Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Originally, we planned on certifying our film as a 15 aiming it a British women who have an interest in socialising and relationships. Now that we have finished creating our film, we have decided that it is more of a 12a as there are no rude suggestions of any sort but the character does swear in the opening. When considering our whole film idea, it would be more appropriate to give the film the certificate of a 15. This is because we planned for it to be similar to films like Sex and the City (2008) which is classified as a 15 and so are films like Bridget Jones (2001).

We decided when we were discussing our audience profile; we thought that our film was likely to appeal to demographic groups C1 through to E. This includes people like office workers, skilled workers, students and pensioners and we decided that it would appeal to mainly females. In our research and planning we had decided that we aimed to apply the Uses and Gratifications theory (McQuail 1987) and wanted to use realistic settings and characters so that the audience can relate to them.  We also planned on applying the Hypodermic Needle theory to create a film that would be ‘easy viewing’ for our audience as they are likely to be a ‘passive audience’ and our film reflects that as we feed to basic information to the audience in an obvious way so that not too much processing is needed.

We had discussed that our typical audience member will be interested in fashion and relationships as well as things like cooking and keeping fit. We discussed in our planning that they are likely to shop in fashionable stores but not top end designers because of the demographic groups we are aiming at and their favourite TV shows are likely to address similar issues as our film like Sex and the City, or Hollyoaks. They are likely to have an interest in socialising and friendships and will have experiences of the stresses of work and love; however some of these issues are not to be addressed until later in the film when considering it as a whole.

We showed a screening of our film to our target audience and have received their feedback on what they thought of the film and if it would be something that they would go to see at the cinema.

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

When we were initially considering ideas for our film and were looking at existing rom-com’s we found that most were produced and distributed by mainstream, Hollywood companies. We therefore decided that were aiming for a mainstream film. We looked at existing films that are produced by mainstream companies, for example Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001), distributed by Working Title, a conglomerate of Universal Pictures. This film is similar to ours as the setting, style and storyline are fairly similar and so our film would be suitable for mainstream audiences. Other films such as Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) also have a very similar storyline to ours and characters that are similar to our own characters. Universal Pictures would be an appropriate distributor for our film as they produce ‘traditional’ style romantic-comedies and ours fits into this genre and this company also aims its films to mainstream, mass audiences. We also considered the overall look of our film when we were thinking about mise-en-scene and we wanted to have an overall Hollywood feel to our film. We looked at the existing films to see what sort of costumes were used and we chose to use an office setting and our characters dressed in a very professional way to show this.



Universal Pictures is the sort of Mainstream Instition that
distribute similar films to ours

Working Title - a conglomerate of Universal Pictures that
distributes films similar to ours, e.g. Bridget Jones' Diary (2001)

Our film does however have elements that cold make it an independent film as we imagine it to be set in London with British actors and comedy elements that may appeal more to a British audience. This could mean that it may be more suitable for a company like Working Title to distribute our film as it would receive funding from the mainstream company Universal but would still be aimed at the appropriate audience. Using a mainstream distributor would also mean that our film could be shown in main cinema companies and could reach the audience we want to target.

Our film would most likely be released for premiere in London and then perhaps later released in other places as this is the setting of our film. If the film were distributed by a company like Working Title, because this is a British company it is more likely that the film would be released in Britain first to reach the right audience. Working Title has made films such as Love Actually (2003) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) which both have mainly British casts and have British settings despite being owned by the American Universal Pictures, and both films were shown on tent-pole release, premiering in London. This would therefore be the method of release that would be most suitable for our film as these existing similar films have had success this way.

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our film does use a lot of the typical generic conventions of a romantic-comedy however in our opening we look more at the conventions of a romance rather than the comedy element of the genre.  The colours that we have chosen to use in our opening like pinks, bright and happy colours reflect the mood of the piece and particularly the use of pink has connotations of romance. We used brightly coloured post-it notes and doodles to reflect the characters personality as she is quite creative and a bit of a workaholic. We also used typical ‘office’ objects including a computer and magazines with pens and pencils to emphasis the characters job as a journalist similar to characters like Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City. These colours and objects are used similarly in Sex and the City and Confessions of a Shopaholic.



Carrie Bradshaw
Sex and the City



Rebecca Bloomwood
Confessions of a Shopaholic



This is a screen shot of a shot from our film showing the objects on the desk
including magazines, post-it notes etc.

Our use of sound is also similar to that in films of the same genre as our character talks directly about love and we have romantic music playing throughout the opening to hint at the rom-com genre. We also use conventions like the photo of the man on her desk which hints at their relationship and her costume also emphasises at her sexuality. We conform to the stereotypical rom-com main character as she wears fashionable but professional clothes and adds hints to fashion with her painted fingernails and jewellery. She was dressed in a smart blazer and top similar to characters like Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City.

