Planning: Pitch Feedback

Pitch FeedBack


Our pitch according to Dan went really well. He advised us to simplify our idea as he said it was too complex. We took this on board and decided to take his advice but also take some extra shots just incase. He also advised us to trim down the characters as it could be complicated to include all 5 characters within a title sequence We didnt do this though as we were willing to take the risk and felt we were capable enough to handle telling the stories of 5 characters and already had planned out our locations and outfits for our characters and didnt want to let this go to waste

Planning: Blog Task 25 - In Timetoast, Plan the order that our title credits will appear in

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/987595

Planning: Inspirations through other media texts

1.Social network.

I love how the text isnt not an exciting or fancy font its a standard Arial font but the music makes it effective. As each piano note is played in the melancholy music the titles appear with it. The titles on a moving image fade in and fade out. Together with the soundtrack in the background this title sequence is very effective and i would like to include this format into my film.the titles are slow and relate to the context of the situation I would like to relate the music to the the titles and to create a connection between them so it can reflect the characters and the storyline.

2. Mean girls

In this title sequence its introduces the titles whilst the opening scene plays in the background. The font is constantly the same but the colour of the typography changes and ranges from an array of bright and playful colours . In my film I would like to use these bright colours in my film as they'll represent the tone of the film. The titles are on a moving image also. This way I can entertain the audience with the first scene and preview the titles altogether.


Example;

3.Iron man 3

The titles on iron man 3 are exciting and fun. The font and colour brings life to the titles and makes them engaging and energetic.We see the typography  appear almost everywhere on the screen when the credits rolled. They appeared at the top, in the middle , at the bottom and on the side in horizontal and diagonal angles. I would like to incorporate this into my my title sequence as well. Also when they introduced names of the costume designer,director of photography, special effects editor they show aspects of their work like the costumes the characters where or the graphics shown in the film. This is also applied when the actors names are shown on the screen it shows the characters they have played. I would like to incorporate this into my film also when i show the main characters and the costume design.

Example: 

Planning: Sound planning and editing activity

This is our remake soundtrack of 10 things i hate about you.

Reflection:Ogochukwu Anokwuru
This was such a fun process. Having watched previous title sequences in lessons , it was exciting to be able to apply my knowledge and understanding to this task. I am satisfied with the end product and cant wait to create the soundtrack and add sound to my title sequence.

Blog task 7- Favorite film and analyse title sequences

Research: Blog Task 20 - Xmas homework, watch, research into and answer questionson a teen film of your choice

Incase the Prezi does not work these are the screenshots of my work.

Blog Task 15

'Kidulthood' Title Sequence Analysis - Blog Task 15

Camera

At the beginning of the sequence the camera is panning around from each main character to the next. This is done to show which characters are important to the story of the movie. Also, the movement of the camera suggests that the camera is almost like a CCTV camera looking out for trouble. This connotes that the characters that the camera is focusing on are 'bad' or criminal like as it does not focus on any other characters in the background. This movement of the camera is also quite shaky which gives the illusion that someone is filming them rather than being a professional production, which fits into the theme of a urban youth drama. The camera also zooms into a drill at times. This was done to show that the person doing something with the drill is off importance to the main story of the movie. The close up makes the audience question what he is doing and why he is doing this. This engages the audience in the film as they will want to find out what he was doing. The camera pans around most of the main characters to introduce them into the movie. This gives the movie a urban school feel as all the characters go to the same school meaning that they will all be together at one point, in this case during lunch. In one of the scenes a drill is shown. This is a extreme close up that pans up. The panning happens to show that this is a drill as the close up is so close that the whole drill part is not visible in the frame and may confuse the audience as to what that object is. The camera follows the girl as she walks. This is done to focus on her as she is talking. She walks past another girl and then the camera stops to focus both of the girls in the frame. The camera stops moving when she stops talking on the phone, this is done to show that the two girls in the frame are going to talk to each other. There is a shot of a boy playing a video game. This shot is done with two irrelevant characters  in the front of him, out of focus, to show distance and that he is far away from other people. There are multiple shots where the camera pans around the school's open ground to show that this is a urban school environment. The camera is shaky and zooms into another pair of characters. This effect makes the shot seem like it's being recorded by someone watching them as the camera pans left and right before zooming in. This represents a urban environment as this is like a CCTV camera spying on specific people.

