Creative Task: Remake of a Coming of Age Opening Sequence

The Breakfast Club

         

What I have learnt:
This is was my first experience of creating an opening sequence and I believe that it went well. The reason that it went well was because we carefully planned out the sequence by drawing a clear storyboard, printing off a script and identifying locations to film around the school. This shows if you have a clear plan, you can focus more on the acting a small details that make it look more professional. Personally, I think that the first sequence that features lots of shots is very much like the original and looks realistic. However, the audio of the voice over is quite quiet and not very clear so it could have been better if we recorded it again in a louder and clearer fashion. The car scene is also good as we stick to the 180 degree rule and apply match on action as I exit the car. However, we experienced audio problems again as it is a struggle to hear the actors. This is because we had the windows open to film the sequence whilst it was windy and the people in the car were not confident enough with their lines to act the scene passionately. In the original the music fades out during the car scene whereas in our remake the music still overpowers the speaking of the actors. One camera angle that we used which was effective was when the camera pans down on the locker and up on the car. This helps the audience know that they are in a new setting and allows the film to flow. I will therefore use this when I start to create my own projects. Although this is an effective film opening for a coming of age film I think that I will base my opening on one subject rather than three as I do not want to reveal the narrative to the audience straight away and I want to be able to create some enigma codes.

Checklist For My Opening Sequence:

• Don't reveal too much of the narrative.
• Use a catchy soundtrack to engage my audience.
• Correct institution information used.
• Make the main character the focus of the narrative.
• Film the video in landscape and not portrait as it will make it difficult to edit.
• Make the actors speak clearly and slowly to make it easy to edit and understandable.
• Stick to the 180 degree rule unless I am braking it to add effect and demonstrate confusion.
• Use close ups.
• Think about costume to represent a social group.
• Make a clear plan/storyboard.
• Make transitions seamless.
• Use Film 4 as my institution company as they are usually low budget films and bring up encouraging actors. 
• Try to include some animation in my sequence.
• Produce a script for my actors.
• Use pans to demonstrate motion.
• Create some enigma codes that will make my audience watch on.

Task 5: Director case study

Greg Mottola Voki
Greg Mottola's three films, Paul, Superbad and Adventureland all contain similar elements. Firstly, he uses animation in all of the films but in slightly different ways. The title and typography elements in Superbad and Adventureland look animated and are cartoon like whereas the animation in Paul is of the alien which is made to look like it is in the shot with the rest of the characters. This animated element gives us the impression that the target audience is teenagers because this is associated with comedy films that stereo typically teenagers are engaged to.

The actors that Greg uses in his films are also well known. For example, Paul features Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Superbad stars Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill and Adventureland stars Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg. All of these actors are extremely famous so therefore his films will be watched by a lot of people because of the names listed. Kristen Wiig and Seth Rogen appear more than once in his films which shows that he wants his audience to be attracted by seeing these names on the credits.

In all the trailers of these films, editing techniques are frequently used. For example, wipes are used a lot along with a sound effect which helps the scene to flow and develop. Mottola also uses vibrant music in his films which allows his audience to recognize his films and potentially watch it because of who it is related to.

The narratives are completely different in his films but have the same goal. This is because of the theory that most films follow Todorovs theory. he uses males as the main character which could be because he is trying to attract a male audience so that they will watch his film with the aim of not only being entertained but to relate with the main protagonist.

Film Examples:
Superbad

Adventureland

Paul

What I have learnt:
After researching the work of Greg Mottola I have found out that if you frequently use some small elements you can build an audience and a franchise. I will try to use some of his editing techniques like a wipe from one shot another as I believe that this helps to construct a flow to the narrative. I also like the idea that he incorporated animation into his films so I will therefore try to include this in my sequence. I have also learnt a lot about the directing industry and that most directors have a style or way of doing things. They furthermore like working with the same actors as they clearly understand each other and know what the actor is capable of.

Checklist For My Opening Sequence:

• Don't reveal too much of the narrative.
• Use a catchy soundtrack to engage my audience.
• Correct institution information used.
• Make the main character the focus of the narrative.
• Film the video in landscape and not portrait as it will make it difficult to edit.
• Make the actors speak clearly and slowly to make it easy to edit and understandable.
• Stick to the 180 degree rule unless I am braking it to add effect and demonstrate confusion.
• Use close ups.
• Think about costume to represent a social group.
• Make a clear plan/storyboard.
• Make transitions seamless.
• Use Film 4 as my institution company as they are usually low budget films and bring up encouraging actors. 
• Try to include some animation in my sequence.

Task 4: Producers and Distributors

What I have learnt:

After my research of these distribution and production companies, I have discovered which company I would like to produce my Coming of Age film. Film 4 is a perfect choice because they are associated with bringing up and encouraging young actors and also produce some coming of age films. I have also understood the difference between between a production company and a distribution company which I didn't know before this piece of research. Finally, I was surprised by the amount of different companies with different amounts of money, audiences and genres.#

Checklist For My Opening Sequence:

• Don't reveal too much of the narrative.
• Use a catchy soundtrack to engage my audience.
• Correct institution information used.
• Make the main character the focus of the narrative.
• Film the video in landscape and not portrait as it will make it difficult to edit.
• Make the actors speak clearly and slowly to make it easy to edit and understandable.
• Stick to the 180 degree rule unless I am braking it to add effect and demonstrate confusion.
• Use close ups.
• Think about costume to represent a social group.
• Make a clear plan/storyboard.
• Make transitions seamless.
• Use Film 4 as my institution company as they are usually low budget films and bring up encouraging actors. 

