Initial Creative idea - David-

This is our groups groups initial storyboard for how the narrative of the story was going to turn out 

Initial Creative idea - David-

This is our groups groups initial storyboard for how the narrative of the story was going to turn out. 

BFI statistics yearbook research

In the UK the most popular film genre appears to be animation followed by adventure and comedy. Despite the high number of comedy films that had been released, it only ranks third on the list of popular genres. It is fascinating that animation has a very small amount of films released and yet has the highest amount of money made in the box office and the largest percentage total of the box office. This may be due to the rise in families in the UK as animated films are usually aimed at families and children which would result which would result in a higher popularity in animated films.

 

Genre

In film theory, genre refers to the method based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed.

These are the different types of genre

·       Action

·       Adventure

·       Comedy

·       Crime

·       Fantasy

·       Historical

·       Horror

·       Thriller

·       History

·       Romance/Rom-com

·       Science fiction

My favourite genre of film is Thriller. This is because I like the typography used in the openings and the font that reflects the genre of the film.

 

 

Analysis of favourite film opening

Four types of title sequences

Titles on a still image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a combination of Text, Music in the background and An Image in the background. The image and the music usually have some connection to the genre of the film.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Titles on a Blank Screen

This title sequence is usually white text on a black background in order to create a high contrast and is usually accompanied by music. This title sequence is usually low budget and was used in “older” films.

Animated title sequence

This title sequence utilises animation with a music overlay. An animated title sequence sometimes contains a narrative and hints towards the films plot and genre. This title sequence is usually used in family films or fantasy films.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Titles over a moving image

In this type of title sequence, titles are overlayed on top of a moving image which is usually where the movie is set or at the beginning of the movie. These usually move into the film smoothly and swiftly.

 

 

 

 

 

- Rough Storyboard for Grey Area - By Kenny -

This Prezi shows our initial ideas for our title sequence. We have included the shot types and a sketch of what we would hope for it to look like. Also, we have positioned where we would like our credits to go during our title sequence in the most common title order used.

Post your answer to the BFI statistics yearbook - Show your findings about genre preferences and audiences in the UK ( unfinished )

Due to the BFI Statistics Yearbook 2014

Animation was the most popular genre of film in the UK , taking 21.% of box office on its own. Leaving Action and Comedy in second and third place with 18.7 and 13.7 %.

Here is a screenshot of he table uploaded to the BFI statistics.

 On the opposite end of the scale we have; 

the  war genre, scraping the bottom in with <0.1 %

documentary genre second to last with only 0.9 %

and romance genre just above with 1.2 %

                                                                        

Although it is not the most successful genre, Comedy still had the most amount of film releases Taking up more than 20% of the film releases with 153 films.

Whereas by the first table shown to you , you can see that there were oly 3 animation films made , and an 47 action films made. Although he animation genre had the least amount of films made out of the top 3 , it still managed to be the most popular genre that year with the most amount of sales. 

Given that animation is the least produced it could coyote to us that animation take the longest to produce or that it is the most expensive. But given that most of animations target audience is children They manage to get sales as parents bring their child (or multiple children depending on the family) to see these film. Therefore these films manage to get more sales and multiple sales as kids often want to see these films more than once and or have siblings which raises amount of tickets sold.

Audience feedback profile for ideal target audience

- The Pitch - Question 1 -

a) The title of our film is 'The Grey Area'.

b) The film is based around a police officer called Jackson Roberts. He has been discharged from his position as he is undergoing an investigation regarding the murder of 16 year old Michael Harrison. Although Jackson was shot on the night of the murder, there is key evidence tying him to it, making him the main suspect. Jackson is sure he is being set up and tries to prove his innocence by regaining his memory from the night however he struggles to get past his PTSD after getting shot. Will he be able to figure it out before the trial?

