research task 17

The opening i will be analysing is shutter island, which is a psychological thriller about a murder who has escaped a mental asylum on shutter island.

Usually, in thrillers the sounds consist of low pitched non diegetic noises to create a dramatic aura and many jump scares to scare the audience.

In shutter island with the music alone you can tell that the movie is a thriller as it is very dramatic and has moments where it goes really loud then goes really really quiet. The music acts as a sound bridge between match cuts.

The 3 genres I may like to use are;
-thriller
-action
-syfy
These are my 3 main choices as my favourite movies all have these 3 genres. I also like comedy however it will be harder to execute than genres such as thriller

blog task 9

My favourite film is Wolf of wall street by Martin Scorsese and I believe its title sequence is amazing because it combines great cinematography  and music that paints a picture of the setting which is Wall street in the ealry 1990s. It then shows us our film name,  producers, directors, music b and lastly the original story by then shows the actual novel written by Jordan Belfort.

Analysis of 2 title sequences

Casino Royale Title Sequence : the opening of the film starts with a very silent tone, and a bleak atmosphere and then a loud gun shot. At this point we are introduced to the main character James Bond as he shoots an enemy.  We know he may be the first character as the camera is focused on him. The dramatic theme tune begins and the credits start to roll. The theme of casinos are shown throughout the title sequence as the credits are put against different card symbols for example spades, diamonds, hearts, kings and queens etc. The animated part of the title sequence shows Bond fighting another character and many guns. The genre of the film is action and this is shown very clearly from the beginning. The special effects and  props used help to show this. Towards the end of the title sequence we get the main character James Bond (Daniel Craig) walking towards the camera it first starts off as an animation and as he gets closer we get a close up of his face looking dead straight into the camera. The close up allows us to see his stern facial expressions building tension. As a whole I think this is a good title sequence as the credits are simple and easy to read, they fades into the next action and the title sequence helps to get the audiences excited

  

Batman Title Sequence : the opening of the films starts off looking at a very bleak and dark sky. The credits begin to roll in a very simple text style and in the colour yellow. The dark sky and yellow credits follow the theme of the well known batman logo which is the black bat and yellow around it.. The mysterious music helps to build the tension and suspense in the atmosphere which manipulates the tone and it just shows us the genre. The slow pace of the camera panning the area, is much similar to how a bat would move when looking over its prey. Overall I like this title sequence as its very simple and sticks to the point. It helps to leave the audience in suspense wanting to find out more.

Genre shortlist

The 3 genres I may like to use are;
Horror
Thriller
Action
These are my 3 main choices as I believe these genres have the most tension in them and therefore there will be more marks, I believe that comedy will be a bad idea as if it is not funny and no one is laughing then it will be quite awkward. However, if I made my title sequence a horror, I feel it will bring the audience in more and do more for me as a whole, it would be much easier to make a good horror than to make a good comedy.

What is genre

Genre: Style or category of art, music or literature
Sub genre: sub vision of a genre of music, literature etc.
Hybrid Genre:  Cross genre in fiction that blends themes and elements
Codes and conventions: System of signs , which creates meaning
Genre troops: words used in figurative sense.
My favourite genre is comedy and action as i like films that are light and are not too dark. Another reason i like this genre is because they generally have an happy ending, which makes me feel good after i finish watching the movie, also, unlike horror, comedy and action films normally answers all my questions by the end of the film.

Use of sound in film

Sound is a big part of a title sequence as it sets the mood and atmosphere from the beginning of the film, stating the genre. We looked at a couple of clips involving diegetic sound effects, non diegetic sound effects and then the final mix in a Star wars film . The clips with only diegetic sound effects made me feel as if I wasn't involved in what was happening, everything was really dead and flat, it also feels very slow because of Darth Vaders slow and loud breathing.We then looked at the opposite and it was very unrealistic, seemed all to be made up. Lack of context, I then looked at the final mix and it was perfect, the natural noises and the sound effects came in together perfectly and enticed me.

Favourite film

My favourite film is toy story, and I believe its title sequence is rather unique as it plays a very famous song in the background, Randy Newmans "you got a friend in me". It first includes two idents, then all our main characters, Andy and Woody and the other toys. It then shows us our film name, executive producers, technical directors, music by,  music written by and lastly the original story by.

