We looked at the weather forecast to check which day would be the best day to do it:
We decided to do it on Wednesday 23rd November because by looking at the forecast, it looks like the best day to do it. We don't want to do it on a rainy day because it would be harder to film and everything would get wet which we don't want. The sunniest day would be best as it'll get dark as early as we need and we could plan more easy as we would know what to expect. The equipment would also not get wet and the actors would also not get wet and too cold.
We also made a 'To-Do' list to make sure we did everything needed to:
We did this list but made it into a 'Visme' to present it more interestingly:
We tried doing some different shots which may be effective in our opening sequence. Shots where the focus changed from one person to another will be good at creating a mysterious atmosphere and make it quite eery. These are our first attempts:
We also considered how the lighting would look when we filmed the real thing in the forest and when it was dark. We thought that the filming may look grainy and unclear so to improve this, we bought a light from 'ScrewFix' to improve the lighting when filming in the dark:
Off:
On:
To practise with it, we did some test shots inside a dark room:
This is the film without the light:
And this is it using the light:
As you can see, the light makes a huge difference and really helps when filming in the dark. It is very effective as the light is bright enough to make a good enough light to be able to improve the camera quality but doesn't change the time of day it needs to be set in. It just makes the night light enough to film. Learning Comment:
From doing this task, I have learnt how to focus and defocus a camera on whatever person I want. By doing this when filming, it makes it clear to the audience who they need to focus on and who is most important to watch in that moment and time. It helps a lot with our opening title sequence and when we will be filming it because by defocusing a background away from the main character, we can show a person watching 'Lilly' but without letting the audience figure out who he is which is the aim of our film and this makes it scarier and more suspicious. Also, from finding and using the light we bought has taught me how to make filming look more professional in the dark and how professional directors do it. Using the light will make our opening title sequence look better and add a more eerie effect.
We tried out some different fonts for our title. These are the ones we tried:
Learning comment
I have learnt how important typography is in an opening title sequence. This is mainly because it shows the genre of the film just by the font of the credits and we used this to reflect our horror and coming of age genre. We knew this was important to do as it adds lots of effect to the opening title sequence and makes it more of an atmosphere that we wanted it to be. It also has to be eye-catching so that it sticks in the audiences' minds and therefore makes it more successful. Not only this, we also learnt how important it is to get the order of the typography right and we learnt which was right by looking at lots of successful films to use their order for ours.
Learning Comment:
By doing this task, it allowed us to show the audience what we were planning to do and why we were doing it. It also helped us because when we were planning, we were able to go back to this task and remember what we did and therefore could write about it in other blog posts. It also allowed us to show what the purpose was for everything we did and how important everything was to make it look right and create the right atmosphere.
What have I learnt?
I have learnt that everything within our film is extremely important in order for it to work and look professinal. Everything needs to be planned and worked on carefully.
Learning Comment:
By doing this task, it allowed us to tell people about which actors to use and also why we actually chose to use them. Also, by finding out more about the actors we chose than we already knew was extrememly helpful as then we could adapt the character we formed to fit their personalities or looks. For example, our very first idea was to use two girls but as we found a boy to be one of our actors it made our opening title sequence even better as it made it different and would easier attract both genders as there is both a boy and girl as the main characters. We also gave the actors clothes to wear which we think would have suited them more to what they looked like. For example, we gave Jack (one of our actors) darker colours to wear as this is what he usually wears so it suited him more.
Just like 'Task Fourteen', by making storyboards it allowed us to refer back to it when actually filming. We could use the pictures in it to know what the actors should do, what to film and in what order. Also as the story board gave us a step-by-step story of what we were aiming to do, it was very easy to film because we had already planned it. So it took less time to think about it and more time to actually film and get it finished. By making two lots of storyboards (a draft and a final one) it allowed us to change it all around without ruining it and crossing things off. It made each one clearer to read. It also allowed to change what we wanted and if we changed our mind we could just make a new one. As you can see, there are some differences between the draft and the final storyboard and this is what we did when we changed our minds about maybe the order of the film or what to put in it.
