Film Opening of 'Forrest Gump' (McGuffin)

The visual of the opening scene

A feather floats through the air. The falling feather.

A city, Savannah, is revealed in the background. The feather floats down toward the city below. The feather drops down toward the street below, as people walk past and cars drive by, and nearly lands on a man's shoulder.

He walks across the street, causing the feather to be whisked back on its journey. The feather floats above a stopped car. The car drives off right as the feather floats down toward the street.

The feather floats under a passing car, then is sent flying back up in the air. A MAN sits on a bus bench. The feather floats above the ground and finally lands on the man's mud-soaked shoe.

The man reached down and picks up the feather. His name is FORREST GUMP. He looks at the feather oddly, moves aside a box of chocolates from an old suitcase, then opens the case.

Inside the old suitcase are an assortment of clothes, a Ping-Pong paddle, toothpaste and other personal items.

Forrest pulls out a book titled "Curious George," then places the feather inside the book. Forrest closes the suitcase.

Something in his eyes reveals that Forrest may not be all there. Forrest looks right as the sound of an arriving bus is heard. A bus pulls up. Forrest remains on the bus bench as the bus continues on.

What is the McGuffin?

The white feather that landed in between Forrest Gump mud-soaked shoe.



Film Opening of 'Inglourious basterds' (Dialogue)

 

The visual of the opening scene 

"ONCE UPON A TIME IN... NAZI OCCUPIED FRANCE"  
This SUBTITLE disappears, and is replaced by another one;

"1941           One year into the German occupation of France".
         
The farm consists of a house, small barn, and cows spread about. The owner of the property, a bull of a man FRENCH FARMER, brings a axe up and down on A tree stump blemishing his property. However simply by sight, you'd never know if he's been beating at this stump for the last year, or just started today.

JULIE           One of his three pretty teenage daughters, is hanging up laundry on the clothes line. As she hangs up a        white bed sheet, she hears a noise, moving the sheet aside she see's;

JULIE'S POV:     A Nazi town car convertible, with two little Nazi flags attached to the hood, a NAZI SOLDIER behind the wheel, a NAZI OFFICER alone in the back seat, following TWO OTHER NAZI SOLDIERS on motorcycles, coming up over the hill on the country road leading to their farm.

JULIE           'Pappa' she yells.
          The French Farmer sinks his axe in the stump, looks over his shoulder, and see's the Germans approaching. The FARMERS WIFE, CHARLOTTE comes to the doorway of their home, followed by her TWO OTHER TEENAGE DAUGHTERS, and see the Germans approaching. The Farmer yells to his family in FRENCH, SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH;

FARMER           'Go back inside and shut the door'.

FARMER           (to Julie)
          'Julie, get me some water from the pump to wash up with, then get inside with your mother.'
          The young lady runs to the water pump by the house. She picks up a basin, and begins pumping, after a few pumps, water comes out splashing into the basin. The French Farmer sits down on the stump he was previously chopping away at, pulls a handkerchief from his pocket, wipes sweat from off his face, and waits for the Nazi convoy to arrive. After living for a year with the sword of Damocles suspended over his head, this may very well be the end. Julie finishes filling the water basin, and places it on the window sill.

JULIE          'Ready Pappa.'

FARMER           'Thank you darling, now go inside and take care of your mother. Don't run.'
          Julie walks inside the farm house and closes the door behind her. As her father stands up from his stump, and moves over to the window sill with the water basin....The SOUND of the ENGINES of the two motorcycles and car get LOUDER. The Farmer SPLASHES water from the basin on his face and down his front. He takes a towel off a nail, and wipes the excess water from his face and chest, as he watches the two motorcycles, the one automobile, and the four representatives of the National Socialist Party come to a halt on his property. We don't move into them, but keep observing them from a distance, like the Farmer. The TWO NAZI MOTORCYCLIST are off their bikes, and standing at attention next to them. The NAZI DRIVER has walked around the automobile, and opened the door for his superior. The NAZI OFFICER says to The Driver in UNSUBTITLED GERMAN;

NAZI OFFICER           'This is the property of Perrier LaPadite?'