The title sequence starts off with the night of the shooting on January 25th, 2015. Jackson is seen running after a suspect in a hoodie late at night. They approach an alleyway and Jackson demands the suspect to turn around with his hands in the air. The suspect begins to turn around very slowly but then sharply points a gun at Jackson and shoots. Jackson then wakes up abruptly and we are introduced to his psychologist, Maria Wordsworth. As the scene progresses we find out that Jackson has been suffering from PTSD and is trying to relive the night of the shooting to prove his innocence before his impending trial. During these scenes, the title credits will appear.

- Evidence of Filming -

- Evidence of Editing -

Here is our final edit of our Collateral Remake.

Genre Shortlist

Genres we may choose for our title sequence:

• Thriller
• Crime

- Why is sound is important in films -

Sound has a very important role in films as without it, it is basically half of the film. The sound sets up the mood and the atmosphere of the film, from a clock ticking in a silent room to give suspense, to the sound of a busy street, connoting that it is in a city. The sound also engages the viewers more to the film, because even though there is a great amount of action going on in the film, the absence of a simple sound like a tire screech effects the scene completely.

Genre conventions in film openings

For most movie genres, the film openings follow a certain pattern which is:

• first there must be an ident right at the beginning for copyright issues
• The credits must run along the whole opening
• Actors names appear starting with the main ones
• The title of the film is either shown at the beginning of the ending of the opening

but film openings always follow a certain convention depending on the genre

Action film:

1. Cars chases
2. Fighting sequence
3. Chase on foot
4. Explosions

Action films I have enjoyed: Fast and furious series, The Dark Knight, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Bourne Ultimatum

Sci-Fi Films:

1. Mostly set in outer space or in a different, often fictional planets
2. Very advances technology
3. Mostly set in the future
4. Alien creatures

Horror Films:

1. There is sometimes supernatural identities
2. Often set in dark, gloomy isolated locations
3. There is almost always someone that gets killed
4. The is sometimes someone murdering people 

Blogging Health Check 1 - David

David, you show lots of potential in class and work really well but unfortunately your blog doesn't currently reflect the level or amount of work that I have observed you complete in class, and subsequently this means that you are not currently attaining a mark that I think really reflects your true potential in this subject.  Please can you read through the feedback below and then complete the to do list / targets at the bottom of the page:

strengths:
- nicely presented
- some evidence of research into title sequences

weaknesses:
- lots of work missing
- content of the posts are brief and would benefit from greater detail, analysis, explanation and reflection

to do / targets for improvement:
1. complete all missing tasks with priority given to tasks 10,11,12,13,15,17
2. aim to offer more detail in your posts
3. aim to post to the blog 3 or 4 times weekly; use the lessons and workshops to post any work completed during lesson time so you can keep on top of the checklist
4. begin to use a greater range of ICT and digital apps to present your work visually

-Target audience research homework-

A target audience is the audience that you focus most on captivating and drawing into your title sequence. This is the audience you base your film around and aim to impress most. Being able to successfully appeal to your target audience is a skill many promotion teams aim to master as it will dramatically increase the odds of your success.

By conducting this survey i was able to determine that american films are the most popular

Analyse three title sequences -

The genre that we have decided to do for our work will be a crime/thriller film.

Snatch
Macro
a.) Set in the London criminal underworld, the film contains two intertwined plots: one dealing with the search for a stolen diamond, the other with a small-time boxing promoter who finds himself under the thumb of a ruthless gangster who is ready and willing to have his subordinates carry out severe and sadistic acts of violence.

The key themes in this film consists of burglaries, heists, drug trafficking and violence and underground fighting.

The characters includes:
a promoter for unlicensed, no-gloves boxing
a sadistic crime boss
a getaway driver
a jewel dealer
a small-time gangster

Micro

-The cuts used in the opening is fast paced and quick and there are also angles which give close ups things such as jewelry.
-The music that is used in the opening title is the 'typical' type soundtrack that is commonly used in heist films
-A lot of the men are dressed in suits with trench coats, which connotes to crime/gangster films. Another mise-en-scene that is used is the use of gambling games, used a lot in crime films.
There is also  guns, which is a 'must have' prop in a crime/thriller film.