Learning Comment:
From doing this task with the script it allowed us to know what we were doing whilst filming and what we wanted our actors to do. Because of that, it made it easier to do and took much less of a time. However, from reading the script through on the day we decided to change it a lot and make it much more thorough and long than we wrote down on the script.
LEARNING COMMENT:
By doing this task, I learned what sort of things we needed to include in our film to suit the 'Coming of Age' genre and by doing this it helped us. For example, we now know which sort of clothing we needed to provide our actors with. This would be just general clothing like jeans and a top as teenagers would wear. We did this to show a 'teenager' look, as if we made our actors wear a long dress, this is less popular for teens to wear and therefore allows the audience to relate to them. The task also allowed us as a group to talk about what genre we need to do and what age group our film should be aimed for and now we have decided, we can include things in our film to suit that. For example, as we decided to make it a 15, there can't be much swearing involved and now we know this, it is easier to work from.
The first thing we done to come up with an idea was create a mind map. This is it.... It was helpful creating a mind map as we could clearly see all out ideas and it made it much easier for us to choose what idea was the best as we had the most concepts and thoughts on the horror plot than the prom one. After doing this we then pursued the horror coming of age film.
We also videoed us talking about our ideas for our opening title sequence:
Our mood board for opening title sequence:
We had a discussion about our idea and made a powerpoint to collect all our thoughts together in an organised way. It also will act as a kind of checklist for us when filming as we can clearly see what we want each aspect of the film to be like from the different slides.
We took inspiration from the 'Pretty Little Liars' Doll house episode because Spencer has flashbacks to her experience, which we are aiming to do in our sequence:
We want to recreate the idea of flashbacks in our opening sequence we like the effect of the slightly green and distorted image used in the scene. Learning Comment: From doing this task we decided what final idea we were actually going to do. This helped because by having a final plan, now we can actually start to plan our opening title sequence. Also by doing a basic mind map, we were able to have many ideas to chose from so that we could chose the film idea which would get us the highest grade and amount of marks. Again, by making a quick powerpoint with all of our ideas in, we can use that to focus on the things we need to prepare for/do. Finally, we watched many short clips on where to get aspiration from and by doing this gave us more ideas that we can now use in our film.
This is our preliminary task, we had to include a character opening a door, crossing a room and interacting with another character and then dialogue exchanged. We achieved the by using various shots such as match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.
Learning Comment: From doing this task I have learnt that using a variety of shots in one scene makes it much more interesting to watch and engages the audience. Also it is easier to understand for the audience as the continuity is almost seamless. Even though the acting isn't the best, the filming and editing brings the scene together as it flows nicely and doesn't seem as though each shot was filmed separately. The editing was the most difficult part of this task as we had to crop a lot of our shots so they fitted together without jumping and you can see where we done this on the close up shot of the sign. However I think the end product we produced was what we hoped for.
I analysed Ella Willies opening title sequence, Roses Are Red.
Grade B/C because...
Things I liked:
I really like this remake of the 'Roses Are Red' opening title sequence and I feel they did it very well. There are a variety of reasons why I liked it. Firstly, the way they have presented and written the credits is really clever, they have written them on different objects like pictures and magasines. This is very effective as it is different and catches the audiences' eye as it is a fun way to publish them. Because they are presented in such a different way, it makes the audience actually want to read the credits and the names of people which is good as it allows them to know who made the film/is in it.
Not just how they presented the credits and what objects they put them on but I also liked how they wrote them. They wrote each credit different fron the one before and using different objects to do so. Fpr example. they wrote 'Jesse Metcalfe' with just a pen on a poloroid picture but wrote 'Yaroslava Migur' using mascara. This is good because similarly to the reason before; it adds an interesting effect and makes the audience want to read it. Things I disliked:
The camera didn't flow very smoothly throughout the opening title sequence. It was quite jumpy and sometimes confusing as to what is happening and where it is. Also, sometimes you can't read what the title credit of a name of a producer says. It is very difficult to work out what some of them say and therefore cannot read them.
