FINAL CUT WOOP!

Here is our finished opening sequence for a teenage romantic comedy!

Editing and soundtrack

During our editing process we experimented with many ideas. First of all we had to make sure we had all the footage in the correct order to make sure it had a flowing and easy following mini storyline in the opening sequence. We then cut unnecessary footage from these clips which were not needed. We then played around with speed levels to make a slow motion and double speed. We did this by decreasing the time from 100 to 50 and then increasing the time from 100 - 300. We used this for making the bump between the 2 main characters to show love at first sight and to stand out as it is an important introduction to whats going to happen with the characters. This is a classic convention used in teenage romantic comedy films. We also experimented with fades on the titles and clips to make it more professional and sound levels to make sure the background noise on clips was minimal with the dialogue sounds increased to make sure the audience can hear it properly. We did this by moving the sound bars up and down to make sure we had the appropriate level. This took a lot of time but we feel we have done this well.

Lee, Claire and Tom did alot of the editing but with contribution for ideas by everyone in the group. We all contributed and created our soundtrack.

Our soundtrack was produced in Garage band. We used acoustic guitar, drum kit and clavinet. These instruments are popular for teenagers and used in many of these genre films. We have made a simple beat with a cheesy clavinet bouncy rhythm to portray a getting ready for school and happy feeling for the audience. We did feel the sounds are restricted to make a professional backing track so we have added a song by the doors called hello i love you because the lyrics, strangely, basically perfectly depict the higher class of Felicity and the un-importance of Zach and how a romance would become of it all. 'Hello i love you wont you tell me your name?' and 'She holds her head up high, like a statue in the sky'. We feel very happy with our edit and soundtrack.

Changes...

From our animatic we have changed the idea of having the polaroid pictures. This idea was going to be polariod pictures (well known and regularly used nowadays) relating to the main characters, Zach and Felicity. This was going to have a voice over with it to introduce and explain themselves to the audience. For example, picture of a lipstick would be related to Felicity to show her always applying make up to look good for college. We decided not to do this as it would ruin the pace of the opening and not fit in with the other footage in our film opening. Instead the main characters are introduced to Zach on the phone to his mum, checking he has his packed lunch etc and Felicity telling her younger brother to keep well out of her way in college. This still introduces the character types in the film and leaves questions to the audience about what will happen between them throughout the film.

Also, we have found some problems with the footage we flimed when editing it. These problmes maybe wrong camera angles or not leaving enough footage after the shot has been taken which we can work around with to make sure there are no continuity errors, which we have in our opening. We are re-shoot 3 shots, which is the bumping in toghether and Zach staring at Felicitys breasts becuase of contunuity problems. Re-shooting this means we have a more proffessional film opening. This will not effect our deadline beucase we are well planned and very nearly edited.

RoughCut

Here is our completed rough cut woop :)

Filming again...

Today, we finished our final shoot, which consisted of filming the montage sequence involving other locations surrounding the main college in our film. This enables the audience to get used to the area the film will be set in and a typical convention used in teenage romantic comedy films. We filmed Cineworld, Junction, Hills Road bridge, train station, church etc. We used different shot types and distances including, low angle, high angle, long shot, close up and medium shot. Most shots were all on the tripod to keep the shots steady. Me, Claire and Tom had a go at filming different shots and locations. We have now completed all our filming!

Footage ordering and takes.

Here is a list of the takes we have currently on our tape based on the order in which we filmed them yesterday:

- An opening shot panning from the ground to a view of Homerton College across the road with cars going past to show the setting as a city.
- Medium shot of the Homerton sign with a car entering.
- Long shot of Felicity and James walking down the pavement. (hand held)
- Close up take of F+J walking with conversation. (hand held)
- Long shot of Zach walking, talking on the phone. (hand held)
- Close up of Zach walking.
- Long shot showing the two characters walking from either side of shot, towards the same gate.
- Medium shot of bump.
- Close up of Zach (stunned)
- Close up of Felicity (not impressed)
- Low angle shot of Zach apologising
- Close up of Felicity. Pans from head to chest.
- Close up Zach apologising (take 2)
- High angle of Zach staring at Felicity
- Walking, hand held shot of Homerton sign
- Medium shot of characters walking in (with zoom)
- Low angle shot of Zach
- Long shot of inside of college.

Progress

Due to weather problems again we have had to reschedule our shooting again as it would be bad for our continuity of the film. As Lee said in our last post our shoot yesterday went well and we just need to shoot the sequence for our montage.

