The Discussion
Lauren: From looking at the research we conducted, Rom-Coms, Dramas and mysteries come out on top.
Charley: I think we should do a drama with a twist of mystery, as I think comedies will be too difficult for the timing we have, and are also hard to appeal to a large audience as humours vary.
Ben: I agree, I think it would be a good idea to shot a mystery drama with a variety of clever shot sizes.
George: Yeah these are all good ideas, I think we should consider basing the plot around a kidnapping of some sort in order to match our genre.
Lauren: Yes, that’s a good idea George. We should try and film something that will not only grip viewers through interest, but also to teach people the importance of staying safe while outside of home.
Charley: We could have a kidnapping of school children? I think using a hand held camera would look really affective on a mystery drama like this one.
George: Yes, we could shot school pupils leaving at the end of the day, perhaps Charley and Lauren could act as the girls that are going to be abducted.
Ben: These are great ideas! By using the school as a focus point on location, the filming will be quite easy for us. We should use a interesting effect on the camera to generate the right tone and impression of the overall genre of our opening sequence.
Lauren: Another idea we could discuss is if we are using a hand held camera, we could have the kidnapper as the narrator in the way that what the viewers see is through his eyes, in order for the audience to feel included.
Charley: We could do a ‘double take’ from the crowds of school children, back to Lauren and me, as when the kidnapper realises we are the ones he is after.
Ben: Yes, the variety of shot sizes and fast pace editing between shots will generate the excitement.
George: We should also use creative typography on our titles to link to the genre of the opening sequence. We also need to consider the music we are going to use, it must have a sense of mystery and drama to it.
Monday, 24 January 2011
Friday, 14 January 2011
Futher look at opening sequences
Upon analysing different opening sequences, i have noticed a number of things. All of which I have watched have included titles, the number varying however. The typography used also varied, with the majority using quite a simple style of font. An example of this is 'To Kill a Mocking Bird', http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/09/10/to-kill-a-mockingbird/. Se7en’s title sequence uses a hand written style of typography which links well with the story line. I think that this was a clever decision made by Se7en’s title sequence designer as it gave the right impression to the audience of what to expect within the film. I feel it is an important factor to consider as it can reflect the tone that you are trying to portray the film as being.
Films such as ‘Casino Royale’ used colourful graphics within its opening titles, http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/01/14/casino-royale/. I understand that they was trying to illustrate the genre of the film in a different way, by outlining what props were to be expected, i.e. guns. However I am not sure if I think it worked as well as they perhaps thought. There are no graphics like this within the movie, so I think it may have created the wrong expectations to the audience of the film.
Romantic comedy ‘Juno’ used cartoon style graphics to open the film. Despite looking good and working reasonably well, I am still not sure why the designers choose to do this. Again, there are no other traces of cartoon within the film, it is a ‘rom com’ and for this reason I am not sure why this idea was used. On the other hand, the film is about a teenage girl, so the cartoon opening of her could reflect the girls personality- perhaps she enjoys cartoons.
From watching past students opening titles, I have discovered that very few of them use interesting typography, one in which would link to the genre- alike Kyle Cooper pointed out as important in his interviews. I also noticed that overall, many past student decided to situate the titles of directors, producers, etc, at the bottom of the screen. Although the names should not over take the sequence, I think more recognition could be made as often they are in very small size font. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t_ygjLLVUQ&feature=BF&list=PLD6D3ADD7107903DC&index=2 This production crafted by students from Cherwell School positions the titles at the bottom of the screen in small, simple typography. Despite this, overall, I really enjoyed the opening sequence. I think the decision they made to use a black and white camera created the right type of atmosphere for the audience. The auditory code of the intense music played throughout also anchored with the setting, choice of camera angles and story line featured in order to appeal to its hybrid audience. The only other choice this group choose that I would argue against is the cross dissolve fading to a black screen on the last shot, in which “To be continued…” appears on screen. This is a opening sequence to a film, therefore this was not necessary.
I enjoyed watching http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=YSu5rfqfSPI&vq=medium as I think the music used linked well with the genre and the overall tone that the producers where trying to portray.
Films such as ‘Casino Royale’ used colourful graphics within its opening titles, http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/01/14/casino-royale/. I understand that they was trying to illustrate the genre of the film in a different way, by outlining what props were to be expected, i.e. guns. However I am not sure if I think it worked as well as they perhaps thought. There are no graphics like this within the movie, so I think it may have created the wrong expectations to the audience of the film.
