Titles codes and conventions

A title sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound. It usually follows but should not be confused with the opening credits, which are generally nothing more than a series of superimposed text. (wikipedia)

We looked at title sequences by Larry McConkey. The first was The Bonfire Of The Vanities.

a steadicam was used to film and there are barely any cuts, maybe even non

It starts with an establishing shot of a city and there is an eagle statue on the side of a building - the gold colour represents money. Setting starts turining to day and time is moving non stop - shows that the city never sleeps - New York.

A clock ticking sets the pace - time going by.

Music portrays films could be a drama or a romance - fast paced and high pitch.

All shot at once - no cuts

MY TITLES

The title of the film is in red and is bold which represents danger, death and blood. this shows the thriller element of the film. It comes on the screen accompanied by a typewriter sound which suggests that the film is just a story.

the other titles are in white, which show the innocence of some characters who could become victims.

We also have sound of people running during the titles which once again shows the thriller genre.

Animatics and Storyboards

A film cannot be made based on just an idea, a lot of work goes is put in before the final results are achieved. This includes writing scripts, synopsis’s and drawing storyboards.

Storyboards

A storyboard is a panel or a series of panels of rough sketches outlining the scene sequence and major changes of action or plot in a production to be shot on film or video.

Before computers were made, storyboards were drawn by hand. The first storyboard was created by the Walt Disney studio in the early 1930’s.
Storyboards are created to help film directors and cinematographers find possible problems in the film before they occur during shooting. Storyboards include arrows or instructions that indicate movement. Storyboards are useful as they provide a visual layout of events as they are seen through a camera lens.

One of the first live action films to be completely storyboarded was ‘Gone with the Wind’ starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. (One of my favourite films ever!)

Directors are the ones that usually decide if they want to use storyboards or not. Live-action film directors like Ethan Coen use storyboards extensively before taking their pitch to their funders. He stated that storyboards help him get the figure that he is looking for as the storyboard shows exactly where the money will be used. Other directors such as Ken loach do not use storyboards at all. Animation directors are usually the ones who use storyboards extensively, sometimes in place of writing a script.

Animatics

At it simplest, an animatic is a series of still images edited together and shown in a sequence. Rough dialogue and a rough soundtrack are then added to these images to test if they are working effectively together.

With this the directors and animators can then work out camera positions, shot lists and any timing issues. The process is repeated until it is perfected
An advantage of using storyboards is that it allows the user to experiment with changes in the storyline to evoke a stronger reaction of interest from its target audience.

180 degree rule

The 180° rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle.

In professional productions, the applied 180° rule is an essential element for a style of film editing called continuity editing. The rule is not always obeyed. Sometimes a filmmaker will purposely break the line of action in order to create disorientation.

For example in Batman The Dark Knight, the director breaks the rule during batman and the joker's conversation. At first the joker is on the right hand of the screen and Batman is on the left, but after while they switch. This is done to show the audience that both characters are insane and that they do not stick to the rules. This is confirmed by the joker when he states that he will make batman break the rules tonight.

Here is the scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASIYi6DhlK4

EVALUATION

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Title

The title of the film is 'Into The Darkness'. It is typical of most thriller films as it creates mystery but also a sense of danger.

Setting/location

The opening sequence is set in a graveyard which symbolizes death. it also links to the film as the main character has lost a close friend.

Costume and props

As the director, i allowed the characters to wear what they usually wore as their characters were also college students. This makes mise-en-scene more solid. the costumes also show our target audience as young maturing student. In terms of props, the bag shows that shes a student as she had books to carry.

Camerawork and editing

shaky shots are used during the opening to show that the character is an unstable person. Also during editing we merged the overlapped the flashbacks on the opening and made it slightly transparent - so both were playing at the same time. this is to show that the main character is living in the past and that she cant escape from it. Cuts are very fast to show the confused nature of the main characters mind.

Title font and style

The title is in red and is bold to show danger which is typical of thrillers.

Story and how the opening sets it up

The story is about two close friends who get chased into the graveyard one night but one ends up being killed. After this the remaining girl is left alone to face the aftermath of that night. We opened by showing the flashback of the graveyard incident to show that it was in the past and we are now in the present. by doing this we give away bits of information that make the audience want to watch on to 'solve the case'. It is the job of opening sequences to draw the audience in and make them want to watch the rest of the film. I think we executed this very well with our opening.

Genre and how the opening suggests it

The main genre of the film is a thriller. The opening suggests it by creating danger and anticipation from the get go. this is created by the use of flashbacks of running from something in the graveyard. The fast cuts also show confusion and leads the audience to believe that all is not as it seems as thrillers should do.

How characters are introduced

The main character is introduced straight after the titles to show that she is the main focus of the film. She is shown alone and walking down the path to the graveyard. once again the flashbacks show that she is living in the past and needs help to escape from it.

The second main character is introduced using a long shot, this shows that she is now distanced from the main character when they previously used to be close.

In most opening sequences, the main character is introduced first so the audience can familiarize themselves with him/her/it.

Special effects

The main special effect used was the flashback being overlapped present time.

How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

My media project represents young people who are often left alone to deal with serious situations because they are scared to tell anyone or ask for help. It shows the struggle they go through by trying to cope with it themselves and how it causes them to breakdown slowly.

The first girl above is the character Wendy from final destination 3 and the girl below her is Sitare from our film.

