Conventions of Title Sequences (Main Task)

http://Pixton.com/ic:sfmrzeif

Above is an introduction to Conventions of Title Sequences

Focus on Children of Men (Watch until 4 mins)

We can establish plot hints by the 'breaking news' on the cafe tv that the world's youngest person who is 18, has died in the year 2027. This creates the biggest enigma - Why is the world's youngest person this age? This also establishes the themes/ issues of the film that women have now been infertile for 18 years, also terrorism is introduced as a bomb goes off in the cafe. The mood/ atmosphere reflects the world's biggest loss. we can tell that it is set in London as it shows our famous landmarks, the same travel (red buses) as well as the distinguished metropolitan police uniform. We deduce that this film's genre ia either mystery or actio/adventure as we later discover that a young girl's life is in danger, and also she is pregnant, and people want to kill her, so the mission is to save her and the world from it's loss. The only character that is intoduced is a middle aged man, (Theo - who is later the Protagonist) who is not very interested in the world's events.

Focus on True Blood

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/11/21/true-blood/

The genre of this t.v programme alternates between horror and a soap opera we know this because of the theme music, muted colours and also the front of the title which symbolises horror because it is the colour of blood. we know that it is not entirely horror as there are no bats. graveyards and coffins. we can infer that true blood is set in the USA (the deep south) where there are redneck stereotypes. the music gives us an idea of the time it was set and where it was set. The mood/atmosphere creates discomfort, again the colours are muted the flashing images differ every two to three seconds to different themes and issues of the plot. The themes and issues explored explicitly religion, death, civil rights, sex and drugs, we know this because we see a church service and sexual behaviour as in a form of dirty dancing. Engimas created in this sequence include why is there a sign reading 'god hates fangs', which links into plot events to answer this main enigma. The title sequence shows different social groups with different morals such as a church choir indicating that some are highly religious but it also shows others with loose sexual morals such as the girl dirty dancing.
       

Focus on Panic Room

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/03/26/panic-room/ 

The only plot hint that is given away is that the title panic room indicates the genre of the film could be either an action/adventure or thriller the music also establishes the genre as it is fast paced with a beat of a ticking clock which could indicate a race against time. The name panic room also links to the stereotypical rich americans who go into these for safety which could also link into the plot hints. location is established as america as it shows the typical taxi's and high storey buildings in New york. We know that if a panic room is used the characters are going to be rich and if someone is distressed and panicky this could link into the genre of the film as action adventure. possible themes and issues explored is one of danger or class as lives are in danger. The mood and atmosphere is calm with no indication that bad is going to happen apart from the style of music. enigmas created by this title seqeuence include why would panic room need to be used and why are these certain peoples lives in danger?.

This links into my main task as i now know the conventions of a title sequence which i can incorporate into my own given the genre.

Research and Planning - Audience Feedback on My Original Concept

My Final Film Concept

My final film concept is that a brain surgeon (who we later find out is Schizophrenic) is stalking an intern who he thinks is trying to kill him  after he releases his enemy's obituary.The protagonist is then drugged and then placed in a morgue.When he wakes up he loses parts of his memory, and must convince everyone that the surgeon is 'evil' and then the surgeon is placed in a mental institute.

This plot has changed a significant amount as the surgeon's role is more specific and so the reason to kill has changed from childhood revenge to a mental illness. The equlibrium would be a normal day as an intern (protagonist) and the surgeon performing surgery (antagonist), the disruption is when the hero is drugged and put in a morgue in attempt to kill him and leaves room to continue with the day's work and releases his copy of the protagonist's obituary, in the recognition stage, the progagonst has flashbacks of his attack and finds his obituary in the newspsper days later and relises that he must convice his colleagues that this surgeon must be stopped and put into care before anyone else gets hurt, and so plans to shift his 'murderous qualities' to another intern in attempt to catch the surgeon. In the repair stage the plan is put into action and finallybat return, the surgeon is put into a mental institute and the protagonist continues his role as an intern.

Macro/Micro Binary Opposites and Enigmas of My Final Film Concept

Macro Binary Opposites

• Protagonist - Antagonist
• Good - Evil
• Stability - Instability

Micro Binary Opposites

• Beautiful - Ugly
• Brave - Cowardly

Enigmas

Why is the surgeon trying to kill the protagonist?
Why pick on this particular intern?
Why does a surgeon with this mental state have a job that is to help others?

