Final cut

This is our complete first attempt at the opening title sequence.



The majority of the film was edited by Cal but myself and Ruby both put ideas forwards to him to help edit it. Since Cal is most familiar and technologically capable with the Macs and iMovie he did almost all of the editing.The completed film is quite accurate in the way that it contains the elements needed to make it of the Film Noir genre, such as the camera angles and Mis-en-scene. But it's also filled with a few weaknesses that make it not all too good. Here are what I think the strengths and weaknesses are to the film.:

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Props (ACE - Rough Edit)

For our opening title sequence it was important to have good looking and effective props. For this reason it was  decided to use some props that were in Cal's house because they looked good, or will do when we make the footage black and white.

Here's a list of some of the props we have used so far: 

To create the ceiling fan at the beginning Cal took two pieces of cardboard and wrapped them in electrical tape. They didn't need to be neat because they'd move past the camera too quickly for the camera to focus on them. Cal had to stab a pen through the middle so that myself  (the camera man) had something to hold onto and also to rotate it with.

We knew that we would need a gun prop, and Cal had one at home. Although its a half orange airsoft gun we thought it would look okay in black and white. It is authentic looking except for the bright orange slide but it will come out grey in black and white. An advantage of using this gun is that it fits in with the time set in a film noir film because it's been manufactured in real life since 1911 and therefore can't be an anachronism. 

For the fake blood we tried covering Cal's hand in ketchup but it didn't look realistic at all. It was too light and thin to be blood. Then we tried covering his hand in beetroot hoping that it would stain my skin red, but all it did was make it look a pinkish purple colour. As a final resort Cal covered his hand in red food colouring and it looked surprisingly really good. Once it had dried it looked dark like clotted blood. In the picture it looks quite pink because of the lighting, but in the dark it looked very good and it also shows up well in black and white.

Opening Title Sequence: Dialogue

It's been decided that for our opening title sequence, that it will contain no dialogue in it but instead there will be a voice over in the form of a narration. We think that this will be best because it gives the audience a better understanding of what is happening and also because it fits in well with the film noir genre of the main character (the anti-hero) giving his perspective of the events that will occur. If we was actually creating the entire film, the opening title sequence would be one of the few points of the film that has a narration rather than dialogue between characters. 

So far we have recorded the first part of the narration that is the first part to the opening title sequence. We had some discussion as to who will play the role of the anti-hero and so far it is between myself and Cal. Because of this we have both recorded ourselves reading out lines from the script which myself and Ruby wrote. We also thought it would be a good idea to read the lines in a different accent because it seems a much better idea to have at least one character from either a different location from Norwich in the UK or someone from a different country. So far we have tried a London accent, a northern accent and also a kind of southern states accent. 

To record this we used the voice recording application on Cal's iPhone. We also tried to record using the Meranz with a boom mic attached to it, but because the boom mic was broken and also because we found using the Meranz to complicated, we soon scrapped that idea and just chose to stick with the iPhone instead which has worked out quite well. We plan to select the dialogue we think is the best sounding and best suited to our original ideas to then be edited into our video.

Sound Effects

For our opening title sequence we need to find a suitable sound effect to simulate a gunshot. We decided that we would use foleying methods to get the right sound we thought would be best to use in the production. Ideally we would prefer to record the actual sound of a gun firing but due to the fact we unfortunately don't have access to firearms, we are unable to do so. However, we did do some searching on the internet for sounds of gunshots but they weren't all that good and also not of a good sound quality as some where distorted and unclear. A method we tried out was hitting a hard surface with a plastic ruler. This was tried a few times and had a sound that was somewhat similar to a gunshot but slightly a bit too high pitched. Another method we used was using a staple gun to staple a surface and then recording the sound. This method provided the best results for us because we all agreed that in one instance it made the best sound of a gunshot. Although what we recorded does sound quite good, we should probably re-record with a a recording device rather than a camera because it should be of a better quality. It'd also be worth trying out some different methods such as pyrotechnics and also to re-record some samples of hitting the ruler against a surface by changing the material of the ruler and surface and also where we hold it. 

Here's our foleying:

Storyboard

Here is our written storyboard of the OTS. It isn't as detailed as our drawn storyboard. It shows the rough idea of the story before we changed it and contains some of the camera angles and filming methods we planned to use. There are also some ideas for sound effects and for the people we will have acting, and the roles they will play.

Here is sheet one of our first drawn storyboard showing from the production logo up to a shot in the final scene. Most of the changes are in this section here, although they are not so much changes as they are additions to detail, or entire shots. It includes the production logo, film title, and the first location of the OTS.

