FILM OPENING

I worked with Rebecca Todd 1982

Our brief was to make the titles and opening of a new fiction film (to last a maximum of two minutes). We made a horror film opening entitled Vendetta

I took responsibility for parts of the camerawork, in particular, the guitar scene, and the opening scene of when the killer enters a house. 

I took responsibility for the directing of the scenes where the guitar is playing, and when the masked killer is entering a house with CCTV footage

I took responsibility for some set design, such as I used a squire guitar with an amp to create mystery when playing, with a light to create dimness and build up. I also sourced my ring doorbell camera to show CCTV footage of someone entering the house. Also, we used a green screen for the news report.

I took responsibility for editing most of the scenes, including editing parts of the production logo, the certification of age, and the guitar playing scene with the flashbacks, and also edited most of the audio. Also, I edited the entering the house scene with the CCTV footage, and applied the green screen to the news report. I used Premiere pro.

I created the music for the final scene because I play the guitar. I picked the track Hotel California and used my Squire guitar. I used an amplifier to create more voice, and make the scene seem louder when playing.

I mostly designed and made the Production Company logo BELVEDERE STUDIOS I used Adobe photoshop then edited the image in  I designed the image in Photoshop then took it into Premiere pro to add into the intro of the film opening, with the rain and thunder in the background

 

FEEDBACK

 

fEEDBACK by Matt S

GUITAR SHOT: VENDETTA

 CCR1: GUITAR SCENE IN VENDETTA

In my film opening Vendetta, we have a 45 second clip of the masked murder playing a guitar over a voiceover talking about his decisions that he has made, and what he has done. I am a very keen guitar player, and I decided to play the guitar myself in the scene. To come up with what I wanted to play on the guitar, the song has to be mysterious but chilled at the same time.

At this point, I want to convey the troubled state of mind of my protagonist; he has done something terrible that he will regret, but he is trying to defend his own actions to himself. He is a passionate, jealous, and romantic man, who has just been tipped over the edge. I decided to play the intro to Hotel California by the Eagles, as it has a mysterious vibe to it. 

Music has its own language; it has shades of dark and light, which connote a world of different emotions. The reason why it is a mysterious song is because the chords I play in the song are B7, E minor, C major, G major, and a few other flat 7th chords. This chord progression creates a sense of mystery, but are also some chilled, jazz chords. Each string is individually plucked on each chord that is played which creates a sense of control, not just aimlessly strumming. The guitar a chose was a Squire Strat, which is a guitar used a lot for funk, and jazz, and is similar to a fender Stratocaster, which players like Hendrix and John Frusciante would use. The tone used in the song has a lot of reverb and uses the neck pickup, which is a warm smooth sound, and not a quacky funk sound, which the bridge pickup is primarily used for. It also contains a chorus pedal during the chorus of the song, but that is not used in the video. The key of the song is in B minor, which is a key used for sadder, or more mysterious songs, showed by the solo in the song which isn't in the scene, but also has a vibe of mystery, using the B minor pentatonic scale to create melodies that resemble the rest of the song, This whole vibe creates an enigma as to who the player/murder is, and the voiceover creates the idea that he is insane.

HESMONDHALGH THEORY

    I chose the theory of Hesmonhalgh

CASTING

 

THE KINGPIN

The KingPin  As practice to prepare for making my film opening, early on I made a film opening in the thriller genre called The KingPin. This involved organising locations and props on set, planning a sequence of different shot types to make the work visually interesting, editing it into a sequence on iMovie, adding sound and titles, then seeking feedback.