Target Audience? Why would they like it?

My Target Audience are those who enjoy crime, mystery and/or action/adventure because the plot intertwines the 3 genres. It will offer the audience the senses of escapism (because this plot wouldn't happen in real life), social interaction (as to the mystery/ strangeness of the plot) and to a certain extent of identification can be offered (the insight into the lives of those who work in a hospital). The ideological position of these viewers would be more to the right wing ideology, but as the surgeon is put in a mental institute instead of prision, this would fulfill the left wing ideological position.

Narratemes used?

• Hero is introduced alongside the equilibrium of the story
• Villian introduced in his part of hospital
• Protagonist warned that surgeon has been acting 'strange lately'
• Protagonist severely hurt  and finds his obituary in the newspaper- plans to stop antagonst
• Villian is caught trying to take protagonists credit
• Protagonist is rewarded for the capture - retuns to equilibrium without surgeon

Inspirations?

My inspirations were from 'Stormbreaker', 'Reccess:School's Out' and 'Bourne Idenity'

Originality?

I feel that the originality of this film concept is the villian is a surgeon, a trusted person in society and due to the fact he is Schizophrenic, this adds to the originality.

Teacher/ Other Group's Feedback on My Original Concept

My teacher feedback included:

Positive aspects

• Overall setup of plot
• The fact that the villian is a surgeon
• That the plot covers humams fears (being in a morgue, possible death and reading your own obituary!)

Negative aspects

• Surgeon's overall motivation to kill the protagonist

Action Taken on  this Feedback:

The surgon no longer wants childhood revenge but believes the protagonist is trying to kill him as he has become Schizophrenic

Other Feedback:

This was to include a Love Interest for the Protagonist.

Action Taken on  this Feedback:

As a group we decided not to include this aspect as it loses focus on the final plot.

This links back to  the main task as this is the developmental stage of the task, asking for feedback to make my tite sequence even better than it was before.

Research and Planning - Movie Trailers,and My Original Concept (Plot Structure and other Narratve Ingredients)

Each film follows the 'Universal Narratemes' structure, regardless of the genre, and has a Unique Selling Point (USP)

I looked at different trailers to spot the 'Universal Narratemes' structure, and here is 2 of them:

1. 'Bridesmaids'

The concept of this film is the struggle to organise a wedding and the high significance of a bridesmaid. An inspiration to the film may be '27 Dresses' as it is also about a wedding planner's life. the 'narratemes' used include the Hero being tested through the demanding role. the film's USP would be that it goes into detail about a real wedding's crisis which many different groups can relate to, for example married couples as they have been trough it and or those who will get married soon, it will prepare them for these crisises and we feel that it is comedy as it doesn't affect us, it is their problem not ours as an audience member.

2. 'True Grit'

The concept of this film is an ex- Texas Ranger that is blind in one eye is asked to find Betty's father's killer. An inspiration to this film could be 'Orphan' as both killers didn't spare any victims on their quest. The 'narratemes' used include the Hero being tested as Betty is kidnapped and so he must save her during the quest. The film's USP would be that the ex- Texas Ranger is blind in one eye which is atypical for a Hero and this Hero can be classified as a 'trained killer'.

My Original Concept:

A surgeon is stalking an old school enemy to kill him after he releases his enemy's obituary.The protagonist is drugged and then placed in a morgue.When he wakes up he loses parts of his memory, and must convince everyone that the surgeon is 'evil'.My inspirations were from 'Stormbreaker' and 'Reccess: School's Out', where the plots are similar and its USP would be that the surgeon, who in society is seen as the hero, is now the villian. My group feedback included that they liked the memory loss idea but felt that the two inspirations did not link to my concept.

This links to my main task asit helped me develop my concept's genre and USP.

The Film Industry - Key Roles, The Production Process & Film Concepts (Main Task)

WE MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT THE FILM INDUSTRY’S MAIN AIM IS TO MAKE A PROFIT!

 SO, WHAT ARE THE KEY ROLES OF PRODUCTION AND WHAT DO THESE PEOPLE DO?

