Today we got into groups for our opening title sequence. Adam chose random numbers which assigned our groups. I thought this was effective as we could work with people that we might not of thought to work with. I was assigned to the first group with Mia and Doug. We sat down together and started talking about all of our four ideas that we had planned. The group liked my idea which was set in the 1940s WW2 which would be filmed in Shere. Doug read his idea out about a man who bring lots of girls to the same place everyday and eventually falls off a bridge. We combined ideas and thought that my location of Shere would be a useful location for his scene as Shere contains a pub, coffee shop and a bridge. Mia and I then talked about what sort of music would work with this sequence. We came up with a cool idea that was: the man listening to the radio in the pub and then walking out of the pub and putting on headphones where the same music would be playing but louder.
The plot of the film is about a boy named Toby who wants to become a famous rockstar however still lives with his parents and cant't get a job anywhere. He decides to ask his best friend Sophie for advice and she agrees to help. In the beginning of the film he finds out that his eyesight has been effected due to his terminal illness and therefore he spends lots of his time in hospital. His dream of becoming a rockstar has stopped as he doesn't believe that he will be able to play his guitar without his eyesight. In the middle of the film a girl around his age is moved into his ward as she has a terminal illness. She also shares Toby's dream in working in the music industry. She is the one to pursuade his to carry on with his guitar and inspires him with the dream of become famous. In the middle of the film Toby is still in hospital and his eyesight has got much worse however he is slowly mastering how to play the guitar again. Sophie is helping him write the songs and decides that she will be his manager. At the end of the film Toby's carrier has vastly increased and his talent has been noticed by many agents. He gets the chance to impress a popular agent which he does by spending lots of time in the music studio. He writes a song about Sophie which eventually becomes a very popular song and he impresses his agent.
The scene will be set in a music studio. An establishing shot will be used to show the audience the location. A tracking shot will be used to zoom closer to the recording booth where a man is sitting on a stool with his guitar infant of a micro phone. In the right composition of the shot, a lady will be sitting at the computer in the room and say the words "ready when you are". At that moment the man starts to sing and play his guitar. A non-diegetic soundtrack will also be overlapping him creating more atmosphere for the audience. The shot will then transition to a few girls in the booth singing part of the song singing and dancing. The man in the booth previously is now sitting next to the lady at the computer dancing. The scene will cut between the man and the 2 girls singing to show that they are making the song.
idea 4
The plot of the film is about a man who wants to find his siblings to get his parents Will. The family is very well known for its many family businesses and therefore, the family is very wealthy. Mr and Mrs Bowen are the owners of a pub and have a son and a daughter. At the beginning of the film you get the backstory of the family and you find out that there was a fire which meant that their house burnt down and the five children of the wealthy parents were left orphaned and moved to live separately. Mrs Bowen hadnt' seen her four siblings since the day of the fire which was nearly 15 years ago although she knew that they were all very successful and most of them lived abroad. In the middle of the film Sirius; who was the second oldest brother found out that their parents did have a will and it it had to be signed by all of the children for them to get the share of the inheritance. He however, didn't know where in the world his four siblings were so he thought he would never be able to complete it. The first sibling he found was Charles when he was staying in a hotel in New York and requested to see the manager. He found his youngest Sister Mary on a plane over to England as she was the pilot. The next person he managed to find was George who was his oldest brother, Siris and George were inseparable when they were younger but haven't spoken for 15 years. He found his brother when he was in an expensive restaurant in London where George was food testing for his new restaurant. The last sibling Sirius needed to find was Chloe but he had no clue where to look as he knew that she didn't want to work in any big fancy company and have loads of money. At the end of the film his car broke down whilst driving in a town and he had to stop to ask someone if they had a spare tire. He managed to find himself a little pub that he would wait in. He sat down at a table and ordered a beer from the man at the bar but when he settled down he was startled to see the face of the lady working at the bar. His younger sister Chloe. He dropped his beer and Chloe ran to see him.