 

VENDETTA - SHOT LIST

 (

Sound/Voiceover	Shot/Scene	Actor(s)	Props	Notes
Speech - News Report	News Shot	Olivia & Sam	Sofa	Sat in front of the green screen
Music in the background Footsteps through the stones Voiceover of news report	Killer approaching the house	Matthew	Killer Mask Knife	Night Time, Dark
Scary Music	Girl comes into hallway to apply makeup	Rebecca	Lipstick	Dark hallway
Scary Music	Killer slowly reveals knife from behind back. Close up shot of knife	Matthew	Knife
Scary Music	Girl spots the killer behind her in the mirror, knife is lifted and girl screams.	Rebecca Matthew	Knife Lipstick	Shot through the mirror
Scary Music	Girl lying dead on the floor. Pan up body as the killer takes her arms and crosses them over her chest.	Rebecca
Scary Music	Blood knife placed next to the dead girl, alongside a picture of her. Close up shot.	Rebecca Matthew	Knife covered in ketchup Framed photo
Scary Music	Killer goes to exits, but sees another framed photo of the girl’s sister. Black out, goes into a flashback of when the girl’s sister was killed	Matthew
Scary Music	Pan Across of killer playing the guitar to Hotel California by The Eagles. Overlay of flashbacks, including the knife and girl being stabbed.	Matthew	Knife Guitar Amp/Speaker Photo Frame Flowers

PLANNING MY CCR1

CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION 1: How does your film opening represent social groups or issues?

• First identify the social groups featured and present them visually (eg in Pinterest). Roles and jobs?
• The focus is on how they are represented: stereotypes? anti-stereotypes? What are they like? Gender, status, age? Use any of the audience profile categories if relevant.
• Identify the issues in your film opening: recent 'issues' have included artificial intelligence, people smuggling, bullying, kidnapping, art theft, online fraud. How are they presented in your production?

• We feature a BBFC rating of 15, because the film portrays a masked killer, and it has a small amount of violence, and strong threat.
• The production company logo was designed by me, and the design was a dark theme, and with a little camera, displaying 'belvedere studios' on the front. In the actual film opening, it is rain, thunder and lightning behind it. This was made by me to represent horror, and darkness, to represent the type of film opening the genre will display. 
• My film opens with a news report scene of two of my friends, behind a green screen reporting that a girl has been killed, which introduces us straight into the action, and drama, to set the scene. 
• Just after, the mis ene scene represents darkness in front of a house, with a masked killer holding a knife, which shows horror and darkness to introduce us to the killer.
• The murder/protagonist is the first main character to appear in the opening. He is easily identified as the protagonist by his formal wearing, mask, and knife, which is a typical convention of a murder.
• The credits appear for the actors when they make their appearance in the film, so the credits come at different times
• The main soundtrack consists of scary, dramatic music, that slowly builds up to the jump scare of the girl being killed. This creates tension and makes the audience want to watch it for longer.
• The film title, which happens at the end, is in a formal font to represent how the murder does his actions, in a very discrete way, with blood flowing over the title to represent murder and darkness.

CERTIFICATION

I came to decide this age rating, mainly because there is a small amount of violence that occurs in the film, to the point where I do not think it would be very suitable for someone under 15 to watch. Also, some of the parts, e.g the guitar part may be confusing for some people, mostly people under 15.

PLANNING MY AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

                                            Planning - MY AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

I am using Google forms to create a questionnaire for my target audience and send it to people who are likely to watch our film. I will ask questions referring to age, gender, what types of films they prefer to watch, what influences them to watch a film and where they prefer to watch it. Our production team want to make a film that would appeal to young people aged 15-35. Our questionnaire will be useful to ensure that our type of genre will appeal to this audience. Through the use of Google Forms I will be able to collect this data.

PLANNING MY AUDIENCE QUESTIONAIRE I am using Google forms to create a questionnaire for my target audience and send it to people who are likely to watch our film. I will ask questions referring to age, gender, what types of films they prefer to watch, what influences them to watch a film and where they prefer to watch it. Our production team want to make a film that would appeal to young people aged 15-35. Our questionnaire will be useful to ensure that our type of genre will appeal to this audience. Through the use of Google Forms, I will be able to collect this data. These are the questions I intend to ask: 

1. What is your gender? 2. What age category do you fit into? 3. Which of these your film genres would you watch? Pick as many as you wish. 4. What was the last film you watched? 5. What platform would you most likely use to watch a film? 6. Which of these trailers have you seen? 7. Which of these platforms would you use to find out about films? 8. What is the most likely reason you would watch a new film? 

