Preliminary Task

Feedback from R1-16

-We like the logo, although we think that there is too much of a pause before the 'ting' and the title comes up.
-WE also liked seeing the stereo because it is the source of the music.
-Seeing into the draws is a really good way of seeing the characters different personalities.
-The finishing each others sentence was really good because it shows a link between characters.
-The music is good but doesnt flow as well as it could do.
=)

Feedback

- Good camera shots when doing the crane shot of the draw and close up of the music being switched on.
- Bit too much cheese
- Title could be soother at the end.
- Good acting and props, when showing the geeky character and Girl's contrast.
- Good use of double shots
- Running across the road to see her was a bit weird at the end, looked strange tbh.
- Joe Legg is underrated and you don't know a good thing when you see one.

R1-14 feedback

Music works well with the genre.
Wind lets down ending scene.
shag list is a bit unrealistic.
logo is effective.
Acting is good, perhaps a little bit over acting in some parts.
Good camera shots, steady, and match on match action.

FINAL!

We now have our final version of our film opening!

Titles throughout opening

1. Production: Mwah Movies
2. Directed by: Thomas Anderson
3. Produced by: Samantha Wood

Actors

4. Rojiar Mahdavi
5. Ashley Andrews
6. Hayley Cannon
7. Charlie Bryan

Response to test screening

- add sound track of call of duty to scene where Ashley is playing console
- add more close ups to scene where Rojiar is on the phone
- Add titles
- Possibly change end title of movie, may move to beginning of opening

rough cut

Video criteria

1. Holding a steady shot, where appropriate
2. Framing a shot, including + excluding elements as appropriate
3. Using a variety of shot distances
4. Shooting material appropriate to the task set
5. Selecting mise en scene including colour, lighting, objects + setting
6. Editing so that the meaning is appropriate to the viewer
7. Using titles appropriately

---

This is our rough cut:





Feedback:

Mise en scene: Location is of bedrooms and street shots, costumes are stereotypical which show clearly the genre and target audience . Realistic natural lighting. Props: phone, shag list, games console - show characters personalities.

Camerawork: Nice choice of camera angles and panning works well towards the end, successful match on action shot.

Editing: Looks quite realistic, split screening works well.

Sound: Good use of diagetic and non diagetic, especially in the scene where the boy is playing on his xbox.

Generic Conventions: Overall the piece fits the 'teenage romantic comedy' well, particularly the stereotypical characters in their home environment.

Opening sequence analysis

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qOad3LWnDjg

Mean Girls opening sequence analysis.

Mean Girls is an American teen comedy based on the book "Queen bees and wannabes" written by Rosalind Wiseman.
The film was directed by Mark Waters and was released during the summer of 2004.
The opening scene of the film shows us home-schooled daughter of zoologist parents, Cody Heron (Lindsay Lohan) is unprepared for her first day of public high school. The first part of the film is shown as a black background with the words fading in reading ‘Paramount company pictures presents’, followed by ‘A Lorne Michaels production’. Then lastly the main actresses name ‘Lindsay Lohan’ finishes the title sequence. The font used on the black background is bright, contrasting with the black making it appeal to the teenage target audience and also linking it to the films genre. The sound playing is non diagetic, its piano led music. Suddenly it cuts to upbeat drum music (this creates an exciting atmosphere) when the film title comes up reading ‘Mean Girls’, the title slowly fades.
Two parents are shown; they appear to be talking to a child. A low angle has been used to suggest this. The dialogue also shows this, the parents are acting in a patronising manor by looking down at the child and making sure she has their phone numbers. Cady pops up on the screen having been sat down whist her parents were talking to her; this creates comical mood. The scene changes and Cady goes on to explaining who she is. Clips of steriotypical home schooled children are shown. Cady makes them out to be "freaks" and says how she is nothing like them but that she was raised in Africa and has never been taught with other children while she was growing up. Images of her playing with animals are also shown to.
The scene changes again to Cady outside her new high school. Her parents are saying goodbye to her before she leaves. She then turns around to almost be hit by a bus; this shows her inexperience of living a city life and continues to add comical elements.
On the topic of costume, Cady is dressed plain 'boring' clothing, seperating her from the 'normal' teenagers at her high school.
A point of view shot is shown of Cady walking towards the high school and continues cutting to shots of her walking and back to point of view shots. The camera is shaking for the point of view shots which shows she is nervous.

Location

We are going to do our filming at Charlie's house, in Burwell. We decided on this location as we feel that it would be appropriate as we will be needing three settings: boy's bedroom, girl's bedroom and a street, and the location would offer all of these.