Task 11: Preliminary Task

What I have learnt:
From creating this task we have managed to use all the elements we have learnt in our other videos and link them together. Firstly, we found that planning our video was quite simple as we all agreed on one idea and roughly knew what shots would work. we made a clear storyboard shown above that mapped out our ideas and made sure that we knew what we were filming. Filming the video also went well as we stuck to one camera man which meant that the other people in our group could focus on positioning etc. we also learnt from our previous mistakes like filming in landscape, not portrait and having more of the persons body in the shot whilst filming an over the shoulder camera angle. Together, these improvements made our video look a lot more professional. However, whilst editing our video, some of our transitions between the shots were not seamless like in previous videos which lowered the professional value. Therefore next time we will need to focus on making sure that the shots fit exactly to make it improve.

Checklist For My Opening Sequence:

• Don't reveal too much of the narrative.
• Use a catchy soundtrack to engage my audience.
• Correct institution information used.
• Make the main character the focus of the narrative.
• Film the video in landscape and not portrait as it will make it difficult to edit.
• Make the actors speak clearly and slowly to make it easy to edit and understandable.
• Stick to the 180 degree rule unless I am braking it to add effect and demonstrate confusion.
• Use close ups.
• Think about costume to represent a social group.
• Make a clear plan/storyboard.
• Make transitions seamless.

Task 3: Conventions Of An Opening Sequence

The Goonies

             

21 Jump Street

What I have learnt:
Whilst analyzing these film openings, I have learnt how camera angles, editing, sound and Mise en Scene can be used to make an interesting opening sequence and hook and engage the audience. I have also got an idea of what elements I need to include in my opening sequence in order to stand out or help it flow. Some camera angles that I will use are close ups as I think that they clearly show someones emotions and a point of view shot to make it feel like the audience is the character in the scene. I will also have to carefully consider the costumes that I use in my opening as I think this is a great way to highlight a characters persona.

Checklist For My Opening Sequence:

• Don't reveal too much of the narrative.
• Use a catchy soundtrack to engage my audience.
• Correct institution information used.
• Make the main character the focus of the narrative.
• Film the video in landscape and not portrait as it will make it difficult to edit.
• Make the actors speak clearly and slowly to make it easy to edit and understandable.
• Stick to the 180 degree rule unless I am braking it to add effect and demonstrate confusion.
• Use close ups
• Think about costume to represent a social group.

Creative Task: Match On Action

             

What I have learnt:

From the completion of this video, I have learnt the technique of match on action and put it into practice. We experienced a few issues when creating this video. Firstly, some of the shots that linked together where not seamless. For example, when Tom ties up his shoe lace he doesn't carry on walking after the action and instead stands still. In our next shot, Tom already started walking so we were missing a link in between to make it look like he had just carried on. Another problem that we had was that the volume of audio in each shot was different as they were filmed at different times in different places. Therefore, we had to put a soundtrack over the top of our video and mute the volume in the shots. However, I believe that this made the video better as it added another element to it.  

Checklist For My Opening Sequence:

• Don't reveal too much of the narrative.
• Use a catchy soundtrack to engage my audience.
• Correct institution information used.
• Make the main character the focus of the narrative.
• Film the video in landscape and not portrait as it will make it difficult to edit.
• Make the actors speak clearly and slowly to make it easy to edit and understandable.
• Stick to the 180 degree rule unless I am braking it to add effect and demonstrate confusion.

Creative Task: Shot Reverse Shot Practice

What I have learnt:
By creating this video I have learnt what went wrong and what went well. The first problem that we had was that we started to film the shots in portrait on an IPhone. This was an issue because it would have meant that the shots would have looked small on IMovie. Half way through filming we realized what the issue was and had enough time to start to film in landscape which made it look a lot more professional. Another issue that we encured was with the audio in each shot. This is because we were overlapping each other as we spoke which made it very difficult to edit. Therefore, we should have left long gaps between the time that we spoke so that it would have been a lot simpler to edit. One thing that went well, however, was the editing of the video. This is because each shot clearly linked together and flowed which made it look like a real conversation. One particular edit that went well was towards the end where Tom and Adam walk away from the conversation. The camera changes at exactly the right time which helps the video flow. We also followed the 180 rule and i believe this was important because it is easy for the audience to follow the conversation and also implies that there is no confusion between the characters in the shot.

Checklist For My Opening Sequence:

• Don't reveal too much of the narrative.
• Use a catchy soundtrack to engage my audience.
• Correct institution information used.
• Make the main character the focus of the narrative.
• Film the video in landscape and not portrait as it will make it difficult to edit.
• Make the actors speak clearly and slowly to make it easy to edit and understandable.
• Stick to the 180 degree rule unless I am braking it to add effect and demonstrate confusion.