Copyright

When making our group video, one of the problems we came accross was making sure that the soundtrack that we used wasn't coprighted as we wanted to find one from the internet instead of making our own.Our first choice for sountrack was "Beanie Seagel: Feel it in the air" which we were told was copyrighted and as we didn't have enough time to find permission we decided to look for an alternate soundtrack and ended up going with a free instrumental made by a online producer titled "Islands" we felt it was still relevant to our opening sequence and was a good choice to finish with as there was no copyright on it meaning we could use it freely.


This is our final soundtrack:

Evaluation:Question 7

Evaluation: Question 6

Evaluation: Question 5

Evaluation: Question 4

Evaluation: Question 3

Evaluation:Question 2

Evaluation:Question 1

Progress

This week we started re-filming our opening sequence.We decided to do our filming in New Malden car park as it's close to school,usually empty and has a nice atmosphere.I think that we've gotten a lot of work done this week as the deadlines are getting closer and we're aware that we need to hurry up and finish.

A behind the scenes shot of us filming in New Malden

Editing progress in Adobe Premier Pro

Opening Sequence:Boardwalk Empire

Boardwalk Empire:

• The opening does a good job at introducing the main character (Nucky) whilst clearly trying not to give away too much about him.They do this by starting with a powerful shot from behind him confidently looking over the sea and sky which could signify power,there's then a shot of him taking out a gold plated cigarette container which continues the idea that he's a significant character in this show as gold is usually associated with wealth.
• I believe that there's a good job done at captivating the audience's interest considering that the opening's only 1:33 and there's no dialogue.The main skill used to create interest is mystery,throughout the opening there's not much given away about who the main character is or what the show's about at all but at the same time enough is given away to raise enigma from the viewer that they know will only be answered if they continue watching.For example,the main character's standing at the end of a beach by himself on a windy,cold day looking out into the horizon as if he's looking for something or someone.There's an increasing amount of wine bottles seen being washed to shore and smashing against the pier which could either be very confusing for the audience but could also encourage them to try and give their own interpretation of what's going on.Only shots from in front of the main character towards the beach are shown until the last 5 seconds where it reveals that he man's actually in Las Vegas,this continues the use of mystery and creates even more enigma.
• The contrast shown between the mans dull,striped suit with the close-up of the rose continues the mystery of the character but could suggest that the man purposely wants to give off the impression that he's dangerous and powerful but still wants people to know that there is another side to him where he's more merciful and understanding.This leads me to believe that this is a drama/crime film,at first I thought the man was a detective but the dark shadows that cover him in the long shot at 0:22 could suggest that the man's involved in crime because the dark clouds can be associated with danger.

• The main characters' costume and props gives a lot away about who he is as well.He's seen wearing an old fashioned,well tailored suit with expensive shoes.This tells the viewer that the show's set somewhere in the 60's if not earlier and continues the idea that he's a dominant figure in the show.The fact that he smokes also tells us that he's very relevant to his time as smoking was very popular in the 60's and was very commercial/idolized,it's possible that he doesn't even smoke because he enjoys smoking but because the production team wants to tell the viewers that they're looking at a man who'se respected and has a bit of mystery about him which is shown by his preference of putting cigarettes in a gold container rather than using the original packaging.
• The soundtrack is non diegetic and establishes a mood much different to what's shown as the music is non contrapuntal as it's quite up beat and exciting compared to the dark and eerie clip.This could be to tell the audience that the main character shown is supposed to be a likeable character regardless of how he makes his money.
• The pace starts off very slowly with just one guitar being played and the man calmly looking over the beach as the waves come in peacefully,but gradually as the music starts to elevate the storm comes about and the time in between shots is shortened.
• Most of the lighting used is shown to come off the enviroment such as lightning strikes and street lights in the background,apart from this there isn't much use of lighting.
• The style of editing is quite basic and not very creative but rather just an attempt at making sure that a variety of shots are used such as extreme close ups on the characters eyes and wine bottles washing to shore to long shots of the entire beach and surroundings.
• The credits are shown on top of the opening as it plays and uses a basic font style and placing without any animation.
• The mood set is very mysterious and creates a lot of enigma as there are a lot of questions raised that aren't given any answers used to indicate to the audience that the show is mystery genre.