Similarities - Both girls are students and the bags highlight this. They have both lost someone close to them and are suffering because of this. In Wendy's case, it is her boyfriend while in Sitare's case it is her best friend. Both use mid shots to show the characters closely in terms of facial expressions as well as costumes. Both look unhappy as if something is on their mind. Wendy's picture is more dramatic as it is raining in it. The pathetic phallacy used shows that she is sad and crying inside. They are both pictured alone to show that they have been cut off from the rest of the world as no one believes them.

The are both also main characters in their films.

What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why ?

Who would be the audience for your media product ?

My target audience is young people between the ages of 18-25, mainly girls that enjoy thrillers and psychological films. They would watch the film because they can relate to it as it is also about a young adults and deals with some of the issues they can face in life in a dramatic way.

How did you attract/address your audience ?

We attracted our audience by making the main character their age group. This was to make them interested as they see the film is about someone like themselves.

We also know young people like films that are true to real life as they can relate to it.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project ?

I learnt how to use a professional camera first of all. Its not like a home camcorder where you press record and go. You have to adjust the lighting and sound etc. I also learnt to use an editing program - final cut pro. Also when using the camera with or without a tripod, you have to keep it still, so you don't film shaky scenes. A tripod to supposed to help reduce the shaking, but i found that with sharp of fast movements, it still shook sometimes.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product ?

In the preliminary task, camera shots were shaky, cuts were too sharp, and we even had actors looking at the camera. Personally i think i learnt a lot after the preliminary task which helped the final product become what it is. I learned how to properly use a camera which made the shots clearer. i also learnt about the different shots used in film and practiced them so that when it came to the actual filming, i was able to direct and tell the cameraman exactly what i wanted. i also learnt about continuity and how if you are shooting two separate scene that are in the same time frame then things should be the same. For example in our film there are three location 1) the graveyard 2) college and 3) outside some flats. This was supposed to have happened in the afternoon so we had to make sure the characters wore the same costumes and that the lighting was the same.

Overall i think i had learnt a lot with the making of our opening of a film and it was this project that led me to change my career prospect to one of a film director rather than a laywer.

Audience types

Mainstream - This is a large audience that watch or listen to one thing. It is calculated by ratings or box office. Mainstream films will often have room for sequel or merchandise. Audiences are usually drawn to films that are blockbusters. Most mainstream films will be American and main genres will be romance, action and fantasy.

An example of a mainstream film is Titanic, which was the highest grossing film of all time until last year when it was over taken by Avatar. Both were written and directed by James Cameron

Titanic trailer

Cult - A small but loyal following audience of a particular media text.

Cult Film makers will usually have small budget and films will not get major cinema release but will be in specialized cinemas. This means audiences will have to research cult films to find out where its showing as they wouldn't be widely advertised.

An example is 'Cass' which is a British cult film. The incredible true story of how an orphaned Jamaican baby, adopted by an elderly white couple and brought up in an all white area of London, became one of the most feared and respected men in Britain.

Subversive - This is an audience that watch controversial media texts that could offend

Alternative - Opposite of mainstream. Audience enjoy media texts that are similar to similar to mainstream media texts, but differ in various ways. E.g spoof films are alternative because they are mainstream film but different - comedic.

e.g Scary movie

My personal role

Some changes were made regarding my personal role in the film. I was previously acting in it and helping with the filming, but due to the cameraperson dropping out, it meant I had to take over her responsibilities.
This caused quite a problem for the group as roles had to be switched around.

We found editing fun but tedious. There was so much to do in order to get the output that we wanted.
We used a lot of dissolves to hide messy cuts. I found literally unbearable to keep putting cuts in every few seconds. It made wonder how feature length films are edited and if they use quite a lot of dissolves as well.
As a group music was not really a big issue for us. Due to the changes in the coursework criteria, we could not use copyright music for our films. This immediately meant that most of the music we listen to was basically untouchable. So because of this we did not really pay that much attention on the music and just focused on everything else.
The sound we did use was a typewriter for the title and a piece of moody music for the first flashback. I thought the music worked really well with the scene as it set the mood, but it also highlighted the characters emotions at that point. The music is played at a time when Sitare had just had an argument with her former friend about the death/disappearance of their best friend. Using the music in this showed the audience how Sitare was feeling as she does not have any dialogue in that particular scene.

We created the titles at the very end because we felt we could only do it after watching the film and getting the entire feel of it.

For the final, final film, i ended up directing and writing up a new script while another girl filmed.

Recce

Before we could start filming the actual film we had to do a ‘recce’. This is when you visit the locations of your film and do practice shots to see how it would look. The word 'recce' is a slang term for 'reconnoiter' (the verb form of "reconnaissance").

Recces are very useful as it lets you see how the film might look and if any important changes need to be made.

Location scouting with Billy Fox

We watched a documentary where the director Quentin Tarantino did a recce for a scene in his film ‘Reservoir Dogs’.
During the recce a cinematographer named Billy Fox added and removed props to see which ones fit the scene best. Tarantino then acted out the whole scene filling in for one of the actors so that he could show him exactly how he wanted the scene to be portrayed. after watching the recce, we then watched the same scene from the actual film. We saw that some props used in the recce had been taken out and new ones added, also some of the camera shots had changed to make the scene more clear.

If the reece had not been used, Tarantino would have had to shoot the whole scene again, which would cost more money and take more time. So overall recce's also allow you to save time and money.

My Group Recce

Our group recce was shot in the girls toilets, where i practiced a mirror shot i wanted in the film. This is where you shoot someone in the mirror but you cant see the camera behind it.

The reece was successful as i learnt how to do the shot perfectly, meaning when we came to the actual filming, i would have no problems.