Carrie Bradshaw
Sex and the City
She is wearing light colours and
looks very smart similar to our main

character.



Our main actress getting ready for filming
wearing a 'girly' flowery top and smart trousers.
(she also had a smart blazer)



Carrie Bradshaw again, wearing a floral pattern similar to our chosen costume.

From doing several analysis’ of films from the romantic comedy genre, we found that most are set in a city setting and so we set our in and office location in London. This has been a commonly used setting in other rom-com’s such as Bridget Jones’ Diary and The Devil wears Prada.  



Thiw is the setting that we used to film
our opening before we added any props.



A scene from The Devil Wears Prada which also uses a similar office setting like the one that we used.









The use of the voiceover in our opening is also very similar to the opening of other films like Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) and Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001) and is a typical convention of a romantic comedy. These are two of the films that we used for inspiration for our film as we took the obvious British elements from Bridget Jones but the journalism, discussion of love side of things from Sex and the City. We decided that we wanted to use this in our opening as it means that the audience is immediately seeing through the main characters perspective and is able to relate to her straight away. It also introduces her job and hints to her personality setting it up for the rest of the film.

When we were considering the storyline of our film as a whole, we took inspiration from films like The Break Up (2006) and Bridget Jones (2001). This was because both involve some sort of break up between a couple and show the difficulties of balancing a love life and having a demanding job.


Bridget Jones' Diary



The Break Up (2006)





An over-the-shoulder shot of Carrie Bradshaw in

Sex and the City



In our opening, we wanted to keep the identity of the speaker somewhat hidden to capture the interest of the audience and so that we could give hints to who she was but still leaving the audience to ask questions about who she is. This meant that we used a lot of shots from behind our character including over the shoulder shots and long shots of her at the desk. From analysing various other film openings of the genre I noticed that other all introduce the character fully showing her in her everyday setting doing her job. We decided to go against and challenge this typical type of opening to introduce something different about the opening and to keep the audience’s attention throughout.





The over the shoulder shot that we used in
our opening to hide the character's identity



Our title: ‘Penelope Fox: Lessons in Love’ gives a direct indication to the genre of our film similar to the recent film Love and other Drugs (2010) and older films like Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). Our title appears in a light pink attractive writing in our opening which typically shows the genre of romance and happiness, conforming to the typical generic conventions of a rom-com.

Diary of Editing

22/03/2011

- final cut express
- found it hard, changed to imovie
- put all shots in order
- fiddled with timings

23/03/2011

- looked for music
- played with timings

24/03/2011

- added some of the titles
- struggled with main title
- worked with louise on voiceover
- had difficulties - decided to do it in sections - had to adapt script - didnt quite complete the voiceovers

25/03/2011

- we completed the voiceover with Louise

Initial Rough Cut



- worked on timings and titles
- added the soundtrack

28/03/2011

- We re-ordered some of our titles to the correct order to make the film more realistic
- We edited the length of the shot with the photograph in to make it shorter

29/03/2011

- Edited the size of the titles, made them larger and easier to see
- Had a final check over timings and sound

Second Rough Cut



31/03/2011

- Made the film title stand out more, changed the words 'Lessons in Love' to a typewriter font and had the letters checkered in however this was extremely time consuming as the letters had to be changed individually and ended up taking a lot longer than we had hoped.
- Added in our institutional logos and adapted the timings according to the opening logos.

Final Cut

Feedback on Filming

Having completed our filming in one day, we decided to go and receive feedback from our teacher on our shots in case we needed to re-film any shots. We received both positive and negative feedback and we were told that our tracking shots and lighting was very good however it was suggested that the framing of our close-up of the characters eyes was not so great. It was also suggested that we should perhaps re-film the screen as the text types up as it looked very small and would have been potentially difficult to read. We decided not to re-film the close-up shot as we are aware that there are cropping facilities when we are planning to be editing however we decided that we ought to re-film the shot of the text typing up as were were able to do that at school and did not need to visit our filming location again.

16/3/2011

Today we re-filmed the text tying up. We decided to film a few different shots of this so that we had different ones to choose from when it came to editing and we could choose the best and most appropriate one for our final film. We managed to complete this filming within around half an hour and we worked together really well. I learnt that it is much easier to have one person controlling the camera - particularly when using a dolly as it results in the most professional and effective final result. We are very pleased with how well this shot came out and it looks much better than our original version. I think that our overall filming process was very successful and our time management was very good and we hope to be as efficient when we begin to edit our opening.

Diary of Filming

15/03/2011

Today we started to film our opening on our location of Chelmsford town centre in the bank office. We managed to successfully complete all of our filming in one session and managed to use our time very efficiently and successfully. We did however come across some problems during filming which we had to work together to address and fix to get the best possible results. I found it quite difficult to keep the camera level as our tri-pod turned out to be faulty on the day and we were unable to stand in a way that ensured the camera was level. We decided to use a table and very slightly held the camera to one side when filming with the tri-pod to ensure it was level and we were able to quickly solve this problem.