The opening scene will start in a dim lit pub. A mid shot of people at the bar and people sitting round table. There are diegetic sounds of people talking and the sound of music playing on a radio. To show it is an opening title sequence there will be a few close up shots of items that will have the titles edited on top. The first close up shot is of the radio playing the music, the second one is the Christmas card on top of the mantle piece over the fire, one is on the bottom of the glass when someone lifts it up to drink from it and the last one is on a close up shot of a top secret file on one of the desks. The camera then pans upwards from the table and onto a man who is in a suit drinking a beer. The shot then cuts back to a mid shot of the bar at the pub. The scene seems to have nothing going wrong until a non-diegetic sound effect of a glass smashing is used and the shot pans round to face a man in a suit holding his hand out as he had just dropped the glass and he had a sunrises look on his face.
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.
- Both Love Actually and Yesterday both contain a moment where there is a slow motion moment part which communicates a moment of happiness. Both the beginning and ending scenes of Love Actually is set in an airport, you see families uniting after people have been away. The scene is edited to be in slow motion to emphasise to the audience that the happy emotions on their faces is what make love what it is. The slow motion also makes the scene feel more emotional as you can see the raw happiness on their faces. In yesterday, the moment of happiness is in the middle of the film when the two protagonists create a song. The process of recording the song is shown in small bursts of slow motion which allows the audience the fully appreciate what they are watching. The slow motion also highlights that this is a key scene which leaves an impact onto the characters in the scene.
Airport scene
Yesterday scene
Austin Kleon - "Steal like an artist"
- Austin is an autor who wrote the book
'Steal it like an artist'.
Hunger Games trailer
Hunger Games is one of my favourite films as I love the whole concept of the film. The film is about a girl named Katniss who sacrifices herself for her sister and enters the hunger games which is a trial that happens once a year. One girl and boy from each district gets elected and put forward to be in the hunger games where they have to compete until there is one person standing. However when Katniss goes in with Peter they end up choosing to die for each other which end up leading to them both surviving. The hunger games is an action and thriller film as it includes both fighting scenes and suspense however also includes romance and comedy.
Mumma Mia trailer
One of my all time favourite films is Mumma Mia as its such a fun and lighthearted film. I grew up surrounded with the ABBA soundtrack and visiting Greece when I was younger. I was obsessed with this film to the point that I now have it nearly 100% word perfect! The whole concept of the film is so amazing from the story, to the music and to the dancing. My younger self was also obsessed! The genre of this film is a rom-com but to the fun atmosphere.
The Shawshank redemption
I saw this film only a year ago and was completely mesmerised by the beautiful yet sad story. I especially loved how this film was shocked as it really captured the emotions of all of the prisoners. After watching it I introduced my mum to it as she hadn't watched it and she was also in love with it. The genre of this film is drama crime film due to it being set in a prison and the story being about a man named Andy who was wrongly sent to life in prison.
Kyle Cooper is an American director and designer who is most known for creating title sequences and is a visual effect designer. Cooper has created many famous opening sequences such as Se7en and Godzilla. He was born on Friday 13th is Salem. In 1995 Cooper created the title sequence to the crime film Se7en which was very successful and led to him getting many job offers in the future. A year later in 1996, Kyle Cooper founded Imaginary Forces which became one of Hollywoods most sucsessful creative agencies. Cooper however, decided that he wanted to return to more creative work rather than running a business and therefore, left the company. In his ca rreer he worked on many famous films such as Mission Impossible, The Dark Knight Returns and X Men. Cooper has been nominated for seven Emmy nominations and won two. He was also commended with the lifetime achievement medal from the American institutions of Graphic Art in 2014.
