Final Cut

Development and Editing Of Our Opening Sequence

Alone 1st Cut

Inspiration

What I Have Learn't:

I have learn't that using other films for inspiration can help you with lots of things, by studying the film you can look at what camera angles and shots to use for the best effects. We also looked at what we thought worked well and what didn't, the helped us with what to incorporate into our opening sequence. However, this cam be hard because it can be tempting to use the same ideas from a film and use it in our opening sequence. We managed to resolve this by still picking out the ideas that we really liked but we managed to change it to put our own twist on it to make it more original.

camera movement

What I Have Learn't:

This is some of the research we've done into different camera movements and filming techniques and how to use pan and zoom in my movie. This has helped  us to see what looks good and how we can use it in our opening sequence. Its also helped us be more creative as we will use a wider range of different camera angles and shots to make it more interesting for our target audience.

Sound

Sound Effect Ideas:

We haven't used this sound because we felt that it didn't fit in with our story line and genre as well as it could do. Its a good sound effect overall but does not fit with out genre and sub-genre.





We decided that this wolf howl id the most realistic wolf howl we could find. We came across may computerised wolf howls that sounded awful and would have made our opening sequence sound cheap and not professional.






We liked the concept of this sound but didn't use it as we had no where that this sound fitted.
















Both of these walking effects we liked and they sounded realistic but we found that the pace of the steps were too close together for us to use it in our opening sequence as our main character is walking fairly slowly.






This breathing man effect we did use, we used this because it sounded real and it fitted in perfectly with our character in times of panic and anxiousness.





We have also decided that we're going to use garageband also to create some music, we feel that this will able us to create a specific sound that will fit perfectly with our genre, sub genre and story line. We also fell that we would be able in incorporate electronic sound effects which we wouldn't be able to achieve with instruments that had been recorded.

What I Have Learn't:

This has helped because we were able to look at different types of sound effects that we may need for our opening sequence and see where it would fit in and what works well with our idea. It has also aloud us to explore what the possibilities there could be for sound effects in our opening sequence.

Typography

Title:

Subtitles:

Props, Location, Fashion Planning - Risk Assessment

Character Profile

Draft and Final Script And Story Board

 

What I've Learned:

From this task I've learned how to write a script and how to lay it out with the different characters and where to put the stage directions.I also learned how to draw a storyboard. We did have a set back at first with the storyboard as we did half of it and then that piece of paper went missing so we had to start from scratch.

Audience Profile

Our film will target a range of people, from looking at the audience profile table we can see that our target audience will be ranging from B to E , this is good because we've been able to target a large area of different audiences  which means that when we would sell it on the market its more likely to be successful. However, it means that we'll have to relate to more to a wider range of classes/ audeince types.

What I Learnt:

From this task I have learnt what the difference between a primary and secondary audience is and how this affects the planning of the film. I have also learnt about how social classes can affect who views your film and how it can also affect the planning of the film.

Thinking Of A Concept/Final Idea

What I Learnt:
From this task I learnt what genre our film would be and the appropriate age rating for it due to the research on films similar to ours like 'I am legend'.I also learnt what typography was and what typography we are going to use in our film.I also researched the appropriate Institution to distribute our film, I chose this as 'Warner Bros.' has distributed similar films like 'I am legend'.

Audience Research

Analyse Previous Students Work

Representation In Films

What I Learnt:
From this task I learnt about the different social groups in movie openings and how they can be represented.From doing this I can the also use this to work out how to represent social groups in my own movie opening.

Title Sequence

What I Learnt:
From this task I learnt how to use text and the different effects on iMovie.I tried to make it as similar to the actual thing but i couldn't get the big 'STAR WARS' logo which appears at the start and disappears as that font wasn't available to me. Also couldn't get the stars in the background like in the actual one because the background wasn't available to me.

Narrative Structure

What I Learnt:
I learnt about the different theories about films and how the opening sequences reveal what the film is going to be about.For example I analysed three different movie openings and how the theories were relevant to them. Although the theories didn't fit all of the movie openings I do now know what theories to consider when making my opening sequence.

