Our Opening Sequence - The Game

The Game

Here are some bloopers from filming our opening sequence:

Evaluation Question Seven

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

Before we commenced filming our opening sequence, we conducted a preliminary task which aloud us to experiment with the equipment and editing software we would be using for our opening sequence and iron out any problems we had with the cameras, software and Apple iMac computers. It also gave us an opportunity to learn camera angles that are effective when filming an opening sequence as they help to add realism. We focused on four different camera angles; Match on action, Shot/reverse shot, 180-degree rule, and the panning shot. 

Match on action

Match on action

Over the shoulder shot

We were given the task of creating a short scene that involved a small amount of dialogue and involved conflict of some sort. We decided to make ours comical, displaying a pointless argument between husband and wife about leaving the milk out. Since completing this task at the very begging of our project, we have learnt so much and are now much more confident with the equipment, the editing software and the shots we should use to make our film as professional, realistic and effective as possible.

Over the completion of our project we have learnt that mise en scene plays an integral role in making a film realistic and maintaining continuity. For our preliminary task we were restricted with the props we could use and where we could film as we had to stay in school and only had two hours to come up with what we were going to do resulting in us not being prepared with props or costume. We used a school corridor as it was the only place available to us and seeming that our film was about a typical household argument, this setting made the film look false and extremely unrealistic. We also only had one prop available to us, a mug, which did add some amount of realism to the action but the action still seemed out of place.

The importance of mise en scene with the pen and paper.

In contrast, for our opening sequence, we had a long time to plan exactly what we were going to do and where we were going to film. We were also able to plan costumes and props. As our opening sequence was based around a modern day family home scenario, we filmed in an average sized family home using everyday household props such as a teddy bear and plastic cup. We also dressed our actors in modern, every day clothes. We set up the house and made sure nothing changed during filming to maintain continuity throughout. We learnt that mise en scene is very important in adding realism to a film with the location, props and costumes.

Over the project we learnt that camera angles are essential to telling the story and making it believable to the viewer. The match on action shot we used in our preliminary task was not actually needed to tell the story and we only used it because we had to include that type of shot. This made it less effective. In our opening sequence, we used a match on action shot to add to the scariness and thriller theme of the film. This shot was used when we see Jessie opening the door from the back and the camera angle shifts to the front of the door and we see her face and her frightened facial expressions. We have learnt that camera angles are essential to conveying to the audience a characters emotions and personality. For example, a person with power would be shown by a high angle shot while someone with less power will be shown by a low angle shot to visualy display to the viewer that they are smaller and less important.

High angle

Low angle

During the course of constructing the preliminary task we picked up some basic editing skills, learning how to make cuts in our footage and upload videos from Final Cut Pro X to youtube. Over weeks of playing around with the software we learnt how to add and take away audio from our clips, add subtitles and titles over our footage and how to add effects to ensure that the lighting was the same in all our clips, making sure that continuity was maintained. 

From our preliminary task to our final piece, our opening sequence, we have learnt a lot. We have found that mise en scene, camera angles and editing are the most important parts of making a film realistic and believable. 

Evaluation Question Six

What have you learnt about technologies and the process of constructing this product?

While making our opening sequence, we used numerous pieces of technology and computer programs to produce, film and edit our opening sequence and to present our research findings on our blog. 

Through the research process, we used various programmes to present our finding and the development of our ideas for the opening sequence and our film company as a whole. 

The computer website Blogger (www.blogger.com) was essential to our project as we used it to present all our research, ideas, production logo and our opening sequence all in the same place. This website allows you to make a blog for free and this is a great way to present all our work as it places it all together in a very structured order and means our work can be accessed from anywhere from everywhere in the world that has access to the internet. 

During the production stage of our opening sequence we used a Samsung WB25OF camera. This was a great camera to use as it is lightweight and records in high definition with life-like colours and extraordinarily sharp details to give a professional finish. During our first filming session we struck a problem. The camera run out of charge as rather than turning the camera off when we were not using it, we left it on. This resulted in our first day of filming running over our scheduled timing. To avoid this in our future filming sessions, we made sure we turned off the camera anytime we were not using it.
We decided not to use a tripod in our opening sequence as we feel that if our footage is slightly shaky in any places it will only enhance our final product and will increase the thriller feel of the opening sequence.