Costume & props

As we have two characters who's personality and style are almost opposite, we will need to think about what they will be wearing and what props they will need to suit their character.

Girl character: typical teenage girl clothes, e.g dress, cardigan, leather jacket etc. The girl character is popular and follows fashion, so therefore, we will have to address this in the costume. The props involved with the girl character will be things like a mobile phone, an iPod, and make-up. To show her popular/rebel image we will also include props such as a 'shag list', vodka bottles and condoms.



Boy character: stereotypical geeky teenage boy. The look we want to incorporate will include the character wearing things such as a geeky hoodie, possibly shorts and glasses. The props included with the boy character may be things such as gaming magazines, books, Xbox, headset and games etc.

Animatic Script

This is our animatic:

We have produced the first draft of our script using our animatic. This gives the general jist of the opening sequence, however we may choose to deviate slightly.

Girl's part:

(Girl character walks over to mp3 speakers and turns on music: MIA - Paper Planes.)
(Her mobile rings and she answers it.)

ROJIAR: Hey babe, i'm about to get the bus.
...
How did you hear?
...
Oh yeah it was a shit shag...AGAIN!
...
Erm, i left at like three in the morning...
...
So anyway, how's college?
...
Yeah pretty good. I'm really liking photography but i've got that geek of a next door neighbour in my class, he's so...

Boy's part:

(the shot cuts to a boy in his bedroom, talking on Xbox Live)
ASHLEY: ...Amazing! My new Sniper Scope is awesome!
...
By reaching Prestige Four.
...
I played 'til three in the morning! This American kid thought he could have me, no chance!
...
Hang on, what time is it?
...
(he looks out of his window)
Oh no, she's leaving! Gotta go!

Street scene:

(The setting changes to outside the two character's houses. As the girl character leaves her house, the boy character runs over and catches up with her.)
ASHLEY: I saw you come home last night! You looked stunning... FIT!
Do you want to come over tonight and watch Star Trek with me?!
ROJIAR: No!
(The Girl character walks away with the boy character trailing behind her.)

Teacher Feedback

There is some really excellent blog work here and it is clear that you have a very comprehensive plan of your idea. Charlie and Rojiar need to do their analysis of a film opening sequence.
Keep up the great work.

Influences

Grease

We like the fact that both Danny and Sandy finish one another's sentences throughout this song, it makes it humorous and we will use this idea in our opening.

Almost Famous

At the beginning of our sequence were showing a shot of both the boy and girl opening their draws and revealing some of their belongings. This is very similar to the opening of Almost Famous.

final idea for our film opening

These are our final idea for when we film our film opening:

-production logo
-opening credits throughout the film opening
-macro shots of each main characters draws;
-Girl is the most popular girl in the college. She drinks, drives and gets around alot but only with hot college boys. She has make up, Mobile phone, empty vodka bottles etc in her draw
-Boy is a typical geek with games mags, xbox controller and headset ect in his draw
Throughout this the shots will be alternating between the girl and boys drawers.

-Then there will be alternating shots between the girl on the phone to her friend talking about their days. And the boy talking to his mates whilst playing COD4
They will be discussing their day. The boy is really into the girl whereas she is not.

Mood boards

For our opening sequence we have made two different storyboards to accommodate the separate boy/girl bedroom scenes. The first is for the girl's scene:




In this mood board we have incorporated girly images such as make-up, fashion magazines and a diary to show a typical girl's bedroom.

This is the boys mood board:



In this mood board we tried to represent everything a geeky boy will have.

ideas for pitch of film opening

-production logo
-opening credits throughout the film opening
-macro shots of each main characters draws;
-Girl has typically girlly things like make up, hair brush, and lastly she pulls out her diary
-Boy has cash, condoms, porno mags, old empty vodka bottles and lastly he pulls out xbox controller and headset to talk to mates and play COD4
Through out this the shots will be alternating between the girl and boys drawers.

-Then there will be alternating shots between the girl writing in her diary with a non-diagetic narrative of what she is writing. And the boy talking to his mates whilst playing COD4
They will be discussing their day. The girl is really into the boy whereas he is not into her.

Age certificate

We have decided as a group that the age certificate for our film should be 15, to make it more relevant to our target audience and so that we are able to make it more humorous. Therefore, we researched into age certificates for films and what content would be acceptable. The bbfc state that: Theme No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds. Language There may be frequent use of strong language (eg 'fuck'). But the strongest terms (eg 'cunt') will be acceptable only where justified by the context. Continued aggressive use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable. Nudity Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. Sex Sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour. Violence Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief. Imitable techniques Dangerous techniques (eg combat, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on imitable detail. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised. Horror Strong threat and menace are permitted. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Drugs Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.