Romantic comedy ‘Juno’ used cartoon style graphics to open the film. Despite looking good and working reasonably well, I am still not sure why the designers choose to do this. Again, there are no other traces of cartoon within the film, it is a ‘rom com’ and for this reason I am not sure why this idea was used. On the other hand, the film is about a teenage girl, so the cartoon opening of her could reflect the girls personality- perhaps she enjoys cartoons.
From watching past students opening titles, I have discovered that very few of them use interesting typography, one in which would link to the genre- alike Kyle Cooper pointed out as important in his interviews. I also noticed that overall, many past student decided to situate the titles of directors, producers, etc, at the bottom of the screen. Although the names should not over take the sequence, I think more recognition could be made as often they are in very small size font. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t_ygjLLVUQ&feature=BF&list=PLD6D3ADD7107903DC&index=2 This production crafted by students from Cherwell School positions the titles at the bottom of the screen in small, simple typography. Despite this, overall, I really enjoyed the opening sequence. I think the decision they made to use a black and white camera created the right type of atmosphere for the audience. The auditory code of the intense music played throughout also anchored with the setting, choice of camera angles and story line featured in order to appeal to its hybrid audience. The only other choice this group choose that I would argue against is the cross dissolve fading to a black screen on the last shot, in which “To be continued…” appears on screen. This is a opening sequence to a film, therefore this was not necessary.
I enjoyed watching http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=YSu5rfqfSPI&vq=medium as I think the music used linked well with the genre and the overall tone that the producers where trying to portray.
Research into Opening Sequence Designs
Kyle Cooper's interviews
The two part interview with acclaimed title designer, art director and film maker Kyle Cooper, taught me what is important to consider when creating an opening sequence for a film. Kyle Cooper has had great success, producing title sequences for the spider man movies, Superman, and many others. During the interview, he discussed the importance of dub tailing seamlessly from the opening sequence, into the film. He also said that the sequence must create a expectation of the film itself, a tool to try and integrate is to use the type in order to create the overall tone of the film that you are trying to generate. Typography should link to the genre of story that you are trying to tell, try and use clever puns when you can-this will interest the viewer. Be influential in your title sequence, Kyle Cooper advised, as it can help pursue the viewers ambitions. Remember the importance, significance of your sequence and remember the different range of viewers.
Another piece of advice granted by this title designer is to not feel that you have to rely on using CGI. Investigate and see what you hand make-money and time can can be saved while creating just as clever images. I learnt of Cooper’s favourite sequences are those that encapsulate the characters obsessions, a example of this was ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’. Typography came up as a important issue again, along with the music. Typography used should be integrated rather than appearing to be a after thought, when including it, always consider the shot in the background which will influence the positioning and movement of the text.
Finally, I learnt that you should use the time granted within the title sequence to advance the plot of the film. Tell a backing story which will overall manipulate the viewers viewing as a whole.
The findings of these interviews will influence my group with our production of a opening sequence. The production will be influenced as we will consider every aspect Kyle Cooper discussed, such as the importance of typography and the way it is displayed, to try and engage the audience by integrating characters obsessions so early on.
The two part interview with acclaimed title designer, art director and film maker Kyle Cooper, taught me what is important to consider when creating an opening sequence for a film. Kyle Cooper has had great success, producing title sequences for the spider man movies, Superman, and many others. During the interview, he discussed the importance of dub tailing seamlessly from the opening sequence, into the film. He also said that the sequence must create a expectation of the film itself, a tool to try and integrate is to use the type in order to create the overall tone of the film that you are trying to generate. Typography should link to the genre of story that you are trying to tell, try and use clever puns when you can-this will interest the viewer. Be influential in your title sequence, Kyle Cooper advised, as it can help pursue the viewers ambitions. Remember the importance, significance of your sequence and remember the different range of viewers.
Another piece of advice granted by this title designer is to not feel that you have to rely on using CGI. Investigate and see what you hand make-money and time can can be saved while creating just as clever images. I learnt of Cooper’s favourite sequences are those that encapsulate the characters obsessions, a example of this was ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’. Typography came up as a important issue again, along with the music. Typography used should be integrated rather than appearing to be a after thought, when including it, always consider the shot in the background which will influence the positioning and movement of the text.