FARMER           'I am Perrier LaPadite'.
          The S.S. Colonel crosses the distance between them with long strides, and says in French with a smile on his face;

NAZI OFFICER          'It is a pleasure to meet you Monsieur LaPadite, I am Colonel Hans Landa of the S.S.COLONEL.'
          HANS LANDA offers the French Farmer PERRIER LAPADITE his hand. The Frenchman takes the German hand in his and shakes it.

PERRIER          ' How may I help you?'

COL LANDA           'I was hoping you could invite me inside your home and we may have a discussion.'

INT - LAPADITE FARM HOUSE - DAY           The door to the farm house swings open, and the Farmer gestures for the S.S. COL to enter. Removing his grey S.S. cap,inside the Frenchman's home. Col Landa is immediately greeted with the sight of the Farmers wife, and three pretty daughters standing together in the kitchen, smiling in his direction. The Farmer enters behind him, closing the door.etc.

The writer Quentin Tarantino uses a lot of Dialogue to drive the narrative and make his story more understandable to the audience.

Film Opening 'Bourne Identity' (Enigma)

DARKNESS. THE SOUND OF WIND AND SPRAY.
The darkness is actually water. A SEARCHLIGHT arcs across heavy ocean swells. Half-a-dozen flashlights --racing along what we can see is the deck of an aging FISHING TRAWLER.
FISHERMEN struggling with a gaff -- something in the water -- A HUMAN CORPSE.

THE BODY sprawled there. The Sailors all talking at once -
SAILOR #1                          -- Jesus, look at him --

SAILOR #2                          -- what? -- you never saw a dead man
                                                  before? --
SAILOR #3                          -- look, look he was shot --
                                                 (nudging the body --)
SAILOR #1                          -- don't, don't do that --
SAILOR #2                          -- he's dead, you think he cares? --
SAILOR #1                          -- so have some respect -- it's a --
                         

THE BODY MOVES! -- convulsing -- coughing up sea water -- the Sailors -- freaked -- jumping back -- standing there -- THE MAN begins to breathe.

INT. FISHING BOAT BUNK ROOM 
A wreck. Too small for all the people in here right now -- SAILORS sweeping off the table -- rough hands laying THE MAN down --THE CAPTAIN -- brutal and impatient -- watching from the door as -- GIANCARLO tears through the clutter -- then searching for a medical kit buried in the shambles.

GIANCARLO -- it's here -- hang on -- it's here somewhere -- give me a minute -- get some blankets -- get some blankets
                         on him -- (finding the kit) here we go -- here it is --

               GIANCARLO with an old trunk -- just getting it open,

THE CAPTAIN  Giancarlo.
                              (Giancarlo turns back --)
                         We pick him up? Okay, we have to pick him up. But that's as far as it goes.

GIANCARLO  He needs a doctor.

CAPTAIN          Fuck that. He lives? He dies? I don't care. We've wasted two hours on this shit already. You do what
                          you can, but we're not going back.(pure steel now) You understand me?

GIANCARLO   Yes, sir.

CAPTAIN   (talk to the rest of the sailors)
                         Let's get back to work!

GIANCARLO watching them run out.

How enigma been created?

• The first shot is lightening with black figure.
• STORM (something might go wrong or something might happen) and sound effects
• Something in the ocean (body), then they pull it up to check it.

Directors making style

Director 1: Steven Spielberg

He is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and business magnate. Spielberg is consistently considered as one of the leading pioneers of the New Hollywood era, as well as being viewed as one of the most popular and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. In a career spanning more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres.

