Animatic production

We have just finished putting our animatic together. We had to completely start from scratch due to the fact that we changed our idea at a late stage. We drew the pictures last lesson and used the camera to get them onto the computer. Ryan then took them into photoshop and cropped them and cleaned them up a bit. James and Michael put the animatic in order on Final Cut Express. We have inserted title cards where we would be having titles and have tried to make it an accurate interpretation of what the final cut will be like once we have filmed it. It doesn't have any sound as of yet but ryan is working on it. We may record some dialogue and add it to the animatic but we haven't decided yet.

Fun with Dick and Jane

‘Fun with Dick and Jane’ is a crime caper with a quirky light hearted title sequence and it introduces the character with a title about what they do. I think this is a really good idea because it draws you in straight away and it makes it more enjoyable for the viewer. I think we will incorporate this idea into our title sequence apart from we will have a narrator instead. Also the key part to ‘Fun with Dick and Jane’ is the music; when you hear it; it instantly sets the scene and adds to the fun aspect of it because of the simple happy melody a complied with other instruments. This also works really well because the dynamics are enhanced after the scenes of dialogue creating an up lifting feel and I think this is a really good technique to use in our title sequence.
The title sequence also starts with a frozen animation of a boy and a girl next to a classic picket fence with a few houses. This is like the American dream to own this house and it really focuses on the point that they have the perfect life and that they worked really hard for it. This makes the characters more believable plus more likable because they didn’t just get the house they earned it. The title sequence ends in the same way it started with a smooth transition to animated picture of them. I really like the editing in this because they have a lot of interesting techniques such as the animation but they also fast forward the last bit as well. This is quite unusual but I think it works really well with the music and it finally ends with them as a family standing together.
In conclusion for our crime caper title sequence I think we should use some of these aspects from ’Fun with Dick and Jane’, like the strong feeling relating with the characters and the fun humour as well. Also I think we need a good sound track because it really sets the atmosphere.

Synopsis for title sequence

The genre we have chosen to do is a crime caper. So the two main films we are taking influences from are Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998) and Fun With Dick and Jane (Dean Parisot, 2005).

Our idea is of a family suffering from job loss to the credit crisis. They decide to start stealing things they can sell on to people. The idea of a family resorting to crime is similar to the story of Fun With Dick & Jane. We have decided to jump straight into the story rather than setting up the narrative with a back story, this would be told later on through flashback or the family just talking about as natural conversation.

Our sequence will open with some titles and a voiceover of the father figure telling the plan to his children. The plan is to break into a neighbours house and steal their big television while they are out. We will only hear his voice, after he finishes talking we will cut from the titles to the sequence. We will start with a young/teenage boy climbing in a window from the outside. We will then cut to the inside to see him fall through the window. He will fall below the view of the camera and then stand up. Once he has stood up it will pause and we will hear a voiceover from the father figure introducing the boy. He will then go to the back door and let his father in. When we see the father it will pause and there will be a voiceover of him introducing himself. They will then move into the hall and talk a bit. We will then see a young boy on the stairs. He is the other boy in the family who has followed them. We may introduce him, we aren't sure yet. They will then begin to try and steal the television but will encounter a problem with the plugs. There will be too many plugs and they can't figure out which one is the television's. The family will then pull up and they will have to run out through the back garden and over a wall. The title of the film will then come up.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels title sequence analysis

The sequence shows a man selling stolen goods on the street. We can immediately tell it is London because of the man's accent. The man is giving a talk to try and intice people into buying his goods. It is obviously going to be in quite a run down location because the selling seems to be taking place in some sort of alley. As the man talks it switches from him to titles. As the titles are on screen we can still hear the man talking. The sound is diagetic throughout the sequence. As for non-diagetic sound we can hear a song in the background gradually getting louder. This builds tension in the audience and let's us now that this sequence is building up to some sort of climaxe. The man's accomplice then tells him the police are here and they both start to run away. And this point the music is playing loudly as part of the chase. As the two men run down stairs it goes into slow motion and a voice over starts to introduce the first man. It then goes back into full speed for a brief second before the other man appears and throws his suitcase. It then goes into slow motion again and introduces this man. After the title of the film appears as if it is being typed. I thought the idea for introducing characters was very good. It sort of gave the same feeling you get when you meet a new character in a book and i really liked it. I also like the idea of slowing down or pausing the clip to introduce the character. I also like the idea of music slowly building up and the bursting in for some sort of climaxe. I think these are two ideas we will defintely consider for our sequence.