Title Research

What I Learnt:
From this task I learnt what title sequences consist of and how they hook the audience. I also learnt what order the titles come up and good ways of presenting those titles. I also learnt how title sequences can give the audience a good idea of what the film is going to be about. I can use these different title sequence ideas in my own movie opening to make it better.

Remake The Opening Sequence Of A Coming Of Age Film

What I Learnt:
From this task I learnt what a good movie opening consists of and what filming and editing techniques to use when making it. At first we had a set back as we had started to copy the opening of ghost busters but we lost all of our work from that as we lost the memory card from the camera, so that is something to learn from. We then had to quickly think of another opening to do and managed to copy the submarine opening in just one lesson.

Producers and Distributers

Learning comment: 

I have learnt what different film distributing companies are out there and they different type of films that they have produced. I have also learnt the difference between a major and minor distributing companies. i have considered the different ways that they present their films and it has helped me decide what producer and distributer i would like to use for my final task.

shot reverse shot/180 degree rule

What I Learnt:
From this task I learnt what the 180 degree rule is and how to shoot a conversation using shot reverse shot.

Preliminary Task

What I Learnt:
From this task I learnt how to film using match on action and shot reverse shot techniques. This will help me with my final film opening sequence as I can use the techniques of match on action and shit reverse shot. For my final task I will need to make sure that the cuts are smoother as they were not in the preliminary task.

Creative Task 2

What I Learnt:
From this task I learnt how to use match on action successfully to film someone walking to their classroom. I also found the best techniques to film these match on action sequences to make it better in my final film opening sequence.

Director Case Study

John Hughes

Films That John Hughes Filmed Or Produced:

What I Learnt:
From this task I learnt about John Hughes and his style of directing. I learnt about the films that he had directed and the actors that he had helped to become successful. I also learnt the different directing techniques that he used and the type of movies that he directed. The themes of John Hughes films are often about rebellious kids which I think is a good idea so i will try to use it in my movie opening.

History Of Coming Of Age Films

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/1345098

What I Learnt

From this task I learnt about when various coming of age films were made and released and a bit of history about them and how successful they were. There was a problem embedding the timeline to my blog as you needed to pay to do it so I took a screenshot of it instead.

Conventions Of An Opening Sequence

What I Learnt

From this task I learnt what different film openings consist of and the type of shots and lighting is used. I also learnt what is needed to make a successful film opening and the different techniques directors use to set the scene at the start of a film..

research and planning of coming of age films

Narrative

There was no narrative in this clip.

sound

The soundtrack from the opening titles is a jazz track and a very upbeat song which gives me the impression that this is a comedy. The music is also another indication that the film isn't going to be a horror film or action or anything like that.

text

From the title sequence of this film I can already tell that this is going to be an indie film because of the colours used and the retro style of the title sequence.The sequence also begins with the companies who made the film; for example in Superbad it started off with Sony entertainment and Columbia Pictures. The text then continued to list the companies who made the film first, then all the actors and finally all the people who were involved in the making of the film.

audience

The target audience for Superbad will be mostly males aged 15+ who like a bit of rude humour.

Makers/ Institutional Elements:

 

• Sony Home Entertainment
• Columbia Pictures

Narrative:

The first character shot that we are shown is an extreme close-up of Ferris Bueller (played by Matthew Broderick) while he is lying in bed. The shot shows the audience his blatant attempt of pretending to be ill in order to get a day off, this introduces the character of Ferris as a very cunning teenager yet in a comedic approach which most teenagers can relate to.

 

Sound:

As the title sequence progresses we are introduced to the sound of a radio playing in the background over an establishing shot of a classic American family home, helping to show the audience that the film is set in an urban location.

 Text:

Before the film starts we are presented with a Paramount Pictures sequence to start introducing the film to the audience.The opening titles for the film are blue on a black background with a bubble writing font. A title of "A John Hughes Film" indicates the genre of the film as comedy as people who are familiar with John Hughes knows that he well known director of comedy films. And the title of the film is shown at aprox 0:15 into the beginning.