Areas of improvement:
I think the biggest improvement should be the way the camera flows. Like before, it sometimes seems jolty and that the different shots don't fit together as well as they could. If they flowed more then it woud look much more professional. Secondly, although the credits are shown in a very interesting and different way, some are very hard to read and if the audience can't read them then they will not know who made what. To improve this, if a long name is hard to write on something, they should pick something different so that the audience can definitely read the credit.
How is the narrative constructive?
In the 'Roses are Red' opening title sequence, there is no one speaking, there is just music. We do not get many clues about what will happen in the film apart from that it would be about a teenage girl and what she does in her days. The narrative is constructive as we get some ideas about the movie but not much which implies that nothing would be revealed at the beginning, it will all come out in the film which in some ways a good thing as it doesn't spoil anything but it would in other ways be good to get a general idea what the film will be about.
What is the representation of the social group?
As the only character we see seems to be a teenager, we get the impression that the film would be aimed at teenagers too as most films whose main characters are this age allows the audience to relate to them to make them more drawn in. If the main character was younger than this, the audience is more likely to be the same age just like before. Also in the opening title sequence, we see clips of what we think is the protagonist's room. It is messy which most teenager's rooms are. Because of this, we again assume the film is targeted at people the same age as they are more likely to be like this too. We again know that different credits are written using different things like mascara and lipstick. Because of this, it couold imply that the film is made for more girls than boys as they are more likely to wear makeup.
Is the material appropiate for the the target audience?
Yes, I agree that it is as the teenagers which the film targets can easily relate to what is written/shown in the opening title sequence. For example, like i said before; makeup and girls who watch it, messy rooms and getting ready for a general day and posters everywhere around the protagonists room. Teenagers are more likely to relate to things like this than older parents.
Are the titles appropiate for the institutional conventions?
I think they are because the credits are written in objects that teenagers use daily. For example, some are written in makeup which teenaged girls most likely use daily.
Is the sound a good quality?
The only sound which is show is one song and yes, mostly throughout the opening title sequence, the music stays in a good quality however, in the middle the volume does seem to increase which makes you almost want to turn your volume down. Because of thos, it makes the scene seem less professional because the music is at different levels throughout it. But it doesn't do this a lot, so most of the time the sound is at a good quality.
Is the mis en scene appropiate for the video?
I think that the mis en scene is appropriate for this opening title sequence. I think this because it starts off with the teenaged-girl waking up in the morning and getting ready. This is good and effective as it shows a daily routine which most people do and allows the audience to relate. Not only this but the setting helps the audience gather information about the main character as it shows her room and the atmosphere and lifestyle in which she lives in. This helps us connect to the character and want to continue watching if we understand it.
Is the camera work any good? A variety of camera angles and shots?
There is a lot of different shots included in "Roses Are Red" 's opening title sequence. This is effective as it shows lots of different angles of the setting and main character. The film is also good quality and could possibly pass as a professional film. However, some shots do not join swiftly and makes it look less effective. Because of this, it makes the film seem less realistic and more jolty.
Does the editing suit the genre?
i think that the editing does suit the general genre because the upbeat song is what we expect a teenaged film like this to have, The editing of the credits also suits the genre as they are randomly drawn and shown and seem quite messy which suits a teenager's general sterotype.