Editing

There is a high contrast visual filter applied to the beginning of the film. This in combination with the slow motion gives a clear visual representation of the main characters. There is a slow motion effect whenever a main character is the focus of a shot to show that they are important in the movie. When the camera pans around the less important or background characters they are not in focus and sped up to show that they are just normal kids that are not relevant to the plot.

Mise-en-scene

There is a contrast between the 'bad' and the 'good students. The 'bad' students wear badly tied ties, undone collars and such. The 'good' students are the opposite of this. This is done to show a separation between the good and the bad people in the plot. There are people on BMX bikes and hoodies on the school's open ground, showing that the environment is urban and they don't care about the rules even though hoodies are most likely not allowed. The BMX bikes show represent urban youth as the 'bad' urban youth are commonly found on BMX bikes and hoodies. At the beginning of the sequence there is a shot where some people play football. This is shown as football is probably the most popular sport in urban areas, once again showing the  movie is set in a urban surrounding. There is a drill shown in some shots. The drill is used by a student showing that the school is careless of who uses industrial equipment like that, once again showing that the school is stereotypically urban and careless. 

Blog Task 20 - XMAS Homework

Click here for the PowerPoint presentation 

Blog Task 17 - Practical Remake Activity

Evaluation of The Breakfast Club Remake

Collectively, I think that our remake of The Breakfast Club was successful and mimicked the original title sequence adequately - featuring the outside of the college, the clock ticking on the wall, the panning within the computer room, the canteen and also the conversation between the father and his daughter (one of the main female characters in the car, before entering the school for detention.) We didn't include all of the shots though as there were too many to film to a decent standard in the short amount of time that we were set. 

We had a few difficulties whilst filming, such as: finding a car similar enough to the one in the actual title sequence, a BMW. We did eventually find one similar although it was very difficult to film due to the position it was in however we continued filming nonetheless. Alongside this, we attempted to film the scene where the bad boy was walking across the parking lot and into the school, just as one of the other student's cars were driving past - it was extremely challenging to get the timing right and so when we began editing, we couldn't merge each of the takes that we got in a way that would leave the title sequence to flow seamlessly. Another issue we encountered was the timing, although we were mostly organised and within our time limit, we were unable to film the majority of the scenes that involved dialogue due to background noise and lack of time. Lastly, incorporating the initial soundtrack for the title sequence of The Breakfast Club was something that we had trouble with, once it was imported into Final Cut Pro, the originally working sound stopped playing and so we removed it so we had enough time to work on more important things, such as the credits. 

The credits weren't too difficult to add to our title sequence once we learnt how to insert them and spent some time trying to match the font and colours available to us to that of the credits in the actual title sequence. Once this was completed, the finished product looked very similar to the original title sequence with large, yellow font. 

If I were to create another remake, I would spend a little bit more time organising and planning, as well as editing. By doing this, it would ensure that we have enough time to film everything we need to and allow for any unavoidable factors (background noise, etc). We would also have more relevant props and make it seem a lot more realistic and identifiable than the remake previously completed. Editing would make up just under half of our time to ensure that the title sequence is up to a high standard and everything is included to enhance the quality - music, sound effects, and so on. 

Blog Task 15 - Pick a title sequence from either High School or Youth Drama and analyse camera, editing, sound and m.e.s.

I analysed the High School Drama Grease

Camera:

• Mid-shot of couple kissing on beach 
• Close up of main character

Editing: 

• Animation
• Fades from cartoon into real life footage
• Montage of the beach at the beginning

Mise-en-scene:

• Costume (e.g. jackets) represents social groups, for example: 

1. Pink Ladies -popular clique of girls
2. T-Birds - group of male friends 

• Clothing represents the setting, late 1950's

Sound:

• Grease soundtrack 

Blog Task 7 - Favourite Film Title Sequence

(500) Days of Summer

Type of Title Sequence

The titles are over a moving image, displaying childhood videos of the main cast as the credits come up alongside them, not only are they on the actual moving image but some of the credits are on half of a blank screen whilst the other half of the screen is a moving image. 

The numbers scrolling backwards at the beginning is also a credit, however this one is on an animation of a tree blossoming and a park bench, with the city skyline in view in the background.