We did also have some problems when we were attempting to do the tracking shots across the desk. We each tried to do the shot as it was a handheld shot and needed someone with a steady hand to film it. We found that I had the most steady hand and so I was in charge of this shot. I learnt that it is very difficult to get timings correct when filming, particularly with the tracking shots when you have to move at a certain pace as well as trying to keep a steady shot with good framing. We all equally contributed to the filming and attempted at filming each shot and so we were all able to contribute well to the filming of our piece and we managed to film all of our shots in one day of filming.

Creating our Shot-List and Film Schedule

We have been working as a group on our shot list to organise how we were going to organise our time when it comes to filming. As we were only working in one location to film our opening (all in an office), we decided to organise our shots by camera angle to save as much time as possible. We all agreed that this would be the best way to organise our time when filming to be most effective. We also put together a film schedule to make sure that we knew where we were going to be at what time and what props and costumers would be needed. This schedule also included the actors and camera equipment that would be needed on the day. I found this very helpful as I was then fully aware of when we would be filming what and in what order we would be working and I felt fully prepared to film and that I knew exactly what I would be doing and would be able to work most efficiently.

To view our shot list please visit our group blog:
Initial Shot-list
http://ascvhsmediacjc.blogspot.com/2011/03/g321-initial-shot-list-for-opening.html
Final Shot-list
http://ascvhsmediacjc.blogspot.com/2011/03/g321-improved-shot-list.html

To view our Film schedule please visit our group blog:
http://ascvhsmediacjc.blogspot.com/2011/03/g321-film-schedule.html

Comparing our Film Opening to Other Films

Now having compared our overall film idea to other existing romantic-comedies, I am going to look specifically at comparing our film opening idea to other films. This is to ensure that our opening uses the generic conventions of a rom-com as well as giving hints to the storyline and keeping the audiences interest. I am going to compare our opening using the categories I have previously used to analyse other film openings with: Narrative, Character, Atmosphere,  Setting, Sound and Titles.

Narrative and Setting

Our opening consists of a woman at her desk typing her new column for her magazine. The camera will establish the setting by panning around the room and give hints to themes that will appear later in the film by tracking over her desk where there will be magazine cuttings and articles hinting her job and interests. We will hear a voiceover revealing what she is typing in her article talking about love and relationships however her face will not be totally revealed to keep the audience interested. Other films that use the voiceover technique are ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ (2006) and ‘A Cinderella Story’ (2004) – both use the voiceover technique, specifically in the openings.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aFhQ9uPsxM

The idea of the main characters face not being entirely revealed is also used in the film ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ (2009) where we hear a voiceover but do not see the characters face until the very end of the opening sequence.



The opening will also introduce the city style, office setting as we will see her typing at her desk. The film ‘The Proposal’ (2009) also introduces this city setting along with the busy office life in the opening sequence which is quite common among films of this genre.

Office Setting - The Proposal (2009)

Character

In our opening, only the main character is properly introduced which is similar to most other films of this particular genre. We are also introduced to the characters job and where they work as we see the main character Penelope Fox working at her desk in her office and we are made aware that she is a relationship columnist for a magazine. The film ‘Never Been Kissed’ (1999) uses a similar type of opening as in the first two minutes we only focus on the main female character who is speaking in the voiceover and on the screen. The character herself is not similar to our character but she has a similar career and the techniques used to present her are similar to the way we are planning on presenting our character.



We also plan on introducing the male protagonist through a photograph in the opening to hint to the audience that he will be a main character but not as main as the female character present in the opening. It is also to hint his relationship with the main female character as the photo will show them as a couple who are clearly romantically involved. Another film that uses photographs in the opening to show the characters relationship is the film ‘The Break-Up’ (2006).

Atmosphere

Most rom-coms open with a light hearted, romantic atmosphere and this is what we would like to depict in our opening. The voiceover will be discussing love and romance and we are thinking about having a romantic, relaxed song playing in the background to be in-keeping with the light, comfortable feel to the opening. We plan to introduce the comedy element by making the atmosphere change very suddenly by having an interrupting phone call that will cut through the relaxed feel.



Titles

We have decided that we would like our titles to be very simple, fading in and out of the shot however we would like to make our main title more creative by integrating it into the narrative of the opening. We are considering using white text for the titles as this is very common among romantic comedies and goes with the light hearted feel of the film.



Simple white titles in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)



Simple titles in Bridget Jones' Diary (2001)



Simple titles in Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)



Comparing our Film Idea to Other Films

Now that we have the ideas for our film as a whole, I am able to look at existing films of our chosen genre to compare the narratives and plot-lines to that of our own film. This is to help me ensure that our idea conforms to the generic conventions of other romantic-comedies. I have looked at comparing specific details of the whole plot idea with that of other films in this genre including the characters, storyline and general details.