Research - analysing sound in an opening

Rough cut

Favourite previous student work

The group I analysed was group blog 1, i found this blog had much effort put into it, This is as it had over 100 blog posts, I also found it visually enticing as each blog had photos which made me interested in what I'm reading. They didn't just do blogs, they also used many ways to express their work, eg Prezi and Weebly. One thing that i didn't like however was the fact that the presentation unorganised, therefore i give it a 45 out of 60

Research - BFI stats

Genre chapter 4

1. Animation, Comedy and Action were the three most successful genres at the UK box office.
2. War, Documentary and Romance were the three least successful genres at the UK box office.
3. Comedy had the most released films in 2013-14
4. 153 Comedy films were made in 2013-14
5. 33 Animated films were made in 2013-14
6. 47 Action films were made in 2013-14
7. The information above tells us that it doesn't necessarily matter how many films of a particular genre are produced to make it the most popular genre (i.e. Action) and that in the years 2013-14 Comedy was the most preferred genre overall.

Audience chapter 15

1. The 15-24 age group made up the largest proportion of cinema admissions in the UK.
2. The most successful film of this age group was Hangover part 3.
3. The most successful film of the 50+ age group was Quartet which is a hybrid genre Drama/Comedy.
4. Action, Comedy and Thriller were the three most popular genres with men.
5. Documentary, Animation and Drama were the three most popular genres with women.
6. The UK films appealed to men most in 2013-14.
7. One Direction - This is us, Wreck it Ralph and Despicable me 2 were the most popular films with the 7-14 age group. This shows us that the most preferred genre of that age group is animation.
8. The most popular films with the 35-44 age group were Frozen, The Croods and Jack and the Giant Slayer this is likely because men and women of that age group typically have younger children and therefore are taking their children to see the films as they are too young to go on their own.
9. Djano Unchained, Fast and Furious 6 and Rush were the three most popular films with the 25-34 age group.
10. Rush, Captain Philips and Gravity were the most popular with C1 middle class audiences and Oz the Great and Powerful, Fast and Furious 6 and Despicable Me 2 were the most popular with C2 middle class audiences.
11. In London Djano, Fast and Furious and Gravity were the most popular films, whereas in Scotland Sunshine on Leith, Filth and Star Treck were the most popular. This could be because Londoner's typically prefer Hollywood blockbusters and other American Style films whereas audiences in Scotland prefer films that are locally set.

Extension: I also found out that Wales only make up 12% of the UK statistics meaning that cinema isn't as popular in Wales as it is in the rest of the UK. I also found out that UK independent films genres; Comedy, Thriller, Crime and Biopic are the most popular than other UK and Hollywood films in the box office.

Research task 3

My favourite previous student work is set 1 group 3.

This blog was suitable for me to look at because it was structured and formated excellently, so its easy to find the specific blog post you are looking for. 

This blog also made their chosen genre easy to point out and explicit, through their background you could tell the blog was horror themed. The use of apps such as prezi and vimeo made the blog more interactive and intriguing for the reader.

Research - macro and micro analysis of three films

Research - remake activity

We have chosen to remake the Collateral opening sequence. For our props we will use two bags (briefcases) and a pair of sunglasses, Hassan and Marlo will be acting as the characters and our location will be at the entrance of the college, near the reception. Our title sequence will consist of 11 shots including; over the shoulder shots, close ups, extreme close ups, mid shot, wide shot and a two shot.
This is our storyboard:

research task 11

I have learnt today that a genre is a type of movie (action, drama). you could also have sub-genres that sub-divides a genre (crime dramas).
My first personal genre preference is: Drama
Conventions of the genre I most like: New York, Crime, Mafia
Films from this genre i've watched and enjoyed: wolf of wall street, the departed

My second personal genre preference is: action
Conventions of the genre I most like: war, fighting
Films from this genre i've watched and enjoyed: fast and furious

My third personal genre preference is: comedy
Conventions of the genre I most like: crime
Films from this genre i've watched and enjoyed: 21/22 jump street