Kyle Coopers demo reel of his work
Kyle Coopers opening sequences are all unique however, most of his work can be interpreted to have been created by him. Lots of his work jumps from image to image quickly so the audience can gauge an idea of the themes that will be in the film. Lots of his sequences contain illustrations and visual effects rather than acting and scenes from the rest of the film. His work is like little films themselves, for instance, the Nanny McPhee opening sequence has a duration of around 4 minutes and is all illustrated. It tells the story through the illustrated pictures whilst also containing the titles of the director and producers. His se7en opening sequences is completely the opposite to his Nanny McPhee one as it doesn't tell the audience any information about the story line. All we understand is that the theme of the film will be horror or thriller as you can see blood and body parts in jars. The titles are onto of the action and are presented in a font that looks like it has been written by somebody. In an interview the Copper did he was asked what makes a good title sequence and he said "It makes you thrilled to be in the theatre at the moment, getting ready to see the movie. It makes you glad that you are nowhere else in the world apart from where you are, getting ready to see something amazing." This is showing that Cooper wants the sequence to be as important as the rest of the film as he wants the audience to be engaged from the moment they enter the cinema.
The Dark Knight Rises
Kyle Coopers opening sequence of the Dark Knight Rises is effective as its not from the protagonists point of view. This is important as you don't see Batman himself. The sequence allows the audience to know little things about the upcoming film. You see Batmans broken mask to show that there will be a part in the film that he is defeated or hurt. The non-diegetic soundtrack in this sequence is low pitched and atmospheric. It has a evil feel to it making the audience feel on edge.
In the opening title sequence of Split there is little narrative given to us however, from the small parts we can understand the motive of some of the characters. In the small amounts of narrative we can understand that a girl has been taken against her will by a man and she has been put to sleep. She is being dragged in a wheelbarrow through a corridor and placed on a bed. In the rest of the film we expect the girl to wake up and realise she has been kidnapped. There will probably be a moment in the scene where the girl decides that she has to escape from the man and therefore strategiacally plans to run away. Most films containing a kidnap usually finish with the child being reunited with her family or the police and the kidnapper gets arrested.
From this title sequence we can see that the target audience of Split would probably be for 15+ years old as its an American psychological horror film. I think that the film would appeal to many teenagers as it features many famous actors such as James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy. In the opening sequence only these two characters are featured and are recognisable to the audience. I also think that Split could also target a wide range of adult ages as it features James McAvoy and also is a very popular horror film. The opening sequence is tense and it makes the audience think more about what ig going on which could make more people want to watch it.
The opening title sequence clearly presents the film genre as a horror film from its psychological tense music and shows scenes of a girl being kidnapped. The title sequences cuts from the titles and the action to create dramatic effect. Only small clips of action is presented however you can still work out what is going on. The lights in the scene are dimly lit to make everything seem more chilling and there is no natural light. The only lights also flicker which is implying that they are old and could break at anytime. The location looks like its in an underground bunker which makes the audience feel chlostrophobic as you can imagine that the girl will find it hard to escape. The titles are all in white writing with a black background and they also flicker like the lights. The titles split up the action which makes the audience have time to process what has been shown and who the characters are. The director has also done this to create dramatic pauses and make the audience feel vulnerable and weary if anything is going to jump out at them.
In the sequence there are only two characters shown which implies that they are the protagonists. The two characters are a teenage girl and an young adult man which also in this case makes the girl seem more vulnerable. From what we have been shown in the action we can work out that the girl has somehow been passed out and the man; who has probably kidnapped her, is dragging her onto a bed. The man doesn't do anything violent to the girl however the director has wanted it to seem that he is capable of hurting the teenage girl. From the clips in the sequence we don't see many intensions of the man and we don't know why he is dragging her to a bed. The man is portrayed to be daunting to the audience and he also doesn't speak which makes us know less about him.
