What did I learn from my AS film opening?

Let's begin with the good things which I especially liked. I thought that my use of colour to indicate different themes, such as the dream sequence was quite effective. The purple colouration is something that isn't considered mainstream, yet is effective and gives a good indication that a scene isn't normal. I think I can use a similar technique in "Tempus" to indicate when things are taking place in the past. Using discolouration, I think I can clearly show which scenes take place in the past and which are present.
Though I over-used it a bit in the opening sequence, I liked the focus/defocus. I can see how we could use it in "Tempus", perhaps using a slower focus/ defocus than the one used in this opening, revealing the "Shadower" in the sequence when Alex recalls all the times he's seen the "Shadower".
I found the quick cut-away to an object of importance to be effective. It makes the audience think about the object and what it'll be used for. In "SHOT" (this film opening) I used a very quick one when the phone is ringing. Above anything else, I think it looked nice.

Now, the more important segment "Thing I Didn't Like About My Old Film Opening". From the very beginning, the sound quality isn't great and a lot of wind can be heard. Although a little bit would've been nice to add atmosphere, as it is, there's lots of distortion. It just makes it seem unprofessional. So, to rectify this, in "Tempus", I'm hoping to use a high quality microphone to ensure top audio quality. This should help avoid distortion and make everything much clearer. Audio can really play a big par in film and I think that some people forget this. To improve the audio also, there are very few scenes that take place outside, this should remove most of the wind issues. The scenes that do take place outside also have very little dialogue, which makes things a whole lot easier.
The conversation which that occurs with Riley and Nicholas, which I'll talk about in a second, has unfitting music. It just doesn't work. I felt that this scene lacked something when editing, and it did, so I added music. It's only now when I look back on it that I realise that the music is really unfitting.
The conversation between Riley and Nicholas is really boring. Why? To be honest, the acting isn't very gripping, the camera angles are boring and I think the staging of the scene and location just aren't exciting, there needs to be more going on. Our plan to stop this from happening in "Tempus" is to, first, get a decent enough performance out of our actors and actresses. This way can can hopefully get the audience somewhat emotionally involved. Secondly, we should use lots of relevant camera angle when long exchanges of dialogue are made, if we can get the angles right, we can help the conversation flow and make the who scene more exciting. Thirdly, our big exchange of dialogue is made in a pub. This should fix the boring setting and staging issue. A pub with lots of extras in should be more exiting than my living room and it should give the film a more realistic feel. We've also given the characters motivation to be at the locations, making "Tempus" far more believable than this film opening.

-BW