Credit Order

• Author's Note

 

• Title: (500) Days of Summer 

• Animation (numbers flipping back) 

• Distribution Company: Fox Searchlight Pictures

• Production Company: Watermark

• Main Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zoey Deschanel, Geoffrey Arend, Chloe Grace Moretz, Matthew Gray Gubler, Clark Gregg, Rachel Boston, Minka Kelly 

• Casting by: Eyde Belasco, CSA

• Costume Designer: Hope Hanafin
• Music by: Mychael Danna and Rob Simonsen
• Music Supervisor: Andrea Von Foerster
• Film Editor: Alan Edward Bell 
• Production Designer: Laura Fox 
• Director of Photography: Eric Steelberg
• Produced by: Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Mason Novick, Steven J. Wolfe
• Written by: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
• Directed by: Marc Webb 

Blog Task 13 - Sub-genre Conventions

Macro Sub-Genre Conventions

Macro - syntactic: the stories the films tell
Micro - semantic: the way the films look

Macro conventions, in more detail, are the plots and story-lines of films, characters and social groups. These conventions are shared throughout most/all Teen Films.

The main plot of teen films is usually the concept of coming of age in some way.

The way that this concept is told depends on the sub-genre but it is likely to focus on an aspect of the following in order to represent the character's coming of age:

• Youthfulness of main characters 
• Conflict within relationships 
• Conflict with an older generation
• Management of adolescence by families, schools, law, etc
• Romance 
• Sexuality and sexual experiences

These are the macro/syntactic conventions of both sub-genres of Teen Films - Youth Dramas and High School Dramas.

Youth Drama:

• Focuses on the daily struggles that teenagers face and their adolescent experiences 
• Characters are usually more aggressive and there is more conflict
• Focuses on social/economic dilemmas

Fish Tank

What is the key plot idea introduced in the title sequence?

• Follows the difficult lifestyle and every day challenges of a teenage girl 
• Teenage girl from a family with low income and lives on a council estate 
• Troubled teenager dealing with social isolation, independence and daily struggles 

In what order is the storyline introduced?

• Main character argues with family and peers/confrontation

What characters are introduced? 

• Teenage girls dancing 
• Teenage boys watching the girls dance
• Main character (teenage girl, Mia)
• A man, the owner of the horse

What social groups are represented?

• Lower/working class 
• Chavs/urban teenagers 
• Cool girls 
• Social outcast 
• Bad boys 

High School Drama: 

• Usually focuses on a teenage girl as the main character however this is mainly from a boy's perspective 
• Typically features a party of some sort 
• Mainly focuses on conflict, jealousy and changes between and within the different social groups e.g. popular groups versus alternative group

10 Things I Hate About You 

What is the key plot idea introduced in the title sequence?

• Revolves around two sisters - one a stereotypical, popular 'it' girl (Bianca) and the other alternative (Kat)
• Main focus on the 'popular' sister
• Perspective of the new boy, being shown around the high school and introduced to the social groups 

In what order is the storyline introduced?

• Popular girls dancing in the car to pop music (norm) and the alternative sister alone in her car, drives alongside them listening to rock/alternative (unique) - displays contrast between both sisters
• Introduces high school life 
• Introduces all of the main characters 

What characters are introduced?

• Popular, stereotypical girls (Bianca and her friends) 
• Alternative girls (Kat and her friends)
• Headmistress
• New boy (geek) 
• Bad boy 
• The student guide 
• Social groups within the high school 

What social groups are represented?

• Popular 
• Jocks
• Geeks
• Semi political 
• Cheerleaders

Research: Blog Task 7 - favourite film, analyse the type of title sequence ituses, and the order the credits are in

The type of title sequence

The titles are over a moving image, which is a map, it has traces of footsteps and uses boarders around the cast/crews names (in the first section).

