Final Opening Sequence "L337"

Question 7

Looking back on your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back on the preliminary task that i did at the beginning of the year i can see that i have made a huge leap in my skill in the use of camera and my knowledge of how to hold steady shots, things like match on action the 180 degree rule and using the rule of thirds properly. Through learning all of this i have been able to apply the knowledge to my final product.

As you can see from this short excerpt of my preliminary task this is where i was able to use the match on action but it doesn't flow very well through the editing.



As you can see from this next clip i have made use of an eye line match where one character is looking at the other and possibly could say something and then we get a reverse shot of the other character. The framing of this shot is quite out as the male character is centered in the frame and then the female character is to the left of the frame. I also made an eye line match with the character in my final product between him and the screen of his computer but the framing of the character is interesting and tight which is good as it keeps the audience from becoming disorientated when we see the next shot of the PC screen which is also tightly framed.



In this clip i have demonstrated the use of the 180 degree rule where in the frame there would be guide line where you can be only on one side of the line unless you have a transitioning shot of the camera moving to the other side of a room for a different shot, if the 180 degree rule is broken then it can disorientate the audience and make the editing seem out of pace and that things in the mise-en-scene have changed.



So from looking back at these elements i have been able to develop these skills over time to put them and make a good final product using the rule of thirds properly as well as using the 180 degree rule and being able to keep a shot steady as well as keeping the pace of editing in proportion.

Question 2

What groups of people were represented in our title sequence?

For our thriller/Sci-Fi title sequence we represented young males aged 16-18. We decided this through our research as a large percentage of the people we asked said they liked Thriller films and were between the ages of 16-18. This is shown in the results we compiled from our surveys below.

Why did we choose the setting we used?

From the survey we also asked where people would think a particular thriller would be set and most people said in a city; In a house or in a bedroom. So we decided to go with the notion of a hacker in his bedroom and represented the normal city dwelling teenager through the sort of props he had in the setting most of these things were technological because we also represented the nerdy types of people and through this it added the sci-fi to our thriller. With the theme of technology quite heavily shown within this room and sorts of other film memrobeilia and posters, also the placment of two V For Vendetta Guy Fawkes masks within the scene paying homage to the Elite hacker group known as Anonymous makes the film feel very dark but mysterious giving a mixed feel for thriller and sci-fi. This represents that we also are trying to represent activists through the internet and hackers.

Why did we chose the character we have used?

We chose to use this character as he is a young teenage male with a hacking background as well as the not so innocent look to himself. This helps us in representing this City dwelling teenager who is a hacker. We also went with this character as he is quite and doesnt say a lot since his usual interaction with people would be through a computer which gives a mixed signal of innocence but not so innocent. This reflects the representations of the nerdy type of person as this person would typically have no confidence and be quite shy.

Question 5

Question 5 part 2

This is a directors commentary i did for our title sequence to explain some of the things we did in the sequence to show how it is relate-able to our target audience.

Vox Pop 2

Here we did a vox pop to gather audience research and feedback into how our title sequence relates our target audience through the use of music, mise-en-scene in the setting and the theme of technology.

Questionnaire Results

Question 6

When we had to plan and create our opening sequence we had to use a variety of different ways of showing our planning. Some of the ways i presented my information on my blog was using serices avaliable on the internet. One of these was Prezi, this allows me to create an interactive powerpoint which i can embed into blogs. Another is scribd which is used to embed word documents into blods and on the internet in HTML. Another used was slide rocket which is another type of powerpoint presentation service but just using slides and images. The last type of service i used was Go Animate which lets you put in text for animated characters to talk. all of these are able to be embedded into a blog using HTML code.

Through doing this planning and creating the actual sequence i learned to use quite a few different pieces of hardware mmainly building up and adding to my skills used on a mac and using particular programes on the mac such as photoshop, iMovie and Final cut. I also learned to use the handy cams as well as using the figrig and tripod properly for a nice steady professional looking shot.
For the creation of out titles i had to use photoshop to create an animated element to use in Final cut so our titles would look like they were typed in on a computer. This allows me to create titles which reflect what the film is like. I had the main sequence edited together in iMovie before importing into Final cut for the titles.

Question 4

Evaluation

Question 1:

For the coursework our group had to make a two minute opening title sequence of a chosen genre meaning we had to do a large amount of research into different genres of films and their specific conventions in the title sequence. We found that there are a lot of different conventions of an opening  sequence. A convention that we found was a large use of close ups. This gives a close up perspective of the surrounding objects or the surrounding scene to give the audience a detailed feel of the atmosphere that surrounds the film and the characters in the film. This makes the audience feel very involved with the piece and helps them to understand the story more. We also get to see the characters facial expressions as well as their body language so we really get to grips with how these characters feel.