These are the questions I intend to ask:

(Opening message) I would be grateful if you complete this short survey on films and what you prefer

1.  What is your gender?

2.  What age category do you fit into?

3.  Which of these your film genres would you watch? Pick as many as you wish.

4.  What was the last film you watched?

5.  What platform would you most likely use to watch a film?

6.  Which of these trailers have you seen?

7.  Which of these platforms would you use to find out about films?

8.  What is the most likely reason you would watch a new film?

This helps identify my target audience from using these answers to the questionnaire, I used google forms to create a group of questions. I sent it to my friends, and a few teachers.

CONSTRUCTION; FILMING THE NEWS REPORT

Our opening film sequence involves a new scene, where the news reporters spoke about a recent death of a young girl in the woods. To film this, we used two people in our school year, Olivia Stocks and Sam Hartley, as the news readers. As they were already in business clothes, this role worked well for them and they speak nicely, which is important for a news reader. We moved the black sofa in front of the green screen, then tried our best to create an autocue so they could read their script whilst 'looking at the camera'. This was successful, they both played their roles professionally and it looks very convincing. When we begin to edit, we will turn the green screen into a news backdrop. We used a tripod and iPhone to film this scene, with myself and other team member directing.

PLANNING: OUR COMP LIST

PLANNING; OUR COMP LIST

Kezia Williams, of Entertainment One UK, on the FutureLearn Film Distribution by the Film Distributors Association, She highlights the importance of knowing your target audience. She asks questions like "what drives them to the cinema" and "what interests do they have". According to Kezia Williams, distributors create a comp list, which is what I am going to do.

She also says distributors will compare data of films that are similar in their genre, selling points and story. The target audience and budget is formulated from what box office take was like with previous films and the types of audience that saw those films. The target audience can be analysed to find the gender gap, and which cinemas the target audience usually frequent.

I learnt from this and put together my own comp list, consisting of three films that I would regard to follow similar themes and that my target audience might also enjoy:

O by Matt S

RESEARCH; CRIMES OF PASSION

In a lot of cinema and other types of entertainment, crimes over love and passion over someone else has been a large recurring theme in a large amount of film. These films usually involve someone who falls in love with another person and leads to them being violent over their love. The term 'crime passionel' refers to this term, showing how a lot of crime is lead to due passion and love over someone. This is where someone is aggressively in a sum of powerful feelings in the heat of the moment, and commits violence and crime without any thought process or going through it, which is then argued to not be first degree murder as it was not pre planned. I want this idea to link into my film opening, involving a blow up in emotion, and a psycho who commits murder due to his mindset inside, and passion. A film that is similar to this is A Perfect Murder (1998) where a man has his wife murdered due to her being with another man. 

Robert Downings poetry, more specifically My Last Duchess describes a man who is a collector of valuable objects. However, when he finds out his wife smiles at other people on the street, or gives her compliments, he shows a feeling of jealousy and anger. This leads to him having her murdered, as a result. Then, he 'possesses' her by having a portrait of her, and hiding her portrait with his other valuable objects.

In my film, my partner and I planning to approach it with a similar theme, with a man who is jealous of another woman, and murders her in cold blood. After this, we are planning a voiceover of him reading My Last Duchess, in an attempt to justify his murder, and tell to himself why he did at, as a coping mechanism.

PLANNING - MY TARGET AUDIENCE

                                               Planning - My target audience and how I engaged them

From the FutureLearn course that I am following Distribution: Connecting Films With Audiences, I know that all products are targeted at specific audiences. I needed to plan how to reach my target audience. Therefore, I needed to know who they are (factors that may be relevant include age, gender, ethnicity, social class), what their media needs are (so that I could produce a product that they will want) and how to reach them (to market my film). I will show how my research has shaped / influenced my planning. I investigated how Bauer Media define their audiences. 

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE - SKYFALL

 

The credits of Skyfall portrays a story of the rough idea of the film to bring hype to the audience as to what may happen, and to tease then, which will excite people into watching it. The action films conventions are shown by the images in the opening sequence, such as blood, fire, and graveyards. This gives the audience a view on what the film will be like, and what kinds if things will happen, for example shooting, death, and lots of action.