This is the second sheet of our first storyboard which continues from the last and shows the end of the OTS.

Opening Title Sequence: Sound Effects

Sound Effects

For our production we need to find suitable sound effects to go with our filming. One sound effect we need is a gunshot which is to sound a few times just before our title screen. For the sound of the gunshot I have found a couple of websites (which can be found here and here)that have samples of the sound of a gun firing. However, I haven't yet found a gunshot that I feel is suitable and of the right sound to be used in the OTS. A solution I could undertake to find a good gunshot sound is to actually create it myself. One method to do this is to record me or someone else slapping a table with a ruler and the resulting sound should hopefully make the sound we are searching for. If that doesn't work though there are a few more ways we could create the sound using foley methods. 

Opening Title Sequence: Audience

Audience

I believe that the target audience who our OTS is aimed at is 
people between the ages of sixteen to thirty and also prominently males but still suited towards a female audience as well. This is because the opening title sequence will feature graphic violence, strong language and scenes of gambling. All of these conventions are ideally suited towards a male target audience and more specifically to males between the ages of sixteen to thirty. These elements that will feature in it are all typical conventions of films that appeal to a male target audience. Although a film noir film has a target audience that is usually quite high and commonly not below the age of 18 typically, I feel that our film would appeal to people from the age of 16 because the OTS will have elements to it that appeal to the viewing pleasures of a person of this age. 

Discussion about filming in black & white

We've been discussing that as part of our opening title sequence there will be a section that is shown in black and white. But we all have mixed opinions on this matter because the section that would be in black and white takes part in the future. The issue is that a scene that takes part later on in the film, would firstly be shown directly after the opening title sequence or as part of it and then be show later on in the film when the event would actually take place in the chronological order. However we need to make the final decision as to whether it is filmed in black and white or in colour. I have done some research on the internet and found some films that at some point will change from colour to black and white or vice versa.

For instance, the film 'Schindler's List' features the opening title sequence in colour and then gradually changes until black and white for the rest of the film (except when we see the 'girl in the red coat') until the end of the film where it eventually changes back to colour for the end credits sequence scene.






The film ' Kill Bill: Volume 1' features its opening scene and opening title sequence in black and white. Afterwards the film changes to colour and at various points changes back to black & white with an additional scene in an animatic format. One possible reason that the opening scene is in black and white is because the film has many homages to old films and this is just one of them. So basically the idea of having our opening title sequence in black & white is a homage as well and this time to the film noir genre.       

Timeline of things to do

Week beginning 6th January -  Planning shoots, costumes, music, capture of photo images for photo storyboards
Week beginning 13th January -filming, music finished, storyboards uploaded to blog, creating studio & production idents/screens
Week beginning 20th January - uploads of filming, editing and creation of raw footage / editing to complete the first 'cut', editing images - to produce first cuts ready for feedback
Week beginning 27th January - first focus group work (collect feedback from within the group & HY/MO) / re-editing / planning and completion of any reshoots / planning construction of sound
Week beginning 3rd February - construction of sound / titles / final edits of film OTS

Week beginning 10th February - exhibition and distribution of 'first cut' of final films shared on digital/social networks for the purpose of focus group feedback - use surveys/ questionnaires and allow time for feedback / work on Blogs to ensure all the above is evidenced: talking head, reflective note, production plans, slideshares.....
Week beginning 17th February = Half term - complete focus group research / complete Blogs / plan final improvements to productions in response to the feedback
Deadline for completed Research & Planning Blogs and First Drafts of Productions is the 28th February (Friday after half term)

Opening Title Sequence: Age Rating

Firstly, we haven't exactly decided if we will use strong language in our OTS because we haven't completed the script so there is no telling yet. However it is most likely that there will be strong language because this will be in keeping with the overall tone of the OTS that we are trying to create for it. For this reason  the rating for our film would ideally be a 15. This is because the strongest word that might be used is 'F**k' and would not be mentioned too much. The reason why this would have a 15 rating certificate is because the British Board of Film Classification allows no restrictions on the amount of strong language used in a 15 film, although the word 'C**t't is allowed to be used a few times, it can't be used too much or in an aggressive manner because it would take the rating up to an 18. We aren't too concerned about this because it isn't likely we'll use that word.
Something else that would affect the age rating is the gore. We plan on having two characters playing recently killed dead bodies in the the OTS and for this we need to have them a bit bloodied up. We also plan on having a character who's been shot and survives, and who's wound will be clearly visible and hopefully quite graphic as well. For those reasons I reckon the rating for it won't need to be over a 15.

