opening sequence first draft

audience feedback for first draft

Some of the things which I have been advised on it that:

• The scenery shots were good however there are too many and I need to take some out.
• It was odd that the boy is shown getting out of bed already in his clothes.
• Some of the shots taken in the bed room were blurry and out of focus. These are the shots in which I am going to reshoot.
• Wake up scene is overused so should taken out and replaced with him just getting ready and heading out.
• I am also going to take some new shots of him watching and his mum shouting at him as I want the opening to have more conflict and excitement so to further hook the audience to watch more of it.

opening sequence conventions

1. List of generic conventions of opening sequences

2. Conventions of your specific genre

3. Conventions you will choose to stick to

4. Conventions you will deliberately subvert (change slightly/turn on their head)

1.

·      The purpose of a film opening is to entice the audience to continue watching the film, it should usually establish the characters and the genre and this can be done in many ways.

·      Establishing shot, it is often used in an opening sequence to show the audience where the film is set, what location.

·      Sometimes there can be a narration which will inform the audience on minor details that will give them an understanding of perhaps backstory, what is going on, who the characters are etc.

·      Often in action movies there will be an opening with an action scene, which will be fast paced to get the audience interested straight away.

·      Another thing that would usually be used in action movies would be a chase scene this also attracts audiences to watch as they become interested.

·      Productions logos shown before the actual film, if the film is high budget the logo will be adapted to reflect the genre and story line of the film.

·      Title sequences can be used, sometimes showing the cast and production teams, the titles can also be used to build up tension and suspense and possibly show the genre of the film.

·      Animation can be used to portray the beginning of the film in a creative way and visibly show the difference between the film itself and the opening sequence.

·      A compilation of photographs can be used for example in romantic films, it shows the audience the theme and relationships within the film.

·      Narrative content, this includes the context as well as the pace of the narrative increases as level of engagement increases.

·      Soundtrack, the tone, volume and tempo, which will generically start, quiet and slow-paced.

2. I am choosing drama for my opening sequence so the conventions for that are:

·       Exhibits real life situations with realistic characters, settings and stories.

·      Portrays journeys of the character development.

·      Intense social interaction.

·      Purpose of a dramatic story line is to move the audience emotionally.

·      Heart of drama is the conflict.

·      Conflicts include inner/outer realistic struggles depicting hardships, difficulty, and pain.

·      Audience can relate to the characters (preferred reading - Halls Theory)

·      Structure with climaxes and anti climaxes to keep the audience emotionally attached and the tension on-going

·      A form of realisation at the end/happily ending.

3. The conventions I will try to stick with are:

·      Exhibits real life situations with realistic characters, settings and stories.

·      Portrays journeys of the character development.

·      Purpose of a dramatic story line is to move the audience dramatically.

·      Conflicts include inner/outer realistic struggles depicting hardships, difficulty, and pain.

4. Conventions I will change will be:

·      Heart of drama is conflict

·      Audience can relate to characters

·      Intense social interaction

Representations of characters

Will (Ethan Norman): Will is meant to be shown as a lower class boy with a passion for golf as his dream is to one day be a professional golfer. His clothes are dirty and he shown to be very fond of golf as he takes his club and ball with him and plays where he can, on the street and down alley ways. He is also shown at the start stealing money from his passed out mother in order to buy himself food and possibly prevent her from using it to buy drink.

Will's Mum(Millie Cochrane): Only seen in the opening for a few shots, he is shown passed out holding a bottle of vodka representing her as a drunk and therefore bad parent figure. She is also shown to be careless simply leaving money on her bedside table 

Foley Sound

Foley sound is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added into a film/video/other media forms in order to enhance the audio quality. It can be any sound from the swishing of clothing and footsteps to closing a door and then breaking glass.