My Film:

As I'm studying specifically opening sequences here and for my film I'm only required to create an opening sequence,I can clearly see how so many simple yet specific shots when put together can create engima,establish the setting,introduce the main character and genre all at the same time when looked at in depth.I plan on using some of the same ideas shown in this opening sequence in my own film such as ensuring that I think about what I'm using for my character's costumes in great detail and making sure that I use the 3 minutes I have for my opening sequence effectively.

Art of the Title

Art used in titles could refer to anything from the typography to the animations used on texts,if used effectively it can completely manipulate the viewers thoughts and ideas on what they think they should expect from the show/film as it's going to be the first part of the show that they see so making sure that first impressions are not only good but are a true reflection of what your show's about is crucial.Below are a few examples of different ways I believe are effective ways of using art in titles. 

2 Broke Girls:

 

 

The "2 Broke Girls" title sequence is interesting because it's very short,brief and doesn't seem to give away too much information unless you look into each element in detail.To begin with,there's good references to the title and synopsis of the show in the text such as the $ sign used in replacement of the s in "2 Broke Girls",
the font used for the text has a hard hitting,grungy look and grunge is usually associated with being grimy,sloppy and,all stereotypes of people who are "broke" which links back to the title of the show.The text comes onto the screen quick and violently which could suggest that you can expect the show to be fast paced.

As well as references used in the text there's also some simplistic but effective typography used such as the two - layer text which gives a nice 3-D effect making it stand out a lot more from the background.

Don't Trust the B**** in Apartment 23:

Compared to 2 Broke Girls,this show uses a completely different approach when it comes to art in title.Although the title is also very brief and only uses one shot it still does an excellent job at giving away hints to the viewer about what to expect.Clearly the title is supposed to be an animated close-up of an apartment buzzer/intercom,I believe that the production team has decided to make sure that all text used looks like it's meant to be a part of the set instead of off screen animations to let the viewer know that the show's meant to be a realistic depiction of someone's life.

There's a number of different types of fonts used as well as colour and placement.Each font used could be used to say something about someone who lives in the apartment number.For example,whoever lives in apartment 19 which says "Don't" could be said to be the mature one in the apartment as they're the only one that has a neatly placed name tag and they haven't given much away about their personality as they've used a simple white font with black background.I believe that apartment no.22 is meant to portray a stereotypical woman in her early 20's who lives in the city,this is because of the girly purple colour used as well as the creative font.The production team could have chosen to signify that to the viewer because of the fact that whoever's in apartment no.22 could be the main character and the person who has a problem with her neighbour,the "B**** in apartment 23".

There isn't much given awaay about whoever lives in apartment no.23 when looking at the art used which could be purposely as it gets the viewer thinking.

My Film:
For my film,I plan on creating an interesting,original and relevant graphics.The information here shown me how many different ways I could go about using art in my title sequence to make it eye-catching.I plan on using a very simple font in either white or black colour without any effects or animation at all.Me and my group plan on making the animation very basic as well,we would like to either play the text over the video and have it slowly fade from one to the other to jump to a black screen.This is because I want the audience to first of all focus more on what's going on in the opening sequence itself as well as to create enigma so my audience knows that I'm not looking to give too much away at all.

Inspiration for my opening sequence comes from the classic gangster film "The Godfather":   

A potential font I can use can be "Big Noodle Titling":

Opening Credits

Opening credits are shown at the beginning of a programme or film to list the most important members of the project. These are usually the producers, main cast, directors and editors.Credits can be shown in a number of different ways,the most basic and typical way of displaying credits is on either a blank screen or over the action in the film with basic typography placed in a corner.Other opening credits are more creative and can be build around a production number or animation.