Finally, I learnt that you should use the time granted within the title sequence to advance the plot of the film. Tell a backing story which will overall manipulate the viewers viewing as a whole.
The findings of these interviews will influence my group with our production of a opening sequence. The production will be influenced as we will consider every aspect Kyle Cooper discussed, such as the importance of typography and the way it is displayed, to try and engage the audience by integrating characters obsessions so early on.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Choosing your genre
Choosing your genre
Task 1
According to http://financialedge.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0410/Movie-Genres-With-The-Best-ROI.aspx the most popular genres of films are:
• Action Adventure films tend to hit the headlines with a huge number of ticket sales. Record breaking ticket sales however are usually matched with a large budget, meaning these films bring in a lot of money, but not the best return on investment.
• Drama, Romance and Comedy come in second on the most popular genre of film. With less of a requirement for a high budget for special effects, a Drama, Romance or Comedy film can bring in a lot of return on investment if one is very successful. Despite this, there have been many box office failures in this category of genre.
• Documentaries come in third most popular to an audience. With little need of cast, crew, special effects and big name stars, documentaries are made at a small fraction of the cost that big- name Hollywood blockbusters need. This means that when a documentary film makes it big, the ROI can be astonishing.
• Horror and Thriller are also very popular among audiences. Horrors have had many hits with large ROI and very few misses.
Task 2
From the research conducted on the popularity of film genres, the top favourites have been highlighted.
With little budget and restricted time, space and equipment, an action or adventure film I feel would be too hard to produce, despite it coming in top in the box office ticket sales. Romance is an option to consider when deciding what genre our group will choose, however again I feel it would be hard to produce due to limitation on actors and the skills they withhold. The storyline within a romantic opening sequence is also limited, as there are few directions we would be able to go with it.
Comedy, we decided could be a huge failure as it is hard to match the humour of a large audience. People have their own sense of humour which makes it a niche market and consequently, a difficult one to appeal to. Documentaries would also be a difficult genre to choose as we would need to find a serious issue that we was all passionate about. Documentaries need their own footage, footage that we do not have. If we were too make it up, it would not look believable and as a result, would appear as a joke to the audience. Horror and Thriller genres would also be difficult for us to do with a low budget.
Task 3
As a group we conducted a questionnaire on a sample of forty people in a variety of ages in order to investigate the current favorite film genres and why, what an audience expects or what to see within an opening sequence and the genres of films audiences want to see more of. We carried out this research in order to gain a greater understanding of what film goers currently want cinemas to obtain, so that we can make decisions on our opening sequence to match the requirements of the audience.
From our questionnaires, we can learn that Comedies, Mystery/Thrillers and Dramas come out on top opposed to Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi’s, etc. Audiences want to feel captivated during the opening sequence to a film, obtain the feeling of suspense and want to watch more and are not overly fussed about character introductions, and would prefer to be put straight into the action. Interesting camera angles and movement was also listed as an important factor that audiences would like to see. On average, the majority voted that they either visit the cinema once a month with either friends or family.
This research is important to consider when deciding the genre and plot of our opening sequence as we want it to appeal to a large audience. With Comedies, Mystery/Thrillers and Dramas being the most popular, the demand is to go with one of those. By asking the sample what they want and expect from an opening sequence, we also gain knowledge on what to try and include which is the feeling of suspense, a variety of camera angles and movements.
Task 1
According to http://financialedge.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0410/Movie-Genres-With-The-Best-ROI.aspx the most popular genres of films are:
• Action Adventure films tend to hit the headlines with a huge number of ticket sales. Record breaking ticket sales however are usually matched with a large budget, meaning these films bring in a lot of money, but not the best return on investment.
• Drama, Romance and Comedy come in second on the most popular genre of film. With less of a requirement for a high budget for special effects, a Drama, Romance or Comedy film can bring in a lot of return on investment if one is very successful. Despite this, there have been many box office failures in this category of genre.
• Documentaries come in third most popular to an audience. With little need of cast, crew, special effects and big name stars, documentaries are made at a small fraction of the cost that big- name Hollywood blockbusters need. This means that when a documentary film makes it big, the ROI can be astonishing.
• Horror and Thriller are also very popular among audiences. Horrors have had many hits with large ROI and very few misses.
