initial storyboard ideas

Four Opening Sequences

Four Opening sequences:

Legally Blonde:

The bright colours (and main colour of pink) reflect the femininity within the girls of this sorority. These girls are close-knit and within the first few seconds we are shown the value of these girls friendship.
The lighting is used with standard white beams and is used inside a house. The main character (played by Reese Witherspoon) is a very feminine character and the first stereotype we associate her with is a 'dumb blonde'- that is until we see she is attending law school.
The pink lettering in the opening credits and cursive writing affect the female stereotype of 'pink'.
The first few camera shots are of the girl pampering herself, which only adds to our first stereotype. Stereotypes are a big controversy in this opening sequence, and overall in the film in general. This film aims to attack the stereotype and tries to abolish any sexism and stereotypes.

Juno:

Voice over: "...And it started with a chair." this is an introduction to any action that we are about to see, and it starts the sequence with a narrative.
Flashback: This editing technique is used to show a past sequence, which is a connection to the rest of the film, a symbol of Juno's life story.
The song playing is an upbeat, positive song, which is a reflection on her life, until the disastrous news of her teenage pregnancy stunts her life.
The lighting in this opening sequence is used in a basic way, as it just daylight, and this shows us that, as a young girl of sixteen, her life will be changed because the daylight reflects her innocence.
The main character Juno is drinking a big carton of Sunny D, which is a link between her life now and her childhood, as if the fact of her losing her virginity has somehow aged her and her strong addiction to Sunny D has pro-longed her childhood.

We are briefly introduced to the father of Juno’s baby, as the audience is shown a flashback to the night that the couple lost their virginity’s, and we are then able to see that both of the parents are as normal as teenagers can get.

Cleaner:

The main character in this sequence (Freeman) is the cleaner after a death/murder has occurred. By the first shot, the audience is already asking lots of question about what will happen and who everyone is/could be. The voice over that is played during the beginning of the sequence then leads the audience into a conversation, as if the main character is telling people a story. The title sequence is at the start of the opening sequence, with the character list along the bottom of the screen. The audience is shown a brief encounter with a female whose mother has died, introducing more characters to the narrative. This then formerly introduces the main character as the person who cleans up the aftermath of death and murder. The director has chosen to use dark lighting, dull colours with a very limited use of bright colouring, and using dark lighting during the outside scenes. The dim lighting is very symbolic as it is laced with the aura of death- it has a pale edge to it.

Constantine:

Constantine is an exorcist, and is used to dealing with supernatural creatures, and therefore knows how to exterminate them. During the sequence there is only one title set, and that is the telling of the film location. Keanu Reeves plays the main character, which reflects the stereotype of him being so good looking, like a hero. The audience is not told what Reeves does, they are shown. There is no voice over, and so that does not connect the audience that way, but the audience is connected in other ways, with the dialogue and direct address that has approached them. Constantine quite clearly knows what he is doing, and his professionalism then makes the audience put their trust in him. The effect of stating Constantine’s location has a personalized feel for the audience, and stating that he is in Los Angeles makes the person watching feel connected if they have visited and/or live in the location. The use of light in the room with the possessed woman is very limited, which causes eerie shadows, and makes the audience more engaged as they are asking more questions about what will happen next. The orange light is a signifier of any magical/mysterious doings that are happening, as the bright colours cause dim shadows and are also a signifier of madness, which is a common theme in the film.

Josie's Preliminary Task Analysis:

Preliminary Task Analysis:

Have you fed the fish…? The title of the task is enough to make an audience laugh, and so my group (Ella, Sam, Tom and myself) wanted to make the audience think the opposite of joy and laughter. Our aim was to create shock factor, which we would have done if our sound were working, which it wasn’t. As there was no speech to be heard, we thought to put up subtitles so that the audience knew what was going on.

We faced many difficulties when filming, and even more when editing. One of the difficulties we faced was the weather. It was a very cold day, with the threat of rain and our camera was not as steady as we would have liked it to be due to the coldness. There was also a man running/jogging in the location that we had chosen to film, which we saw as a negative but managed to spin into a positive thing by the man not knowing what we were doing, and so just not making eye contact with any of us, which we chose to see as him being afraid of what was going on (in our actual task and not in general).

Whilst editing, we faced a problem when we realized that the sound was not working. After the initial panic, we put our heads together and decided to use subtitles. After coming up with that idea, we had to work out how to use it on Imovie, which was a task in itself. Having neither of us used IMovie before, and our combined limited experience was not helpful in the slightest, until we worked out how to use subtitles, even then it was difficult to place them in the exact time space and we were not sure what length of time to leave them up for.

Making the preliminary task did help, with the continuity editing mostly. And most of all, the task helped us to practice different camera shots and angles, which we then analyzed to mean different things. For example, the use of a low angle showed the audience of Patrick’s (The Boss’s) superiority over me (his work monkey). The basic editing skills that we learnt were very helpful, and Final Cut is a bit easier to use as it has less limitations and clearer labels. The fact that I have used Final Cut before helped our group (Lucy, Ewa and Joe) to understand the progression of our film. I was able to give a quick tutorial to the group, and we all chipped in and helped with the editing and input all of our ideas together.

The preliminary task allowed everybody to practice things they wouldn’t normally try, and I really enjoyed working with the people I was with (for the preliminary task) because all of us had creative, bright ideas and the determination to put them together. At the beginning, all of our editing skills were limited, but now we could probably make a film in our sleep. The confidence in all of us have massively increased from the start, which has had a knock on effect in our other work.

