Finished Children's Film - Pirates of the Lost Realm

Opening Titles

I designed the opening titles for our groups film opening, I went about this by drawing a few ideas up in my book.

After I drew up the ideas I( showed the rest of my group so they had a say on what the titles should look like. At first I had two separate ideas:

Idea 1: Was a cutlass which connotes pirates as it is typical that pirates have cutlasses and the title would be put on to the cutlass with a suitable font.

Idea 2: This idea was to have a skull and cross bones flag and then the titles appear on the flag as the skull and crossbones disappear. The flag also links with the theme of pirates so the audience know what kind of film the film is and the film is about pirates.

I showed the group my ideas, Catiya said that we should put both the ideas together so one Idea would be for the production company and the second idea would be for the titles.

I then researched the font, this is important so the theme of pirates comes across to the audience quickly.

 

I looked at a film that has similarities to my groups film, I choose 'Pirates of the Caribbean' the titles on this film are old fashioned which is because the types of pirates being portrayed in the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' were pirates from the past. 

What I contributed to our children's film opening

In Class:

• I produced the opening sequence by giving ideas for what should happen in the film opening and the kind of shot types that should be included to help the audience understand the narrative.
• Helped to find good locations for the film opening.
• I also filmed most of the scenes in the film opening, I used the storyboard while filming so the right shots were used.
• I helped with editing on some of the fight scene and edited the soundtrack in under the videos so that the music faded in and faded out were appropriate.
• I was one of the extras in the film opening, the character I was playing was a pirate.
• I designed the opening titles of the film and did a small storyboard showing what my ideas were for the opening titles.

Outside of class:

• Made a parts of my pirate costume and found a white shirt to wear for my pirate costume
• Analysed an opening sequence of the children's film 'Over the Hedge' to see how other films opened and to get ideas for my own opening sequence.

Use of posterisation

Because me and my group wanted to make the part where the two children have woken up as real pirates into a cartoon and this was not possible on Final Cut Express, we decided to posterise this part of our opening sequence to make it look as surreal as possible. This should also distinguish the real life from the imaginary. This is what the images should look like, without the writing:

Marking criteria self-assessment

1) Research into existing products-this my me and my group have met by analysing children's film opening sequences rated U and PG.

• Research into similar products and target audience.

2) Planning through storyboarding and script writing of the dialogue-my group has completed a storyboard which you will see on this blog, however we did not write a script as our opening sequence doesn't include a vast amount of dialogue.

• Organisation of actors, location, costume, props-me and my group had a group discussion before we started filming on who was going to act which character and discussed the specific costume and props that we would need to bring in each lesson in order to film. We also discussed locations before filming and decided exactly where we were going to film each scene. Most of my group managed to organise themselves very well with their costumes and props and remembered to bring them in every lesson for filming.
• Work on shot lists, layouts, drafting, scripting, storyboarding.

3) Use of appropriate digital technology and ICT-My group used final cut to edit our opening sequence and garage band to create the soundtracks. Digital effects such as posterization and green screening were used to create a certain location difficult to create under normal circumstances and the posterization to create an almost surreal, unreal effect on the viewers.

Video

• Holding a shot steady where appropriate-as none of my groups shots are blurry or out of focus, my group have definitely succeeded in this.
• Framing a shot including or excluding elements as appropriate-we did have some difficulty keeping the two actors on camera at one point but we eventually managed to do so, and we also had a close-up with just the actors hands and the two swords in the frame. Therefore, this target has definitely been met by my group.
• Using a variety  of shot distances as appropriate-close-ups, long-shots, birds eye-view shots and medium-shots have all been included in our opening sequence.
• Shooting material appropriate for the task-nothing inappropriate has been filmed by any one member of this group during the filming process.
• Selecting mise-en-scene (colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting)-the mise-en-scene for our first scene in the field has certainly been very well selected.
• Editing so meaning is apparent to the viewer-we have edited our opening sequence so it is engaging and very clear.
• Using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately-We haven't completely finished our editing yet but we have used few transitions so far, as we are only using them when needed and are going to use posterization for part of our opening sequence. 
• Using sound and images and editing appropriately-as a group, we at the beginning of our sequence, we have included fast-paced and upbeat music to match the action, little transitions in the fighting sequence (we feel it is more effective with cuts) and are using the deck of a pirate ship for our green screen because it's a pirate film.
• Using titles appropriately-our titles are yet to be made, but the writing will be in the colour red to show danger and will be placed ontop of a cutlasse to hint at the theme. There will also be a skull and cross-bones in the corner to show the makers names and their parts played on it.

Evaluation

No evaluations have yet been completed, as we have not yet finished editing our opening sequence.

•   Understanding of forms and conventions in the product
• Understanding of the role of new media in various stages of production
• Understanding of main and acillary texts-we have completed activities during our lessons in preperation for writing about this.
• Understanding of significance of audience feedback
• Skill in form of presentation of the evaluation
• Ability to communicate
• Use of digital technology and ICT

Target Audience

The target audience of my groups film will be children, the target audience of a film is who the film is marketed at. The opening sequence appeals to children because it is easy to understand and has a very simple plot, it is fun, has a simple script and has visual jokes which appeal to children. The film also will have a BBFC rating no higher than PG so that the target audience can watch it in the first place. The opening sequence is for children of the ages 6-12 year olds as it has humor in it that really young children may not understand. The opening sequence also has a fight scene and some parents with really young children may not want their children to watch the fight scene. The film I am helping to make also has the target audience of girls and boys as it is not made to appeal to one specific gender.

The opening sequence of are film isn't just made to cater that target audience but also the film has a wider target market. The target market of the children's film is not just children but their parents too, as the parents may have to watch the film with their children, this is done by having jokes for the adults and also making the plot line strong so the film is entertaining for adults as well. The opening sequence also caters for older children as the jokes in the opening sequence could make them laugh as well as younger children. 

Music/ Soundtrack

Considering that the main theme of our film opening will be pirates, I looked at various other pirate themed films, and the music or soundtracks they used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWPJrSSXtww - Pirates of the Caribbean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlgEH2IAKHI - Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WWdOjxoQro&feature=related - Muppet Treasure Island