The order of the credits

Title - Harry Potter & The prisoner of Azkaban 

Directed by - Alfonso Cuaron 

Screenplay by - Steve Kloves 

Produced by - David Heyman, Chris    Columbus, Mark Radcliffe 

Based on the Novel by J.K. Rowling 

Executive producers - Micheal Barnathan, Callum McDougall, Tanya Seghatchian

Director of Photography - Michael Seresin BSC 

Production Designer - Stuart Craig 

Edited by - Steven Weisberg 

Music by - John Williams 

Visual Effects Supervisors - Roger Guyett, Tim Burke 

Costume Designer - Jany Temime

Casting by - Jina Jay 

Main cast names - Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson etc 

Warner Bros pictures (presentations)

Production - Meyday Films/1942 pictures/ P of A productions 

An Alfonso Cuaron film

Research: Blog Task 6 - 4 types of film openings.

Blog Task 2 - Prelim Film (From September)

Blog Task 12 - Analyse the order of titles for a High School drama andtitles for a Youth Drama film

Analysis of both High School and Youth Drama films:

High School: The Princess Diaries

• Title
• Production Company
• Director 
• Main Cast 
• Casting By 
• Additional Casting 
• Co-Producer
• Music Supervisor 
• Music By 
• Costumer Designer
• Editor
• Production Designer 
• Designer of Photography 
• Based on the Novel
• Producer
• Screenplay By 
• Director 

Youth Drama: Juno

• Distribution Company
• Director
• Title
• Main Cast 
• Casting By 
• Costumer Designer 
• Music By 
• Song By 
• Music Supervisors 
• Co-Producers 
• Editor
• Production Designer
• Director of Photography 
• Producer
• Executive Producers 
• Written By 
• Director 

Two other examples (regarding credit order) are: The Social Network timeline (High School Drama) and Submarine timeline (Youth Drama)

Blog Task 10 - Target Audience research

Teen Film Audiences

The main, and most obvious, audience for Teen Films are teenagers. This is because they generally feature teenaged actors and revolve around the lives of these teenagers, portraying their coming of age. This makes them more relatable and interesting for young audiences. 

Teenagers within these films are also typically set apart from and bearing conflict with adults. Featuring adults, however, broadens the audience and breaks the age barrier and restrictions some may expect a teen film to have - audiences ranging from 13 to mid 30's and any onwards are typically those watching Teen Films from earlier (their own) eras.

Any group of people that the teenagers in these films interact with are then more likely to attract audiences of their own 'group' of people. 

In class, we also took a look at YouGov profiles of Teen Films of our choice. The demographics I got for Mean Girls were:


- Gender: Female
- Age: 25-39
- Regions: London, North West and South Coast
- Politics: Left
- Typical Professions: Media and Publishing, Adveritsing/Marketing and Entertainment
- Monthly Spare £: Less than £125

 
- Online for: 31-35 hours per week
- Reads the Guardian
- Reads Look Magazine
- Watches TV for less than 1 hour per week
- Watches the TV shows/films: The 40 Year Old Virgin, How I Met Your Mother, The Simpsons and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!


- Hobbies/Activities: Going to the Cinema, dancing, watching live music
- Favourite Sports; Football, Tennis
- General Interests: People and celebrities, sex and relationships, fashion and design
- Niche Interests; Sleeping, human rights charities, mental health, race relations, development charities

- Describes themselves as: funny, clever and kind - but on occasion: lazy, control-freaky, neurotic


- Customer of: Twitter, Instagram, Dr Pepper, Paperchase, Spotify, Wrigley's Extra, Odeon, Thames Water, Kiddicare and Pantene
- Clothing Brands: Topshop, H&M and Miss Selfridge
- Bank: Santander
- Most likely car: Renault


- Favourite Movies: Juno, Clueless, Knocked Up, The Holiday, Superbad
- Favourite TV Shows: Friends, Sex and the City, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Glee and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Favourite Music Artists: Beyonce, Dizzee Rascal, No Doubt, Spice Girls and Weezer
- Favourite Celebrities: Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Rachel McAdams, Jonathan Ross, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

- Top websites visited: cbsnews.com, yimg.com, mailjet.com, accessorize.com and scientificamerican.com
- Top apps used: Instagram, Angry Birds, Draw Something and Guitar Hero


These demographics surprised me a little bit as I was expecting a younger and slightly wider age range of viewers, however it just goes to show how every Teen Film is different in its own way and despite the typical audience, attracts certain groups of people all for their own different reasons. For example, Mean Girls was produced by Tina Fey and so, being a director and actor in the movie, she attracted a wide range of viewers, regardless of the film content.