Head On Task - Brainstorm

               

Individual Ideas Task

PRELIM FILM

31 from 283goswellg on Vimeo.

PRELIM FILM

32. Goncalo, Fred, Lucy, Kamile from 283goswellg on Vimeo.

Why is sound important in a film?

Sound in film is said to make up 50% of the film, the reason why is because it (most of the time) gives the audience more direction than a silent film would give, for instance. But what exactly does sound do in movies?

1. It helps set atmosphere and tone - Lack of sound is sometimes better than having the "wrong" sound. For example, if you were to have a slasher movie you can't put a jolly song while he's hacking away at everyone, it wouldn't fit the genre (although some films do it on purpose, this is called Soundtrack Dissonance - where the music doesn't fit the mood of the scene) but generally speaking, if you were to have a thriller you'd normally want sound that reflects on the genre (most likely non-diegetic)
2. Suspends disbelief - To suspend disbelief is to temporarily allow oneself to believe something that is not true, especially in order to enjoy a work of fiction. Without sound, it's not possible to make the audience suspend their disbelief as it would feel odd to them, watching a movie without sound - you can see what's happening but you don't know what's going on.
3. Provides more engaging scenes - If there's an action seen you'd want music to reflect on that scene, therefore making the audience feel on edge with the sound, making the audience more engaged with the scene and move engaged in the movie, the sound is normally what would make the audience feel more engaged with the movie and that's why sound is the most important element of the movie
4. Gives an insight to the genre - Without sound sure we can make out what the genre is but with it, we get a definitive answer on what the genre is, you hear a very slow, suspenseful music it's most likely a thriller etc. Sound is used to guide the audience 

My favorite genres - Task 14

My favourite genres by Goncalo on Scribd

Se7en Remake Evaluation

The title sequence that we as a group decided to do different from other groups, we went for a more visual and eerie title sequence instead - Se7en. This title sequence was interesting for us because it didn't require any shot of our faces, only our hands. (this would in turn lead to less shots that would have to be cut due to actor laughing etc). The props weren't too hard to find although we didn't have as much as we needed when it was coming to the recording process but with the props we didn't have, we improvised. The storyboard was extremely helpful to us as it guided exactly how to do the shot we needed (although we had difficulties with only 1 shot). The use of lowkey lighting and jump cuts really set an eerie tone to it and we stuck with se7en until the end.

The filming was tougher than we expected it to be as there was many things that we couldn't do (for example the shot where the character flips the page but you see the shadow of his hand through it). The location we used was a small meeting room that was recommended to us by our teacher - this worked very effectively as there was no outside light meaning that it was easy to manipulate the lighting the way that we wanted. The lighting was also hard to pull off as certain angles would make the shot seem "off" but in the end I thought we did pretty well for how little time we had to record everything.

The editing wasn't too hard as we had both visual references and a storyboard to go off of as far as the scenes go. However, the transitions were plentiful and also a huge amount of credits made it hard for us to finish everything in time, but we made do with what we had available. We went for the closest thing we possibly could do for the title sequence but due to time constraints we couldn't finish the entire title sequence in just about an hours worth of time.

Overall, I believe that this filming exercise was a very important learning experience for all of us, it stresses how much teamwork is needed in order to succeed. Storyboards are also extremely helpful as it gives us a visual representation of where the camera should be, what you should be looking at etc. The only thing that I think would make our title sequence much better is if we took an extra 5 minutes to remove the sound from the original clips and overlay it with the sound from the actual title sequence. Watching our title sequence without sound it's hard to understand what's going on so the element of sound is extremely important in filming.

HEAD ON TITLE SEQUENCE INSPIRATIONS (unfinished)

head on by Anonymous 1Tn0JVf on Scribd

SEVEN REMAKE EVALUATION

SEVEN REMAKE EVALUATION

The title sequence our groups have chosen to remake was Seven, we made this decision because we found that seven was a different style of a title sequence and our group found the idea quite interesting. We knew in order to remake this title sequence we would, first of all, need low-key lighting to make everything seem very dark and eerie. We also needed some old and tattered also reflect the dark feel of the title sequence. We as a group knew however that we will not be able to get all of the props that we needed to remake this title sequence however with what we did not manage to get we improvised and maybe changed the scene a little bit or used different props for that specific scene that we needed to remake. For actors, we didn’t need much since one faces or characters were actually shown in this title sequence, so all we used a group member hands the group member we used for this was Subhaan's. Also storyboarding all of our shots was extremity helpful since it allowed us to know exactly what we are doing each step of the way, and overall all of our planning was successful by all of us working as a group.  