So that all members of our group would be involved, Tom now plays a small role as Felicity's younger brother James. In our opening sequence the two characters do not get on as Felicity is too worried about what other people think, we did this because we wanted to make Zach and Felicity seem as opposite and incompatible as possible so that we could create the plot where later in the film the audience would see a distinct change within both their characters. Particularly Felicity.

We are on schedule and will now be filming the rest of our footage on our first lesson back and then putting together our rough cut to meet the deadline on Friday 27th February.

Claire.

Filming

On Thursday 12th February, we shooted most of our footage. After all the re-scheduling, this went really well and we work effectively and productively. We shooted all what we planned to shoot, which was the introduction to mise-en-scene, introducing characters, conversation with 2 main characters. We all shared the roles of filming, but Dave mainly filmed as Me, Claire and Tom were in the film, but we all discussed what shots we would use. We used low angle, pan, long shot, close up, medium shot, match on action and high angle. We were very pleased with the shots because we had planed what we wanted to do. We then planned to film on Friday 13th February, but with poor weather conditions(snow) we were unable to do this, so we have rescheduled for Tuesday 24th, where we will shoot the scenery shots to introduce location around Cambridge. We feel this would ruin the continuity and spoil the mise-en-scene as we already have footage when it was sunny.

Here is some test footage which helped us get an idea for shot types and angles. Firstly we experimented with handheld and pan on the tripod in the walking shot. We preferred the pan on the tripod but would make it so you can see the face of the character aswell. We may use handheld shot to vary it. We also shot a few scenery shots to get an idea of moving images and what mise-en-scene we will go to and use. We also tested with the shots of bumping in to each other to see the best way to film things to make sure continuity and editing is at its best.

Reschedules shooting dates

Thursday 12th February - Homerton college scene with Zach and Felicity
Friday 13th February - scenery shots

Credit titles

A Moonrise Productions
Starring..
Billy Millet
Hannah Shilby
Gretal Blick
David Vorne
Casting by Joe Reynolds
Directed by Vanessa Blackwell
Produced by Geoff Crowley

These will be put across the opening sequence in our chosen font.

Shooting schedule

These dates will have to be rescheduled due to college closure.

Tuesday 3rd February: Shooting in our lesson, outside Homerton College.
Thursday 5th February: Shooting various scenes in the city to create the montage sequence.
Friday 6th February: Filming optional if needed.

Costumes:
Zach (Lee)
- Black trousers as they look plain and best portray the geek stereotype
- Polo shirt- same as above
- Glasses as in any rom-com the typical iconic accessory for the geek is glasses, preferably thick rimmed
- Trainers as again they are plain.

Felicity (Claire)
- Pink long sleeved top as this will show that she is the stereotypical girl
- Jeans as this shows simplicity and that even though she is higher class there is no difference in appearance
- Pumps as these are more appropriate footwear for girls

Props:
- Mobile phone to show the conversation between Zach and his mum
- Compact mirror/nail file to show Felicity doing her make-up
- School bags to show they both attend a school

Possible Locations:
- Outside Homerton College (Hills Road) as this is our main location
- Cineworld to get shots of students from the area
- Grand Arcade to show the shops of Cambridge
- Emmanuel Street to show all the city buses
- Parkers piece to show Cambridge life
- Kings College to show older students
- Cambridge Corn Exchange again to show Cambridge life

Above shows pictures of typical buses which we will have shots of

Above is the view of cineworld one of our shot locations
Above shows buses parked at parkers piece which again is one location
Above shows people in Cambridge which we will have shots of to show that it is a busy city.



Soundtrack:
- Garageband track: simple beat.
- Hello, I Love You - The Doors: Montage sequence. This was chosen as the lyrics, strangly, basically perfectly depict the higher class of Felicity and the un-importance of Zach and how a romance would become of it all. 'Hello i love you wont you tell me your name?' and 'She holds her head up high, like a statue in the sky'.

Animatic

This is our animatic. In the real opening, dialogue and other editing techniques, e.g. slow motion will be inserted in to it. Also we are having a real song playing half way through aswell.