Research - analysing previous student's blog

I chose to analyse blog 1 - Lara's. In total there are over 100 blog posts with a lot of detail in each one, most of them also include pictures or some sort of visual. There's a wide variety of ICT apps used, such as Prezi, YouTube, Weebly, Emaze and Vimeo. The presentation of the blog makes it obvious what genre they decided to do, horror due to the background theme of the blog, and each blog post has a title making it easy to follow. However the blog posts are not in chronological order which can make it confusing when looking through. Overall the blog is good because everything is very detailed and it is obvious what is what, all the correct labels are used to credit those involved and their finished practical is very enjoyable. I think the blog got a total of 50/60 marks because the overall presentation of the blog is a little unorganised yet all the posts are there and very detailed and thorough.

4 types of film openings

Titles on a blank screen.

This is the most common type of title sequence as it is low budget and simple. It usually involves using a white type face on a black background as there is a high contrast between the two colours. It is also an uncomplicated way to include institutional information at the beginnig of a film.
This type of title sequence is used at the beginning of the film Psycho (a horror/thriller movie) and Pulp Fiction (an action movie)

Titles on still image.

This is basically text on a still image, but instead of it being blank in the background, there is a still image. This title sequence includes incorporating typeface on a still image related on the tone/genre of the film. This makes the credits go on for longer, giving more recognition to the people behind the camera.

Titles on a moving screen.
This Is when the titles are shown wile there is footage playing in the background, but there is never any dialogue. It serves as a metaphor or as a narrative thread to help introduce the tone and storyline to the audience,

Titles using animation or motion.
This method became popular in the 90s as technology vastly improved. This method requires digital technology and stylized editing for it to look real.

task 16: why is sound so important in film?

George lukas, director of star wars,argues that sound is 50% of the film. sound has to be 3 dimensional in order for the film to be enjoyable and interesting.

soundscape: everything you can hear

you have to suspend disbelief in order to create realism

Research - why sound is important

Sound in films is very important because it helps establish the tone and theme, it creates realism suspending disbelief, adds depth, assists understanding of the plot and characters to help determine the genre of the film. George Lukas, director of Star Wars, argues that sound makes up 50% of the film, I agree because without sound watching a film becomes very confusing, boring and disengages the audience as it is very hard to understand the plot, what is going on and who the characters are. As viewers we have developed familiarity with different sound motifs to help us understand what genre it is we are watching, for example fast paced and low pitched music is often associated with the genres thrillers or horrors.The connotations of that type of music are to emphasise that something bad is about to happen or what we as viewers are currently watching is intended to scare us as it creates/builds tension. Sound can also assist jarred, filming or bad editing as it can act as a cover-up because our other senses are all being used at once other than just our sight, which alone would pick up on any faults. So therefore the bad editing or filming it isn't as obvious. But sound can also make a very good shot or good piece of editing bad if it is not synchronous and therefore does not flow together, unless is has been done intentionally to create juxtaposition.

why is sound important

Sound is really important in Film as it sets atmosphere and tone. George lucas stated that sound is 50 percent of the film, although there are 3 other senses, but that just shows how important sound is. Sound is also very important as i believe it really tells us the context and genre of the film. It creates realisim and without sound, every image looks flat, boring and confusing.

Research - what is genre

What is genre - a style or category of art/music/film
Sub-genre - more specific than genre, a subdivision of a genre
Hybrid genre - a combination of two genres merged into one
Codes & conventions - system of signs which signify or represent a meaning can be either technical or symbolic
Genre tropes - words or an expression used figuratively to detect a common story line for individual genres

Genre preference 1: psychological/thriller
I enjoy psychological thrillers because often they have a complex and discrete storyline which as a viewer can really make you think about the film and how they managed to shock and amaze us with just the narrative. My preferred conventions of thrillers are mainly the narrative and how the main characters are not always the protagonists of the film and are portrayed as mysterious and uncanny. I like the amount of detail that goes into creating a character for this sub-genre as their psychological health is often questioned as their actions are abnormal. With psychological thrillers they are also often based in everyday urbanised settings, creating a sense of realism for the audience. My particular favourite psychological thrillers are Hannibal, Shutter Island and Memento.




