Media practical production:
Nicole Shaw, Bradley Judge.
Treatment.
For our practical production we will be producing an opening sequence of a film, we are basing our sequence on a poem written in the 18th century by Christina Rossetti called Cousin Kate. The poem has themes of betrayal, revenge and unrequited love. The poet Cristina Rossetti wrote many poems that mainly had feminist views, she became famous for this.
We watched the opening of another period drama pride and prejudice. This opening sequence was not extremely interesting because the titles were very short and didn’t have any names of the cast in them. However an idea that we really liked from it was to use the idea of a classical piece of music playing, but then it turns out that an actual person is playing the piano. I also liked the idea of having the sound of birdsong at the beginning of the piece prior to music.
In the opening sequence we will be introducing two characters who would be the main characters in the full film. The narrator of the poem, whose name we never find out, and her cousin Kate. I think it’s really good how you never find out the first girls name because it shows a theme of mystery and we don’t really know who this woman is. The two women will be shown as young girls to start with in the opening shot to show how similar they were as children but as the shot changes we see that there are two women doing everyday things, but we see how different they are due to class and the jobs they are doing. Shots will have transitions between the women showing that they are similar and displaying a theme of what used to be has changed. Also another character that we may introduce is a maid, but she would only be playing the piano at this point.
The opening sequence to begin with, will be the two little girls. I think this part should be set in a field, with them running around, holding hands to display a clear connection between them. I think the significance of a field is that in the times the poem was set there weren’t many houses and there would have been a lot of county side around it. when they have grown up we need to display a clear change in class, so the first girl (the one who is now much poorer), would maybe sweeping up in a stable, whereas cousin Kate would be in a grand house walking around to show authority and how she would never would do a job.
The costumes need to be of the time. So at the beginning both girls should have matching dresses, plain white perhaps with a piney and their hair the same, to show how similar they were as kids and how you can be practically the same person yet when your grown up your completely different. When the shot changes I think the women should be dressed very different. I think the first woman should have a brown dress in poor condition with a piney and a hat. But Kate should be in a nice dress to fit that era, with gold in it maybe to show richness.
I don’t think there will be many props in the sequence as not much really happens. Obviously if the first girl is sweeping we will need a sweeping brush but apart from that I don’t think there is any necessary need for props. As we develop our ideas further we may find cause to use another prop though.