The filming and actually having to remake the scene were harder than we first thought, we realised how much thought goes into each shot, and because most of the shots were extreme close-ups we really needed to think about how we wanted the camera to be positioned, at what angle and even how close to the object/hands.  I think another problem we came across with was the lighting, the lighting was very hard to put in the right position to get the effect that we wanted, we wanted to keep the darkness of the title sequence but it was always difficult to think what was the best way to do so. We used ranges of shots all include medium close-up, close up, extreme close up and bird’s eye view. The setting was not a problem for us since all we needed was a table in a small room with preferably no windows, so we used a small meeting room in the college to film our title sequence.

The editing was I would say maybe one of the easier parts of the whole remaking of the title sequence, the editing in the title sequence seven was fast with a lot of jump cuts so that all we did as editing. However, with the fonts, we also wanted to keep the handwriting and messy font, because that goes a lot more with the dark theme of the title sequence and more fitted with the image. Some of the titles were on plain black screens however some overlapped with our footage. We all used an edit to suit the tone of the film as match with the moving image they create a mysterious, somber aura to the sequence. 

The whole process of planning, filming, and editing has become a learning experience because we know now the parts we found difficult we now know the solution to those problems that we ran into with remaking this title sequence. We now know that actually putting all of our ideas down on paper would actually be very helpful, and also that storyboarding everything is extremely important and just helps with the whole filming and editing process and keeps us on track at all times. However the only thing I know we did not get round to doing in our edit was adding sound t our title sequence, we found out that sound is very important to a title sequence it overall also helps set the mood and understanding for the viewer more.  

Evaluation of Remake: Seven

The title sequence that me and my group decided to remake was the one from the film Seven. We decided to remake this particular title sequence because it was interesting and would require us to experiment with different techniques and the specific style that this title sequence has.

When completing the storyboards and shortlists we found it quite a difficult task to note down and storyboard shots. This was because of the complexity of the title sequence itself, it's variety of different shots and the fact that we had limited time to film.
Therefore, we selected and noted down the particular shots from the original sequence that we could possibly remake and we storyboarded them.
In doing this, we did have to miss out a large proportion of the shots that were used in the original because of the lack of time to film.

Mostly, our choice in props to use impacted the final product. In the original title sequence for the film Seven, in includes quite a random assortment of paper props that form a type of note book/scrap book as well as razor blades and a teabag etc. 
In order to replicate these props we chose to use similar things such as a newspaper, an old note pad, college ID card (instead of a blade) and an actual teabag. 

As a group, creating the actual credit titles for the sequence was somewhat a difficult task. This is because we had a difficult time deciding at which points in our remake we would use credit titles and how it wouldn't seem correct in comparison to the original as we featured less shots which meant we couldn't feature all the titles that the original does.
Also, we had a problem with replicating how the credit titles in the original sequence appear to feature animation in Adobe After Effects. This was only a problem for us because again we had limited time to edit and put the final cut together, which meant that we didn't have a lot of time to add the animations.

However, when creating the credit titles we did find that selecting the font, typeface and size of the credit titles was an easier job than the animation part. This is because the credit titles in the original sequence were featured as titles on a blank screen and the type was mostly shown varying in all 4 corners of the screen. So, this aspect of the credit titles was easy in remaking.

Overall, I believe that if we were given more time to film all the shots we wanted from the original and had more time to edit so that we could add the animation to the credit titles, the whole remake would've been perfect. However, saying that, we did get a majority of the sequence made to a good standard and we were all moderately satisfied with the final cut.    

SEVEN REMAKE EVALUATION

The title sequence my group decided to remake was seven. For this we decided that we would have low - key lighting and tattered props to reflect the dark ambience of the title sequence. We managed to get most of the props used in the title sequence however there were a few we couldn't get, therefore we improvised. For the acting we only needed to use a group members hands as no faces are revealed in the opening sequence to keep it enigmatic. As a group we decided to use Subhaan's hands in the clip. Storyboarding our shots was helpful so we knew which shots to use shots and mise en scene to use. Overall the planning for our sequence went successfully and we managed to do it quickly.