Shot list

1. Fading in from black, the camera will pan up from the ground showing cars on a busy road with Homerton College in the background. This shot will last for about 10 seconds and we are using it because it establishes our main location in our film.
2. Long shot of Felicity walking with her group of friends chatting and laughing. This shows the character of Felicity as she is being introduced first as the main character.
3. Long shot of Zach walking alone on his phone to his mum, to establish the other main character.
4. Close up of Felicity talking with her friends to show the typical popular girl and what she looks like. Introducing other minor characters who will appear with Felicity throughout the film.
5. Close up of Zach on phone, to show the difference between personality and class. Also showing he has no friends at this moment in time.
6. High angle to show Zach and Felicity walking closing together until they collide in the entrance of college.
7. Close up shot of Felicity pulling a puzzled face.
8. Jumping straight to Close up of Zach staring lovingly.
9. Jumping straight to Close up of Felicity breasts, representing eyes of Zach and comedy side. Begins to pan up to Felicity shocked face with shot reverse shot.
10. Mid with shot reverse shot with both characters staring at each other. This will be in slow motion when editing.
11. Mid shot of Felicity so you can see her full scale on body.
12. Polaroid pictures fall on to screen with pictures relating to her, with a voice over of her explaining more in depth about her life.
13. Mid shot of Zach so you can see his full scale of body.
14. Polaroid pictures fall on to screen with pictures relating to him, with a voice over of him explaining more in depth about his life.
15. Mid shot with awkward conversation between Zach and Felicity to show first connection of the 2 main characters who fall in love.
16, Panning around to sign of Homerton College to introduce the location.
17. Close up of Zach's face thanking Felicity, but a pan reveals she is gone.
18. With a zoom out, Zach walks in to college and main location is show again.
19. Many pictures of Cambridge locations and people walking in streets, chatting, cars on roads, with "hello i lovd you" by the doors playing. This with have credits coming over footage.

Feedback from Pitch presentation

Feedback from our class was:

• Good examples of film openings relating to chosen genre
• Good synopsis
• Clearly explained so the audience knows what the film is going to be about

We are happy with this feedback because it seems generally positive and tells us that what we are doing is on task and clear to the audience.

Target Audience

The target audience for "My Brains, Your Beauty" is males and females because the film follows a teenage girl and boy equally and has comedy and romance in it, which suits both audiences. The age would be 13-16 because at this age teenagers are going through first serious relationships and can relate to it. We felt people under the age of 13 would not understand the storyline and not interest them and audiences over 16 could find it awkward and cheesy as they are becoming adults. This suits all classes because it is a famous genre, which suits many audiences.

Titles and fonts

1. Chic vs Geek
2. Class Clash
3. My Brains, Your Beauty
4. City Crush
5. Pretty Geeky

We have chosen to chose "My Brains, Your Beauty", because this is a stereotypical romantic comedy straight to the point title and it brings them together as a couple. It also introduces characters even before opening sequence and a catchy title to draw attention of our target audience. The idea of first person in perspective of Zach, makes it seem more personal for him and his love for Felicity as he is one of the main characters.

Here are some font ideas...






We have chosen font 2 (comiquita sans) because of its simplicity and has a teenage effect because it looks like comic writing. Also it looks handwritten to represent school. We will add shading, movement and colour to the font.

Preparing to film.....

Felicity - bubbly, fashionable, popular and high class (Claire with group of mates)
Zach - geeky, plain clothes, no friends and low class (Lee)
Mise-en-scene - Outside Homerton College, roads in Cambridge, cineworld, shoppers in town, buses, punting, parkers peace.
Music - We are going to make a garageband track to go over the action in the opening sequence. Modern real song (The doors - Hello i Love you) to go over the montage of credits and cambridge clips.

Ideas for our opening sequence

Here are some ideas which we have considered to use:

1. We will show the contrast between Zach and Felicity by showing how their daily routines begin. The sequence will show the two characters getting ready for their days, showing how different they are and separating themselves into the two different worlds that are then brought together at the college.

2. Focusing on their journeys to school, with each character giving a monologue about their lives and moments being shown by polaroid photos. When they arrive at school Zach preoccupied with a phone call from his mother and accidentally bumps into Felicity. We will create a slow motion scene at this point from both character's perspectives: Felicity staring at Zach. Zach staring at Felicity's breasts and then the shot panning up to see Felicity's disgust. The shot then cuts to Zach's face where he suddenly realises what hes doing and looks up. Awkward conversation. Montage for credits showing the settings of Cambridge and the stereotypical teenage spots to bring it into the genre more.

3. We create a sequence that shows what happens in the future (a wedding etc) and then the film would go on to recreate how it all came about.

We have chosen our second idea because we feel it is more original for the genre and has great potential and realistic for us to be achieve with the low budget and settings available.

Mood Board

This mood board shows typical mise-en-scene, character types and settings to suit our Teenage Romantic Comedy film.