Discussion of film genres

1. A supernatural thriller with a strong female lead.
- definition: Wikipedia defines it as "In which the conflict is between main characters, usually one of which has supernatural powers.This type of thriller combines tension of the regular thriller with such basic horror oriented ingredients as ghosts, the occult, and psychic phenomenon; the supernatural thriller combines these with a frightening but often restrained film."
- examples: Carrie, The Others, Sixth Sense.

2. A British social realist drama.
- definition: based on real-life situations. may contain themes of crime/violence and relationships.
- examples: This Is England, Trainspotting, Football Factory. Kidulthood.

3. An adventure story for younger audiences.
- definition: an adventure story where the main characters go on some sort of quest which is mirrored by the emotional quest that the characters must also endure on the way.
- examples: The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe, Big, Pan's Labyrinth.

4. A teenage romantic comedy.
- definition: "a humorous movie, play, or novel about a love story that ends happily"
main characters typically have a dilemma that they need to solve resulting in humorous consequences. the main characters are normally teenagers.
- examples: Juno, 10 Things I Hate About You, Just friends.

5. A crime caper with an ensemble cast.
- definition: A film with a group of main characters involved with a crime of some sort of major value. compared to original crime films, crime capers generally have a lighter tone to them and some humor.
- examples: Ocean's 11, Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

opening sequence conventions

Typically, an opening sequence uses the following conventions:

• Details of cast and crew.
• The film's title.
• An introduction to character or character type.
• Indication of place.
• Indication of historical period.
• Information regarding mood and tone.
• Introduction to signature theme tune.
• Information about genre.
• Questions that the viewer finds intriguing.
• Patterns and types of editing that will be echoed in the remainder of the film.
• Mise en scene and cinematography that will be echoed or elaborated upon later in the film.

Mean Creek opening sequence analysis

Mean Creek is an independent thriller/drama, released in 2004 and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes, who gained an Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award due of its success. Other films by this director include Summoning and Nearing Grace.
The opening sequence to Mean Creek begins with a production company logo which fades to black and then to the beginning of the scene. There are no characters introduced to the viewer at this point in the film, however, the actors’ names slowly move across the screen. The location is unknown to the viewer as they can only see that the camera is underwater. As the camera moves around underwater, not much can be recognised from the setting as it becomes blurry and unfocused. The opening sequence uses a point of view shot throughout which gives the viewer a hint of what may happen to one of the characters later on in the film. However, it is difficult to identify other shot types in the opening sequence due to the location as there is no sense of scale. The only other shot that seems to be used is a low angle shot towards the end of the sequence showing a boat on the water’s surface. Also, at this point, the viewer can hear diagetic sounds of people talking. Apart from this, there is no other diagetic sound used, only non-diagetic sound which seems calm, like the water, but also very eerie, making the viewer feel uneasy. This introduces the viewer to the signature theme tune which they will hear later on in the film. At the end of the sequence, the title ‘Mean Creek’ appears on screen in the same way as the credits before, and the screen slowly fades to black.
The editing during the opening sequence is subtle and not very fast-paced, connoting the pace of the film and also mirroring the movement of the water. The viewer is able to tell the genre of the film almost immediately because of this. The pace of the opening sequence also shows the director’s style as he seems to keep it simple to leave the viewer guessing, making it obvious to the viewer that the genre is thriller. This also links to the opening sequence convention that ‘an opening sequence will contain questions that the viewer finds intriguing’, helping to draw the viewer in.
The viewer cannot be certain of the specific lighting used in the sequence, however we are led to believe that it is natural daylight. Although, the viewer gets a sinister feel about the film almost straight away due to the contrasting shadowing in the scene.
The opening sequence to Mean Creek is short and very basic, but effective. It gives almost no information about the film’s storyline whatsoever. This keeps the viewer questioning and wanting to see what happens next.