The original ‘The Italian Job’, directed in 1969 by peter Collinson is a great example of a classic late 60s/ early 70s crime film. The opening sequence starts off with a slow pan from the deep blue sky slowly to the huge vast open stretches of the Italian alp, setting the scene. We hear no sound until the non-diagetic slightly muffle long distance roar of a sports car engine, which builds up and changes to the scene of the car moving across a vast bridge stretching over a large valley, where the sound of the engine turns into a diagetic sound. The shot type changes to a point of view shot, making it seem as if we are now in the car with the driver, and again we are given another non diagetic sound of soft music, slowly replacing the noise of the cars engine. Only after about 45 seconds into the scene are we finally introduced to the character that is driving the car. This technique is used to make it seem as if the rest of the film is based around this character as he is the last apparent person/object we are introduced to.

The whole atmosphere is now very calm and relaxing with the vast stretches of the Italian Alps and the soft music, and now we are shown all of the opening titles of the film. The titles are generally very bold and have a similar colour to the car which he is driving (red) which is a well known colour for fast Italian sports cars, which is possibly used to reinforce that the rest of the film is based in Italy. The fact that the fonts of the titles are also very foreign and glamorous also sets the scene for the rest of the film being in Italy.

As the car enters the tunnel the sound turns again into the diagetic sound of the cars engine, which echo’s again the side of the tunnel. This is very quickly obstructed by the shriek of the cars breaks and the explosion of the car. We then very quickly see the clip of the truck facing into the tunnel and the back view of the man holding the wrath, preparing us for what is about to happen.

we are then confronted with the image of the explosion which is very dramatic and has a strong effect breaking out of the calm relaxing atmosphere which the title sequence has been building up all this time. This gives allot of mystery into what has just happened and makes the audience confused, making them realise that this is the scene that the rest of the film is build around. It also creates suspense in that if this has been intentionally done or if it is an accident.

The long stretching tunnel also makes the audience realise how infinite this landscape is, and how it stretches for miles, even in the small space of a tunnel.

The reversing of the truck takes a long time, creating s suspense, finally revealing to us the true genre of the film being a crime, having just committed a murder. I think the reason why the director (Peter Collinson) has included this is because not only has it revealed the true horror of what has happened, but it also slowly reveals the true intention of the obviously evil man who we have only seen the back side of.
As the car slowly roles down the hill, we are re enforced in what has just happened and that the driver is defiantly dead. As the main bad guy walks over towards the edge, he treads on the glasses, which is a very strong image used in many similar crime movies of its time, used to make it seem as if this has been done out of vengeance.
we are made to think that the bad people are gang members because of there smart suits and dark glasses which they are wearing, apart from the main bad guy who is wearing a different colour suit making us focus on him, rather than the other characters, introducing him, as later in the film he is the ‘big boss’.
The sequence finishes with the main bad guy throwing the wrath into the valley, which then leads into a fast flowing stream. This makes it seem as if it is some kind of Italian respect which is a powerful thing, clarifying to the audience that they are some kind of Italian gang, which we find more about later in the film.

  

Crime Caper mood board Ryan Breeze

We have decided to change our idea for our opening sequence; we are now going to be filming a crime caper. We decided to do this because we thought that our last idea wasn't very good. Our new idea is to focus on a dad and two children and how they are struggling through the credit crunch, the dad has also lost his job and the family are very short of money, they then resolve this problem by stealing.

This is a crime caper mood board. A crime caper is usually an action packed film involving someone trying prevent/steal something. Usually the item they are trying to acquire is a large sum of money or something that could be sold. They also usually feature a team of people, like a leader who is calling the shots, a technical person and a transportation person. A classic example is 'Italian Job' where they have a team to move the gold and a team to open the van and load it also with Michael Caine calling the shots. Another point is that crime capers tend to be quite realistic so that the audience can relate to it instead of being aggravated by its lack of realism.

Mood Board

For our media project we have decided to film a British social realist. Our mood board shows some examples British social realists including 'This is England', 'Kidulthood/Adulthood' and 'Green Street'.

Die Hard 4.0 - Ryan Breeze

Die hard 4.0 is an action crime film starring Bruce Willis it is the fourth of the four films. In the title sequence it doesn’t feature Bruce Willis as it’s not necessary because of the previous sequels. Plus the title sequence doesn’t tell you too much about the film as it doesn’t feature the criminal only his employees. But looking at the mise-en-scene there’s a lot of computer equipment telling us that this Die Hard will be a lot more modern so that it can relate to the audience to make a more thrilling film. Also the titles flicker and make noises like a computer to fit with the narrative plus you also get these flashing images of a computer screen appearing as well.

The title sequence features another main character and it introduces him as a geeky computer hacker, they do this so when he comes into the film later they can skip more to the action without the viewers being too confused on who he is. The end of the title sequence is more action pact as the building where one the hackers is blows up giving the viewer that there will be a lot more action in the film.