The filming part of the sequence was equally easy and difficult. At first we struggled to find a way to portray the low key lighting however we eventually managed to use lighting equipment which worked perfectly. We used a range of shots such as medium shot, close up shots, extreme close up shots and a birds eye view shot. The location for a filming was in a meeting room, we didn't need an extravagant setting as we only needed to use a table for the main action of the title sequence.

The editing process was quite easy. The title sequence of seven is very fast pace and has a lot of jump cuts therefore we did this in our editing. With the font we decided to make it a similar handwritten font as seen in the real title sequence we liked this because it makes the titles seem more incorporated into the action. We also used effects on the titling and credits to integrate it into the moving image. The handwritten font and its integrated edit suit the tone of the film as match with the moving image they create a mysterious, sombre aura to the sequence.

The whole process of filming, planning and editing a learning experience, it was difficult at some parts and simpler at others. I learnt that storyboarding is very important so that you can keep on track of what you're doing and how you will do it and also how much a difference types of font and their edit can make on the message and ambience of the entire film. The only criticisms I would have is to ensure to add sound in the editing process and do it at the beginning as sound is extremely important in an opening sequence, it tells the audience how they should feel about the film.

Seven Remake - Final Edit

Updated Storyboard & Shotlist for Remake (Not Finished)

Remake planning decisions

The title sequence we have decided to remake is se7en. we have found se7en very interesting and mysterious and we would like to remake the title sequence. 
The person from our group we have chosen to act is Subhaan.and we have decided that we can film in almost any classroom in college were where we could use a table as a prop.

The props we have chosen to use are:
- old fashioned pen
- newspaper/ scrap paper
- notepad / notebook
- black marker
- scissors
- tape

Title Sequence Remake Storyboard: Seven

SOUND ANALYSIS - ACTION/COMEDY

AUDIENCE AND GENRE RESEARCH

Why is sound so important in films?

WHY IS SOUND IMPORTANT IN FILMS?

There are many different reasons as to why sound is so important in film.

• One Reason would be that it allows users to follow dialogue which gives us key context.
• Another reason would be that it helps to suspend disbelief.
• Also, it helps to set atmosphere and tone by telling us how to respond and feel about what we see.
• Sound is can be used to quickly establish the genre of the film.
• Lastly, it provides a more engaging and realistic visual experience for the audience.

For example...

The following video shows a cut-scene clip from the video game: Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2. It shows the clip in three different forms. Firstly, with only sound effects and dialogue. Secondly, only with the music. Lastly, with all three aspects of sound playing in synchronization.   

           

After seeing the clip in all three formats I am able to say that it definitely shows how all aspects of sound are important in telling a story through film.

When watching the clip in the first format, with only diegetic sounds (sound effects and dialogue), I felt that the experience of watching it felt very natural and as if I was seeing it play out as if it was actually happening.
However, there was a lack of feelings and emotions throughout the clip because of the absence of music.

Watching the clip in the second format, with the non-diegetic sound only (music only), I felt like I wasn't noticing the detail in the moving images as much as when I watched the first format. 
Also, I could tell that there was supposed to be emotion expressed at certain points in the clip because of the music, however, it didn't fully match with the moving image because you could tell there was something missing. 
I also realised that during moments when a character would be talking or when the diegetic sound was in focus, we were just presented with an awkward silence or pause in sound which wasn't very ideal.

Lastly, I watched the final cut with the moving image, diegetic and non-diegetic sound all synchronized. I thought that together, it all matched up and I could appreciate all the sound playing at once. I was able to notice the natural/realistic feel from the diegetic sound and the emotion from the non-diegetic sound. Overall, making this a well produced piece of film. 

TASK 11 - analyse a title sequence

Micro & Macro Analysis of a Drama Film Title Sequence

BLOG TASK 14 - MACRO AND MICRO ANALYSIS OF TITLE SEQUENCES - THRILLER GENRE

WHY IS SOUND IMPORTANT IN FILM?

WHY IS SOUND IMPORTANT IN FILM?

Sound can be defined as vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard. There are different types of sound used in film and they have different effects on the film. Sound is important because:

- It helps set atmosphere and tone: Non - diegetic music in particular provides an ambience for a scene of a film, it helps to manipulate the audience into feeling a specific emotion therefore creating a sense of realism.

- Suspends disbelief: Without sound audiences do not know how to respond to a film. Layering of non-diegetic, diegetic sounds and dialogue allows an audience to be involved with a film and helps them understand what is going on. 