Research on his work Style and if its related to the pre-production  

 

Stylistic feature	Example	Doable?	How?
Pace	Raiders Of The Lost Ark	Yes	·         Timing each shot         ·     Backup plan- shoot each shot again for different pace (e.g long and short shot for each one)
Scale	Star Wars	No
Sense of escapism	Jurassic Park	No

 

Director 2: Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, producer, and actor. Tarantino grew up an obsessed film fan and worked at Video Archives, a video rental store while training to act. His career began in the late 1980s, when he wrote and directed 'My Best Friend's Birthday', the screenplay of which formed the basis for True Romance. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with the release of Reservoir Dogs in 1992.

Research on his work Style and if its related to the pre-production  

Stylistic feature	Example	Doable?	How?
Gore	Inglorious Bastards	No
Dark humour	Django: unchained	Not really
Reliance on dialogue	Pulp fiction	Yes	·         Voice over (monologue)

Shooting Journal

At the begging of the Journal...

We where given a Task 'The title and opening of a new fiction film...' meaning creating and opening scene from an original book. We were recommended to search in the school library or on the internet. However,the books in the library were not so interesting and that sometimes one of my team member did not accept a participial book another team member picks, which left us with no book. The the director of my team recommended to research more into the book 'Running On The Cracks', which then we wee all satisfied and interested in the story.

Then...

To start filming we need to make the first step which is to create a Pre-production pack done in a time period and there was not enough to finish it in a week, only if we did it as a team for each page. Me and my team decided to split the work between each other and do a page each (do the page that can be done individually).

Shooting day

After going through the research and completing the Pre-production pack, we booked the two days shooting for two different places, before by a week and we have all the materials and tools and actors for the shoot. However, before the shooting day the plan was cancelled as something came up and that the main actor was not able to make it on the day, which made us rearrange the plan to another day.

Editing day

Before editing we need to export the videos in order to edit it them on the final pro cut. Using the storyboard and shot list to help us arrange the clips together. At this stage we were stuck as when we were putting the clips the way it was suppose to be arranged, it was not match on action nor fluid. After facing this challenge other problems kept coming up in tell we faced them all and completed the film.

What went wrong during editing and how we over come each challenge?

• When putting the shots the way it was suppose to be arranged, it was not match on action nor fluid, that was because the pace was the other way round. Meaning the pace for the long shots were too long and the pace of the short shots were too short. We decided to crop the long shots (especially on the flash back) as it was too long and slow the pace at on shot where she cries as the pace was too short. Also another way to fix the pace we froze a scene from short shots to extend it and decided to use a monologue for the freeze frames. Even though we have done all this, the pace and match on action was still not right, which left us with one solution that to rearrange the shot list and that will make the narrative clear. It was like a miracle how everything worked well when rearranging some of the shots as if it was meant to be. Lastly, we thought putting titles in between shots that were not match on action will make it more fluid, which was very successful idea.  
• Re-writing the script at the last minute; the original script was too long so we believe making it simple and short to make it less to concentrate (to much dialogue/monologue can cause confusion as too many things is happening), this will drive the narrative.
•  Afterwards, another problem we faced. That when we recorded the monologue and adding it to the shots it did not fit/suited the whole film, hence the noise of the background was to noisy for another sound track to dissolve in. The monologue is very important part of the film as it conveys the narrative and makes it clearer to the audience of what is happening in the opening scene. We decided to re-record the monologue, which did not work again. Then we decided to avoid using monologue and use a script writing like subtitles by using the hand writing font and soundtrack of screeching noise, as if someone is writing on a paper. While the character is writing on the diary the scene convey the surrounding rather that the diary to give a clearer visual to the audience and convey the feelings of character. Making the audience feel sympathy for the character.
• When making the tiles, we had to think very carefully of the type of fonts we use and some titles had to be different. On the final pro-cut it did not have all types of fonts we needed (the way we visualized it, especially the hand writing font), which left us with one solution, which was to research the type of font on the internet and download it onto the mac to be able to use it. 

Lighting & Colour Research

To measure the light source's ability to show object colours "realistically" or "naturally" compared to a familiar reference source, either incandescent light or daylight.
In many TV programmers, movies use natural daylight if shooting in the morning as it has a big influence on the look and mood that is created. Natural light can vary from bright, clear and sunny and they use special. Also they use studio lights if shooting outside after sun sets to make it brighter and clearer to see for actors and audience.

studio light      Daylight                         incandescent light 

What is the purpose Lighting & Colour Research?

