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

Contributions to the production process

Inside the lesson I;

• Helped the group to think of the correct shot-types and camera movement that would be effective for each part of our opening sequence.
• Played one of the main characters in our Children's opening sequence both as a child playing a pirate and as a real pirate.
• Did a little bit of filming: I filmed a close-up shot of one of the pirates getting out of a cupboard.

Outside the lesson I;

• Researched an effective fight-scene, which we then used as a basis for what our fight-scene would look like, This was a fight-scene out of Pirates of the Carribean
• Analysed the opening sequence to 'The Borrowers', a children's film and this helped me to think about what colours symbolise different themes and this will help for our opening titles.
• Put together a brilliant pirate costume and helped a certain disorganised member of the group to put together their pirate costume.

Captain jack Sparrow

I think that it would be really effective if when we are kids playing pirates Soma has no makeup on but the girls do because that will show the true reality of kids, girls generally play with their mums makeup and boys think it's strange. Then when Soma wakes up as a real pirate he should have guy liner on, as shown in the picture above to make him look like a more scary pirate with big eyes. Eyeliner makes your eyes look bigger.

Pirates of the Carribean -fight scene

I watched this fight scene and realised that this could really help us with our fight scene. This scene was filmed at a long-shot of the two men fighting and then zoomed into close-ups of the swords clashing and the faces of each character to show their facial expressions. I think that we should use the same shots in our fight scene as through using a mid-shot as well as seeing the fight, you will be able to see the playfullness of it whch will then contrast to the dream of a pirate life. Also, the close-ups of the swords and the facial expressions will also prove that this scne is not real life, just two kids who are concentrating hard in a play fight.

BBFC session

This lesson we researched on the BBFC website the guidelines to the two different children's ratings, which are; U, PG. Below you will see the guidelines for a U film which is what my group had to research;







We then watched the opening's to four different films rated a U or a PG, these were; Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone, Home Alone, Watership Down, Up and guessed the classification of each one. Below you will find my estimated classifications and why I guessed them and the films proper classifications;
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: I estimated it was rated a PG due to a minimal amount of horror and my estimate was correct.

Home Alone: I estimated it was rated a PG due to; a reference to nudity and use of violence in the form of weapons and my estimate was correct.

Watership Down: I estimated this a PG but though it should have been given a higher rating due to the fact that there is a lot of blood and violence and all rabbits die my estimate was correct. This would be re-classified nowadays as it is an old film and contains far too much violence for the innocent eye.

Up: I estimated this a U due to the fact that it was a completely clean film and my estimate was correct. 

'Back To the Future' storyboarding task

While completing the 'Back To the Future' storyboarding task I learnt how to set the scene in an effective way for a children's film by starting off focusing on an item or person which or who is key in the story and how to effectively introduce a main character effectively.

This helped with my coursework because for the opening my group then decided that we would start off with a bird's eye view of two children dressed as pirates, fighting in the garden. This will introduce the pirate theme for our film. We also include after the fight an extreme close-up of the two main characters sleeping which introduces the main characters (as the extreme close-up of the boys legs introduces him in 'Back To the Future'),while at the same time creating a feeling of audience empathy because you can see their facial expressions and every child has also experienced the relaxation of sleep.  

Children's Film Opening Sequence Analysis

The Borrowers