•  Screenwriter - Original concept (or adaptation)
• Screenplay
• Producer -  Finds projects that will be lucrative and attract investors
• Supervises production – manages cast & crew
• Ensures a profit is made

• Director -  Brings the vision to life – i.e. decides what the audience will see or hear
• Production Designer -  Designs and constructs sets, props, costume (and assists with the special effects of the film)

The above roles make the most money!

• Distributor -  Buys the film from the producer
• Designs marketing campaign
• Decides on release date
• Gets the film to theatres
• Theatre Owner -  Rents the film from the distributor
• Shows the film
• Makes money from the Box Office

 Stages of Film Production

vThe project is ‘pitched’ - ideas  presented to producers, who will hopefully be persuaded  that the film will make money

vScript treatment – detailed synopsis with storylines, character sketches, generic conventions, budget and storyboard of key scenes.

  vFinancing – investors and backers are contacted, then the funding is secured

vScript completed – cast & crew hired – sets, props, costumes designed and constructed

vProduction – all scenes are filmed

 vEditor produces ‘rough cut’ - scenes  are edited into the correct order

v‘Final Edit’ – editor and producer/director decide on final use of shots, pace e.t.c.

 vSound effects and music are added

vPost-production- Special effects added into the ‘Final Edit’

 vDistributor ‘positions’ film – decisions are made on who the target audience is and how to attract them to the film

vRelease date decided: will the target audience be available? (e.g. children’s films in the school holidays). Will there be too much competition?

 vMarketing – posters, trailers, ‘junkies’ (premieres, interviews), websites, tie-ins(e.g. Happy Meals), merchandise, previews, festivals e.t.c.

vExhibitor (the cinema) decides which films will make money – hires the reels of the film and then shows the audience.

Film Concepts – Originality and Familiarity

WHAT DO THESE WORDS MEAN?

• Originality - this is a unique / your own idea (concept)

•  Familiarity - this means the audience’s expectations of the genre are being fulfilled (e.g. in comedy we expect a lot of jokes/ subtle insults between the characters)

 The Balance between Originality and Familiarity
 ØAudiences like to have expectations fulfilled - for that reason they often choose films that look similar to other films that they’ve enjoyed (same genre, star e.t.c)

But also…

 ØIf there’s not enough originality and it’s all familiar, then the audience will get bored.

ØTherefore, all films should have a unique selling point (U.S.P.)

ØAll films will also follow universal ‘narratemes’

Universal ‘Narratemes’

üThese are the 31 plot events that are most likely to happen in every story, and therefore will also apply to many films around the globe, which was first discovered by Vladimir Propp, a well known structuralist.

I now know the importance of each role in the production process and the stages of production for my main task.

Audience Feedback of Preliminary Task

The audience feedback had both positive and improvement comments, these were as follows:

Positves

• wide variety of shots
• good use of lighting
• correct atmosphere created
• beginning was original (order of shots)

Improvements:

• add captions/ titles
• make sure all the background sound is appropriate
• make sure the background sound doesn't over-power the actor's voice
• link audio to images appropriately
• make sure audio works properly! and
• add more mise-en-scene/ sound

Technical Difficulties of Preliminary Task

I encountered many major problems during the filming of toy recreative scene of Heat, though editing was an issue, the main issues were tackled:

• appropriate framing of shots - this was tackled by filming the same shot several times, until we were happy with it
• following the storyboard -  during filming i realised the shots didn't make sense, so we altered shot orders and added extra shots if necessary
• length of shots - we had to re-do some shots as they were either too long or too short!
• deleting unwanted sound in Final Cut Pro - as i am new to the sofware, i asked my teacher to show me what to do and also i looked at Final Cut Pro tutorials to help me with the editing section of the preliminary task
• appropriate set/location - we didn't know where to film, so we dcided as a group to film in the canteen

During the editing stage the main creative decision i made was the length of shots, this was so the shots made sense but didn't seem to go on for long so it would be more appealing to watch. I didn't quite manage to incorporate sound and images to my liking though

Overall, the main things i learnt were how to use the new software and that communication is key in groupwork, otherwise the heavy responsibility is not shared, which occured in my group, where, i, with a disability, was given all the equipment just because my group failed to tell me that they did not intend to film at that particular time, which really upset me.