We used an Apple iMac computer throughout our project and it was essential for the success of our opening sequence as we used an application found on Apple iMac's to edit our opening sequence as well as our production logo. This application is called Final Cut Pro X and is where we uploaded all our footage from our filming to construct our opening sequence. We went through all our clips and arranged them in order. We had filmed each scene at least twice so we could select the one that we felt was the best, adding quality to our final product. 
We cut, merged and added text and effects to our film to reach our finished product. We had never used this editing application before but it was simple to use and didn't take us long to pick up the basics and then build on them to end up producing a high quality, professional product. Final Cut Pro X gave us access to effects and audio settings that are not available any where else which enhanced the quality and uniqueness of our opening sequence.

Throughout the research period, we used a range of programmes to present our findings. We used Final Cut Pro X to edit some videos we created as a group to show some of our findings. We also used an internet programme that we were all new to called Prezi. This was a very creative way to display our findings and it showed what we wanted to say visually. Prezi is a free internet website that allows anyone once they have made an account with them to create presentations and save them for access anywhere across the world with internet access.

Through the process of creating our opening sequence, we discovered that producing a film is a very time consuming and technologically demanding process. The slightest mistake such as taking two shots at slightly different angles can result in a total loss of continuity, removing any sense of realism the viewer felt before this point.

The filming process takes a long time as you have to get the actors to do exactly what you want them to and this can take a while, especially if the actors are inexperienced. We were working with three young children and this sometimes made filming time consuming as they didn't properly understand what we needed them to do so we had to take each shot several times. On top of this, they often got distracted very easily which again lengthened the filming process.

In the editing stage of our opening sequence we were extremely thankful for the editing software we had to hand, Final Cut Pro X as it was integral to the production of our opening sequence. It allowed us to add effects to our footage that are available hardly anywhere else; apart from professional standard editing softwares. Even with this exceptional editing software, the process of cutting and merging our footage took a very long to ensure our opening sequence ran seamlessly from beginning to end. 

Evaluation Question Five

How did you attract/address your audience?

To be able for our opening sequence to be seen by others there is a range of ways we used for this to happen. 

We uploaded our opening sequence on youtube for others to be able to view whenever and wherever. 

We also personally addressed others to ask what they thought about our opening sequence and what they liked about it. this is what they said.

Evaluation Question Four

Evaluation Question Three

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

This is the logo for our chosen production company which is Film 4. 

Funny Games is a film that Film4 distributed and has a similar juxtaposition of the music to the action that we did. 

Evaluation Question Two

How does your media product represent different social groups?

Actor No.1

Tom Broomfield: Age - 13 Gender - Male

Tom's character within the production fits the category of a 'typical child' as it is not stated what his name is. He is generally put into the same social group as the other two children, as being the apparent 'victims' of the situation however his visible older age suggests that he may be the most mature child of the group, however this idea is contradicted when he is the first child to be caught by the unidentified dangerous character in the plot.

Actor No.2

Jessie O'Sullivan: Age - 6 Gender - Female

Jessie's character is probably the most important of all of them within this production as she represents the 'victim' character of the story. As she is the youngest of the children and also a female, the audience see her as stereotypically vulnerable and due to this, the audience generally side with that particular character. Within the production we see her playing with toys and wandering around, in contrast with the other two children who are doing written work or are on their phone. This adds to the vulnerability of her and again highlights that she is the youngest and most helpless of them all. Additionally, the prop used by this character was a small stuffed bear which is a stereotypical prop used to accent the infancy of the child and make them appear to be reliant on other characters.

Actor No.3

Kit Bispham: Age - 12 Gender - Male

Kits character is a minor character within the production, as he is not of a significant age in terms of the situation the children are in. He is nor the youngest or oldest character meaning he, as well as Tom's character can be put under the social group of a 'typical child' who, like the others, appears to fear the character who is looking for them. It is important to have characters like this, or the importance of the significant, protagonist characters would be lost.

Actor No.4

Mark Broomfield: Age - 48 Gender - Male

Marks character is the protagonist of the production and is the cause of the situation that occurs, being that the children hide from him. His character is probably the most stereotypical of all the characters, being that he appears to be a dangerous, scary symbol who the other characters are fearful of. He is the eldest character, meaning that steriotypically he holds most of the power and control (he is to be feared, not fearful) contrasting with Jessie's character, representing two polar opposite social groups. The way that you can only see his feet throughout the whole first half of the opening sequence, makes him substantially more mysterious and adds to the effect of his character. However, when finding out who he actually is (the children's father) the stereotype of the character switches to one of a friendly, older character. We see this from the change of music and change of low angle shot which makes someone seem feared of evil, to a high angle shot of him holding the young girl and hugging the older children.