Here's more information about the classification for a 15: 
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15

Research and critical theory: understanding narrative theory as linked to genre (kinda complete)

Multi-strand Narrative

An example of a multi-strand film is 'Crash', the film follows a variety of characters each being highlighted by a different story, but the primary focus of the film is about racial and social tension in Los Angeles. Each characters storyline intertwines at some point with most of the other main characters.

Non-linear Narrative

An example of a non-linear film is 'Reservoir Dogs', the film depicts the events of the before and after stages of a diamond robbery gone bad. The parts of the film that show the planning of the robbery is shown after the actual robbery, and at many points during the film it switches to and from past to present. 

Linear Narrative

A film that follows the linear narrative convention is the film 'Candyman'. The film tells the story of a post-graduate student who is investigating urban legends to complete her thesis, but she ends encountering the grisly legend of the 'Candyman' who gruesomely kills his victims with a hook once they have said Candyman's name five times whilst looking into the mirror. The reason why this follows the linear narrative convention is because the story takes place in chronological order. Although there is one scene that does take place in the past, but this is just a flashback and is being narrated over by a character in the present.

Action codes

An example of a film that uses action codes is 'Iron Man'. The events all occur as a result of a previous event which then creates the story of the film. This is because Tony Stark travels to Afghanistan which is where he get's kidnapped, once he escaped with his armoured suit and then returns to America, he set's about making improvements to his Iron Man suits and continues  to fight evil until eventually he manages to save the day by defeating the villain. A film that uses action codes should be easy to follow by it's audience because they can tell why particular event have occurred. 

Continuity Task

For our continuity task that we was set, we had to produce a short piece of film that must show a character walking through a door and having a brief conversation with another person. At the same time we had to focus on ensuring that there was no mistakes with continuity. For our production we were in a group of five that included myself, Ruby, Cal, Emily and Sophie, and the additional help of Ollie. The main roles were played by Ollie as the victims husband (who's also the killer), Ruby played the victim/corpse and I played the detective. Cal and Sophie both operated the camera and also took a large part in directing it. Although we all had an input in deciding what should take place and also how it should be filmed. Our film is titled 'Night Stab'.

Here is our continuity task:




We found that the most difficult part of filming was keeping in line with the continuity, especially when walking up the stairs because we kept having to check what foot I would lead on to keep everything one continuous flow. Once we had completed filming we then edited it using iMovie on the Mac. Cal did a large proportion of the editing because he has a good understanding and familiarity with using a Mac, and with the help of Ruby and myself because we both used iMovie last year for GCSE media studies.

The major issue we found with our finished piece of film is that the sound, during one section of it, keeps changing to there being background noise and then to having no background noise. This is because it took more than one take to film this particular section, which meant that the background noise level kept changing. One way we could resolve this problem is by editing out all the sound for this part, and then add sound using methods such as foleying. Another issue we encountered is that we couldn't edit out a section of the film and make it sound right. The issue was that we started laughing at the end part of the film, but we tried to edit it out, but it both looked and sounded jumpy. 

Planning the OTS

Sound

For our opening title sequence we need to find a piece of music that is ideally suited to the story and also to make sure it fits in with the Film Noir genre, and that it is also fairly relevant. The most simple thing that we could do would be to use some music that somebody else has created, but this wouldn't be possible for us because of copyright protection laws and also because we'd lose marks. A link to a website that explains in detail about music copyright can be found here. 

However, we have discussed the idea of creating our own piece of music using an online music creator since none of us actually have experience creating music with any instruments, except at an extremely basic level. The programme we are considering using, we are quite familiar with as we've used it during some of our KS3 music lessons at school. 

http://www.audiotool.com/ - this is the internet site we could use to create the music.

A possible problem that we could encounter with using 'Audiotool' is that it is quite technical in some areas and this could make it difficult to produce a piece of finished music. We should be able to overcome that obstacle because there are various video tutorials available online. The second problem we might face whilst using 'Audiotool' is not being able to produce a piece of music that conforms to the genre that our OTS will be. The only option we have is to spend a good amount of time on Audiotool to experiment with the different sounds.

Here is a tutorial for Audiotool 

The key conventions of an opening title sequence

These are the key conventions that I would expect to find in an opening title sequence:

• Distributor company's name
• Production company's name
• The name of the director
• Producers name
• Executive producers name
• The films's title
• Main cast list (usually the main actor/actresses name would appear before anyone else's)
• Credit to the creator if the film is based upon somebody else's work such as an author or playwright
• Editors name
• Writers
• Credits for the people who made the film score and/or to the people who made a song specifically to be part of the film, such as "Skyfall" by Adele in the film 'Skyfall'. 
• A logo to go with the film
• List of those people who were part of the production company such as special effects and costume designers (these credits would usually be expected to be found at the end credits to a film)

Although not all of these credits will be found in every film opening title sequence or in this particular order, this list serves the purpose of showing what I have found during an OTS of the many films I have seen.