Order of the title sequence 

-The title sequence only shows the names of the Characters

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Macro
a.) Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for forty years by Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker.

The key themes in the film is tense hacking situations

Characters:
Mikael Blomkvist - A co-owner for Swedish lifestyle magazine Millennium
Lisbeth Salander - a computer hacker
Nils Bjurman - Salander's legal guardian
Henrik Vanger - a wealthy businessman who launches an extensive investigation into his family's affairs
Micro
-The opening uses graphic animation and motion
- The colors are very dark to represent the tone of the film
- A lot of quick cuts
- Bodies coming out from a some sort of black oil
- The music used sounds like 'punk' music, which links with the films cyber-punk tone
-

1.) Ident (distributors)    2.) Production company    3.)  Director    4.) Actors names
5.) Casting     6.) Costume Designer   7.) Co-Producers     8.) Sound Design    9.)Music By
10.) Editors    11.)Production Designer   12.) Director of photography   13.) Executive Producers
14.) Producers    15.) Based on     16.) Screenplay By     17.) Director

Planning of a title sequence

Target Audience Research

Target Audience

In film, the target audience is a particular group which the film is aimed at. It is important to have a target audience for a movie because not everyone are into the same product. So in order to be successful, you have to research the geographic, demographic and photography of your target audience.

BFI Statistics yearbook

According to this statistic table that shows the highest grossing films in the UK, it shows that the British audience's genre preference is are Adventure and Action films as there are 16 out of the 20 films that fall into these genres. This list also shows that British audiences like to see British films, or Films with a primarily British cast as 7 British films are on the list.

What is Genre?

In film, genre is the style with similarities in the narrative elements from which the films are made. For each  genre, there are codes and conventions that they follow, which signifies the genre that they belong to.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Action:

Still of men in a brawl on top of a moving vehicle. It is easy to notice that this belongs in a action film because of the reason that there is fighting, which is the main factor in an action film. The character seem barbaric and violent which shows that violence is a major factor in the film. 

I like this genre because things happen everytime so it never gets boring.

Insidious: Chapter 2

Horror:
The image shows men investigating a dark spooky-looking room. Horroe movies a almost always set in isolated dark atmospheres to show tension. It is clear to see that the film is a horror because the lighting in the room is very dark and creepy to make to atmosphere scary.
I like this genre because I enjoy a little scares.

prometheus

Sci-Fi:

Image shows a man on board a spaceship in outer space.
It is clear to see that this image belongs in a sci-fi film as it is located within a spaceship which a major factor is the genre, Spaceships also connotes with the years being set in the future.
I like this genre because they are eye-catching

Evaluation

Looking at the final product of this project, I would say that the group was successful. In order to to prepare correctly for filming,we had to note down each shot and angle and story board them. This wasn't particularly difficult as the opening is very short. However it was slightly difficult to illustrate the match cuts that are used in the opening but this didn't effect the rest of the project much as no detail was really left out. Our location was just outside the college. This location worked very well as there were people walking in and out of the shots, which is similar to the style of the collateral opening. This added an element of authenticity and professionalism to the final product. The only props used were a pair of sunglasses in. This was used to imitate one of the characters in the original opening and didn't have much of an impact on the final product.

Adding the title credits was particularly difficult as we ran into many technical problems, animation problems, transition problems and many more. However after numerous attempts we were able to overcome these problems to create smooth opening sequence with title credits. We decided on a simple bold white font as there were many colours that we were able to contrast it in. We followed the conventional title sequence order to add authenticity to the final product.

- Evidence of Planning -

- BFI Statistics Yearbook -

- Findings of the genre conventions in film openings -

- Why is sound so important in a film? -

Sound plays a huge part in films in many different forms such as ambient sound, score,voice over and dialogue. If you take out sound from films you realise that you miss out on small things such as car horns on the road or snoring a bedroom that set and add to scenes. With sound the audience are more engaged and the story becomes clearer. Sound is visceral to audience members and helps them suspend belief.