• Lighting is responsible for significant effects in each scene. As light can draw attention to specific areas of interest, and create wonderful effects by its interplay with dark areas.

• Lighting can give depth to a scene, while also bringing out texture and detail in setting, décor, and clothing.

• Light can be either hard or soft light. soft light covers a wider area with a more diffuse light, diminishes outline and clarity of characters, minimizes shadow, and reduces modelling of detail and texture. Hard light clearly illuminates areas, sharply outlines and illuminates characters, brings out detail and texture, and markedly separates light and shadows.

Main Task

From the book 'Running On The Cracks' their is no details of lighting effects, which what filming industry face when filming, by using the access lights in the surrounding, and the studio lights. This part of the process is very simple, however lighting effects tend to change (e.g if shooting in a daylight, the weather could change in time/ when re-shooting a particular scene the lighting effect would be different), meaning when filming it is important to consider lighting and colour effects every time.

When we were shooting the opening scene it was in winter, which suits the genre 'thriller' as it is gloomy dull lighting effect. When shooting the flash back we used the incandescent light, to light the inside of the house as how it would be lighten up in the evening.

Actors Research

Definition 

Choosing the suited actor (actress for a female) to portray a character in a dramatic or comic production; he or she performs in film, television, theatre, or radio. Also finding the suitable 'Looks' of an actor to the given character description.
For example: In 'Harry Potter' movie the characters were not randomly chosen, but chosen from the description of the original book.

What is the purpose of Actors research?

• To bring a scripted character to life as how the writer and audience visualized the character.

• To find out through detailed research what the history, economics, politics, music, art, literature, theatre, film, foods, fashion, religion might have been at the time the play was written, in order to know how the character would have lived, just as you know these things in real life. 

• The characters in a film drags the narrative and makes it fluid to understand the story as if the film becomes real. 

Main Task

 

Information from the book 'Running On The Cracks':
When reading the opening of the book, the main character 'Leo' was to be exposed first and then the rest of the characters; her aunt and uncle, her grandparents and the wide variety of characters she comes across, who all help her to solve the mystery of where her grandparents are. The description  of character were so little and not much detailed that me and my crew visualized the characters as if we were to be the audience.

Challenges 

• When searching the actor that suits the visual of the character they might not have the skills or experience of the act. In this case, firstly, we decided to find an actor from the drama studio as they have experience and secondly look for an actor that looks similar to the visualized character.

• Actors might not have the time to go out for the shoot. Get hold of an actor before the day of shoot by months to be organized.

• Sometimes it is necessary to find actors that are accessed to the right tools and environment (e.g. we are shooting the flash back from a grandparents house kitchen window, which means researching grandparents and their houses to how it is visualized and if we can use the space and the actors (grandparents) to participate).  

Why we choose specific actors?

Our product is trying to target 16 - 25 year old demographic, this is mainly because the main character in the film is of a similar age, therefore the audience is more likely to engage with the character’s situation. We choose Katie Crossland for 'Leo' the main character, since she has similarities in lifestyle to the character in the book as such that they both are teenage, etc. Furthermore, Alex has the experience of acting as she studies drama, which is what we are specifically looking out for. Also she wants to become a part of a filming production, which gives her a small starting point to become an actor.


One of my crew members the 'Director' recommended to use her grandparents and their house for the shoot as they have the environment to the visual.

Costume Research

Definition

Clothes which are specially made/purchased for the stage performance by a costume designer or picked out by a costume coordinator. However, many performers also pick up regular clothes and make them their "trademark look" on stage.

For example:
in the film ' Prince Of Persia The Sand Of Time' the customs that were selected suits the time period as it is a historical fashion worn by the middle Eastern culture. As you can see clearly the costume of a warrior that is not usually seen in reality only in cinematic film.

