Opening title sequence ideas

Planning my opening title sequence

Two workable ideas that I can present to the class:

idea 1:

The plot of the film is about a 20 year old lady named Adelaide who has been promoted senior editor in her job and has recently moved into her first cottage on her own. The beginning of the film shows her getting promoted at her works summer party and then move house. She chose the location of her new house as she wants to look into an unsolved murder case that happened 10 years ago in the village. Adelaide believes that if she can find anything about the case she can write about it in the new newspaper article she has been chosen to write. Before she had moved into the house she had published the first article about the case which she had been told that it was a popular read. Adelaide however didnt know that one of the family members in the murder case is still alive but hasn't been seen for many years. She doesn't know that he had read her article and was cautious to let her uncover any secrets about his family. In the middle of the film she works out that the brother's alibi was incorrect and he was actually present at the time of the murder which makes him a suspect. She published her weekly article about it which was read by the brother. She was then kidnapped by the man when she was walking home from work one day and her life was threatened if she carried on writing the articles about him. She was set free and still decided to carry on with her investigations as he was suspicious. In the end of the film Adelaide has managed to solve the case and report everything she has worked out to he police. However, she works out that the brother wasn't the murderer and in fact he had an identical twin brother who framed his brother to make it look like he wasn't the murderer. 

The opening scene will begin with an establishing shot of a cottage with the doorway in the centre composition of the frame. A lady will walk out of the doorway. She is wearing a casual flowing dress and hair is up in a messy bun to represent youth. Her age would be around 20 and has recently moved into her first house by herself. The next shot pans out to show more of the cottage and the lady walking out of the house. A tracking shot is used behind her showing her walking infant of the camera. This also allows the audience to see the small village that she is living in. The lady walks into a small coffee shop and the camera tracks the girl from outside the shop. The audience can see the lady inside the shop walk through it towards the counter where she is handed a coffee by one of the waitresses. The camera then travels backwards capturing the lady walking out of the cafe. In the right side of the composition you see a man dressed in all black sitting outside of the cafe. He watches the girl and proceeds to stand up and follow her. In the background of the opening title sequence there is a non-diegetic soundtrack of the song Stairway to Heaven as it creates an eerie tone for the scene. The music also represents the action as its talking about a lady who is very curious and it leads to her death. To show that the man following her is a stalker there will be a POV shot as the man is looking down from a bridge onto the lady entering a train. The last shot that is used to emphasise the theme of thriller is a close up shot inside the ladies car where she looks in her mirror to see the man standing behind her car holding a gun.

idea 2:

The plot of the film is about siblings who grew up in the 1940s. Bella is a year younger than her 18 year old brother Charles. The film begins when the siblings are younger and they live a normal life in a small village with their parents. The children like to spend most of their time in the fields near their house and normally get told off by their parents for coming home too late. Their Father is an military general and spends lots of time away from home which effects the happiness of the children as they miss their dad. The majority of the film is set when the children are 17 and 18 where Bella is finishing her final year at school and Charles has began work and the corner shop next to their house. However, Germany declares war meaning that Britian has to also go to war. Charles is chosen to become a pilot in the army and promises to Bella; who has to stay at home, that he will constantly write to her when he's away. Bella is sent to the country side to live on her grandparents farm. At the end of the film Charles is killed at the Battle Of  Dunkirk and Bella is pregnant with her fiancés child. Bella chooses to name her son after Charles.

The scene will be set in a wheat field or a field with long grass. The scene will begin with with a mid shot of a young boy and girl playing in the centre of a field. The shot will be edited to be slow motion to emphasise the theme of youth and friendship. A birds eye view shot will also be used at the beginning of the scene where the boy and girl will be lying on a blanket on the ground pointing up at the sky. The blue sky will then be shown which will be full of clouds. To represent that that the film is going to be set in the 1940s, the girl will be wearing a floral dress with knee high white socks and the boy will be wearing a blue shirt tucked into shorts and also will be wearing knee high socks. A tracking shot of the boy riding his bike down a street and the girl sitting on the handle bars on the front is used to show the change in location.  A mid-shot of the backs of the two children sitting by a stream throwing sticks in it. The scene will then be edited to have a teenage boy and girl stitting in the exact same spot. They will be representing the children in the previous scenes however now they have grown up. The girl will now be wearing a tighter dress to show that she has matured and the boy wearing a soldier outfit but will only be wearing his white shirt.  The shot then changes from a mid shot behind the teenage to a mid shot from across the stream looking directly at them. This is allowing the audience to see him pass a letter to the girl and her rest her head on his shoulder as she knows that he is going off to war. Through out the scene there is a non-diegetic soundtrack of an orchestra without any singing in it and the music is telling the story.