Task 2
From the research conducted on the popularity of film genres, the top favourites have been highlighted.
With little budget and restricted time, space and equipment, an action or adventure film I feel would be too hard to produce, despite it coming in top in the box office ticket sales. Romance is an option to consider when deciding what genre our group will choose, however again I feel it would be hard to produce due to limitation on actors and the skills they withhold. The storyline within a romantic opening sequence is also limited, as there are few directions we would be able to go with it.
Comedy, we decided could be a huge failure as it is hard to match the humour of a large audience. People have their own sense of humour which makes it a niche market and consequently, a difficult one to appeal to. Documentaries would also be a difficult genre to choose as we would need to find a serious issue that we was all passionate about. Documentaries need their own footage, footage that we do not have. If we were too make it up, it would not look believable and as a result, would appear as a joke to the audience. Horror and Thriller genres would also be difficult for us to do with a low budget.
Task 3
As a group we conducted a questionnaire on a sample of forty people in a variety of ages in order to investigate the current favorite film genres and why, what an audience expects or what to see within an opening sequence and the genres of films audiences want to see more of. We carried out this research in order to gain a greater understanding of what film goers currently want cinemas to obtain, so that we can make decisions on our opening sequence to match the requirements of the audience.
From our questionnaires, we can learn that Comedies, Mystery/Thrillers and Dramas come out on top opposed to Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi’s, etc. Audiences want to feel captivated during the opening sequence to a film, obtain the feeling of suspense and want to watch more and are not overly fussed about character introductions, and would prefer to be put straight into the action. Interesting camera angles and movement was also listed as an important factor that audiences would like to see. On average, the majority voted that they either visit the cinema once a month with either friends or family.
This research is important to consider when deciding the genre and plot of our opening sequence as we want it to appeal to a large audience. With Comedies, Mystery/Thrillers and Dramas being the most popular, the demand is to go with one of those. By asking the sample what they want and expect from an opening sequence, we also gain knowledge on what to try and include which is the feeling of suspense, a variety of camera angles and movements.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Main Task: Conventions of a Opening Sequence
Conventions
http://www.artoftitle.com/ Has a number of different films on which have outlined to me the main conventions of a opening sequence. Which include:
I carried out this research into the conventions used in opening sequences in preparation to create my own opening sequence of a film. Therefore it is important to understand what is necessary to include, what is expected, etc. By conducting this investigation, I have learnt that I must include our production company’s name, the names of the main actor/actresses, moving images, use relevant colours to the genre and consider including a theme tune.
http://www.artoftitle.com/ Has a number of different films on which have outlined to me the main conventions of a opening sequence. Which include:
- The name of the production company of the film was listed.
- The main actors and actresses which would be most recognisable to the audience were shown
- A theme tune is played throughout connecting with the genre of the film.
- Names of key members of the technical team are shown, such as the director, producer and writer. Not all names are included as they are shown at the end of the film in the credits.
- Moving images are included of key scenes in order to get a insight and be introduced to main characters.
- They use animations that would fit the genre of the film e.g Casino Royale
- Relevant colours are used. For example in a horror film they would use mainly darker colours such as blacks and reds.
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| Example of these conventions are shown on the screen grabs above. |
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Independent work towards targets
Targets
The targets i am going to set myself for the main task are:
1) Keep up to date with my blog. Update it as soon as work is done and follow all the guidlines set. I will do this my allocating time after each lesson in order to update it.
2) Improve level of filming. Use more of a variety of shot sizes and ensure the rules are abinded by. Make sure i make more of a input in filming than previous so i can learn how to do it better.
3) Think more through about the location we choose to film in. Look at a variety of places then choose which would be best.
4) Discuss the plot and script with the group in more detail to ensure we have made the right decision.
5) Communication within the team will be improved by arranging times of meet for filming, editing etc.
1) Keep up to date with my blog. Update it as soon as work is done and follow all the guidlines set. I will do this my allocating time after each lesson in order to update it.
2) Improve level of filming. Use more of a variety of shot sizes and ensure the rules are abinded by. Make sure i make more of a input in filming than previous so i can learn how to do it better.
3) Think more through about the location we choose to film in. Look at a variety of places then choose which would be best.
4) Discuss the plot and script with the group in more detail to ensure we have made the right decision.
5) Communication within the team will be improved by arranging times of meet for filming, editing etc.
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