Opening sequence analysis - silmilar to our genre

Two opening sequences in the Teenage Rom-Com genre:

Mean Girls
This film is similar to our synopsis by following the way that the character enters her new school as an outcast who loses sight of her morals in order to follow the crowd and gain popularity to become the "it girl". The first sightings of the high school clearly show the distinguished social groups that are in every generic school and the storyline of this film is similar to ours in the way the character creates a divide and changes the school's dynamics.



John Tucker Must Die:
This again follows a similar synopsis with the character being an outcast and unable to fit in as she is forever moving towns. This film is also an American production and therefore follows a generic storyline with the typical dynamics of a highschool; with the cheerleaders, geeks and various other cliques.

Film opening synopsis

Teenage Romantic Comedy:

The classic beauty and the geek (Zach and Felicity) storyline translated from the generic American high school scenario to the city of Cambridge. Set at Homerton College, the story follows how the two teenagers; Felicity being the upper class 'it' girl from a rich family and Zach being the smart but lower class "geek" who was awarded a scholarship - meaning that, of course, he doesn't fit in. Getting back to their normal routine at college, going to boring french lessons and catching up on the incomplete summer work, Felicity finds it easy to adjust and make new friends but can't help feeling unfulfilled and a fake. Whereas Zach is struggling to even get up in the mornings. Until he meets Felicity. But as this romance progresses, Felicity soon finds herself losing friends and her street cred struggling because shes fallen for the geek. Her best friends however, (albeit reluctantly) stay by her through all of it, even if they find Zach a little strange. However, after a rumour that Zach cheats on Felicity with her best friend the relationship begins to unravel and Felicity leaves behind her "it" girl reputation, the backstabbing and the bitches to become indenpendent. She drops out of Homerton to attend an Arts College on scholarship, finding new friends and forgetting the past. Back at Homerton however Zach finds popularity unfulfilling and realises he was better off before as himself.

Production Logo

Here is our final production logo. We wanted to create a simple logo, which could be remembered and make our company recognisable. We decided to make a neutral logo which could represent any film genre. The idea of using a picture of the sky represents superiority, which we have found in many famous production logo' such as, Dreamworks and Paramount. The name of our production logo fitted with the image.

Disney production company logo analysis

The castle featured in the Disney sequence is a typical mise en scene feature used in many productions from the company, this is a symbol of the fantasy genre that is used highly. The castle was developed into the real location for disneyland where many of the young audience have visited and therefore can find the logo recognisable. The music uses a full orchestra to create ensemble of memorable music that creates a sense of magic through sound, with help from specific instruments such as strings. The fireworks are an aspect of the visual entertainment for the young audience. The camera work moving from the sky relates to the disneyland slogan of where dream come true. The Walt Disney signature adds a personal touch to the sequence that relates to the history of the company, the font is sophisticated but has the effect of being child friendly which is a good link for the typical audience.

The Warner Bros logo is a classic design using simple animation (flying and rotating) to create a memorable sequence that introduces their films. The shield represents the family ties which bring the company together and also a symbol of strength. The colour gold gives the company the image of success and acts as a mark of quality for the films their company produces. The houses featured within the shield have the appearance of film studios and this gives the effect of working progress. The emblem being in the sky gives the company power and superiority.

Analysis of opening sequence to Golden Compass; An adventure sotry for younger audiences

Golden Compass is a popular adventure following an orphan living in a fantastical parallel universe, where Lyra's friend is kidnapped and she travels north to rescue him. Their are many conventions used in the openng sequence to portray the style of the genre. The titles are first visible, which are a golden, magical glittering, in a childlike font. This instantly helps identify the narrative as an adventure or fantasy. A voice over is played over the squence, which is spoken like it is telling a story to children. This appeals to the younger audience and helps describe the narrative. The theme of an adventure revloves around a compass, which is over exagerated making it look more fantasical, attracting the younger audience. A compass is for going on an advneture so this realistic object but turned in to fantasy to appeal to the audience. The character type is a children herion, which the audience can relate to becuase they can see the story unfold in the eyes of child. The audeince are aware this is the main character becuase the camerawork zooms in from a long shot to close up to the girl with the compass. While this shot happens, the voice over is telling the audience "there is only one who can read it", giving clues that she is going to be the main character to follow. The music throughout is very whimsical, which adds to the magical visuals shown and keeps the young audience comfortable becuase it is gentle and easy to listen to. On most shots there is golden dust which visually helps to unfold the themes of child fanstasy.