The way the sequence is delivered is really good as it doesn’t tell you too much of the story but it gives you a slight idea on what is going to happen. There are also a lot of special effects in the sequence making it more modern and appealing to watch. Another point is there sound track, as it fits really well with the sequence because of dramatic percussion instruments and the violins building suspense.

Analysis of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

The title sequence for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang starts of with setting the scene so that it can give the audience a sence of loction. The camera the panes down to the ground where we see a man running away from someone or something, this quickly rayes questions. Who is this man, Who is he running away from and why? Throught this title sequence the sound used is also very affective because it makes the scene seem more mistrious and makes the audience more interested in what is going to unfold.

We then see a girl appear in the frame this makes the audience think that the man and her might have something in comman, e.g. Partners in crime or they will cross parthers during the film and will have a keys role.


We then see a gun which is the first violence related object this changes the mood of the sequence then because the audience might think that the man is violent and living a life of crime. The gun then fires and releases what looks like tree branches this could represent that the gun/ man isn't harmful, however when we wait a bit the branches then create a path leading to a posh party this could then interpritate that something is going to happen a this party involving guns. However though i feel that it shows that the man is leading a double life by being a crook and being involved in crime and then pretening to be someone else.

The scene then suddenly becomes more dark in that the audience feel that there is going to be quite alot of killing, we know this because the frames suddenly change to red and black to represent blood. Also men in suits appear of the screen and they have blood patches where their heart is to show death.

Title Sequence analysis of Juno

The title sequence for Juno is mainly focused on intorducing Juno, the main character in the story. It follows her walking from her house to the local shop and has a lot of varying shot types. It begins with Juno walking and there is a tracking shot so we can see her side on. As she walks behind a tree the picture switches from real life to animated.



I think the fact that the title sequence is animated makes it a lot more interesting to watch. It’s quite a unique title sequence because there was no real need to animate it because it could have just been filmed and had the titles added and would have looked similar. If we look at the animation style though, and the way it is drawn, we can see it is quite child like and this is probably used as a way of showing that the character, Juno, is quite child like and also innocent.



Another thing this title sequence does it give a few clues at to what other characters will be like, and also what is going happen in the story. When the title for Michael Cera, the love interest and father of the baby, comes up there is a guitar against a wall. The character is very into the guitar and music. Another very interesting bit is as Juno walks past a shop. If you look at the picture above you can see that the shop in the background is full of guitars. Then if you look at the picture below, as she is crossing the road, you can see it is full of baby clothes. This is definitely a clue as to what will happen in the film because Juno will have to learn some responsibility and grow up if she is to have a baby.




The sound for the clip is simple. It is the song “All I Want Is You” by Barry Louis Polisar. This is a nice acoustic song about being in love with someone. The music throughout the entire film is similar to this.


by James Heath

Our production sequence

This is our production company; Spotlight productions. We made our production logo on Photoshop we then put into final cut so we could edit the layers to delay different layers and to also move them around to create the aspect of a search light. We finally added sound to it that fitted with the search light idea and i think it worked really well as it looks professional and unique. However we encountered numerous problems with the motion of the circle as it was hard to keep it moving at a consistent speed. We also added a screen clipping on the left to show how we made our production logo.

Title sequences

Ratcatcher (2002, Lynne Ramsay)

-Social realism combined with expressionism/ surrealism- Poetic realism (British)

-Working class, council flat/estate, shows the life style.

Killer of sheep USA 1977 (charles Burnett)

Student film- UCLA L.A. suburb- working class people.

• Location- Suburbia 
• Focus on working class in their own environment
• Mostly static (except handheld in a car)
•  Not entirely scripted, improvised- as if observing
  
• Looking at camera- Unexperienced actors
• Natural sound/Lighting 

American Splender (shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini 2004)

• Drama with elements of comedy
• Reflective- Refers to its own film making process

Genres of Film

We have to choose from one of the 5 following genres to base our sequence on:

1. Supernatural Thriller - thriller, psychic phenomenon, paranormal force, ghosts. examples of this are The Sixth Sense, Dark Water, Unbreakable, What Lies Beneath, Donnie Darko.

2. Crime - Depicts the violent gangster/mobster underworld. Effort of police/justice system to work against lawbreaker. Examples of this are Layer Cake, Snatch and the Oceans films.

3. Romantic Teen Comedy - Age of characters (teen) ends happily, appeals to women more, light hearted, main characters - relationship. examples of this are the American Pie films, Never Been Kissed, Bridget Jones, She's All That.

4. Social Realist Drama - Representation of 'real life' and difficulties, usually based on the working class/location. examples of this are Trainspotting, Brass Off

5. Adventure - Narrative- Characters (protagonist) are constantly placed in danger, usually trying to find something/someone, often involves magic or supernatural. examples of this are Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Captain Blood.