Class

The family presented within the production are a typical middle class family. This is clear due to the setting being inside an average family house, and the clothing and props that are used.

Race

All of the characters are white, however this was not intentional as other children with other ethnicities were considered for the roles, however the children we chose had to look like the father, played by Mark, who is white.

Gender

The protagonist in the production is a male, and the main victim is a female which conforms to the stereotype of the man intimidating and overpowering the woman as they are more physically powerful. The low angle shot used when the little girl is found in the cupboard with the male figure towering high over her also intensifies this view of man's dominance over women. 

Evaluation Question One

In what ways does your media product (opening sequence) use, develop  or challenge forms and conventions from real media?

Improvements and Adaptations

Sound

While editing we decided to change the music in our opening sequence because we had one song, "Tonight You Belong To Me" playing throughout the whole sequence. This song worked well as it contrasted the thriller concept and created a 'creepy' tone to the sequence. However, we decided that just using one song limited our options and by using another instrumental song our opening sequence will become more complex and tie in better with the thriller theme. 

We found an instrumental song that works perfectly with our opening sequence called "Insidious Theme". This is the soundtrack to the motion picture 'Insidious' and it's creepy violin and 'heartbeat' sound effects create a sense of tension and suspense. 

We will merge the two songs together to create a louder, more intense background music and fade out the beginning and end of each song to make it run smoothly.

Cast

We had previously planned to use two young girls and a slightly older boy in our opening sequence but we were unable to fulfil this as one of the young girls we had planned to use, Sienna, was unable to make the filming dates we had planned at very short notice. Fortunately, we had planned for such an event and already had a backup in place; Tom, Florence's brother.

Although Tom is 13 while Sienna is 5, he still conveys to the audience a young, defenceless child who has no chance of defending himself against an older, seemingly powerful, domineering and dangerous man. In our opening sequence the cast will now consist of two young boys, Kit and Tom, a young girl, Jessie, and Mark, a middle aged father figure. These actors still match are original plan as we didn't base our opening sequence on gender. In the planning process we focused on the theme of our opening scene and had backup actors in place for such eventualities.

Production Logo Reviews

We conducted some market research to discover how people in our target audience receive our production logo and if our creation has been successful. We sat a collection of randomly selected people down who we intend to be part of our target audience and asked them a selection of questions:

• Do you like our logo, if so why?
• Does the production company name fit well with the logo?
• What genre do you think our opening sequence will be?
• If we tell you our genre is thriller, do you think it fits well?
• Is there anything we can improve?

After asking these questions we have come to the conclusion that our logo fulfils all the qualities required for a high quality, professional and memorable film production logo.

Feedback

This was the feedback we got from our teachers and as a group we are happy with it as we are aiming for a high A grade.
To improve our blog we were told to "make sure all element of your opening sequence put together act as a package". This was in reference to our production logo as the image of a rose does not really match are production company logo, 'ExtreMedia'. We do not want to get rid of the image of a rose as we feel it is very effective for our opening sequence as it clearly relates to our genre. 
Therefore, we will create a sub-production company entitled 'Fallen Rose' as this relates the image of the rose and also makes the company more memorable to the viewer.

By doing this, we will complete all the action points we need to complete to achieve the highest possible grade. 

Final Logo Designs

This was our first idea but then we decided to change it as the name 'EXTREMEDIA' did not relate to the image of the rose. However, we wanted to keep the image of the rose as it is very original, so we created a sub-company of our production company entitled 'Fallen Rose' as this links extremely well to the rose image and makes the overall logo and production company more memorable.

This is our production logo which will appear before our opening sequence

We designed our logo on photoshop to get an idea of what the logo should look like. We then used final cut pro to add the text to the video. We like this logo because it is dramatic and it shows progression whilst including the title which is 'FALLEN ROSE' which we decided to be our film company's name. As we are called 'EXTREMEDIA' and the rose image is not 'extreme' looking, we have decided to make a sub-production company called 'Fallen Rose' as this links in with the rose imagery. 