According to Wikipedia (here),opening credits usually go in this order:Name of the studio,name of the production company,production,starring,film's title,featuring,casting/casted by,music,production design.I believe this is so that the more behind the scenes work can go first,then comes the people who are more involved such as the producers and actors.

A shot from the opening credits to a 007 film

Here are some examples of different type and styles of opening credit orders:

Elementary:

Mad Men:

The Shining:

Here credits have been used as a way to introduce the setting of the film to give the viewer an idea of what type of film they're watching,the typography and animation used for the text isn't as eye catching and effective which I believe is because the production team wanted the viewer to be more focused on what shots are being shown.The director has gone through great effort to get a number of different shots from aerial shots to crane shots.

My Film:
 Clearly opening credits are very important to establishing the right atmosphere and feel to a film as well creating enigma.I can use this knowledge to make sure that my opening sequence is engaging and interesting for my audience by using some of the conventions and skills I've studied.

Sound

Sound is used in opening sequences along with other elements to give the viewer an idea of what genre show they're watching based on what kind of music is used (e.g. Pop music could suggest that the about adolescence and their target audience is young teenagers)if there's any narration used and if sound is diegetic or non diegetic.I have created a mind-map on Bubbl.us to show my notes on three different genre opening sequences I watched and what I believe each aspect of the sound is meant to show.

Click here for a full size version

My Film:
I plan on using the information I've gathered here and apply it to my opening sequence by showing that I am capable of using a variety of different types of sound from music to voice overs and ensuring that they're appropriate for my genre of film.I would like to use some of the conventions shown in my analysis of the show "Golden Boy"as it's based on a crime much like mine.

Genre

Crime/Gangster Conventions:

• Likely to take place in a big city in the US
• Most public scenes are done in seedy alleyways and wharves of the urban jungle
• Survival of the fittest state of mind
• Power struggle takes place between the main character and main foe
• The whole gangster life is glorified greatly
• Family comes first
• Gangs are allocated by immigrant roots (Italian,Cuban etc)
•  Fairly immune to the law 
• Material goods (Cars,clothes,houses and cars) as well as women take a big role in measuring the success of a charachters
• The hero is usually a drug lord and his main way of making money is through drug trade (Usually cocaine)
• Betrayal is very common
• The end justifies the mean

Two classic gangster movies that portray many of these conventions are "The Godfather" and "Goodfellas"

The Godfather:

Goodfellas:

My Film:

The genre and conventions shown in these films are relevant to the type of movie I am looking to make with my group so I plan on using the information I've gathered from my research to remember what kind of conventions I should include in my film to attract my target audience.It also gave me an idea of what's too typical and cliché in gangster genre movies.

Preliminary task self evaluation

Evaluation 

For my preliminary task I was asked to make a short film with my group following a script titled "Feed the fish". We decided to take a humourous approach with our short film whilst still managing to show our ability and understanding of how different types of shots work together effectively. I believe that the first half of our film indicated that we were able to edit our shots to create match-on-action as shown when our main character walks into a bulding and up the stairs. However, as the film got to the middle there were a few clear jump cuts which effected the overall look of the film as well as indications that we didn't take lighting into consideration as the lighting would blatantly change between two shots. 

 In my opinion, the editing at the end of our video worked well. We filmed two characters spinning in seperate rooms and later duplicated and sped up these shots to show that this was meant to be character 1 changing into character 2.The editing was done poorly on purpose to show light hearted humour.

A strength I believe we showed in our short film was using the music at the beginning to establish to the audience the genre of our film.We used the opening tune to "Looney Tunes" when following the main character around a building to show that he isn't to be taken seriously as well as to help make the long journey a little more interesting. On the other hand this also didn't help our film as we found from our feedback that the energy of the music overhadowed the energy of the characters.

We could have also worked on planning our filming times better. For example, we filmed on two days and didn't realise that our costumes in the first and second half of the film were not the same.