Another convention is slow paced editing. This is used to help the audience question clues that are given to them through the piece that the director specifically put there for the audience to question. This will make the audience start asking a plethora of questions and to slowly start piecing parts of the answers together as the film goes on. This will suck in the audience and make them want to watch further. They will want to watch further just to see if what they predict turns out to be true.

Another convention is the titles and logos that happen during these scenes.These are here because they help the audience to see who took part or helped with the making of the film. It also means that the audience get the chance to see if there are any familiar actors and directors we can also see this by the use of the production company logos so the audience can judge whether or not the believe the film is their type of film. This adds a greater importance to the film as it shows the audience information about the film.

The genre we chose to do is a Sci-Fi Thriller as we thought it would suit the current happenings with the government of today. We also chose it because we was inspired by the film The Matrix and the element of computers and hacking within it. The typical conventions of our genre is low paced editing, close ups, low key lighting and a mixture of somewhat upbeat but eerie music. The low lighting and upbeat music creates the atmosphere needed to pull off a Sci-Fi thriller as it gives the sense of rebellion. In our sci-fi thriller, we have a lot of long dragged out shots which brings the piece an overall eerie feel as the pace of the cuts dont match the upbeat feel of the music which makes things uneven.
 
In our thriller, we have challenged the conventions as we used some long shots which aren't usually used within this genre. We tried to get the persons facial expressions and surroundings from as many different angles as possible. This was to show how the persons lived a normal life but suffered from underlying problems.

Question 2:

In our Sci-Fi Thriller we chose a target audience of teens as when we researched about our genre we found out that this is the type of audience that likes to watch sci-fi and thrillers. We also found that mainly a male audience like to watch thrillers but not as equally as females so we tried to show this in our title sequence. In our sci-fi thriller we tried to represent this target audience through the characters costumes as well as the characters attitude in the performance. We have also tried to make the setting and surroundings as familiar to a teenager as possible. This is why we chose to film in a teenagers bedroom as it has the type of feel with posters and a home type setting but this also reflects the innocent look and feel of the piece. We chose a teen male be the main character as this will help out target audience relate to this character as they will most likely be friends with the same types of people and be able to relate to the characters life making them care for this character. This is shown in a few pie charts of the results from our survey below.

Evaluation, Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For our title sequence we decided to use the genre of a sci-fi thriller. In this genre you usually see that there is a ridicule of a particular people or group or some sort of invasion and then an uprising against this. We aim to target teenagers from the ages of 14-19 From any particular background but mainly those who live in a controlled government country like America or the United Kingdom.

This is because we have taken inspiration from a few films about hacking and government control like the matrix and V for Vendetta as well as when we did our research we found that things like government oppression and small uprisings are happening in country's today. A lot of teenagers go to the cinema with their friends to see this type of film mainly the nerdy type of person. The title of our film is L337 which means in online hackers terms elite to mean that they are an elite team of hackers.

The distributor of our film will be MGM as it is the most appropriate for our film genre as MGM usually distribute action type films like James Bond as well as sci fi films. This distribution company also aims at a target audience like our film does to teenagers who like actions and lots of cool things. The production company we have made is called Python Productions. This is because it is relevant to what our film is about as Python is a coding language and our film uses the notion of hacking which is a computer language.

Animatic

Key Shots

Script

This is our script, it is quite short but covers what the computer will be programmed to say to Ollie at the press of a specific button.

Titles

The fonts shown above are examples of what font our titles will use. They are quite technology based fonts as well as sci fi looking fonts. It will be green like the Matrix text below and show in a similar style.

The Matrix is a sci-fi thriller which is why we have chosen to do our titles in a similar style.

Casting

 

Oliver tribe has been chosen to star as the main role of the title sequence as he has the right look for the role, this suspicious but innocent look and wears the right type of clothes which suit his look for the role. He is 17 the same age as the character and also has a background of HTML Coding so he will fit the role very well as a computer hacker.

Shooting schedule

Storyboards

Character Profiles

17

Male

Personality: Intelligent

Looks: Dark, brown straight hair  

Occupation: Unemployed/at College

This character is quite secretive and keeps to himself, But he looks somewhat innocent and suspicious sometimes when he keeps himself hidden away. He is intelligent especially with computers but keeps that hidden away around his friends.

Costumes

Above is a picture depicting the mood and fell of our costumes whilst also describing what will be involved with the costumes and the overall looks and feels for the costumes used within the opening sequence.

This image of me depicts what the costumes for both of our characters will be like with the dark closed hoodie with hood up to cast shadow onto the face of the character to obscure his identity, all black to blend in with the dark scene so that it hides this characters identity more, this reflects the internets face of anonimity and the face of hackers on the internet.

Props

In the image above i have depicted the props that will be used within our opening sequence.

The list of props reads:

Laptop
Tablet (PC Tablet)
Watch
Keyboard
Mouse
USB (Stick)
Headphones
Lamp
Glass
Paper
Pen

Here are a few examples in the picture below: