Focus Group

We asked a group of people who fit the age of our targeted audience. We chose a mix of male and female teens to participate, We read them the synopsis  for our opening sequence which was the following:

"Our film forms in a similar style to project X. Based on an unpopular female planning a party in order to gain popularity. What seems like the party of the year, with people having fun and doing wreck less things it's not until the next morning that the unexpected happens. The morning results in an unexpected death..."

They responded with...

"I think the film sounds like it would really appeal to me. I am a fan of the film Project X I think the way that film is made is fun and action packed. 'The Morning After' seems as though it would be similar and even the death at the end makes it seem mysterious like something crazy happened"

"I think the same, I like the sound of the film being a party and similar to the Hangover in the way they have to try and trace their footsteps in how the death happened"

"It would be cool if there was a lot of different shots as well to create the action and speed up the pace of the party atmosphere"

Group Meeting

From our research we know that we were doing an action film. Within the four of us we decided that our action film that we shouldn't do a typical car chase or fight scene style film. We brainstormed about types of films what we could relate to and also with the comedy genre coming second in our questionnaire we would want a story line which could incorporate both genres.We came to this conclusion after expressing many other ideas to each other. We came up with the idea of a chick-flick action adventure film, but decided against it when the boys in the group disagreed with the idea.

From this we decided that our film would be based mostly around teenage girls who decide to throw a massive party in attempt to gain popularity, however as the night progresses on the party gets out of control, leading to destruction, death and missing people. The main story line is based around a group of friends from the party attempting to discover what happened to their missing friends. 

History of action films

Title Timeline

Narrative / Character Research

We're decided to make our film based mainly around teenagers and teenagers having fun. while teenagers aren't all, crazy party animals we are working off of stereo types which express the over exaggerated  need to be wild and crazy.

teenagers would spend most of there days at either school or collage. This means six hours a day five days a week would be spend in the company of others, which suggests that it feels normal to teenagers when they're around each other and would have a lot of friends . As most of the teen characters in our final opening sequence have spend the whole school lives mixing with both boys and girls it seems normal that boys and girls would feel comfortable around each other.

The actors we are using all have their own personal style which i think that most teenagers have as they differ in what they like and dislike and this can be seen in how they dress and how they act around each other. For example Danny is a 'lad', 'class clown type. which means that he would act goofy and cool around everyone. But some of the extras in the film stick together, like a couple of the girl in shot are always together, which could come across as them being a little shy towards others.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Plot Development

The title for our film is 'The Morning After'

It would come under the genre of action thriller, as someone dies. 

Our target audience is teens over the age of 15.

Synopsis of entire film: the film is based around an unpopular teenage girl who holds a large scale party in an attempt to gain popularity, however as the night unfolds a close friend of hers dies and several other go missing. The film shows the seemingly amazing party unfold before the morning after reveals the catastrophes that must be uncovered and fixed before the girl’s parents return.

Synopsis of opening sequence: the opening sequence begins in a trashed garden with one person waking up the morning after the party and questioning what happened the night before. The film then cuts to the hour before the party is due to begin and the following several people as they prepare to get ready for the party. As a small group at the house and the door opens, the title appear with the people.

Analysis of an Opening Sequence

I have looked at the opening sequence for the film 'The Hangover'. I chose to look into this film as it's in the same genre of the film that my group will be making. 'The Hangover' has the normal conventions of an opening sequence as it include, credits of all the cast and crew which appear over a range of different shots including a soundtrack in the background.

Further look at opening sequences

opening sequence to casino royale

The iconic start to a James Bond film. The viewer will identify with this as the have seen it in all of the other film made by the franchise. 

Using mixed media with the opening sequence to make it more interesting to the view. Also this will create great opportunities  to put the crew and casts names in the film, to give the credit for the hard work. This is also an iconic factor to the films.

 

Using objects which are relevant to the film, for example the film is based in a casino and clubs are a symbol on playing card which are normally played at a casino. This keeps the opening sequence linked to the actual film.

In the sequence it gives away little parts of what happens throughout the film. For example at the end of Casino Royale, Bond kicks one the main characters though the floor and he dramatically goes though the ceiling and lands on the ground of the floor below. 

Research into Opening Sequence Designs

using these clips I have researched into designing opening sequences 

From watching these video clip I learn how important the typography is over the title sequence. As Cooper spoke about the typography shouldn't be an afterthought as it’s of high importance. When adding the typography it should be linked to the video behind and should be the same feel as the title sequence.  

Also we learn that experimenting with different materials rather than just digital effects can make for a more interesting sequence. Using different materials could help the target audience relate to the clip and find it more interesting.

Also we can tell from the video that the content of the title sequence should be massively linked to the storyline of the film. For our title sequence we may film the really interesting parts of the film to create more of an interesting sequence. 

These interviews have helped me to understand the importance of all aspects of the opening sequence. This will help my group to link all the relevant part to make a strong and unique sequence. 

Choosing your genre

To collect our information we needed to construct a questionnaire that asked about our views preference about films.

From the pie chart above we can tell that the group of people we ask all preferred ‘action’ films.From this information we have been influenced to produce an opening sequence for a 'Action' style film.

Allowing us to gather more Qualitative date we asked:
"What do you want and expect to see in an opening sequence?"
We found that audience expect the following:

Looking at the data collected we can see that the people we questions don’t go to the cinema very often, normally about once a month. Also we can see that people normally go with family or friends.

Conventions of an Opening Sequence

With the aim of making my own opening sequence I will need to gain a greater perspective of what is involved in making then and what the conventions are. To active this I will analyse two opening sequences from films that are already out. This hopefully will help me to make a more successful opening sequence.

A title sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their key credit productions sound and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound. The opening credits of motion pictures are shown at the beginning and list the most important members of the blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show. There may or may not be accompanying music. 

The Third Man

The opening of this sequence is a black shot which fades into this still scene. For a large section of the time this screen is still as the church bells chime in the background. Everything written within the sequence is white which contrasts with the background which will stand out compared to the grey background. but this may have something to do with the film being in black and white. The background shows the location of the production, as well as being written on the first frame.

Placing the crew and cast on their own frame gives a sense of importance. also will  give the view a small amount of information about the person. Not using images will increase the attention on the writing which will make the people involved seem more important. 

As in the shot before there was less people to a shot it makes these people seen less  substantial to the film.  Also when the images change to crew and cast listing, so does the music which now contains more of an upbeat and happier tone. 

Blue Valentine

highlights throughout the opening sequence tell a back story of the characters lives, which increases the audience interest in what will happen next. also showing these two characters first hint that they're part of the main cast. 

Using contrasting tones for the writing and back group will make the writing distinctive. Also putting the writing in the middle of a plain screen gives a sense of importance. Adding the names and job description on a frame will add information about the cast and crew who worked on the project giving all workers recognition. 

this screen shot was taken for the end of the opening sequence  Which means the music has climaxed, to match this speed the firework overlay became stronger and lasted for longer. adding the title to the film with the still from the film means that the audience will relate the impression of love which comes from the title, to the couple in the photo background.

targets

My main target for the preliminary task was to create a short film that covered all aspects of the brief. After it had covered all the bases of the brief I could start to become creative with the shots and story line. Adding different shots, for example shot-reverse-shot, this would make the film more realistic.

My second target for this task was to make sure the script included everything that was going on in the shot. Also it would have to be in line with the story board. This goal included making sure that was room in the scripted to demonstrate techniques.

Another target of mine was to create a short film that flowed and didn't have messy cuts. This would mean taking the script and story board to all shoots so that they could be followed without mistakes being made.

Also another target was to finish the project on time. As filming and editing was moving at a fast pace during the task it would be difficult to not fall behind. As we all had other work to be done we had to delegate different parts of the project to different people. 

Evaluation of skills developed