Analyzing an opening title sequence (ANGUS THONGS AND PERFECT SNOGGING)

The moment that Georgia Nicolson steps out of the party, and she is running down the road in her olive costume, the first title appears in the bottom right corner of the screen. The text is a very friendly and engaging font, which draws the audience in.  the music starts playing as she starts running- “She’s so lovely” by Scouting for Girls- which engages the people watching because it is an upbeat, popular song. The cursive writing of the title ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’ gives the audience a vibe that they are going to be watching a film full of hilarious antics and it symbolizes the freedom and youth of this young girl, and also her lack of maturity.

The credits run throughout the first nine minutes of the film, in a cursive font, which shows off Georgia’s youth and her freedom. Adding to her freedom, is the fact that she is wearing a giant olive costume, and at the party all her friends are dressed up how normal teenaged girls would dress up. Everything about this title sequence suggest that Georgia isn’t you average teenager, and so she gets into all sorts of mischief and teenage drama.

The directors has got Georgia Croom playing Georgia and the rest of her friends are played by Eleanor Tomlinson, Georgia Henshaw and Manjeevan Grewai, and the love interest of the film is Robbie who is played by Aaron Johnson. The reason Georgia Nicolson has been cast the way she is, is because the directors wanted to give the audience a relatable theme and Georgia Croom is very similar to her character in her daily life.

Friends opening credits analysis:

Camera Work:

The director uses various shots of the characters in ‘Friends’ acting all chummy and friendly with each. The close up of each characters face when their name appears under an image of them. This introduces the characters to the audience and also tells them who plays who. The camera work shows various images of the friends together, and also the relationships between each charatcers. For example, there is a shot of Ross and Rachel dancing, which establishes a stronger relationship between the two of them, almost hinting of them having a long-term relationship together.

Soundtrack:

The song ‘I’ll be there for you’ by the Rembrandts plays through the opening title sequence, which gives the audience a sense of their friendship and it foreshadows most of the program, because the audience knows that the friends in this television show are going to be getting up to random antics and odd behavior again. The song appears to be fitting with the genre of comedy, as the gang are dancing around together, acting lime children that are having a blast. The music displays a friendly vibe, and foreshadows that these friends are very close and symbolizes that they always have great fun when they are together. The use of a clap during the soundtrack also engages the audience because they feel like they are a part of it, knowing that they can clap along too.

Colour/prop/lighting:

The director has chosen to use mainly bright colours and daylight, which broaden up the friendly atmosphere. It is obviously filmed at night time, but the use of a streetlight is the main source of lighting. The colour scheme is very basic, but so obviously set in New York because of the location and the lighting that surrounds it.

Editing Process

We begun our editing by uploading all the footage we had shot, which we then split into smaller clips to properly begin piecing our sequence together. We then referred back to our story boards to decide what clips were going to go where. This all then will eventually lead to our completed opening sequence.
We decided to use fades as it showed a flashback or a change in time/location. This compels the audience to understand why Mary is doing what she is doing. We chose to have a voiceover of Mary speaking about her emotions instead of actual speech within the sequence. The voiceover has an echoed effect which reflects on her distant mind and character.

Creating the Production Company Logo;'s

We made our production company's logo using LiveType which we then imported into our Final Cut sequence. We decided to do two producuton company logo's, one called 'Shock Media' and 'Bridge Productions'. We chose the name 'Shock Media' because our sequence is quite shocking and serious, and the name entitles an array of opinions to be discovered before the opening sequence has even begun. We chose the background of a brick wall, because it builds up an urban theme, which relates to our sequence in many ways. We came up with 'Bridge Productions' as it foreshadows events that are going to take place in our seqeunce. Both companies seem to sound professional and are very realistic, as opposed to something like 'Unicorn Faces Media'. We did consider a third production company title, but thought otherwise as we thought two company titles were enough.

analyzed opening sequence's

personal response to the brief:

When I heard what the brief was, I knew it would be a challenge. I also knew that I could face that challenge, with a little help from my group. Initially I didn’t get the group I wanted, but we all have to make sacrifices and it all worked out in the end. I had worked on media projects before, so I was excited to put my skills to use again. The thought of making my own opening sequence have intrigued me, as I am used to making documentaries and turning power point presentations into movies. I also knew that my skills would be developed furtherand this will help me in later life, when i need my film-making skills.

media- sound analysis

In this sound extract, a varied type of music is used. To begin with, orchestral music is played. Steadily the pace quickens and a drumbeat is added. This drumbeat adds to the tension of this musical piece. The orchestral violins maintain a steady rhythm throughout the piece. This suggests that the film that the sound extract is taken from, has dramatic events that are likely to occur. This sound sequence suggests a classical and dramatic event is taking place, for example somebody being followed. I get the image or a young girl being followed down a dark alley and I feel this way because the music demonstrates the pace and volume of a chase.

There is also a likeness to this musical sequence to the Harry Potter theme tune. The similarities are between the orchestral instruments and the classical sounds that fill my head. There are many aspects of this musical sequence, for example the similarity to the Harry Potter theme tune, the chase scene I imagine and many more. This shows that without an image to match the sound sequence, an analysis is hard to gage.

My group- 12A3

L-R: Joe, Ewa, Josie and Lucy
Media Students. Coombe Sixth Form.

Intro to myself

My name is Josie Crandley. I am seventeen years old and I live in New Malden, Surrey. I study Media, Drama and English combined at Coombe Girl's Sixth Form. When I am older, I would like to go to university and study English and hopefully end up in journalism or public relations.