Group photo

From left to right: Me, Chris Malimela and Steven Lawson

Saul Bass

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer who became famous for his logos. He used simple geometric shapes in his work and their symbolisms. He often hand drew his work to create a casual appearance. His main achievement however was the way in which he revolutionized the way that people view title credit sequences.  

Saul Bass` earliest and arguably his most notorious title sequence was that of the man with the Golden Arm. In this he created an arresting image of a distorted, disjointed arm. As well as being disconnected from a body, the black arm has the appearance of being petrified and transformed into something else. Saul stated that, “The intent of this opening was to create a mood spare, gaunt, with a driving intensity… [that conveyed] the distortion and jaggedness, the disconnectedness and disjointedness of the addict’s life the subject of the film.” The soundtrack for this opening was a jazz-like score, and set against a black background, white bars appear, disappear and form abstract patterns before finally coalescing into the film’s symbol. The contrasts between the black and white heighten the loud and harsh intensity, and the separation encapsulate the mood of the main character, a downbeat drummer with a penchant for gambling and drugs. 

Link to the opening of The Man With The Golden Arm-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS76whmt5Yc

Evaluation of first draft of film

The first draft of our film actually went particularly poor.We shot this opening sequence in Summertown within public space. Our idea was meant to recall one of our actors waking up from a bad hangover and ending up outside one of the shops in Summertown. We then would film him waking up, getting up, then would film him walking off. We also thought it was a rainy and windy day which would fit in with the atmosphere of the opening sequence. The type of shots we wanted to include in our opening sequences included Pans, Close ups, eye line matches, establishing shots etc... However, since it was rainy and windy it made it hard for us to film especially when the camera was placed on a tripod. This made slight jerky movements when filming. The parts of the first draft which I thought was very effective is when our actor was walking off when the old women entered the scene and when we added the slow motion effect I thought this was the most effective part of the opening sequence. Also we used voice overs such as a sports car in the introduction which represented the cars going past. We also used a lightning voice over which represented the bad weather and his gloom when walking off.

However the pan up the characters body didn't work out how we wanted it to. This was because the panning was actually jumpy and wasn't a smooth pan up. Also the pan was slightly longer than we had hoped it would be, which may have taken the viewers attention off the film as they became uninterested. Another part of our film we may change is the music we used in our opening. This is because the soundtrack didn't really match the film we made.

Conclusively in our next draft we hope to either improve the pan we used, or get rid of this camera technique completely. We would also like to change our non diegetic soundtrack to a soundtrack that particularly matches our film opening.

Using film and analysis observations to inform our own planning

1.How many credits there are in a typical opening credit sequence? Around 30 in a typical opening.

 2.List the credits that are usually included in conventional order. Actors Director Producers Film company Production designer Music Executive producer Writer

 3. Aspects of narrative in our opening Our narrative will be a dramatic aspect.

 4. How characters are set up in opening Character will be set up in a location which exposes what kind of personality hes got.


 5.Themes of our film is that of drug and alcholoh abuse and also the fragile nature of teenages.

Target audience for our film

Our primary target audience for our film is generally for teenages at school from the age of 15-19. The reason we have set the target audience on this age is because they find the sorts of plots that we have interesting, and they like feeling the suspense and mystery of our film.  The film is generally targeted for a male audience, but it can also be enjoyed by females. Our film is primary targeted for people who live in the city rather than the countryside. This is because our film is located in a city, and people who live in the countryside may not get what the film is trying to get across, as they haven't had an occurrence like the one that occurs in the film. Our film is for an audience who enjoyed films such as: Adulthood, 21 and over and Superhood. The reason for this is that our film is linked to all these films in different ways, and is sort of based on parts of these films. Our film could also have a contrasting target audience of parents who want to become aware and educated about the kind of things that teenagers get up to in there spare. It will also give parents the chance for them to see what kind of signs there children show for them to know that they are on drugs or dealing with them. It will also give parents the chance to see how they should deal with their child, if they are on drugs or dealing with them. Some parents/adults may not enjoy parts of our film, as the film isn't really suitable for that type of audience. But they may just watch it to become educated rather than to watch it for the pleasure of it.

Focus group

A focus group is a group of people joined together to participate in a discussion about a product before its release. I will be gathering and creating a focus group of around 10 friends and family who can give me feedback on the tasks I complete leading up to the film we make.