What is the purpose of Costume?

• Costumes can help actors portray characters' age, gender role, profession, social class, personality, and even information about the historical period/era, geographic location and time of day, as well as the season or weather of the theatrical performance.

• Costume Designers need good descriptive abilities, and they must be able to break down scripts in terms of costume plots, and have knowledge of story structure and character arcs.

• To carry out research in to the costume styles, designs and construction methods which are appropriate for the productions' time period.

• To keep up with finical records depending on the numbers of costumes to be created, and the scale of budgets.

• Suit the dress code in the scene. (e.g. Filming historical fashion would not suit the scene that has new fashion nowadays time period, unless if the film is involves time travel etc.) 

Main Task

Information from the book 'Running on the Cracks':
In the book it did not actually described the costume of some characters such as the grandparents, so we let the grandparents pick up regular clothes and make them their "trademark look" on stage. However for the main character we also asked her to pick up regular clothes by giving her our visualization (the drawing of the costume and the character takes it from there and pick a similar clothing  that suits a teenage character.

Challenges 

• The characters might not have the right costume or may be missing a part of a costume which makes the Film Unite bring in some spares for a back up plan.  

Making the Shot List

Definition of shot list 

A list of shots to help in the planning and filming of a movie. A shot list is an itemized breakdown of all the shots necessary to tell the story.  The list is given to the film crew of all the shots to be filmed during that workday.

Template EXAMPLE

Shot 1:	Long Shot establishing the view of a bank that is not too well known.
Shot 2:	Medium Shot of Ben and Tom walk across the view of the camera. You get a view of their head and the side of their body. This shot is to only to show they have arrived at the bank.
Shot 3:	Big Close Up Shot of Ben and Tom. They look at each other and then they separate.
Shot 4:	Medium Long Shot of Ben walking to the writing desk.
Shot 5:	Medium Shot of Ben at the writing desk.
Shot 6:	Extreme close-up shot of Ben hand picking up a deposit slip and writing on the deposit slip “This is a stickup. Put all your money in this bag”.

what is purpose of shot list?

• Organizing the project (shot list) before the shoot can save time during the editing stage.
• To help communicate their vision to everyone from the cinematographer to the set designer.
• Listing each shot needed for a particular scene, in the order in which you plan to shoot them.
• Insure wither there is enough coverage to meet the needs before you ever start rolling tape.

Main task

creative process

Developing the shot list from the storyboard needs to include more details of what is happening in each shot. Being creative by putting each shot in logical order.

challenges

• How to transfer one shot to another. This includes to think about match on action.
• If there is enough coverage to meet our needs.

The opening scene shot list we created for the book 'Running On The Cracks' pre-production. 



Drawing the storyboard

definition of storyboard

Storyboards are important and is the second part of the filming industry (after screenplay)! Storyboards are a smooth transition from a script to filming, and allow us to see the film before filming. It can tell us where the script needs to be changed to look good in a film, saving time, effort, and possibly money. A storyboard should be so complete that a director who sees a storyboard can, without reading the script or talking to anyone involved in the original project, create the film as it was intended to be.

EXAMPLE: (not very detailed)

What is the purpose of a storyboard?

• To help the creators pre-visualize a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence for the final product.
• Brainstorming storyboard to help creators play with ideas, choosing those ideas that work well together and their ultimate sequence.
• So that the creators go through them to see if their idea has translated into graphic form. If a picture doesn't work, they may rework the drawing or even change a key story action at that point, replacing the picture that doesn't work in the sequence of the story with one that does.
• Also, the creators once they are satisfied with their rough drawings, they do a series of full color illustrations to create a more finished storyboard. Or write down the detail of colour tone around the storyboard.

Main Task

Running on the cracks information-

Get access to the book and read the opening of the story to visualize the action for the final production.

Adapted reflect on creative process-

Creating the storyboard is very important process for me as being creative it has to be very detailed, especially that the camera man (me) can understand the storyboard on how to create it in action on the filming day.  