Characters and Storyline

The Break Up (2006)

Our film has one main character with two other important characters alongside. The main character is a glamorous young woman who is very fashionable and professional who is in a relationship with a man who is somewhat opposite to her: very spontaneous and laid back. This type of relationship in other romantic-comedy films is a little uncommon however films such as ‘The Break Up’ (2006) use this idea of a couple who don’t entirely match. Our storyline also plans to have a break up between our main character (Penelope Fox) and her boyfriend which is common among romantic-comedies as one of the main events in the films. Films like ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2006) and ‘Valentine’s Day’ (2010) both also express this ‘break-up/make-up’ storyline.



The Devil Wears Prada (2006)



Valentines Day (2010)

We decided to have our main protagonist as a female character who is very likeable and relatable and this is very common in rom-com’s as we see the female usually battling some personal issues surrounding work and love. Films that include this sort of character are ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ (2001) and ‘Maid in Manhattan’ (2002).


Bridget Jones

 

Marisa Ventura















With regards to setting, most romantic comedies have a busy, city setting with glamorous offices and jobs and we plan to use this same sort of setting. Our main character is a journalist, much like the character of Carrie Bradshaw in ‘Sex and the City’ as well as Rebecca Bloomwood in ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ (2009) who both write for magazines and books. These characters are also similar to our character of Penelope Fox in that they are extremely fashionable and likeable but do also find themselves in sticky situations easily which is common among characters in films of this particular genre.



Carrie Bradshaw - Sex and the City
Writer and Publushed Author



Rebecca Bloomwood - Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)
Journalist

 

Our storyline presents the main character Penelope Fox to have the ‘perfect life’ however this soon changes and she starts to fall from happiness as aspects of her life fall apart. It is common in the storylines of romantic-comedies for the main character to experience some sort of downfall before problems are overcome and perfection, as it were, is restored – most likely in a new way. The films ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ (2001), ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ (2009) and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2006) all depict this idea of perfection being destroyed and restored in both love and work. One of the most common aspects of a romantic-comedy is that the ending will be happy and the girl will ‘get the man’ and have turned over a new leaf or this will be at least hinted at the end of the film. We also plan to conform to this and will definitely have a positive ending to the film.

Storyboard and Script Diary

11/2/2011 - 18/2/2011

We have now been spending a number of lessons working on the storyboard and the script for our film opening in our group and are thinking more about specific details like the setting, mise-en-scene and the scripting. During these processes, our group has been working really well together and we have each been putting in our own ideas and discussed what we each imagine our film opening to be like. We have been looking into other films of our genre and comparing the narrative to our own narrative as well as thinking about the characters and what type of actors we would like to cast. We are all equally enthusiastic and inputting our ideas regularly to make sure that every person is happy when each new process is completed.
Below is the link to our group blog where you can view the storyboard work and script we have been working on:

http://ascvhsmediacjc.blogspot.com/2011/02/g321-storyboard-and-script-for-film.html

Initial Ideas Diary

8/2/2011

Today we discussed our Initial Ideas for our own film. We created a mind-map of our ideas and made sure to consider setting, characters, storyline, sound, certification, audience expectations, generic conventions ans signifiers. It was important that we considered our film as a whole and made sure that we completely understood the brief that we are to make the opening two minutes of the film, not the whole film or a trailer. To make sure that we understood what will be expected of us, we watched a student film that was a very low grade and a student film that was a top grade. I found this very helpful and meant that I could properly understand what we are aiming to create. We have considered the fact that we must make the characters relatable and realistic and so we have taken this into consideration within our group when thinking about our initial ideas.

Below are the links to the group blog to view the mindmap, list of scenes, character profiles and film brief:
http://ascvhsmediacjc.blogspot.com/

Romantic Comedy Film Openings

Having now come to the decision that we are definitely going to make our film opening in the Romantic Comedy genre, I have decided to look at some more current film openings specific to that genre. I have discussed the generic conventions used in the openings and considered the titling as these are extremely important to consider when creating my own opening.

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

The genre of this film is immediately introduced by the iconography of the wedding cake and the titles themselves seem to be written in an invitation format with the curly writing and the style of the film title itself with the flowers and cake making it clear that the film is about romance. The genre is enforced further by the non diegetic music in this opening sequence is very classical and is a song about love, emphasising the romantic comedy genre. The comedy element to the film is not a clearly shown in the opening however we are still able to tell this by the light hearted narrative with the characters getting up and getting ready. It is more particularly shown through the use of contrasts between the men with one getting up and ready straight away and with the other being more ‘lazy’ and staying in bed longer. The Narrative suggests that perhaps the characters are preparing to go to a wedding and there are multiple characters introduced which could be main characters throughout the film. The Atmosphere is extremely relaxed and calm which fits with the genre and it is suggested that the setting is in Britain because of the iconography of the typical ‘full English breakfast’.