The first small clip of action shown is of a light. The camera is moving away from the light with a tracking shot. The camera is is a lower position to the light meaning that the audiences attention is focused on it. There are two small clips of the camera tracking away from the light which is implying that the corridor is very long and dimly lit. The next little action shot is of a girl lying down in a wheelbarrow and being dragged by a man down the corridor. The camera is filming down in line with the girls face so that the only thing you can see is the legs of the other person. The background of this shot is blurred which is focusing our attention on her. It also make the man seem more mysterious. The girl also seems to be waking up from being passed out. The next clip is still filmed from the same angle however now you can see the girl open her eyes are looking at the surroundings above her. The final clip of action is filmed from a POV shot. You can't see too much in this scene as the person only has their eyes partially open. From what you can see through the persons eyes is the man laying the girl down on a bed and from her body language she is still passed out. The effect form filming this part in a POV shot means that the man hasn't just kidnapped one girl its more than one. This adds to the tension.
sound:
The editing in Split is used to make the characters seem more mysterious and not let the audience find out too much information about them. The clips which focuses us on the corridor and the light are edited to have a yellow tint as makes everything seem enclosed underground. In the clip where you can see the passed out girl being dragged by the man down the corridor is edited to blur out everything apart from the girl so she gets the focus. The director has also done this to make the man seem anonymous and relate to what the girl feels as she probably doesn't know the man who kidnapped her.
I thought that the opening title sequence of Split was effective as it didn't give too much away from the film. From the sequence we understood that the genre would be horror, the protagonists are a teenage girl and a man, and we also learnt that he has kidnapped more than one person. I think that this was successful as it made the audience intrigued to find out what will happen to the girl and what the mans intentions were for kidnapping her. The titles are also effective as the director has not put them on top of the action and therefore it gives the audience longer to read them. The titles also split up the action which creates tension as you anticipate what is going to endure in the next clip.
The opening title sequence of Baby Driver shows us a young adult going to buy coffee for his work. In the coffee shop he sees a girl walking outside the window who he find attractive. At the end of the opening sequence he walks into an abandoned building with his coffee. From this opening we expect the man to be working for some illegal company as he enters an abandoned building. At the start of the scene he is driving in a car and he looks very skilled. I think that he might have a job in being a get away driver and is being used by the people he is imployed by. We don't get too much information if the man is good or bad however, he is portrayed to be a charismatic people by dancing on the streets.
From this title sequence we can see that the target audience for this film is probably intended for anybody over years old. The tho characters we see in the sequence are Lily James and Ansel Elgort who are very well known actors and are recognisable to anyone over the age of ten. The music in the scene is all 80s music. For instance, Harlem Shuffle was released in 1986 and this featured through out the opening scene. The location of the film is set in New York which makes the scene seem more appealing and exciting. The scene also travels around lots of different locations and cool street art which also makes everything seem more appealing.
The opening title scene clearly presents the genre of the film to be action due to the way the man looks like he is going somewhere important. At the very beginning of the scene the man is driving a getaway car for 4 people. The other 4 people look like they have just committed a crime and are running to escape in the car. In the next part of the scene the man goes to the coffee shop and buys four cups of coffee. The director has done this so that the audience knows who the man named Baby is buying the coffee for. At the end of the scene Baby enters into an abandoned building in New York which is probably wear his group meet to plan illegal things. As he is entering the building he looks behind his shoulder and checks the police are following him as there are sirens in the background. The way he looks behind shows that he knows he is in trouble and could be caught any moment. The car that Baby drives at the beginning is very old which implys that it could be stolen or that Baby doesn't have any moment and that is the reason he has become a getaway driver.
In the opening sequence we got introduced to five characters. The main ones were Baby; as he featured in it the most and looks like he will be the protagonist, and the girl played by Lily James as she looks like the love interest. At the beginning of the sequence four people enter a stolen car and they look like they have just committed a crime. Baby is the get away driver so hasn't committed the crimes. All of the people in the car are wearing different types of clothing. One of them is wearing a suit, one is wearing casual and the girl is wearing a formal dinning outfit. Their outfits implies that they don't want to be seem suspicious to the police. Baby is wearing headphones and sunglasses, this is possibly also because he doesn't want people to see his identity. The headphones probably gives him music to increase his adrenaline or block out any loud noises.