Challenges-

• Me and the rest of the team challenged how to visualize the book 'Running On The Cracks' as it is an original piece from a writer Julia Donaldson. Meaning we did not exactly have the visual of Julia Donaldson imagined her opening story of the book. However, realizing this in the filming industry, we over come this problem and decided to take the main narrative (story) and create it in our visualization ( being very creative at this point).
• When creating the storyboard the challenged we also faced is what shot type to use for each sequence. This is very important processes in the storyboard as it exposses the meaning and the narrative of the story to the audience.
• If each sequence in the storyboard would be suited in terms of 'match on action'.
• While also being creative visualizing the action of the story in the storyboard, we also have to visualize the sound track that is suitable for each shot, and if it fits with the action.  

We created the opening scene storyboard for the book 'Running On The Cracks'.

Common film opening techniques...

Conventions
The ingredients of a media form/ code. The most typical way of doing something.

NOTE! There are conventional ways of creating/ doing/ making 'things'. We must remember this!

opening- typical... conventions

• Setting
• Time period
• Character(s) - protagonist
• Initiates plot/ narrative.                                                                                                        NOTE! If an opening does not 'do' (narrative) this it could be classified as unconventional
• Enigma

Connotation
The non literal meaning we inspect of something, e.g. a box  can connotate feelings of excitement, suspense, anticipation.


Enigma (usually used at the begging of a story production)
What does enigma do...

• Build tension, making the audience wanting to know and understand what is happening. 
• Suspension
• Mysterious (creates mystery)

Creating enigma

• Through the soundscape (diegetic and non-diegetic mix)
• Changes in the sound track (the composed music)
• Ambiguous location
• Ambiguous character (e.g. body in the water in Bourne Identity movie, in the opening scene)
• Time of day/ weather
• Colour and lighting
• Missing part of the story (shrinking time)

Example of Enigma in a film
Bourne Identity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw9DhUhUCeU


McGuffin/ Maguffin 
It is a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot. The most common type of McGuffin is an object, place, or person; other, more abstract types include money, victory, glory, survival, power, love, or some unexplained driving force.

Writting the Screenplay

Definition of screenplay

A screenplay is VISUAL. A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original work or adaptations from existing pieces of writing.

example from Shrek screenplay page

What is the purpose of a screenplay?

• Helps to think about how to expose the actions of the characters and how they should be seen by the audience.
• Developing the narrative and delivering it in logical order.
• Describes the literal, visual aspects of the story, rather than on the internal thoughts of its characters.
• Helps to decide where location should take place/ what props needed

Main Task

Task- 

The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. 

All video and audio must be students own work. Audio may be obtained from a copy right free source. 

book info 'Running On The Cracks'-

The story revolves around 14-year-old Leo, who runs away from her aunt and uncle's home, where she has been living since the sudden death of her musician parents. Leo is driven away by the disturbing behaviour of her uncle. She escapes to Glasgow, where she comes across a wide variety of characters, who all help her to solve the mystery of where her grandparents are. This could be more than Leona expected.


When Brainstorming, need to include the four main ingredients to create good story.

Who	When	Where	What
Girl Boy Surfeit Journalist Beautician Alien Doctor Bushwalker Concert pianist Rock singer Artist Mad scientist Vampire	Winter, 2003 September, 2000 Late afternoon Early morning Middle Ages Last day of school Christmas Summer, 2103 1960’s World War 2 1980’s Depression Jurassic times	Classroom Chapel Children’s playground City Car park Garden Dining area Theatre Jail Rainforest Gym Lunar landscape Locker room	Playing Walking Eating Exploring Resisting Weeping Laughing Excluding Understanding Throwing Concealing Including Running

Challenges

• n the opening of the book it did not have the script of the characters, so it had to be developed original to explain the narrative of the opening scene.
• To make sure the narrative is clear to the audience through the script and action     NOTE! make sure that the script matches the action

The opening scene screenplay we created for the book 'Running On The Cracks'