Audience:

Teenagers to adults 11+

Makers/ Institutional Elements:

• Paramount Pictures
• John Hughes Film

 

Narrative:

The film is a simple linear narrative. The opening sequence starts in the morning and ends in the night.

Sound:

Music starts of very calm and tranquil whilst the shot shows the girl sleeping in her massive room. It slowly fades out as she wakes, then the girl realises what day it is and jumps out of bed whilst the music turns fast paced and modern. Music faintly plays during the scene where the girl decides to give away her new step mothers clothes and jump off the cliff into the sea with them. The music matches this sequence and peoples reactions.The music dramatically stops when her dad begins to shout, showing something serious is going to happen because of her actions.When the girl speaks about her dead mum to her dad the music matches the mood, as it starts with violins and very dramatic.

Text:

The first text that appears o  screen is the makers of the film which is Universal Studio, followed by the name of Studio Canal and working pictures.
Then the two words "Wild Child" fly on from different sides of the screen and meet on middle left of the screen. They seem to glisten and make a twinkly sound, when the girl rushes towards it they smash. They glisten to represent her current life and how plush her lifestyle is at that moment in time, they then smash to represent how the day is going to turn out for her, a small insight for the audience.

Audience: 

The audience for this film would be teenagers/young adults as it is based on the life of a misfit teenager feeling like isolated and different from everyone else and how she rebels to get attention and get noticed.

 Makers and Institutional Elements:

• Universal Studio
• Studio Canal
• Working Pictures

Narrative:

The scene starts with a male who is sat in a car whom is sad because he had read in the paper that someone had been stabbed, he then has a flash back to when he was 12 years old, his flashback consist of four boys that are sat up in a tree house, and follows with the introduction of the main characters.

 Sound:

Started the opening scene with slow sad music which sets the scene that something traumatic has happened, however when the flash back starts the music changes to a more upbeat and happy music which tells the audience that his childhood was a happy time for him.

 Text:

Firstly, Columbia Pictures appears on the screen almost straight away and is then followed by the title "Stand By Me" in a white bold font.

Audience:

Anyone who is interested in coming of age films

Makers/ Institutional Elements:

• Columbia Pictures

Narrative:

From the opening sequence you can already tell that this movie is going to be about a teenage girl and the struggles she faces, from parents nagging, friends letting her down, teenage strops and much more. This is all revealed in the first 3 minutes.

Sound:

The opening sequence starts off with quite background music and people talking over the top which sets a relaxed mood and gives us an idea by the people talking of what the film is going to be about. However, at 1:27 the song "She's So Lovely" by Scouting for Girls is just played and sets an upbeat mood.

Text:

 The first text very early on to appear on the screen is the institutional makers, this is then later followed by the title of the film at 1:45 this is very quickly followed by the name of the main actress "Georgia Groom" then her name is followed by other important names of actor and actresses. Finally the text is finished with the name of the director "Gurinder Chadha".

Audience:

The target audience of this is young teenage girls from the age of 12-19

Makers/ Institutional Elements:

• Paramount Pictures International
• Nickelodeon Movies
• Gurinder Chadha Film

Narrative:

Amelia"Mia"Thermopolis has just graduated from Princeton University Woodrow Wilsons School and is returning to Genovia with her personal bodyguard Joe. Then on screen is shown Mia's 21st birthday party, where she has to dances with all the eligible bachelors in hope of finding a husband. She becomes attracted to a handsome gentleman named Nicholas.

 

Sound:

The music that is played at the beginning is delicate and relaxing which suggests that the film is going to be laid back and the genre is immediately confirmed, showing  that its not a horror or action film. 

 

Text:

At 1:05 into the opening sequence of the film the title of the film appears on screen in gold writing "The Princess Diaries 2, The Royal Engagement" 

 

Audience:

The target audience of this film is on young girls aged 7-15

 

Makers and Institutional Elements:

• Walt Disney Home Entertainment  

 

 

What I Learnt

I learnt about different openings of films and what a typical opening consists of. ive also learnt how different directors have different styles of film openings.