Scenario Discussion

1. A supernatural thriller with a strong female lead.
For example: Resident Evil, The Others, The Ring, Gothika and the Grudge.
Conventions
Character types:
- Vampires
- Ghosts
- Werewolves
- Living dead
- "Other worldly" characters
Possible MIse-en-Scene
- Dark settings
- Abandoned areas
- Normal costumes for lead, supernatural characters tattered clothing, difference in appearance in order to distinguish them.
Possible Narratives
- Protagonist being haunted
- Curse on a character
- Living dead species take over
Other
- Dull lighting
- Camera work - hand held, close ups.
- Non-digetic sound: eerie
- Attractive female lead.

2. A British social realist drama.
For example: This Is England
Conventions
Character types:
- Every day families
- Tends to be working class
Possible Mise-en-scene:
- Pub or community meeting place
- Housing estates
- Urban setting.
Possible Narratives:
- From the perspective of a child
- Family or social issues
Other:
- Typically shot on location.
- Low budget. Tend to be from smaller film companies.
- Simple editing techniques.
- Clothes that match the period.

3. An adventure story for younger audiences.
For example: Indiana Jones
Conventions
Character Types:
- Usually male leads
- Fantasy heroes/heroines for example: Harry Potter.
- Classic protagonist/antagonist battle.
Possible mise-en-scene:
- Extraordinary settings that children find exciting/interesting
- Castles
Possible Narratives:
- Normal child thrown into an adventure situation
- Saving a friend/family member.
- Finding some sort of treasure/magical object.
Other:
- Animated

4. A teenage romantic comedy:
For example: American Pie:The Wedding
Conventions
Character Types:
- Joker
- Teenagers
- "Bitch" girl
- Clique groups eg Jocks, Geeks etc
Possible Mise-En-Scene:
- School settings
- Parties as typical meeting place for couple
Possible Narratives:
- Adorable geek in love with beautiful popular girl.
- Conflicting social groups.
Other:
- Low budget typically meaning little editing, special effects etc with camerawork
- Modern, fashionable clothing.

5. A crime caper with an ensemble cast
For example: Oceans 11.
Conventions
Character Types:
- Cocky, confident male leads
- Intelligent female
- Large group of people with equal roles
- Experts in various fields e.g. explosives and computing.
Possible Mise-En-Scene:
- Urban settings
- Hide-out place for planning
Possible Narratives:
- Pulling off big scale robbery
- Forgery, fraud, conning etc
- Accidental murder
Other:
- Getaway vehicle
- Costume: Suits to create more sophisticated personas, balaclava for a more cliche robbers uniform.
- Fast paced plot lines
- Something to complicate the plan.

Die Another Day Title Sequence Analysis

In order to create an analysis of this opening sequence I will examine the micro elements and how the conventions of opening sequences are used in order to introduce the film's characters, genre and narrative.

Die Another Day was the twentieth James Bond adventure film to be released in the collection and therefore and a conventional style that the production is now expected to follow. Many of these conventions can be seen within this opening sequence, for example the main character is the secret agent, James Bond. The is established to the audience by using having a camera shot clearly showing James Bond in the water when being tortured. This kind of focus and attention is not given to any other character within the opening sequence and therefore easily distinguishes the main character. This character is always featured within the film to have an interest in beautiful women as their is a romance featured with every film, however James Bond remains to be a bachelor and in order to create sex appeal for female viewers. The females featured in James Bond films are consistently used as objects of seduction and in the title sequence are created as powerful images using impressive graphics that integrate women of fire into the sequence. The representation of fire creates the sense of danger that women have tendencies to lead the agent into.

The themes featured within the opening sequence create the film's genre of action by displaying the dangers Bond comes into from the missions he is given. The opening sequence is a little unusual for Bond films as in others he is seen to have the advantage and usually features and grand escape from a dangerous situation that puts him in control. However here, Bond is in danger and being tortured with the use of scorpions as a main visual of torture, using the threat of their deadly stings to put Bond under pressure. This creates suspense for the viewer and makes the opening sequence incredibly effective to draw in the audience's attention.

The opening sequence of films are also used to introduce the cast of the film. Here it is displayed using a simple and clear font to reflect the mood of the film with various names and titles faded in and out of the sequence over the graphics.

The soundtrack to the film is Die Another Day by Madonna, the beat and rhythm has been used to great effect in the opening sequence as it is reflected by the images as the movements of the graphics follow the musical progression. This is a convention used in many sequences and the lyrics used emphasize the strength Bond has against the torture that he is enduring. By displaying different methods of torture in succession with each other it gives the audience faith back in Bond that he will escape this situation. This is pattern that all the Bond films follow where Bond is seemingly invincible from whatever situation is given to him.

R2-51 FILM OPENING PROJECT

Welcome