A film might have it's opening title sequence straight at the beginning of a film, or instead it might take place at a later point (usually after an initial scene.) 

Here is an example of a film's opening title sequence which also takes place after an important part to the films story: 

Conventions of Film Noir

These are the key conventions that would be found in Film Noir. Some of these I found by doing research on the internet, but others I found from watching various Film Noir productions.

Cinematography

• Low key lighting
• Filmed in black & white
• Low & high angle shots
• Tilted angle shots (Dutch angle)
• Extreme close-ups
• Shots of the characters reflections or partially obscured 
• Deep focusing 

'Ace' Animatic

Here is our completed animatic of our opening title sequence.

Four areas of making an OTS

1. Health and Safety

• Consider actors H&S
• Location
• Props
• Dress code
• Vision during filming 
• Restriction during motion - tracking & panning
• Risk assessment

2. Ethics

• Right and wrongs VS Responsibilities
• Managing people

3. Certification

• Links to audience
• http://www.bbfc.org.uk

4. Copyright

• You cannot use somebody else's work unless you have permission to do so
• Fair use
• Music must be created by ourselves to be used in our OTS

Opening title sequence planning

Animatic

Our next step was to create a photo animatic of our OTS. For this we took photographs of us acting out the OTS, just like how we decided we wanted it to look in our storyboard. Each photograph is basically a simple recreation of our drawings. We couldn't get each shot perfectly how we wanted it to be but we instead just changed some of the camera angles and lighting to make it work. We also didn't use any props for this as it would be unnecessary and also because we were limited to what we had access to, because we were at school. The photos were then uploaded onto the Mac and were used to create a slideshow using the website 'Slideshare.net'.  

As we only have one camera it is possible for the director to film whilst directing, if this were a larger production there would be several cameras each with its own operator. However, we could always enlist the help of more people (such as people from different groups)to help with filming and therefore mean the actors could be in it rather than having to film it instead. 

One of our next steps before we start filming the opening title sequence is to write the script. We have decided that this will be a group effort rather than one person writing the whole thing. This is much better because we can all make an important individual contribution and also discuss what we do and don't want to be in the script. 

Opening title sequence planning

My group, 'Pulse Productions' includes; me, Cal and Ruby

Producer: 'Pulse Productions'

Director: Cal

Camera operator: Cal

Editor: Elliott

Costume/make up: Ruby

Lighting operator: Elliott

Sound production: Ruby

Special effects: Elliott

Prop manager: Ruby

Casting: Group (Cal, Ruby, Elliott)

Cinematographer: Elliott

Foley artist: Cal and Elliott

Locations: School, Cal's house

Actors: Elliott, Ruby, Cal, James (hopefully)

This list is somewhat accurate, however we will each partake in assisting each other with the creation of our opening title sequence project. 

Storyboard

Our first task was to create a story board which shows the plot of our OTS and also includes the camera angles that we have chosen for each shot. This story board was drawn by hand and also shows annotated notes of what is happening in each individual shot such as the lighting.

Media audiences

Audiences

Active - choosing to get involved and engage with the media     product

Passive - when the decision isn't made to get involved and engaged with the media product   

Traditional - will see a film at the cinema and/or buy it on DVD. But won't stream it online or buy it on Blu-ray.

Preferred -  the target audience whom the product was made for.

Hedonist - taking a risk by watching a new and different film.

post-modern - challenges traditional viewing methods such as with Blu-ray and online streaming.

In his article titled Audiences: Trends, Profiles and Patterns: What People Go to See, Why and How to Reach Them, Pete Buckingham (Head of Distribution and Exhibition, UK Film Council) suggests that age and demographics (education and/or disposable income) influence audience patterns. For example, 40% of cinema audience are aged between 15 to 24. Whereas 20 percent of cinema audiences are over 54s. 38% of cinema audience are aged between 35 to 44s. Buckingham claims that age also influences the frequency of cinema trips which means 60% of heavy cinema goers are aged between 15-35, 50% of medium cinema goers are aged between 25-44 and 32% of light cinema goers are aged 55 plus. And bearing in mind the information on audience demographics, ABC1s form between 60 and 66% of cinema audience.