The titles are very simple and are not distracting to the narrative which makes the audience concentrate more on what is happening than what the titles all say. The use of the white font means that the titles can be seen very easily on almost any background. The narrative is clearly open and leads onto something happening next and the themes of love, romance and family are hinted that they will be common throughout. It is clear that there are a number of main characters that will appear throughout the rest of the film as there is a very equal amount of screen-time given to each character and we are immediately introduced to each characters personality in the opening.  

Bridget Jones (2001)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aFhQ9uPsxM

Bridget Jones (2001) uses a voice over in the opening to demonstrate the genre of the film. It is very comical in the scripting, very British and makes it clear that it is a diary. The character discusses subjects like her love life and meeting a new man which emphasises the romantic element of the opening and she talks about the idea of her mother being the ‘match-maker’ which adds the comedy element. The setting in the opening is very homely which creates a very light atmosphere and it is clearly a family party which could be a common theme throughout the rest of the film. The comedy genre is also shown through the mise-en-scene specifically with the costumes as she says she is ‘wearing a carpet’.

The use of the untidy living room setting also has emphasis on the comedy element and it is clear that ‘Bridget’ will be the main character as she is central to the narrative and is in control of the story telling. The titles are not evident until around 5 minutes into the clip and are written in a handwriting font which fits with the diary element and the character points and gestures towards the main title which emphasises that that is the main film title. The soundtrack ‘All by myself’ gives a suggestion that the woman is unlucky in love and the comedy element is emphasised again by the miming of the song making the genre extremely clear. The narrative is the most prominent indication to the genre of the film particularly with the character drinking alcohol and being quite comical with the miming of the song.

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

In the opening of this film, the romantic-comedy genre is shown immediately through the use of the girly colours like pink which have connotations of romance and love. The theme of shopping is also immediately introduced by the setting of the shops and lots of props like shoes, and images of women trying on dresses. It is clear that the film is aimed at females as in the opening sequence there are only female characters introduced so that the target audience can relate to them. There is a clear theme of spending money and socialising in the film because of the narrative in the opening sequence. The comedy genre is emphasised by the contrast of the expensive sparkly shoes with the brown shoes that ‘last forever’. The iconography of the yellow cab gives and immediate indication that the film is set in America and the city setting is common in other films of this genre and seems very glamorous and exciting.

It is clear that the main character is the young girl who is admiring all of the women doing their shopping as we can hear the voiceover discussing this. The voiceover is clearly an older woman and she is talking about when she was a little girl which makes it clear that the main character will be this little girl as a grown woman. The atmosphere is very light hearted and happy and is particularly female orientated. There are no male characters in the opening which makes the female characters seem very dominant and independent. This opening uses a voiceover along with a non diegetic soundtrack. The music is directly related to the genre and the song sings about love and romance which then emphasises this. The titles also reflect the genre with the simple pink coloured writing which has connotations of romance and love and the glittering main film title emphasises the girlie themes.

Film Re-makes

Having completed the three re-makes of different genres, I now feel confident that i understand how a film opening should come together. I m now ready to look more closely at the specific genre we would like to use for our opening so that I can get a better understanding of that genre.

Here is a link to our group blog where you can view our film opening re-makes:
http://ascvhsmediacjc.blogspot.com/

The History of Romantic Comedies

Having now decided that we are going to focus on the Romantic-Comedy genre, I have decided to reseach into the history of the genre and some of the typical conventions and plotlines of the genre. This is to make me more familiar with the genre itself and how we should go about creating a film opening of this genre.

Since Ancient Greece, comedies had often involved sexual or social elements to them and it wasn’t until the Western Medieval period that there was the creation of romantic love and involving these situations in productions. This was when tales and adventures would involve a knight's battle’s on behalf of a lady, and so the modern themes of love were quickly woven into comedies introducing the idea of romance rather than heroic gestures.

Conventions of a Romantic Comedy

On a more modern basis, romantic comedy films involve light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as a true love able to overcome most obstacles. It is common that rom-com’s will have elements of screwball comedies which are more unconventional and behave in unexpected ways. The basic plot of a romantic comedy is that two protagonists, usually a man and a woman, meet, part ways due to an argument or other obstacle, then ultimately reunite. While the two protagonists are separated, one or both of them usually realizes that they are ideal for each other, or that they are in love with each other. Then, after one of the two makes some spectacular effort to find the other person and declare their love, or due to an astonishing coincidental encounter, the two meet again. Then, perhaps with some comic friction or awkwardness, they declare their love for each other and the film ends happily. The couple does not, however, have to marry, or live together "happily ever after". The ending of a romantic comedy is meant to affirm the primary importance of the love relationship in its protagonists' lives, even if they physically separate in the end.