This was our first idea but then we decided to changed the font as it does not look elegant enough to be related to a rose. We will also change the view of the rose.

This is our final logo design with all amendments made.

When we changed the typography and the view of the rose it made the production logo look more professional and neater. Seeing the rose once the petals have fallen leads to the production name linking more to the image used in the logo; 'Fallen'. From our research of current film production logo's, we discovered that the film production name must link to the image used to make the logo memorable.

The change in style of the typography has made the logo look more elegant without making the production company name any less noticeable. Present production company logos 'display the production company's name in a clear font in a colour that contrast with the background so that it is clear and stands out'. We have achieved this as the text is clear and easy to read while being elegant. The dark colours of the text contrast with the light background making it stand out and it draws the viewers attention.

We also discovered that a 'logo must be kept simple so that it is memorable'. Using minimal text and images has achieved this and with the production name clearly linking to the logo; if the viewer only remembers the image of the rose, this should remind them of the name of the production company.

With 'Fallen Rose' being a sub-production company of our main film company 'EXTREMEDIA', their name is also shown in the logo but in a smaller font than the production company that has produced the film so that it does not detract from the most important part of the logo; the production company's name.

Filming Schedule

This is our filming schedule, here we have written down the scenes we are planning to film and how long we estimate them to take to film. This is will be very useful during the filming process as it helps us to keep a track of our progress and speeds up the filming process as we won't need to keep stopping to work out what we need to film next.

Our Story Board

This is our story board of our opening scene.

Our Logo Ideas

For our logo we wanted something simple yet effective, we searched several companies and watched how they viewed their production logo and we liked the ideas of the use of water for our production.

This is our logo opening to market our production company.

We will use this time lapse video of a rose for our logo before we start our opening sequence. We like this video because it has a dramatic tone to it and our company is called "EXTREMEDIA" which fits in with the dramatic feel. We have decided to only use the end of the video because the start of the clip is too pure an innocent looking whereas the end is more dark and twisted which fits the genre of our opening sequence. We will also speed up the clip because it needs to be faster and the fast motion makes it more tense. When the rose drops off our company name will appear . 

To inspire our idea 

  

Our first idea was looking at decaying apples, as we wanted to explore the idea of perverting something that is pure and ordinary into something dark and abnormal. This links in well with our opening sequence idea as we are creating a plot that appears to be dark and twisted until the plot changes into something less ordinary. 

We then came up with the idea of dying flowers as flowers look more innocent and pure compared to apples therefore it will be easier to portray the 'loss of innocence' idea.

        

Film Production Logos Analysis

Are they important?

A film production logo is vital for the overall success of a film company as it is used through their company marketing and has to be rememberable as this is usually the only image used for the viewer to distinguish what company has produced the film they are watching.   

Paramount

Paramount, one of the worlds leading film production companies, use a simple yet eye catching and memorable logo. With the use of interesting yet readable typography, the text on the logo stands out due to its contrasting colour with the background it is written on. The production companies name 'Paramount' is not in the centre of the logo, however it is sill the vocal point and you can't miss it when you look at the logo.
Stars are used to convey to the viewer that the production company creates top quality films and can be trusted to do this consistently. The image used in the centre of the logo, a mountain, relates to the name of the production company. 'Paramount' means the very top and along with the stars, this cements into the viewers head that the company is the best in the business and is at the very top. With the name of the company being found at the top of the mountain further cements this image. 

Universal

Universal, another one of the worlds leading film production companies, again use a simple yet eye catching and memorable logo. 
The typography used on this company's logo for the company's name is very bold and more immediate and in your face than that shown on the Paramount logo. The text on the logo stands out due to the use of bright colours, silver and gold. This colours are often used to represent pristine quality and the company may be trying to convey to the viewer that they only produce the highest quality films. The production companies name 'Universal' is in the centre of the logo, and is therefore the vocal point and you can't miss it when you look  at the logo.
The image used in the centre of the logo, the world, again relates to the name of the production company. The positioning of the text to be in the centre of the world conveys to the viewer that the company makes fins that are suitable for the whole world and that they are a global company. The dark background and the use of bright light around the world makes the sentry of the logo stand out, which in turn, brings the production companies name to the forefront. 

Warp X

Warp x is an independent English film company that appeals to a niche market of film fans. Their logo is extremely basic yet effective. The use of the black background and white text makes the production companies name stand out and with the companies name being in the centre of the logo, it is the vocal point of the logo. The typography used is bold and simple, yet is still eye catching and is clear and easy to read. The simplistic nature of the logo indicates the low budget nature of the film production company and shows its audience what to expect; no grand special effects.

What do production company logo's include? 

All the logos above display the production company's name in a clear font in a colour that contrasts with the background so that it is clear and stands outs. The logo must be kept simple so it is memorable. An image that relate to the production company's name is often used to make the logo interesting but this must not detract from the company's name as this is the most important part of the logo as it carries the company's identity. 

James Dredge

Sound and Accompaniment

Song list 

These songs are for when the children are running around the house trying to find a place to hide.

                                                   

'Tonight You Belong To Me' 

By Patience and Prudence

Tiptoe Through The Tulips'

By Tiny Tim

'Tessellate'

By Alt-J

'Dominique'

By American Horror Story

These are a list of songs we have chose to accompany our opening scene with the panic of the children running around. Our personal favourite is 'tonight you belong to me' as its quite creepy as young children are singing it which will connect with the actors. Lastly as there will be a lot of unwanted diegetic noises in the background when filming such as (people talking when filming, footsteps of the children), yet we will be block them out by the song which is creating a confused atmosphere for the audience as they understand its a thriller yet are wondering why we are playing so enlightening music, this will make them want to watch more to see what happens in the end.

Sound Effects

In our opening sequence we will use both diegetic and non diegetic sound effects to add realism and make the action more believable to the viewer. 

We will use a non diegetic sound effect of a slamming door to act as a dramatic stimulant along with shots of all three children looking petrified to indicate to the audience that something bad is about to happen. This tension will be intensified by the accompanying non diegetic backing music that has long, lingering bass notes and high pitched squeals that build tension.

We will also use two diegetic sound effects; one being a door squeaking slowly open and a thud as the plastic cup hits the wooden floor. The function of these sound effects are primarily to add realism to the opening sequence. They also add drama to the opening sequence and show the tense nature of the situation that the audience have been thrown into.

Script

EXT.   CHILDREN FINDING HIDING PLACES. – NON DIEGETIC SOUND OF THE SONG PATIENCE AND PRUDENCE TONIGHT YOU BELONG TO ME.

Low angle shot of young girl’s feet running up the stairs. 

Cut to tracking shot of boy running down a hallway.

Cut to girl walking aimlessly around the house holding a bear.

Sound of heavy footsteps from somewhere in the house - Cuts to the image of a mans foot hitting the ground.

Cuts to 3 different shots of all the children peering over their shoulder, from each part of the house that they are in, in reaction to the threatening sound of the mans footsteps.

Three way split screen of all the children beginning to run away from the man, trying to find a place to hide.

Cuts to each child’s hiding place that they have found (the older boy and the older girl) however younger girl has not yet found anywhere to hide so sits in the corner of a downstairs room, hugging her toy bear.

POV shot of boy under the bed and girl in the cupboard.

POV shot of younger girl seeing the mans lower body walking into the room slowly.

Cuts to Non diegetic sound of younger girl screaming (we assume she has been caught by the man)

Cuts to the other two children hearing the sound of her scream and both flinch with shock and look worried.

Cuts to footsteps going up the stairs.

Cuts to POV shot of the man entering the room where the boy hides under the bed

Cuts to us seeing the boy under the bed and in his fear moves back slightly, knocking a toy that rolls out from under the bed.

Cuts to toy rolling out from under the bed.

Cuts to the lower body of the man turning, having heard and seen the toy moving, the crouches down to look under the bed.

Non-diegetic sound of the boy then screaming while cuts to older girl in cupboard looking scared.

Man enters girl’s room. Shot from POV through the line of the cupboard.

Shot of the girl’s eye looking through the cupboard doors.

Cuts to shot from behind the man walking towards the cupboard slowly sound of his feet walking.

POV of the girl when the man pulls open the doors of the cupboard quickly.

Man: Got you!

All children: playfully screaming and laughing

Cuts to the man picking up the girl and hugging her (playful screams) and the other children run in and hug the mans legs playfully, then the shot carries on to pan across the shelf where there are family photos of the man and the children, revealing that the man is in fact their father and they are playing hide and seek.