- Provides more engaging scenes: With the accompany of sound scenes in a film become more interesting to watch. Without sound a film can become very dull and confusing which will make audiences not want to watch.

- Helps establish genre: There are specific sounds audiences expect to here in certain genres. For example in horror films typically have sounds that build up into a crescendo or low tones to frighten the audience.

TASK 16 - research importance of sound in film

why is sound 50% ?

Reasons why i believe that sound is very important in film is because over all it helps us understand what exactly is going on in the plot and helps build the relationship between viewer and characters. By watching any videos without sound we can see that it makes us feel quite confused and not engaged in whatever is going on, and could even make us feel quite bored because we do not understand whats actually going on in the plot. however while watching a video with sound it allows us distend disbelief, allows us to feel engaged, helps us follow the dialog o increases our understanding of the plot and whats going on. Helps set the atmosphere helps us feel whats going on. we feel like we are apart of whatever is going on in the actually scene in puts us in the story and adds depth to the picture.    

Research about Genre Preferences and Audiences in the UK (BFI Statistical Yearbook)

               

TASK 12 - research BFI work sheet

GENRE PREFERENCES

Genre Preferences

blog task 11 - Genre Preferences

Genre Preferences by Gabia Stoknaite on Scribd

blog task 10 - different type of title sequences

ANALYSIS OF TITLE SEQUENCES.

RESEARCH - TYPES OF TITLE SEQUENCES

blog task 8 - conventional order of title credits

conventional order of the title of the title credits

TASK 4 - Purpose and Features of a Title Sequence

The purpose of a title sequence and film opening

A title sequence is made to set out to achieve three different purposes...

1. so it would set the mood of the entire film. 

2. so it would draw in the entire audience to continue watching the film.
 

3. and to state the ownership of the film and who has made it.

The common features of a title sequence and film opening?

The common features that occur in almost every title sequence are stuff like...

• Characters - always the main character's in the film
• The title of the film's 
• storyline/ plot of the film 
• The film's setting, location, place and time era
•  information about who owns and who made the film 
• Credits - A feature of the names of actors and main production crew involved in the making of the film
• Non-diegetic audio - E.g. background music which can be used to set the theme, tone, emotion or atmosphere of the film

blog task 7 - Analysis of Two Film Title Sequences

Gone Girl title sequence - 

Gone Girl is a movie about the disappearance of a man’s wife and the world believes him to be the killer, no matter how hard he denies it. The director “David Fincher” captures this in the opening title sequence with different techniques. The uses of sound, shot types, setting, text, and dialogue all come together to start the film “Gone Girl.”

1.    Film production and distribution companies

2. Film writer and director, Quentin Tarantino.

3.    Main Actors

4.    The Main Title

5.    Co-Stars

6.    Credit to the music producers

7.    Key production crew members

All the credits appear on the screen in capital letters, in white and block style font. They seem to also appear large and in the middle of the screen until the main title appears in between the ending of the main actors' credits and the beginning of the co-stars' credits

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo –

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 2011 Swedish-American psychological thriller film based on the novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson. This film adaptation was directed by David Fincher and written by Steven Zaillian

The opening sequence of ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ gives the audience an insight into the film’s darker sadistic side and links to the title through the black oozing ink that covers the screen. • Immediately the editor Kirk Baxter and director David Fincher set the tone and atmosphere of the film as disturbing and action packed, through their choice of shots and mise en scene.

Analysis of Two Film Title Sequences

Analysis of Title Sequences

In this blog post, I will be analysing the title sequences from both Django Unchained and Tron Legacy. I will be trying to identify the common features in title sequences and the purposes of the sequences in their  films. 

Django Unchained Title Sequence

             

This title sequence was for Quentin Tarantino's 2012 film Django Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz. Which was a modern take on an 'old western' style film, set in 1858 Sourthern USA during the slave trade era. 

The sequence starts with a 'classic' take on the Columbia pictures ident. I think that they use this classic version of the Columbia ident to give the viewer the feeling of watching an old or classic film.

After this, it is quickly cut to a picture taken in the desert or wilderness. When this cut takes place, the title song which is non-diegetic music also begins playing and the opening credits start to roll. 

I think that the credits seem to go in a order of importance.
The credits' order goes...