GRADE B/A- Overall I really enjoyed this opening sequence. I thought there was an interesting plot introduced which left me wanting to know more and wanting to continue watching. The use of sound really added to the scene as it built tension and suggested a thriller/ action genre. The sound was a good quality soundtrack which made the overall final piece seem very professional and authentic. The camera angles used were interesting and engaging. I liked the point of view shot as it really made you feel as though you were in the characters shoes. The camera shots and angles also related well to the action genre as there were many short, fast paces shots from the characters point of view or watching the characters move around quickly. The mise en scene was appropriate to the video as there were a lot of things going on at certain points so the positioning of characters and location made it easier for the audience to focus on certain things when they needed to be focused on. I thought the typography was well thought out most of the time, however at some points it was hard to read due to background colours. To improve this the font colour could have been changed lighter/ darker.
Learning comment:
From doing this task, it has really helped me looking and analysing other people's work because now I know which things work and what doesn't. When making my own opening title sequence, I can now compare what I am doing to what I have seen and analysed before and remember what to do or what not too. I have also learnt how to realate different features within the film to the target audience. For example, having a clean or tidy setting to show what sort of character the protgonist is and/or (for example) use makeup whilst showing my opening credits, just like they did in 'Roses are Red' to allow the target audience (in this example, teenaged-girls) to relate to it and see something they are familiar with.
Learning comment:
From doing this task I have learnt how little features such as clothing, makeup, hair, props, location and setting can show some much to the audience when they are watching. It gives ideas about what sort of a person the protagonist is and also the other characters are. I have also learnt that the audience rely on things like this. It helps them understand the film more and they are very important within the film. From doing this task, I now know to pick my clothing and makeup etc very carefully as, in most cases, it is the first thing that the audience watching see.
For the other creative task, we included credits into the opening title sequence (LOL 2014) which we remade. We made a first draft without any title credits and then added them into our second draft.
First draft (without credits)
Final product (with credits)
How we created the credits to put onto our opening title sequence:
Levi-Strauss Barthes Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Wild Child (2008)
Easy A (2010) Learning Comment From doing this task, I have learnt about the different theories and how they can be applied to every film. The task has also made me look out for features more and just from watching the opening title sequence, I can now guess what will happen and what actor will play which role; whether they play the hero or the villain. I have also learnt how there can be binery opposites. For example, Rules v Rebellion, Girl v Boy etc.
Learning Comment From doing this task I have learnt that the credits portray lots of different aspects of films. For example, the give brief suggestions about what will happen in the film and what sort of genre it might be. I have also learnt that the most important actors or makers of the film should mostly go first as they are most important in the film. I have also learnt that the opening title sequence are very important as it is the first thing the audience see and they can make a lot of judgements about the film from it.
Quantitive Data:
I made a questionaire and asked a few people about their views on different films. I asked questions like:
"What is your favourite film genre?"
"What is your favourite thing about a movie?"
"What don't you like about your favourite movie?"
"What Coming of Age film have you seen before?"
These were the results I got:
Qualititve Data:
After this, I asked my friend about opening title sequences over messenger. This is what she said...
I also videoed someone else's answers and what they thought about the opening title sequence of 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off':
Learning Comment: From doing this task, I have learnt different views and opinions about different types of opening title sequences, such as; what people like/dislike, their favourite film genres, favourite films, what they expect to see in the opening title sequence, the credits they expect to see and the orders and why. Because of this, I can use the information I collected and use it when making my own opening title sequence. I can use them to know which genre will be most popular to the target audience it is set for. This is important because the more popular it is, the more money it would go onto making and in order for any film to be successful, this has great significance.
John Hughes director study: I found some things out about him like the sorts of films he made and what actors he used:
I also found some trailers and interviews from and about his own films;
Learning comment; From doing this task, I have learnt about John Hughes and what he did. Also, from studying him i worked out what sort of films he made and why he did. Because of this i can use his ideas and contribute them into mine. This would make my film better as the end product would look more professional and thought out.
Learning Comment From the research i did to complete this task, I learnt the definitions of producers and distributors and what they do in the making of films. Because of this, i am now able to give different people roles when making my film so that it can be as organised as possible. I also now know what film producers can show in the beginning of my film to make it look more realistic so i wouldn't have to make my own and focus more on the actual editing and making.