Research into opening title sequences

The Hangover

The hangover starts with a group of drunken people in the middle of nowhere not knowing what has happened. This is very similar to the film we will be making. The opening has the theme alcohol and drugs like our film. It is also showing what occurs at the end of the movie at the start. However the very start of the film shows a wedding reception and the mise en scene of some flowers which signify weddings and happiness which contrasts from the next scene where the group of men are in the mise en scene location of a dessert panicking and not knowing where they are or what to do. Also the transition of the man on the phone in the dessert to the title of the hangover. This connotes the emptiness that the man feels, as he man looks into the sky of the dessert to find some sort of salvation only for the title of the film to be beamed across the sky. Another example of editing is in the opening scene where there slow transitions of the flowers being took out the car and the shot of the wedding cake. This connotes the calmness of the opening scene and portrays that nothing has gone wrong yet. For camerawork the pan of the wedding dress and cake clearly signifies that a wedding is about to occur. This promotes a contrast to what actually occurs in the film with the sex, drugs and alcohol in Las Vegas. Also the close up of the woman's face on the phone shows the state of panic the woman is in, and also the general she has towards the man on the phone as she is demanding to find out where her husband to be is. The music in the background at the start of the scene of the wedding, is uplifting and cheerful music, suggesting that there is a celebration or that something good is about to happen. However the next sound is the sound of the answer phone for 3 different men. This suggests that someone is trying to get hold of these men but are unable to, as all there phones are going to the well known sound of somebodies answer phone. The answer phone messages presents worry to the viewers as they are worried that something may have happened to the people who are not picking up there phones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKtHA8EFgIo

Superbad

Superbad is also similar to the film we are making as its about partying alcohol and drugs, these are all picked up in this opening scene. The themes we pick up from this opening is teenagers obsession with parties, drugs and pornography. We learn that Seth especially loves pornography. The opening shows the mise en scene of a car and Seth using a phone whilst driving car. This connotes careless and thoughtless teens as they are more worried about making a phone call then being safe whilst driving and putting themselves as well as other drivers at risk. It also puts worry towards the viewers as Seth could cause an accident by driving whilst on the phone. Also the mise en scene of the location shows a quite well off neighborhood which could be mainly occupied by people who are middle class. This is because of the reasonably large houses and lawns that are shown and because this teen is able to afford a car which suggests that he or his family are not poor. A piece of editing in the sequence is near the end where the transition of the next scene is onto a school bus. This signifies school and tells the viewers that these two characters are school students and that film is likely to be set in or around a school and likely to be school related. Also the cross cutting of the boy in the car and the boy in his house. This shows the comparison between these two friends looks and likes. For example we see that the boy in the car is very stocky whereas the boy in his house is as skinny as anything. The 2 shot of the 2 boys in the car portrays the similarities and differences between these 2 boys. For example the driver of the car is chubby and the passenger isn't, you get to see the striking binary opposites between the 2 friends. The mid shot of the boy in his house portrays his body language of not really listening to what his friend is talking about and being more interested in his breakfast. Also the sound of the boys dialogue is very typical teenager speak. For example talking about "porn", "sex", "drugs" and "alcohol", pretty much all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKQeWAZDJu8

21 and over

21 and over similarly has an opening with a group of boys wanting to go out and buy alcohol. The character who house seems threatened by alcohol and doesn't necessarily want to have it. Whereas as the others are very keen. The low angle shot of the boys dad talking to his friends suggests the overriding power and authority that he has over his friends, the friends seem particularly scared. Also the over the shoulder shot showing the face of the Chinese teen shows genuine fear and fright about talking about the subject of alcohol whilst his parents were in the house. The mise en scene of the teens backpack connotes school and school life. It also tells the viewers that these group of friends are likely to be school students. Also the mise en scene of the lighting on the dads face. This signifies that he has far more authority over the teens and that he can say what he likes without being answered back to. The background is also blurred out which makes the dad out to be some sort of God figure with the light shined on his face. The rapid cuts when the teens start talking about alcohol signify tension but also excitement on the boys account as they are figuring out a way of get holding some alcohol even though it is against the law at there age. Also the sound of silence when the boys dad walks in shows the authority and aura that he possesses. Also the frightening nature of him as everyone stops speaking because they dont want the dad to hear anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwyjBL53Mc4

21 jump street

21 jump street is about two men who went to the same school becoming undercover police partners to try to undercover a drugs mule in a school. The opening goes back to the school days of these officers and shows the loneliness of one the officers faced. Firstly the mise en scene of the school bus suggests that this film is going to be based about or around a school, the bus is a key indicator for this. Also the costume that the boy who looks like eminem is wearing, shows that eminem is his idol and he is paying tribute to him by trying to look like him. The reason we know he is trying to look like eminem is because of his bleached blonde hair and also because of the non diegectic soundtrack of eminems song "slim shady". For the camerawork in the sequence the over the shoulder shot of the boy asking the girl to prom, shows the awkwardness in the face of the girl at having to be asked to go to prom by this boy, the shot then switches back onto the boy and shows the embarrassment on the boys face. Another shot was the pan down onto the eminem look alike where the camera was first in the air but is then panned down onto this main character who looks like eminem. For editing the blurred and pixelated background of when the boy is asking the girl to prom portrays the almost surreal nature of the occurrence and also the hope of the boy that no-one else was watching but it turned out that almost the whole school was watching which promotes the embarressment even more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN_aEGCLn4Q

Finally the film American Pie is similar to our film, because it portrays the troubles and fun teens go through throughout this period. Also the pan across the teens room signifies the typical state of a teenagers with cloths and everything on the floor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LvdUekq7K8