At the beginning of the sequence the camera pans and follows the moving car, it is filmed in a mid shot and captures the car driving off into the distance. A tracking shot follows in front of Baby and tracks his movement when he crosses the road. A tracking shot is used throughout however, it captures Baby in a mid shot rather than infant of him. This shot also allows you to see the street art in the background which matches his movement. When Baby is in the coffee shop the camera pans around him and the waiter and does a full circle around them. The way this opening title sequence is filmed is meant to represent the fluidity of Baby's journey and also match the way Baby is listening to his music.
sound:
The sequence is edited to run very fluidly and not have any cuts. The whole opening sequence is filmed in one take and is all filmed on a tracking camera. The titles in this scene are on top of the action and edited on. The yellow font of the title matches to the street art as most of that feature yellow. The titles have also been edited to slowly zoom in to the screen, this also helps with the fluidity of the scene and is better than just having the titles stay still. Baby is alway in the centre of the composition which helps the audience establish that he is the protagonist. Baby's love interest walks from the right to the left of the screen which also subconsciously mean that she is going to a place she has already visited before.
I think that the opening title sequence of Baby Driver is successful as it already gives you lots of information about the characters without actually telling you. Baby is potrayed to be a getaway driver for a group of people however, despite his work he is shown to be a fun and likeable character. In the sequence there is a potential love interest for Baby which can make the film more interesting.
The opening scene will take place in a school where children, around the age of 8, are learning what marriage is and the commitments. A mid shot would be used for this and the camera will be placed in the back of the classroom facing the whiteboard. The shot will then cut into a mid shot of the classroom from the front so you can see everyones faces. The shot will then slowly move into one of the girls faces (who has raised her hand) and into a close up shot. The girl will then ask her teacher "What happens if you don't want to get married." The scene will then transition into a master shot of a church and have a 8 years later sign. A tracking shot will move in through the doors of the church and up to the alter. At the alter you will see an elder man standing there looking at this watch and the camera will pan round to show the guests at the wedding yawning and looking bored. All the guests will be saying things such as "where is she", "she must be late" and "maybe she's nervous". A lady then walks up to the man at the alter and says "she's disappeared, she's made a run for it". A birds eye view shot is now used which shows a girl running through a path in a field. She is wearing a wedding dress and looks distressed. To show the distress the girl looks behind her shoulder often to make sure that no one is following her. At the end of the sequence the scene will go blank and the title of the film. The music in this would be calm at the start and slowly progress into a fast pace music when the wedding guests realise she has ran away. Church bells would be played when the master shot is shown.
Netflix documentary- Developing an idea
I looked through Netflix and found a documentary called the secrets of the Saqqara Tomb. I thought this would be a good foundation to build a good idea for an opening sequence. I had an idea that the sequence would be set in Egypt and be about a man who uncovered a tomb but when he was inside the tomb the entrance of it collapsed. The opening title sequence would start off with a birds eye view shot of a man lying on the sandy floor digging. The shot would cut to a POV shot of the man looking down at his hands. The non diegetic sound track would be synchronous to the timing of him digging into the ground. A master shot of the pyramids would establish the location to the audience and also would show the audience that the weather is very hot. Also a close up shot of the man wiping the sweat off his forehead would establish this. The shot would transition back to a POV shot and the audience can tell that the hole in the ground has progressively got bigger. The sound track will increase in speed which will build up the tension as the man starts using his hands to dig when he realises he is found something. An Ariel shot will then rise from the ground and into a birds eye view shot of the man. To show that he is tired he will turn onto his back and lie there for a few seconds. He will scream to show his happiness of finding something in the ground but doesn't know its a tomb yet. The scene will then cut to the rest of the film.