The opening scene of Skyfall is a scene underwater that very promptly has James Bond smash against the water, with his corpse slowly being zoomed on and showing his body, giving the viewers an idea of what has happend to Bond. In addition, with the white surface of the water splashing everywhere it represents action and intensity as we found out that he has supposedly died. The camera slowly zooms up towards a close up of his body, which shows a gunshot on his right hand shoulder, as his body lifelessly falls into doom and darkness, represented by him slowly getting darker as he sinks and the camera tilting down on him.

Then it shows a close up of Bonds hand being grasped by a random figure, being dragged downwards, and it then zooms out to show a very large hand dragging him downwards into a spiral in the pool. Also, during the song Adele sings 'this is the end' this represents how his era has finally finished and is being taken on a journey being dragged around. It begins to start the credits as Bond's body is shown on a cutout of where he got shot, and as his body slowly falls underwater. 

After a few more camera transitions showing different producers, a slow line of blood starts forming and shapes out a red skull made if blood. This represents death, in that if bond comes near you, it is the end, as quoted in the song. The song represents the slower tempo in the introduction and credits, as it is introducing all the people involved and portrays a story to the audience that is slow paced, so it can build up during the course of the film. The story portrayed is about Bond falling in love with someone that leads to their fate.

PLANNING - FILM TREATMENT

Ideas for Film Opening

Our brainstormed ideas about the plot, the soundtrack

-a title that's dynamic and engaging

- the top line - elegant sentence that sums up the story

-the big question - cliff-hanger?

who is the clown? why is that person killed? how many others have been killed?

the synopsis - one or two paragraphs outlining the plot

dead person lying by the swings

cuts to news report. killer clowns sighted first time in 5 years. person murdered in the park. is it a coincidence?

cctv of person walking out of the park

flashback of person being killed in the woods

characters. brief introduction 

person who was killed

clown

newsreader - killer clowns sighted first time in 5 years. person murdered in the park. halloween

flashback to person being killed in the woods

Halloween, park swings at night. killer clown. 

news report killer clowns reported seen after 5 years. someone seen dead by the swings. person walking away. I have a park behind my house with woods and a playground that we can use,

PLANNING - THE BIG QUESTION

I watched a presentation by Frank Ash, who is a creative consultant for BBC. He has taught creative storytelling for all people around the world, BBC and beyond. What I knew from the presentation, was how important it was to focus on the audience, and what will interest them. How does the film make them want more?

For Frank Ash, film makers need to think of what the top line and big question are. He calls the top line one elegant sentence that sums up the story. 'We need to leave the audience wanting to find out more' which is, the big question.

Having learnt from Frank Ash's post, i have decided to sign up for Future Learns: Film Distribution, connecting films with audiences. The course promises to cover how our favourite films make it to our local cinema or our television screen through the distribution process. The start date is 18th Oct. 2021.

ALWAYS FOREVER

 

Opening sequence

This is the beginning of the video activity that I did with a group of students in my class. POV (point of view) shot were among the camera angles we used. We included a brief live action part with the two 'main' characters. We devised a plot, which is depicted on the tabletop by the various materials and accessories.

We showed three different examples of opening sequences filmed in in a similar 'table top' way. Using art of the title, we watched Delicatessen, and noticed how its inventive camerawork tells the story and set up the theme. Another excellent title sequence is was that of To Kill A Mockingbird. The main inspiration we had from that opening was the sound effects in the background, and the use of hands throughout the opening shot. We used this during the opening by using my hand with a glove on to pick up a gun, and drag it out of the shot. 

Planning

We also reviewed last years students opening sequences for inspiration, and learned about different camera angles we can use, and ways we can put credits in to make it seem natural during the opening sequence. For example, when the actor of the opening sequence comes up, it will flash up with the persons name, to show that 'this is the actor' of the film. Before we started filming, we laid out all the props that were elements of our film narratives mise-en-scene on the table. We also research and discussed music tracks for the sound track of the opening sequence. The option for our title sequence uses the soundtrack Always Forever by the Cults. 

Preparation

We laid out all of the items used for the continuity exercise, done by Grace. We did this, and then mapped out a route to film the table. We did a Z shape to make it easier to read credits and do a smooth transition into the main art, when we panned across a magazine of a woman who went missing, and using a photo of apparently the same girl to draw attention to the viewer who it is that has gone missing, which is the mans wife.

