After we finished a first draft of our film opening we decided to interview six different people to give their opinions on our opening also if they understood the meaning of the theme as well as give us feedback on how we could improve.

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From then interview we extended the opening and added effects such as the blurring the extreme close up of the eyes to give an illustration of the players state. We did this to make our meaning clearer also to portray the genre, setting and character in more detail. Most of our feedback was positive so there were only a few improvements according to the audience.

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Before starting any process in making our film title opening we discussed ideas that we thought would be good to explore and make our project interesting.

We decided to have a sports theme to our opening title as we were aware that it is one of the most challenging things to create so we wanted to overcome the challenge and produce a complex, refined project.

My partner suggested loads of ideas for camera movements and angles as well as editing as she recollected ideas from past movies that she had witnessed. Another influence was the emotions and the themes of our title, we want it to be an sports action as well as a sort of drama because of the difficult situation our character is in. With this helped choose the type of music and sound effects we wanted to include as well as the shots and transferring from each scene to the next in addition of the pace and order of things. The principal influence for creating a sports themed film title was that we wer told that it was one of the most challenging to create as it easy to appear cheap or unprofessional in the outcome.

To help us order the titles we research other films and we discovered the production company and director’s film are at the beginning and the rest of production cast were left at the end which we used in ours however, the order of the main characters and the title were different. In our media product we decided to show the title before the main character and kept to the order that we had researched like in the film Trainspotting.

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During this time we discussed ideas and our immediate thought was to create a sports themed opening film title as we wanted to challenge ourselves and make an effective action drama title. We were given a sheet of what names and the oder of the titles and from this we worked step by step to create our story board. We discussed ideas and talked about familar techniques that we've seen on programmes and films to create an effective title opening. We talked about having a footage of some major aspects during a football match, it took us a while to decide whether or not it was a good idea due to the complexity and difficulty it would have to film, however, we thought its best to try and see how we can edit as most astound sports filmed use a montage so it would make our film more compelling to the audience. After writing up our story board we did notice a problem between secenes 7 and 12 as we saw that it would make sense to the audience. Our film is about a footballer who has suffered a sever medical problem which effects his life especially in his football carrer however, even though we're including a heart monitor effect the shots didnt link up so we had to add another scene and change the oder and effects so our title makes sense. We were going have an extreme close up on the players eyes then use an eye line match of him kicking the ball then missing but we thought it would be better to add another scene when she stumbles na dthe focus blurrs out when he puts the  ball on the ground to show the effects of the illness as well as putting the long shot of the goal in and out of focus.

After writing and correcting our story board we used the notes made to create our screen play. Our film contains no dialogue so all we had to include was the seeting and the camera angles and movements as well as the movements of the characters.

Film Screen Play

EXT. FOOTBALL PITCH-DAY

Black background, heart beat monitor plays. Fade in ICC presents fade out/in an ICC production.

Fade out/in establishing shot of a deserted football pitch. Fade in text: Tommy Cumbers

Extreme close up on football with goal in view in the distance of the blurred background. Quiet drumming upbeat music plays over heart monitor. Fade in text: Liam Browne. Ball gets kicked.

Match on action of a side view of football landing in the goal. Upbeat music volume increases suddenly. Title revealed in motion of football during flight- text: Off Target.

Hand held camera shots for montage of people frantically running from all angles during a football match. Variation of camera shots e.g. close ups and long shots. Fade in text: George Thorne and Jason Harrold

Long shot of person about to kick the ball. Picture freezes then animated onto a black background. Multiple copies of freeze frame slide into place in different colours. Fade in text: Garry Vincatassin

Extreme close up of football boot with laces being tied up. Fade in text: Costume designer Sofia Maria

Camera tilted up and tracks around character wearing a football uniform. Upbeat music gradually gets quicker. Slow motion tracking to see character’s facial expressions. Fades in text: Editor Osama Rahman

Upbeat music stops but heart beat monitor continues and starts to decrease in pace. Extreme close up on eyes. Fade in text: Director of Photography Sabah Khan

Camera tilted up showing player placing ball on floor while wobbling. Picture goes in and out of focus

Long shot of goal goes out of focus again. Ball is kicked but misses. Fade in text: written by and directed by Brooke Nicholson. Heart beat monitor slows pace dramatically.

Extreme close up of eyes closing. Heart beat monitor plays same tone. Picture fades to black.

For this task we were put into groups of three and asked to plan and research locations of where we would like to film. The preliminary task was to film something walking in a room sitting down and haveing conversation then leaving again, we had to explore as many techniques as poosible such as match on action and work with different camera angles and shots like establishing shot and two shot.

To plan our film we first sat down and discussed what tecniques we could use and where is the best place to shoot them. After look consideration we decided to use room F01 to have the conversation in and outside the school's library to film the establishing shot and have one of our group members to walk through the door. When we were sure on our planning we then wrote up a script to show the director of the group where we want the camera to be placed and what technique we want to use.

