'Juno' Timing List

‘Fox searchlight pictures’ 0:17 s
‘Mandate pictures, Mr Mudd production’ 0:21 s
‘A Jason Reitman film’ 0:27 s
‘Juno’ 0:30 s
‘Ellen Page’ 0:40 s
‘Michael Cera’ 0:47 s
‘Jennifer Garner’ 0:50 s
‘Jason Bateman’ 0:58 s
‘Allison Janney’ 1:03 s
‘JK Simmons’ 1:08 s
‘Olivia Thirlby’ 1:15 s
‘Casting By…’ 1:18 s
‘Costume Designer’ 1:22 s
‘Music and Songs’ 1:29 s
‘Music Supervisor’ 1:34 s
‘Co producers’ 1:41 s
‘Film Editor’ 1:45 s
‘Production Designer’ 1:50 s
‘Director of Photography’ 1:54 s
‘Executive Producers’ 2:01 s
‘Produced By’ 2:05 s
‘Written By’ 2:13 s
‘Directed By’ 2:18 s


For this task we had to watch the opening scene for the film 'Juno' and note down what titles appeared at what times; this was to aid us in knowing firstly how to effectively use titles in our own films and also so we could take a look at timings so we knew how long to hold shots for. I quickly learnt that the length of time for which a title appears and also how long a shot is are both very important factors to consider to keep the pace of the film.

Research: art of the title

I went onto http://www.artofthetitle.com/ to research title sequences, and I came across the opening part of 'to kill a mockingbird'. I like the way it's in black and white, adding a melancholy and nostalgic mood to the film, it also adds a bit of a mysterious air; ideal for the thriller / horror genre I am thinking of doing.

Research: Fright (1971)

This is a still from the 1971 film 'Fright'. I like the camera shot of the person in the glass, I feel it adds an element of mystery to the scene and would be fairly easy to replicate within my own piece. Also I like how everything is blurred because you're seeing it through a mirror - it really creates an atmosphere of tension.

Research: 'Cherrybomb' (2009)

This is the opening 2 minutes of my favourite film; 'Cherrybomb'. I like it because it starts with the end, which is an interesting way of grabbing the reader's attention as they want to see how the character's got into said situation. Although this idea is quite conventional, in my opinion the director of this film makes it unique by the use of various micro-elements such as sound, costume and lighting. I may incorporate this into my own opening piece.


I like how there isn't much dialouge in this either; it makes the whole opening faster paced and more interesting because you feel like you want to get to know the characters better. In my film I am going to use this lack of speech to hopefully give the same effect.
Also, I like the way the title appears in the screen in a scattered manner. It makes the sequence more sporadic and youthful; directly relating to the audience who will be watching. I think the way in which it uses the whole ideology of teenagers texting eachother everything and showing what they're saying to one another is also really well done and quite individual to this specific film, making it more memorable.

Research : Shots + Colours

This is a poster from the new 'Nightmare on elm street', although I am not doing a horror film, I like the way you cannot see his face as it adds an element of mystery. I think the way he's standing over somebody shows a really strong sense of power and the red and black colour scheme shows that it relates to death and violence as that's what red connotes.
The hat is also very good because it again shows that he is mysterious and untrustworthy as you cannot see his eyes.

Preliminary Task

This week we have been doing our preliminary tasks. I worked with Della, Gemma & Sarah to create a short clip involving a character opening a door, holding a conversation with another and then leaving. We had to include a number of things in it; match on action, the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot.
Doing this has helped me by allowing me to learn how to hold a camera steady with and without a tripod or dolly and how different shots and ways of filming create different moods and impressions, for example a low angle shot would give the implication of power of authority and a long shot could create an impression of how big an area is.


I learnt the definitions for the three terms; match on action is when you use a variety of different shots to show one action. We used the opening of a door to demonstrate this. Firstly we filmed a midshot of Gemma walking to the door, took another close up shot of her hand reaching for the door handle and a final shot of her walking through the door from the other side.
The 180 degree rule is basically keeping the camera on one side of the actors, we did this by selecting a central point and making sure we didn't film beyond 180 degrees of this point. Our example of this was in the conversation between Gemma and I. By keeping the subjects on one side of the camerait may make the viewer feel more as though they are there.
Finally, shot reverse shot is when you see the orginal shot, and then see the exact reverse of it. To demonstrate this, we took a shot of Gemma speaking over my shoulder, and then filmed my response over her shoulder. We had to ensure that we kept with the 180 degree rule whilst doing this though, however we did not encounter any problems with it. We did this so you can see both characters inital reactions to what was said previously, allowing a better connection with the audience. We also used it in Sarah and Gemma's conversation, to show more emotion and let the audience see both points of view.
We also used panning, when Gemma was opening the door, walking to the stairs and whilst she was walking to me. We did this so that we could see her moving into the situation clearly.


I loved how the match on action looked on the film, and may try to incorporate it into my actual coursework piece if I can. I thought that we were sucessful in our attempt to film, although there were some slight issues with framing the subject and getting everything central. We now have to edit the shots we have taken using an editing programme, which will help us to use it later on for our main tasks.