5 Elements of Film

After doing some more research about films in the psychological thriller genre and about films in general, I came across an essay that explained the 5 elements of a film. The essay also gave an analysis of these five elements in a film as well. The five elements that this essay states were: narrative, cinematography, sound, mise-en-scene, and editing. As I read through the essay, I was thinking about how I would incorporate these elements into the scenes for my film. I am still not completely sure about what every scene will be, but I will make my storyboard very soon. For now, I planned on how these 5 elements will be used in my film opening.

Narrative

A narrative in a film would be a spoken account of the story. An example of a psychological film/ tv show with a narrative would be the tv show You. For my film opening, I don't think that I will have a narrative. Since I will be doing the film opening only, I would like to have music instead of a narrative. The film could later on have a narrative, but not the film's opening. I also believe that not having a narrative will be better because I want the things happening in the opening to be unclear but easy to tell that it is irregular. Having the narrative means that the actions would be explained and will take away the thriller for the opening.

Cinematography

The cinematography in a film would be the way that the film was shot, the camera angles, the lighting, the tone, colors, etc. One major thing that I want in my opening is the use of the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is the composition guidelines grid with 3 vertical lines and 3 horizontal lines. I want everything to be shot in a way that seems balanced and perfect to give a sense of perfection when it comes to the character. I also want the lighting, tone, and color to be dark. I want the lighting to be very dark to make things seem uneasy, gloomy, and timid. I also want the colors to be neutral colors. The only exception is red which will be used to show power (the drink I mentioned in my last post). I also would like for all of the shots to be very tight and close up. This will add more tension and suspense to the scenes.

Sound

The sound element is an important part of the film's opening. For the sound, I would like to find a very suspenseful and creepy song that will go along with my scenes. I have two ideas for the music. I will either make the music non-diegetic, or the last scene of the opening will be the protagonist turning off a record player that is supposedly playing the music. I will decide that soon when I make my storyboard. I also want to add diegetic sounds like the drips from the bottle to the cup, something being cut open, etc. I feel like this will add suspense and an uneasy feeling to my opening.

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene will be the easiest element to incorporate into my film opening. Since the whole opening will be dark, it will not be necessary to have an exterior very decorated. As long as the places where we film has neutral colors, it will be perfectly fine to film with. The only major details that the mise-en-scene will have are neutral colors and it will be very plain. The rest will be the props that are yet to be determined on what they will be.

Editing

Editing is one of my favorite parts of doing a film opening. I love to edit with adobe premiere. In my previous post, I mentioned a few techniques that I will be doing in my opening. I will be using a glitch effect in my opening to make it seem irregular. I will also make the clips play inside of the text which will be the names of the director, major actors, producer, etc. I will be putting one name after every major clip; every clip that plays inside of the text will be the protagonist placing stuff down in a perfectionist manner.

Now that I have finished researching the genre and what lies in it, I will be creating my storyboard next and start planning/ getting ready to start my production. The next thing I will do is my storyboard, so stick around for the next post!

Sources:

https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/five-key-elements-that-contribute-to-the-film-structure-and-narration/#:~:text=There%20are%20five%20elements%20of,way%20to%20judge%20a%20film.