Here is an example:


I first watched this scene without the sound on and found it hard to concentrate on what was happening. Although the scene itself was well filmed and clear, without sound it was not possible for me to suspend belief in the scene and actually feel much emotion.

However, when I watched the same scene with the sound on, I was immediately drawn in. The scene was slow paced but the addition of ominous sounds created anxiety and made me apprehensive to what was about to happen next.

I also made my friend repeat the same exercise and she responded said that 'without sound the film was not scary at all'.

This therefore reinforces my point that sound is indeed important for a film to be successful to the audience.

- Genre Shortlist -

Two possible genre choices that we may choose for our title sequence are:
- Crime
- Thriller

- What is genre? -

Genre is a specific type of music, film or writing.

I've learnt that for each genre there are specific codes and conventions that directors have to follow in order to stick to it. Also, in films you can mix two or more genres together ( also known as a hybrid genre).

Here are three stills from my favourite genres.

RomCom:                                                            
This still is of a man and woman sitting opposite each other in an office and I was able to pinpoint this genre because this is usually a generic trope of most RomComs. I like this genre because I enjoy romances and happy endings.



       
Teen:                                                                  
This still is of 4 teenage girls in an American cafeteria. I know this is a teen film as it seems to be set in a high school and focusing on these 4 main girls. I prefer this genre as I feel like I can relate to the characters since we are of similar years and also because of the comedy aspect.




Animation:                                                               This still is of three brightly animated characters which made it quite evident that it was an animation film. I enjoy this genre as I feel like it keeps me intact with my inner child. Additionally, I personally feel like directors and script-writers add specific details (e.g. jokes) for older audience members like myself.                            

- Target Audience Research -

What is a target audience?
An audience are a group of people at public events e.g. films, concerts and plays. To define target audiences you must find out what kind of genres the audience enjoy. It is useful to have a target audience for films as it gives the director specific codes and conventions to follow in order for their audience to be pleased. Most genres have different target audiences for example; RomComs are usually targeted at females from 12 upwards, actions are targeted at males 13-mid 30's and animations are targeted at young children and their parents.

Using SurveyMonkey I created a survey to help me understand what films people enjoyed and disliked.

Here is the link to My Film Survey.

From this survey I was able to determine that most (70.37%) people prefer to watch American films.

1/7 of the 27 people who filled out the survey said that Action films were their favourite genre for reasons such as "tense scenes" and because they "captivating".

RomComs and Horror films were voted the most for disliked films for reasons such as "too predictable", "corny" and "never reach[ing] standards".

Lastly, when asked 'Do you think age affects your preferred film genre?', over half (51.87%) voted no.

I also interviewed people of different ages and genders on films.



Based on this research, I would say that Action films are the most popular and if my group was to choose this genre our target audience would be teenagers and young males from 21-35.

- What are the 4 different types of film openings? -

Throughout the years title sequences have evolved which is mostly due to the developments of new technologies from the 21st century. Here are the four main title sequences that we use:

Titles on a blank screen
This is the most common film opening type as they are relatively cheap so are used by studios with low budgets. It is simply different type faces on a blank background and is most commonly white on black to create a contrast.

Titles on still images
This film opening is more complex than the previous one. It requires combining visual still images (usually related to the film) with text which was a move past simple credits. This development also made credits longer to incorporate.

Titles over moving images
This film opening presents credits with moving images that introduce the tone of the film and important locations. Soundtracks are used however there is usually no dialogue.

Titles using animation or motion
This specific film opening became very popular in the late 90's due to the development of new technologies and stylized editing globally. Titles were combined with images to the point that they actually became part of the moving image.

My favourite type of film openings are titles using animation or motion. This is because I think it's very eye catching and make credits/titles look interesting.