Editing the Re-makes of Openings Diary

Session One – Thursday 3^rd February (2 hours)

In this session we uploaded our clips from the camera to the computer and we decided to first edit our re-make of Vertigo as this had the least editing needed to be done to it so we used this as an opportunity to familiarise ourselves with the basics of the iMovie program that we have used before. We managed to edit a considerable amount of the footage in this session putting everything together except for the titles. We worked well whilst doing this with one person controlling the computer and all of us discussing what we thought would look best and what would be most similar to the film opening we were copying.

Session Two – Friday 4^th February (1 hour)

In our second session one of our group members was not available and so two of us continued with the editing of the next film. We began by completing the titles on the Vertigo clip however we did find it very difficult to match the timings of the titles, music and the image on the screen in the same way as the original opening. We then began to work on our opening of The Strangers (2008) which was more time consuming than we had expected as we came across some problems using the editing equipment and it was more difficult to edit than we had imagined. We managed to put together most of the clip itself and just need to add the sound and check that the timings are correct and we can then move on to completing our Juno re-make.

Session Three- Monday 7^th February (1hour)

This session put together the sound and timings of our remake of The Strangers (2008) which worked pretty well however it was fairly difficult to match the sound with the images towards the end of the opening. This did take longer than expected however we did still have time to put the clips for Juno in the correct order ready to start working on the transitions and title’s for this re-make.

Session Four – Tuesday 8^th February (1 hour)

Today we managed to complete the editing if our Juno remake and we were able to add all of the transitions and titles in the correct places. This was fairly easy as we are now used to the editing software again and able to work quickly and efficiently. We also added the sound and are now going to be able to go over all three of our remakes to fix and tweak at timings etc. in our next session.

Session Five - Friday 11th February (1 hour)

This was our final session of editing and we were just concentrating on tweaking the last parts of timing and the overall presentation of the re-makes. We have now completed our re-makes and are ready to evaluate how well they went.

Timeline of Titles

I have watched the opening of the film The Holiday (2006) and have noted down in a timeline the order of the titles. This is to help me see when titles should appear and in what order as well as when in the narrative they should appear on the screen.

0.02 – Institution presents...

0.14 – Second Institution presents...

0.34 – Director’s name

0.40 – Main actress name

0.45 – Second Main actress name

0.50 – Third actors name

1.03 – Fourth actors name

1.24 – Film Title

1.43 – Other actors name

1.50 – Second other actors name

1.56 – Third actors name

1.59 – Casting directors names

2.15 – Music editor

2.20 – Costume Designer

2.45 – Editor

2.49 – Production Designer

2.54 – Photography Director

3.04 – Executive Producer

3.10 – Producers Names.

Our brief states that we are to create the opening two minutes of a film however in this film the titles go on for around three minutes as there are rather a lot of titles and so I have therefore done the same thing for another opening that is closer to our brief. I have looked at the opening sequence of 50 First Dates (2004) which is very different to the first opening as the titles are complete after only 47 seconds but the order is very similar to that of the first opening: Institution Logo's first, followed by production companies and then the film titleand the actors names after that.

0.02 – Institution Logo

0.25 – Institution presents...

0.30 – Production Company

0.35 – Production Company

0.41 – Production Company

0.47 – Film Title

Using Jellybabies to create Film Openings

We spent a lesson looking at film genres by creating some film openings using Jellybabies and post-it notes. We had to put together some different openings of films with different genres to help us learn the importance of timings, narrative and titles. In our group, we put together three different film openings: Action, Horror and Comedy. We considered the length of each shot, narrative and the timings of the titles as well as music.

Film Opening One: ACTION

With our first attempt, we found that we over-complicated the opening and moved more into creadting a short film. At I think that we timed the titles well but our Narrative needed to be improved. I think that we had too many characters and too much going on for this to be the opening of an Action movie.

Film Opening Two: HORROR

We also made a similar mistake  with our horror opening however I think we made better use of camera angles and sound for this opening but we must ensure that we do not forget that we are only making an opening for a film.

Film Opening Three: COMEDY



With our comedy opening I think the Narrative is again, over complicated and confusing. I think we have the correct light hearted atmosphere but we have again over complicated things.

This exersise has helped me to understand that we must keep things very simple and not over-use particular elements. I have learned how easy it is to over-complicate the narrative and create more of a short film than an opening but trying to put too much into the opening. It has definately helped me to understand why timings and the order of titles are important to film openings and how to appropriately use them.

Filming our Re-makes of the Openings Diary

Tuesday 25^th January – Thursday 27^th January

The first re-make we filmed was our version of Juno (2007). This was because it had the most shots and so we decided we would get the largest amount of filming done first. We chose to film this outside and used on of our groups members to play Juno whilst two of us operated the equipment and filmed it. We managed to complete this filming quite quickly as we made sure that we were organised in what we were doing by having the storyboard and shot-list with us at all times.