RESEARCH; ART OF THE TITLE - DIE HARD

Die Hard. I selected this movie because of the very mysterious and interesting opening to the film. It represents well the life of a middle class man, and what he has to go through in his daily life, and what he struggles with, and it can relate to a lot of audiences. In the film, we are introduced by an undershot fo a plane flying under the camera, and the audio of a large plane coming closer and closer towards us. We are then introduced to a quick scene of an interaction, between a cop, and one between a random person boarding a plane. The cop has an interaction with the man abut flying. John (the cop) has a fear of flying, and speaks to it with the man. 'Im usually not afraid, ive been flying for 10 years' after this, john reveals from his right jacket pocket that he has a gun, which the man sees and is frightened by. John says 'Dont be afraid, I'm a cop. Being doing this for 11 years.' This opening sequence introduces us to the main character and what his personality type is. 

He appears to be a very calming, and chilled man. Then, whilst john is grabbing his luggage, 2 massive words 'die hard' clash together making a metal noise. The font is very tough and blue. this represents what type of film it is, which is a drama/thriller film, because it has connotation of rough, metal, fighting. Then, the opening credits appear in the bottom right, one of them being Alan Rickman, who is famous for being in thriller films. This attracts us as audiences, because he is a very famous actor. After this, there is an over the shoulder shot of the overview of a crowd, of the business owner Jin, who just has another successful term in his business. This represents power as he towers over them, making him seem in control, and ahead of them. 

Then, we learn more about Johns personality as he gets in a limo, and has an interaction with the driver. He speaks to him about his wife and how they are having trouble, and he starts to say that he has not been a very goos husband. This makes us learn more about John as he is very sympathetic towards his actions, and wants to make it up to her, for what he has done. Then, there is an overshot of the car driving with little music, which represents long and hard days, which John is going through.

A FOND KISS: EXTENDED WRITING

1. There was 9 titles displayed during the opening sequence. It’s a co-production, meaning its multicultural. One of the titles is 'Sweet 16' this will show to the audience that it is a Ken Loach film. In addition, the film reveals that in the opening credits that it's a multi cultural film.

2. In the opening sequence, there are 2 things. A night club, and a shop. This is prioritised because it opens up the setting and the establishing scene shows where we are, and what type of culture we are in, which is an Islamic culture that means it is a mixed culture night club. Since it is a Bollywood film, they don't have intimate scenes, this means that they will go through troubles getting together in the film.

3. The nightclub and the shop display connotations fo the culture of the area. It symbols the muslim culture they are in, because of the bhangra music, which is muslim. This introduces us to the characters. This means that it is a Bollywood film. The night club also carries connotations of being free and happy, with mixed races enjoying time together. There is a lack of racism.

4. The genre is reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset by using the audio, which is 95% of the film, to reinforce the romance in the film. From the very start, Thara and Casim are running through the school and the barge into the music room. This is when Casim has a romantic connection with the music teacher, when he eyes her up as they are about to leave the school. There is a POV shot of Casim viewing the teacher, and he has a spark with her. The romantic side of the film is also portrayed by the introduction of the two main characters and their love for each other, whilst the comedic element of the film is established through the various dogs urinating on the father’s shop sign.

5. The film establishes an enigma by introducing the culture divide in Glasgow, shown through various events such as the ‘bulldog’, a symbolism for Britain, urinating on the Pakistani family shop. Followed by the introduction of the young Scottish music teacher and the Pakistani man, who show love to each other.

6. The use of Bhangra music appeals towards Pakistani audiences, whilst the choice of young main actors may appeal towards a younger teenage audience. The choice of setting in Glasgow may appeal towards a Glaswegian audience as well.

7. The camera control is loose when filming the night club, which symbolises the ‘free’ attitude, with multiple races enjoying time together. The establishing shot which pans across Glasgow helps to establish the setting, whilst the Bhangra music carries on playing from the night club, which symbolises how diverse the city is. The use of camera movement helps bring the illusion of freedom, shwo through the loose camera moving fastly in the opening scenes. The birds eye view over glasgow helps introduce us to the settings.