1. Film production and distribution companies ('The Westein Company and Columbia Pictures).
2. Film writer and director, Quentin Tarantino.
3. Main Actors (A majority of the names in this list were the 'big name' actors in the film).
4. The Main Title (not really a credit but is the point where action starts to take place in the background)
5. Co-Stars (Actors who played key roles in the film but aren't as well known as the main actors).
6. Credit to the music producers (singer and musicians behind the title song and film's soundtrack)
7. Key production crew members (Main & Executive producers, costume designer and director of photography)

1, 2, 3 & 4 Being the more important credits 

5, 6 & 7 being the less important credits 

The credits appear in all capital lettered text with a rather bold and sans serif font which is a deep red with a defined black boarder around all of the letters. The deep and almost blood red colour of the text is probably used to foreshadow the fact that there is a lot of bloodshed later on in the film.

They seem to also appear large and in the middle of the screen until the main title appears in between the ending of the main actors' credits and the beginning of the co-stars' credits.

After this, the background stops being a still image of the desert and action starts taking place. This affects the type in that it becomes smaller and varies position on screen to almost 'make space' for the background action which almost becomes the main focus after the title appears. 

The action begins as the camera moves down from it's almost 'high' position of the still shot of the desert setting.

It moves down to show four black slaves (presumably) who are shirtless, barefoot and tied in chains, walking through a desert path guided by two white slavers (presumably) on horses with large shotguns in their hands too.

There is a lot of focus on the slaves to make sure that viewers understand that they are indeed slaves. This is done by focusing on the fact that they're shirtless, barefoot, chained up/shackled, have ungroomed hair and that they all have severe wounds on their backs from whip lashes. 

Throughout the sequence the slaves and mounted slavers are seen journeying to an unknown location. They are seen travelling in the scorching mid-day heat through the desert and then a bitter cold looking forest at night time. The credits, music and overall sequence end in the cold night time forest where you can here the rattling of the chains from the shivering of the slaves. From here, the sequence has officially ended and the film has now begun.

I like this sequence mostly because it's quite classic look, the non-diegetic music in the background and generally the fact that it's well played out in that it transitions onto the film very well. 

Also, I considered to use it because after seeing how good the title sequence was, the first time I saw the film, I was quite enticed to watch on and indeed did enjoy the rest of the film a lot, enough to call it one of my favourites.

Tron: Legacy Title Sequence

                 

This title sequence was used for the 2010 film, Tron: Legacy which was a sequel to the popular 1982 film titled TRON. The story follows Flynn's son, Sam, who responds to a message from his long-lost father and is transported into a virtual reality called the Grid.

The sequence begins with an unconventional and 'digitalised' version of the classic Walt Disney Pictures ident. This is done to correspond with the digital nature and heavy use of special effects & CGI in the film. 

After the ident has faded to black, seemingly non-diegetic electronic music starts to play. Shortly after this, a voice of a man begins speaking about information moving through computers. As this happens, a computer generated image of what is said to be a "cluster of information" begins moving across the screen and dividing into many smaller clusters which then start to take the shape of and transitions onto a birds-eye-view of a city.
Viewers are then shown another CGI of the Tron title placed vertically between two buildings. 

The title sequence features no texts as credits but simply just as the title. 
The Tron title text also takes on the digital and computerized theme shown in the previous images on screen and the ident. The text is shown to be quite large scale as it fits between two buildings. Also, the font makes the title look almost as if it's a neon light sign. 

After the title appears the camera is seen to move through a narrow gap between the letters in the title. Doing so, it's almost as if the camera is moving from this digitally composed city, created by the clusters of information, to the real world. This might be done to foreshadow a similar but opposite take on this event that happens later on in the film.

The voice over includes mostly the voice of a, presumably, middle aged man and at parts a young boy. Once the title sequence has commenced, it's revealed to be a father who's telling his son a bedtime story. They are also the first two characters who the viewers are introduced to.

I liked this particular title sequence because it heavily uses special/visual effects and CGI. Also, I liked it because in a way it was quite simplistic and easy going. By this I mean that it didn't have any credits, making it easy just to focus on the the voice over and the visuals that were on screen. Similar to the Django Unchained title sequence, it made a good transition from the title sequence to the main film.

Categorizing Title Sequences

              

What Makes a Good Title Sequence?

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TITLE SEQUENCE

Lian Kyle Cooper 1 by Anonymous 1Tn0JVf on Scribd

blog task 4 - what is the purpose of a title sequence?

TASK 6 - what makes a good title sequence?