My Film:
Doing the premilinary task has enabled me to learn a lot of new skills in filiming and editing in a quick time and I think I'll be able to apply this knowledge onto my actual film opening by learning from the errors I've made and using the feedback I was given by my class to ensure that I make the best opening sequence possible.



 

Representation:Kidulthood

Kidulthood strives to represent the tough life that youths are forced to grow up in,  in urban area's of London.

The way they do this is by striking the audience with shocking pieces of footage which show a true and uncensored reflection of what occurs in the urban areas of London. Some of the themes displayed are teenage pregnancy, gang affiliation, drug use and distribution, murder and theft.

The movie follows the stories of a group of teenagers showing how living in poverty has effected their lives, some are shown acting as hooligans and seeking revenge or violence where the main character is shown trying to change his ways for the better and take care of his girlfriend and his baby.

The themes and characters in this film are purposely stereotyped to ensure that it catches the attention of the audience and receives a truthful response. I believe that Noel Clarke has chosen to stereotype his characters whilst being aware that it would raise a lot of debate as to whether or not it was a fair and true representation because this helps bring awareness to society. This film was shown in cinemas across the country in many middle class areas where people are more likely to be unaware of what occurs in places in London outside of their society as the media is more focused on issues that are occurring in other countries.To summarise, I believe this film managed to serve its main overall purpose and aim.

My Film:

I can use the information and knowledge I've gathered from my research here and apply it to my film by making sure that I take into account what kind of message I'm trying to get accross to my viewer through aspects such as costume and thinking about what I want my viewers to take away from my film.

Institution

Distribution:

Distribution companies play a huge role in determining how well a movie does,distribution is sometimes considered as the most important step in making and premiering a film.Distributors usually work in large groups and aim to make your movie come off as interesting and appealing as possible to your target audience to make sure the theatrical release attracts as many people as possible.Regardless of how strong and original your movie's storyline is and how good it may be,without the right distribution it could be a huge flop in the box office.

An example of a well known UK - based distribution company is "Momentum Pictures" who are responsible for movies such as "Seven Psychopaths" and "Lawless"

Production:

Production companies are responsible for producing the film. This includes scheduling, scripting, marketing and post production. A successful production company would be the BBC. They usually work within the UK. They are responsible for some successful British films such as Fish Tank, Bullet boy, The boy in the striped pajamas's and others

Probably the most well known British production company is BBC Films.In recent years they have been responsible for producing films such as "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"

I believe that BBC Films would be a suitable production company for my film as they've been known to work on a variety of different genre of films.

My Film:
For my film I plan on using a small production company and distribution team as my movie's quite low budget and small scale meaning I'm not looking to advertise it too much but try to get most of the people to see my film through word of mouth.

Narrative

1.  Equilibrium - This is when everything is at peace and all is in order at the beginning of the narrative
2. Disruption - Something happens which disrupts the peace 
3. Recognition - Characters realise that there is a disruption
4. Repair- An attempt to fix the disruption and return peace
5. New Equilibrium - The problem has been solved

According to Todorov,there's a basic guideline that all narratives follow.He claimed that films begin with an equilibrium,where nothing significant is happening and all characters are introduced.This peace is then disrupted by something bad that occurs which is followed by the recognition by characters that this disruption has occurred.The characters will then attempt to go out and fix the disruption to bring back peace.The film finishes by showing that the problem's been solved and everything is back to normal.This is supposed to be
seen as a basic layout of how most "Hollywood" films take course.

Ted:

"Ted" follows is an example of a Hollywood movie that follows this narrative pattern

1.Equilibrium - Everything is going well, John Bennett has a great relationship with his best friend Ted and fiancee Lori Collins

2.Disruption -  John continues to spend a lot of time with Ted being irresponsible which leads to Lori calling off the wedding and leaving John

3.Recognition - John acknowledges that his life is terrible without Lori and blames Ted for her leaving

4.Repair - Ted and John work together to get Lori back 

5.New equilibrium - John and Lori get back together, get married and live happily ever after with their best friend Ted