For my video I am going to be replicating the sounds of:

• A door opening
• A golf club hitting the ball 
• People muttering
• Footsteps 
• A golf ball smashing into something 

In order to create these sounds I am going to

Equipment I am going to need for this will be to make the noises will be:

• Golf club
• Golf ball
• A door
• Several people

Equipment I am going to need in order to capture and record these noises will be:

• Cinemizer E614 Mics
• Firewire audio interface with 8 mic pre-amps
• Headphones
• MV44 soundproof headphones

The photos above is me using equipment to recreate the foley sound of a golf club hitting a golf ball 

Designing my ident on adobe illustrator and after effects

In order to create my ident I used both Adobe Illustrator to first design the images to be used and then Adobe after effects to actually create the animation using said images from illustrator. I took screenshots of the created images on illustrator first and chose the colours I preferred. I managed to easily create a circle and triangle with the circle tool and then pen tool, also in order to make the letters M and C, I felt it would visually creative if we could edit at another copied circle and triangle and turn them into the actual letters. I took inspiration from The Weinstein Company ident in which they make 3 triangles become a W.
Using the scissor tool to cut out parts of the actual shapes and then moving them together so they became letters. After then grouping them all together and taking more screenshots, I moved them to adobe after effects to begin editing and create the animation. I first put in the circle and managed to get the animation to make it fade out as if it was turning, while turning a piece of it came off in the shape of the triangle which was the one I had made on illustrator, the circle then continued to turn and fade while the triangle turns as well separated. Once the circle was completely gone I got the triangle to fall into the centre of the screen which also had a line emerging from the bottom so now was simply a triangle on the line. Using more fading tools I managed to make the triangle shrink to fit in-between the custom made M and C which came up from the line and beneath the line the word "productions" came out and thus made the full title.










I used this photo to get this specific colour chart however I ended up going with my second colour tally as I preferred the other colours.


I used this photo to get this colour tally which I preferred to the other one I felt the first options colours were too bright.


This is the custom made M and C that I made from editing 2 triangles that and one circle, both the triangle and circle were copies of the ones used as the graphic element in my ident.

Ident draft

Before I begun designing my ident on Adobe after effects, I drew diagram sketches of the animation I wanted on several different post card notes and then took a vine sequence of them all in order to show an understanding of what I wanted to do.

history of title openings

Silent films:
Throughout the years title sequences have greatly improved, becoming more extravagant and graphic through the indentation of cinematography. Before in silent films title sequences would be simple title cards, inter titles were used to show dialogue and information about the plot. Cards were used at both the beginning and end of the film to first show the title and director of the film then the end and the actors names etc.

Talkies: Sound was eventually brought to films removing the need of title cards although subtitles were eventually created aiding people who could not hear.

60's and the birth of the titles: Alfred Hitchcock's movie North by Northwest was one of the first to have an opening using kinetic typography influencing the 1960s television predilection for title design which cause the start of strong graphics-led sequences for many television shows. Further development of more extravagant graphics and during the late 1980s and early 1990s digital technologies managed to change both television and movie industries. Soon after films and tv serues began to develop more cinematic experiences for television, including more elaborate and considered title sequences.

Modern era: As of the beginning of the 21st century, title sequences have a very wide variety of media besides film and television including video games, conferences, and even music videos. Graphics have drastically improved creating much more vivid and powerful title sequences.

Treatment for feature film

1.  A working title

2.  The writer's name and email

3.  A short logline e.g. ‘And Then Came Love’ is a character-driven romantic comedy about a high-powered Manhattan single mom who opens Pandora's box when she seeks out the anonymous sperm donor father of her young son.

4.  Introduction to key characters

5.  Who, what, when, why and where.

6.  Act 1. Set the scene, dramatize the main conflicts.

7.  Act 2. Should dramatize how the conflicts introduced in Act 1 lead to a crisis.

8.  Act 3. The final conflict and resolution.

1. Youth

2. Max Cochrane email: maxcochrane11@gmail.com

3. "Youth" is a drama bout a teenage boy who dreams of being a professional golfer but unfortunately has a long line of struggles in his life, his father died leaving him with his alcoholic mother, they are lower class and since he doesn't go to school he is anti-social but tries to see the positives of his life despite there being many down sides

4. The first scene we are introduced to the main protagonist who is a teenage lower class boy with dreams of being a professional golfer

5. Main character (unnamed for now) watches actual golfers and plays in alleyways set in the day in London, he does this as he aspires to be a professional golfer in future, set in London

6. We are introduced to the protagonist and get an idea of what his life is like and grow sympathy for him, it opens with his watching actual golfers play.

7. After having a good day he is mugged for anything he has and they steal his bat, he returns to an angry mother mad that knows he has stolen money from her.

8. He eventually manages to have a talk with his mother who sympathises with him and eventually gives him his dads club and he leaves feeling better and excited and ends with him again watching golfers play.