Kyle Cooper Interview Answers by Gabia Stoknaite on Scribd

task 3 : research analysis of example blog

   favourite previous student work. 

I picked this previous student work mainly because I found her blog quite interesting to view. This student had 80 blogs, the posts were laid out in a plain and chronological order which was very good.

In her blogs there were a very big verity of different technology used, all post with great detail of what she was talking about, sometimes she would have used an app to create her blog more interesting and sometimes she would just link a video and explain her ideas about it.

The overall design of the blog was quite intresting, it was not plain instead as soon as I looked it I already knew what her ideas were and what mood she was trying to portray thought all of her blogs. overall everything was very easy to navigate around because everything was clearly desplaid.

What makes a good title sequence?

Kyle Cooper Interview Answers by Goncalo on Scribd

EXAMPLE OF A GOOD BLOG

I chose Jadas blog because I believe it is good quality snd it is very informative and detailed. The blog has followed all the instructions and the owner has presented their ideas in a creative yet clear way. It is structured very well, the posts are in chronological order therefore making the blog easy to navigate.\The research into the film genre by Jada was very thorough,
. I would give this blog a 20/20 because alot of hardwork and effort has gone into creating it.

Purpose and Features of a Title Sequence

The purpose of a title sequence and film opening

A title sequence or film opening sets out to achieve three different purposes.

• Firstly, it would be that it sets the mood of the entire film. 
• Secondly, it would be to draw in the entire audience to continue watching the film.
• Thirdly, state the ownership of the film and who has made it.

The common features of a title sequence and film opening?

The common features that occur in almost every title sequence or film opening would be features such as...

• Characters - commonly the main character's
• The film's title
• Overview or context to the 'story' or plot (exposition)
• The film's setting, location, place and time era
• An Indent - Institutional information about who owns and who made the film (Paramount, Fox etc.)
• Credits - A feature of the names of actors and main production crew involved in the making of the film
• Non-diegetic audio - E.g. background music which can be used to set the theme, tone, emotion or atmosphere of the film

Example of my favourite title sequence: 

Forrest Gump

             

It opens with an ident of paramount who are the company that either made or distributed the film. After that, it opens with a feather falling from the sky into a 1980's American town along with subtle music.

Towards the end of the title sequence we're just introduced to the main character (presumably Forrest Gump). Specifically when he's seen picking up the feather once it has fallen to the ground just before his feet. 

Throughout the entire sequence, title credits appear in a plain white text in the middle of the screen but aren't supposed to be the main focus of the sequence.

The story/plot is hinted at through the part when the feather is shown on the ground before the main character's feet. From this, you can tell that he is probably a keen runner/jogger by his quite worn out trainers. This suggests the film might be about running.

Also, at the end of the sequence he's seen boarding a bus. This leads into the rest of the film which leaves viewers wondering where he is going and enticing them to watch on.

Because of all of this, I guess that the film is about the main character's life and that the genre of the movie is drama.  

FEATURES OF AN OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE

The purposes of an opening title sequence can be summarised into three objectives; to set the tone and genre of the film, to engage and entice the audience so that they continue to watch and establish the owners and actors of the film.

Although films may emerge from different genres they all have similar conventions in their opening title sequences. The features of all opening title sequences include:

• Indents and credits - Indents such as "Paramount Pictures" show the institutions that own the film whilst the credits establish the actors and actresses in the film.

• Non diegetic background music - This is important because it manipulates the audience into feeling the emotions the mood of the film is supposed to set. For example the non-diegetic music used in the opening sequence of Forrest Gump is soothing and calm which reflects the context of the movie. 

• Overview of plot context - By giving an overview of the storyline the audience can infer what the entire film will be about. In many openings themes of the film are hinted at in subtle ways so that the audience are curious as to how these themes will develop throughout the film.

• Introduction to characters - Most films introduce the main characters at the beginning of the film. For example the opening title sequence of the film Juno clearly distinguishes the main character by the anchoring the title beside the character "Juno"

Out of the opening sequences that I watched I found Skyfall the best one, it is an example of a narrative title sequence which tend to be my favouriteThis is because the conventions are all used subtly within the sequence, for example the theme of the movie is hinted at through the colours of red and black - red connotes blood and death whilst black connotes it a dark gloomy atmosphere, these macro features allow us to guess that the genre of the film is an action/thriller. The diegetic music dramatises the sequence and tells the audience how to react as well as guiding them through the sequence. The titles are also cleverly integrated into the action which makes the sequence look more attractive whilst at the same time making it more engaging.