Unfortunately I was unable to find a clip of the film's opening sequence. However, here is the link to the official website which contains interesting things about the film: http://www.meancreekmovie.com/

more analysis of a film opening

Our second analysis is of just friends:



(needs the analysis writing up)

analysis of a opening film

10 things i hate about you is a 1999 romantic comedy who stars such actors like Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. The film is directed by Gil Junger and this film was his directional debut.
The opening starts with the production logo which is repeated twice. The first time round, it's the original whereas the second time, it has been modified to fit in with the film's style and uses the same font and colour as the opening credits. They look as if a teenager has written the titles as they are messy but readable. This relates to the target audience which is teenagers aged 12+. Along with the opening credits, the soundtrack is played over the top and is non-diegetic. The sound is upbeat and cheery, and is obviously a pop song at the time filmed.
After the production logos there is an establishing shot of a city, followed by a panning shot so the viewer gets a good sense of the environment that the film is set in. The city looks similar to one like San Fransisco. Beforehand, the establishing shot looks like a drawing which also links to the genre and is stylised to suit the target audience. During the pan shot, the title of the movie appears, so we immediately know what we are watching. The opening credits only have the actors names and not thier characters names.
The panning stops at a road where two cars pull up containing the main characters of the film. The main characters are shown in contrast with one another. The popular kids are together as a group have the pop song when shown. Their car is a vibrant blue convertable and looks in good nick. Whereas when it pans accross the other car, this character has heavy, depressing non-diagetic sound and is in an old, rusty car. The car has old, dull colours. The girl who is driving it is on her own and she has a grumpy expression upon her face. When the popular girls she her they change their facial expessions to scowl at her. This shows that she may be an outcast. She also pulls away first showing that she may be eager to get to college.
Next is another establising shot but his time of the high school college. The college is big and grand. The grounds are full of people which shows that its a popular college. Theres many different varitys of segrigations between groups with them doing their own stuff. Everyone is in their own colourful clothes and not in school uniform so its quite a casual college. By now the credits are still going and they are linking into the college theme.
Inside the college the grumpy character rips down a prom poster. Prom is usually a popular event for friends to go to or with dates. The rebellion in this action furthermore shows this characters unpopularity.
Then we are in the guidance counselor's office which belongs to Ms Perky. This becomes ironic as soon after you are shown a macro shot of her laptop on which she is writing a porno. This will appeal to to teenagers humour. There is a shot reverse shot during the conversation between the new boy and Ms Perky. Everything on her desk is neat and tidy and you wouldnt expect her swear but she does. There is a conversation pace throughout.

logo

Before we made our production logo we did some research into current production logos and what makes them work with the film. Here are some examples:

Warner Brothers


this is a typical production logo that is very well known. we feel that this particular logo works because:
- the soundtrack is dramatic which makes the viewer pay attention.
- This logo can work with a lot of different types of films

20th Century Fox


again, this is a well known production logo. we feel that this one is effective as:
- it looks as if it is at a film premiere which shows that it could be used for a number of different film genres as well as TV programmes.




this clip which we obtained from youtube, shows how this particular logo has been adapted over the years while it has been in use.


We have been working on our production logo using photoshop, garage band and final cut. These are some of the ideas we had in mind based on the genre of rom com:
-Mwah productions
a pair of lips that kiss the screen
a picture of a couple kissing

Here are a few print screens of how we made our first prototype production logo:



We got the picture of the lips on the internet and then created the text and diamond using photoshop. These were all in layers so that on final cut we could arrange how we wanted them to appear.



We couldn't have no sound with our production logo so we decided to go with something simple and not go over the top. This sound will appear when the diamond appears.



We then put these together on final cut and edited them. We split the photoshop production logo in the layers so we could introduce different aspects of the logo when we wanted to. After we finished the editing and was satisfied with the outcome, we converted it to quicktime.


This is our final production logo:

Group members: Ashley, Charlie, Claire and Rojiar

We've decided to overall do a Teenage Romantic Comedy, as we believe we'll be able to achieve our best within this genre. The fact we're all teenagers ourselves will help and also we are all familiar with movies of this genre; such as The Girl Next Door and Mean Girls.
We need to decide whether to make our rom-com a 15, or 12A and need to consider the language and if we have any jokes of a sexual nature.

Brainstorm of storyline ideas:
- girl is a geek and likes the popular boy
- the boy is secretly gay
- girl is secretly rebellious, and moves school for fresh start
- new to the country/school
- girl has really over protective parents
- girl has a young child

Research into the genre:
Genre: A teenage romantic comedy
Source: Wikipedia

Romantic comedy films, colloquially known as romcom, are movies with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as a true love able to surmount most obstacles. Romantic comedy films are a sub-genre of comedy films as well as of romance films. Because of their appeal to women, romantic comedies are sometimes called "chick flicks".

This is our group for this assignment.

L-R = Ashley, Charlie, Claire and Rojiar



Deadlines:
Rough Cut - 9th February 2009
Writing - 9th March 2009 on moodle
Practical final cut - 2nd March 2009
Writing - 16th March 2009 on moodle