We then decided that we would film our re-make of Vertigo (1958). Initially we were going to use one of us as the woman in the opening and have two of us film it however we found this quite difficult and therefore decided to be more creative by drawing out the character onto paper and filming that instead. We weren’t as time effective when creating this opening as we spent a lot of time preparing for it and did also waste some time in our first attempt and therefore this task did take longer than we had anticipated.

The final opening we filmed was The Strangers (2008) for which we used images of houses printed out and we used a camera on a dolly to create the effect of driving past the houses. For this film, we used our time very effectively as we had prepared everything in advance and we all worked together to film the opening. We had one person doing the camerawork, another checking the storyboard and another using the shot-list for timings.

Overall We worked very well as a group however we were sometimes not as time effective as we would have liked but we managed to improve when making the final film. We worked very well with the equipment and using the facilities that we had. I also think that we all contributed well towards the filming as we each had a turn at being in charge of one film each. From doing this, I have learnt that it is important to use all of our time effectively and that it is useful to each take a different piece of responsibility.

Looking at Genre by Re-making Existing Film Openings

Friday 21^st January

We are currently considering what genre we would like to use for our film and have been given the task of re-making three film openings of the following genres: Comedy, Horror and Thriller. Of the choices we were given, we chose to re-make Juno (2007), Vertigo (1958) and The Strangers (2008). I have analysed each opening so that I am more familiar with particular aspects of the genre and how it is shown. It is also to help us look at the combination of timings with regards to narrative, music and titles.

JUNO (2007)

http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/0069-Juno

Genre: Comedy

Narrative: A teenage girl walking around a town, possibly local to her, she is going somewhere.

Character: Girl drinking Sunny D, tom boy clothes, teenager and perhaps the runners are significant.

Atmosphere: Light hearted, happy, relaxed

Themes: Friendship and Love – family? due to the style of music and lyrics.

Setting: Town and local streets, she seems to know the area.

Sound: Happy music singing about friendship and love and sticking together. The style of music is comical, fitting in with the genre.

Titles: Cartoon writing, bright colours and 3-d lettering that emphasise the comical, not serious element.  

Vertigo (1958)

Genre: Thriller

Narrative: Woman’s face, alone in dark? Eyes look shocked suddenly, scared

Character: Innocent woman who is alone, perhaps kidnapped?

Atmosphere: Tense, scary, frightening

Themes: the symbol that comes from her eye is quite hypnotic and disorientating

Setting:  unknown, somewhere dark, increases tension and questioning

Sound: Music is quite tense and hypnotic

Titles: Capitals showing the genre is very serious and the titles appear each time the music becomes more intense and the film titles itself: Vertigo comes from the woman’s eye which indicates the idea of hypnosis again.

The Strangers (2008)

0- 1.30 mins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWp14gtZ-u0

Genre: Horror

Narrative: A voice and subtitles give an outline of the films context and plot explaining that it is based on true events and states that ‘brutal events’ are involved.

Character: We are told about two characters – Kristen McKay and James Hoyt and it is implied that something terrible will happen to them.

Atmosphere: Very tense, talking about crimes and the use of fade to blacks indicate the idea of the unknown.

Themes: Danger, crime, fear

Setting:  A ‘summer home’ in America

Sound: A mysterious voice is used to read out the words on the screen, which is quite frightening. We can hear only the sound of a car engine and the sound of the wind as the car moves along.

Titles: There are no titles in this opening and the words at the start are very plainly written in orange text which gives the idea of seriousness and by not revealing any titles gives the fear of the unknowen and makes the content seem very real.


In our group, we have decided to each create a storyboard and shot-list for one film each and then we will work together to film the openings. This was to make sure that the work was distributed equally and that we all were making an input to the task.

Looking at Student Films

We have been looking at film openings created by previous students to help us see what sort of thing we should produce. I have evaluated a few strengths and weaknesses of each opening to see what sort of mistakes have been made in the past as well as thinking about what things worked well to help us to create a better film opening.

Student Film 1



This film opening shows good use of the production logos and the titles match the genre of the film. The music used in the opening also fits with the genre of Horror as it has quite a scary and mysterious feel to it. The use of the static sound effect is a little distracting and makes it seem more like a film trailer than an opening as it seems like seperate pieces of the storyline have been put together as opposed to a flowing opening. The use of the flashback makes it more of a trailer as it doesn't particularly fit with the rest of the narrative. Flashbacks and transitions are more commonly used in trailers rather than openings and I think this is what makes this seem more of a trailer. I also think that the use of the blur transition makes it clear that the clip is an opening however the narrative is closed and it seems to be more of a short film than an opening as it is very unlikely that this much would happen in the opening sequence making it difficult to imagine where the narrative would go next. The camerawork is also quite shaky and off-putting and the flashback of the two characters hugging doesn't seem to fit with the narrative.