Task 4 - What is the purpose of a Title sequence and Film opening

What is the purpose of a Title Sequence and Film Opening?

Title sequences in film openings are very, very important to the audience as it allows them to get a understanding of the following:

• Characters (often main one, but he/she is always referenced in the title sequence in one way or another.
• Title of the film itself incase you forgot what movie you were going to watch at the cinema.
• Overview of the context of the story/plot of the film. Quite often, title sequences provide subtle hints that you'll understand fully once you watch the movie. If you watch a title sequence, there might be a lot of symbolism that'll fly over your head but say you watch the movie already and come back to it, you'll realise exactly why that was included in the title sequence. The makers of the title sequence love to give subtle hints about the story although most viewers won't bat an eye the first time.
• Provide the audience with the following: Location/place and time era. With the location it's often very clear where it takes place by looking at the scenery, if it were to be set in the countryside you'd see lots of green etc. Time era is shown but in a subtle way like the clothes the character wears or certain props.
• Institutional information, if a big brand published movie such as a James Bond one they'd often slap their name on it for more public awareness.
• Credits, gotta show who's involved in the movie, often showing the starring cast first one by one and then moving onto the rest of the people involved in the filming if it's a longer one, but normally it'll be actors followed by directors, the "more important" roles
• Title sequences more often than not have some sort of non-diegetic soundtrack (the sound isn't from the world the character is in, only the audience can hear it) over it. This can often show the audience an insight of the genre, if it were a drama there would be dramatic music, if it were an action movie it would be quite a heavy soundtrack with lots of drums etc. 
• What the genre is, title screens won't just tell you in your face what the genre is, what would be the point of a title sequence for a movie like Skyfall. It would look sloppy if you had: SKYFALL - Genre - CRIME/ACTION. It seems really tacky so the people who are making the title sequence have to give hints towards it, as the title sequence can normally either make or break the movie.

Out of the 4 title sequences I've seen (Skyfall, Forrest Gump, Juno, Hostage) I'd say the most effective one was Skyfall. It was a very abstract title sequence but it still told the audience where it was set, established who the main character was, gave an insight to the genre and story. Right off the bat it kept the audience on edge (which is one of the things a title sequence is meant to do, entice the audience)

Right off the bat, you see the main character, James bond (portrayed by Daniel Craig) Drowning.
This gives the audience 2 things to take away: The character and a rough overview of the story.
As the main character is being dragged down the depths of the ocean you see the film title, that's 3 things ticked off out of 8
You get a cemetery, which could symbolise the genre being action/crime with all the death involved. There's a lot of red which could symbolise blood, this is strengthened by the fact that the "blood" turns into a red skull. Along with the credits that's 5/8 things checked off. The title sequence has the song Skyfall by Adele on it which advertises both the movie and the song by Adele, this is known as synergy as both parties benefit from it.

Overall, the title sequence checks off 7/8 of the "Things a film title should do" list, only missing out on the Institutional information but that's probably posted before the movie commences as James Bond movies are notorious for having a little action scene to set the mood before the actual Title sequence goes on so they skipped that part in favour of the action instead.

Analysis of Example Blog

Analysis of Example Blog: "Omar's Blog"

This student's blog included 62 blog posts. A majority of the blog posts are laid out in quite a plain and standard list of chronological order. 

His posts tend to commonly follow a pattern of bodies of text maybe with a link to a video and a few pictures/screenshots. From noticing this, it's easy to realize that he hasn't used many ICT apps (only used YouTube video links).

The design of his blog is quite standard, not much colour apart from the background which I think is supposed to be the logo used in his final piece. To me, this tiled background of his logo looks quite unprofessional. This is because you can clearly see that the text used in the logo was cut off. Also, the bright colours against the simple grey and white colour scheme of his blog posts don't seem to work very well for me as they distract you from the main content.

Overall, I believe that it's quite a standard blog. It's relatively easy to tell that he put it together mostly with content as his priority rather than user interaction. However, in saying this, there's room to improve his post layout, background and also the amount of ICT he used for his work.

Reflection and Evaluation of Prelim Film

Prelim Film

   

Blog task 5 - how can a film opening attract an audience ?

RESEARCH - BLOGGING TASK 1 - GROUP PHOTO

Hello and welcome to our media blogging website! We will be using this to complete our coursework and get that young A