Media- Script for Preliminary Task

First scene: Camera is placed outside the library by the balcony

 Establishing shot is used to view the opposite of the first floor.

Second scene: camera is placed by the maths office facing the stairs for long shot and panned to see Brooke walking from outside Miss Penney’s room.

 Brooke- enters F01 room.

Third scene:  camera is opposite the door that Brooke enters in F01

Long shot used

Fourth scene:  extreme close up and sideways tracking shot for filming of Brooke’s feet

Brooke walks from the door in front of the desk and stops

Fifth scene: tilt camera up to view Brook’s face

Brooke: looks around the room

Sixth scene: Pan Shot then stops to view Aston

 Camera goes back to Brooke

Seventh scene: forward tracking shot towards Aston

Crane shot on Aston

Aston:  Hey Brooke.

Mid two shot on Brooke and Aston

Brooke: Hey Aston you ok? What you up to?

Aston: Good thanks and not much…

Eighth scene: long shot on Aston’s exit

Ninth scene: camera opposite the door of F01 on the outside.

Aston: exits the room

 

 

 

For this lesson we analysed different types of semiotics and signs then we had to denote and connote them. In other words we had to define the object that we chose to analyse then suggest the meanings of the objects. 

Denotes- a small puppy

Connotes- rescuer, cute, friendly, companion, baby, reliable, cheeky

Denotes- a traffic light signalling stop

Connotes- danger, stop, warning, blood

Denotes- a light and heat source

Connotes- warmth, camping, burns, danger, death, harmful, romantic

Denotes- a television and type of media

Connotes- entertainment, informing, distraction, interesting, unhealthy  

This week we were asked to research and analyse various film openings. I was asked to show how genre, mood, character, tone, and setting was expressed also to research the order of the film titles and names.  


Media- Research and Planning

 

1-    The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

 

In this film opening the order of the titles is:

·         Production company

·         Main actors and supporting actors

·         The title of the film

·         Production cast

·         Director

The genre of the film is a romantic drama; the audience can recognise this as the title sequence plays a soft melodic piece of music which can be considered wishful and loving as well as the soft bass tone shows that there is drama with in the film.

The film will have a upsetting but also hopeful mood as the sequence is set during gloomy weather when it rains but the characters are dressed it bright colours suggesting that something good will arise in the story. Also the film could be a symbol of the theme of love in the film.

The title sequence doesn’t tell the audience anything about the character as the opening only shows a bird’s eye view of different characters walking around in the streets. However, fro this the audience can see that the film is set in a small town square due t the cobbles in the road, which also implies that the time of the film is placed in a recent age due to the colourful plastic umbrellas.  Also the audience know that the film is located in France due to the titles being in French, which could also assume the idea of a romantic film.

2-    The Dark Knight Rises

 

The film titles appear in the order of:

• Production company
• Director
• Title
• Main actors
• Production cast

This film is an action film which is shown to the audience through the upbeat and disjointed music of the opening. The music also includes sound effects of knife sharpening, heavy breathing and sudden slams which can make the audience sense the terror and the violence of the film as well as the subtle chanting effect of the music that creates the feel of rebellion.  It conducts an intense mood as it keeps the audience on edge and ready for the upcoming events also the flashing images present drastic and sudden appearances that can increase the intensity of the film.

Even though we cannot s the character the audience can see that the person is in search of the local hero, Batman, also obsessed with any story or person that can be linked with him. The images of scalpels, forensic equipment and maps composes the idea of the character is a police or undercover detective or even a villain.

From the images and the dark background of the opening shows that the theme could be revenge as it signifies a science lab or dark work space and with the also use of the pictures and music supports the theme due o the drastic speed of the music and the way the character is frantically looking through is information on the batman. The setting of the film is modern day due to the advanced technology shown also due to Batman’s mask which is made from a material used in recent years.

3-    The Pink Panther 2

 

The order of the titles in this film is:

• Production company
• Director
• Main actor
• Title
• Supporting actors
• Production cast

Pink Panther is a comedy which can be depicted from the use of animation of the characters played also the cartoon antics showed which exaggerates the characters movements and always ends in an accident. The music also creates a mysterious mood which shows that the film is also an action film because the music is jazzy and slow which can also be seen as comic as from the pink panther cartoons shows that the character is sly. The opening scene shows that the character is much like an animated person on the police force and travels a lot due to his investigations but has a bumbling persona as the cartoon illustrates the character’s stupidity.  The audience know that the character travels as the cartoon shows the pink panther running through different countries as well as showing a passport.

The audience can see that the film is set in France due to the main character’s clothing which is the French detectives uniform. In addition, at the end of the film opening the cartoon scene of the Eiffel Tower becomes realistic showing that the film first takes place in Paris.

Before filming our preliminary task we were asked to complete a stroy board so we had a clear idea of where and how we want the camera positioned. We analysed the script and used the camera directions as the basics for our story board then after writing down all the directions nect to each step we drew detailed pictures showing the areas of the school where we want the camera to be placed and what we should see from the camera.