The use of mise-en-scene in this opening does have a specific relation to genre however. The images of blood and fire are very specifically linked to the horror genre and immediately give the audience the impression that the genre is horror. The use of the outdoor setting is also quite eerie, especially with the music and tone of the opening. I think that to make the setting seem even more of a horror setting they could maybe have looked at editing the lighting to give more of a scary effect. I think that to make it a more successful opening the narrative should be simplified and open so that it would seem as there there is something more going to happen.

Student Film 2



This film opening of Shadowing makes the Horror genre very clear. The camerawork on this piece is very steady and the range of camera angles are appropriately used for the genre. I also think that the titles are very good and fitting specifically with the film titles itself 'Shadowing' as the transition used to show this matches the word itself. Although I think that the beginning seems like a film opening i think that it then changes to become more of a trailer with the montage at the end.

The use of the photo's at the start of the opening are a little confusing as one of the people does not appear at any other point in the opening sequence. I think that the use of the static sound effect between transitions of the shots make this opening seem very much like a trailer. I really like the use of the voiceover as it gives an element for foreshadowing what is to come if the film were to continue. I think that if there was not a montage and no screaming at the end then it would seem a lot more like an opening and would have more of a direction to follow if the film were to continue. The use of setting and lighting however is very clever as it has specific relation to the horror genre being dark and isolated.The use of the voice over fits also with the genre however it adds to the element of trailer and the sound use at the end is more that of a trailer, revealing different parts of what could be to come in the film as opposed to leaving the events to happen if it were to continue as a regular film.

There is a section after the photos appear where the screen is just a plain black and a lot of titles are flashing up which I think takes away from the reset of the narrative and seems quite rushed. I think that the titles needed to be a lot slower to stick with the eerie and uncomfortable feel which has the element of building up tension for something to happen.

Student Film 3


The opening of this student film I think is the most like an opening rather than a trailer. This is because the narrative is entirely linear and open, leaving the audience to guess what will happen next. The use of the red title reflects the genre and the camerawork is very good however there are some continuity errors in the film itself. For example, we see the girl in the car smile and the arm on the floor moves which distracts the audience and the film becomes less believable. I also think that the font the titles are in does not go with the genre and they also change too quickly which I find distracting and the production logo at the start 'One Bad Apple' seems too bright and colourful for the type of film that this opening represents.

I really like the use of the music in this opening as it is very mysterious and leads you to think that something really terrible has happened. I think that the little use of dialogue is also very clever and I find it quite intruguing making me want to watch the rest of the film. I also like the simplicity of this opening as not a lot happens which is mcuh more typical for this genre of film. The simple transitions and titling make it more believable and it is more like a real film opening. I do think that perhaps there could be more relevance in the use of mise-en scene perhaps with thinks like the setting and the lighting as it does not give a hude indication to the genre however I think that this is the most like a real film opening.

By looking at past student films, I have been able to see what sorts of things work and what doesn't which means that I will be able to consider these things when I start to plan and make my film. It has also helped me to see what has been done before and what I can do to make a more original film opening.

Thinking About Genre

I have looked at four different genre's of film openings and looked at how genre is shown in the opening scene and what conventions are used. This is to help me decide what genre of film I would like to create and the sort of style it would need to be in.

28 Weeks Later (2007)
This film is a Horror/Thriller movie and this is shown very clearly through the opening sequence mainly because of the following:
- low-key, dark lighting indicates the horror genre as only candle's are used for lighting.
- the absence of music increases the tension and suspense is then increased by a beating sound.
- the themes of panic, fear and zombies are all common in that of horror's and/or thrillers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHf6Th-E3kE

Chariots of Fire (1981)
This film comes under the genre of Sport History and Drama and there are good indications to the time period it is set in, the plot as well as the genre itself.
- the clothing is old-fashioned and the characters are wearing sportswear which reflects the genre as well as the time of the film.
- the settings are also fitting with the time period such as the large manor house and enormous grounds that surround it.
- the music playing has a sense of achievement to it and is quite joyful reflecting the runners and could be a potential theme throughout the rest of the film.



Love Actually (2003)
Love Actually is a Romantic-Comedy Drama which is somewhat reflected in the opening sequence however the comedy element is more difficult to pick up on.
- The images of people hugging their loved ones as they return home conjures the romance element and the feeling of happiness and joy.
- the gentle, calming music and the voice over discussing love and happiness also indicates the romantic genre using the quotation 'Love Actually is all around'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsnruVriVYw

Spiderman 2 (2004)
This film makes it clear that it is a fantasy action drama movie withing the opening title sequence using the following conventions:
- It tells the plot of the first film using cartoon images which reflect the 'comic' style which emphasises the fantasy genre
- The music and images of fighting emphasise the action genre and make the film seem very serious and busy.
- There is also the themes of a hero against some kind of villain whilst protecting a woman who is the victim which are typical qualities in the plot line of a fantasy movie.