Genre preference 2: crime/drama
I like crime dramas because, hint in the genre, they are full of drama with lots of dramatic acting and a dramatic narrative with things constantly going on. However dramas on their own I don't particularly like as they can become boring for me that is why I like this hybrid genre as the crime brings in the action needed to excite the storyline. What I like about crime films is that often they are based on real life situations or things that could possibly happen, unlike action which is still packed with that excitement but is often unreal and as viewers un-relatable, so why I like crime films is that they create that sense of realism. Often enigma codes are used in the opening titles to inform viewers something is going to unravel. My preferred favourites from this genre are City of God, Charlie Bronson and Texas Dallas Buyers club.



Genre preference 3: rom-com
What I like about romance comedy's is that they make me laugh, but not in that typical slapstick comedy. Often it is the characters dialogue which includes the jokes and the situations they find themselves in which can mostly be very avoidable but adds to the humour. I like the romance aspect as again it can set this sense of realism for the audience and they can relate most often. I dislike romance films on their own as I find them uninteresting and corny. Whereas romance comedy's can take clichés and make them entertaining and not make it predictable. My preferred favourites are Bridget Jones' Diary, Bridesmaids and Bachelorette.

What makes a good title sequence

Kyle Cooper is accredited with what? -He is accredited with setting expectations and exciting viewers. -Adds overall tone to the film What does cooper think makes a good title sequence? -Horizontal lines and circular shapes which improve contrasts -That it fits in seamlessly -Fonts depending on the genre What is important about the font used in 7? -Hand written which emphasises the fact the film is about a murderer, it is a sinister font What problems might a studio face after a test screening? -Budget might be too slim for another screening -Audience might not like it Why do the two and a half minutes if the title sequence become important for the studio? -They become part/extra scene for the film -Also gives information about the fundamentals of the film

Research - Analysis of two film title sequences

Research - The 4 different types of film openings

Research - What makes a good title sequence

Prelim - Ciara and Marlo

20. Ciara, Marlo, Azania, Anil from 283goswellg on Vimeo.

purpose and common features of a title sequence

The purpose of a title opening sequence is to really entice the audience with just the beginning of the film. This will set up the film and will basically show the audience what the film is roughly about.

In a title sequence, it normally starts with idents and just the idents so that the audience is forced to focus on who made the film. A title sequence will also introduce us with the settings of when and where the film is located.  This will inform the audience about what the film. In the sequence they will also introduce the characters and plots using subtle hints. You will be able to tell what genre the film is depending on the mood and atmosphere of the title sequence. 

Research - order of opening title conventions

Title credits follow a very specific order in a film's opening.  We will be using the film Gone Girl as an example of the conventional order of the title credits.

 Production icon  

 Distribution icon

 Distribution and 

                                                                                                       production in title sequence  

 Director              

 Actor 1               

 Actor 2               

Film title              

 Actor 3               

 Actor 4               

Actor 5               

 Casting by         

 Music by           

 Music by           

Costume by        

 Editing by         

         Production

                                                                                   design

        Director of

                                                                                                      photography

         Executive

                                                                                                   producer

 Produced by   

  Written by     

Research - purpose and common features of a title sequence

 There are four main purposes of a title sequence; to entice the audience, to set the tone/atmosphere/genre of the film, to identify the main characters or any characters involved and credit those involved in the film i.e. producers, distributors, actors. Film makers include hints and clues in the title sequence to give the audience a small taste of what they will expect from the film. This is important because they want to give away enough action to entice their audience but not too much so that they wont see the film because the plot has been explained or viewers can assume what will happen. By including a small taste of what the film will involve viewers are left with a cliff hanger and wanting to see more so that any gaps that were introduced in the title sequence are filled in, and by doing that they have to watch the film. Opening title sequences are also vital for establishing the tone of the film, by doing so it makes it obvious what genre the film is and therefore targeting the correct audience who like that particular genre. They identify some characters in an opening sequence to also draw in their audience as there might be fans of certain actors/actresses involved in the film, therefore attracting more viewers. Finally it is important to include those who made and distributed the film so viewers know who the film belongs too and who helped make the film.

Introduction

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