather than what she is saying. This would have added more of a narrative enigma and more suspense to the opening sequence, as already, too much has been given away, making the opening sequence appear too much like a trailer rather than an opening sequence resulting in a lack of suspense and a lack of building tension, which will have limited their grade as this task didn't really meet the brief.

The clip analysed shown below: