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.

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. 

'Over the Hedge' Film opening analysis

The children’s film opening sequence I am going to analyse is ‘Over the Hedge’ which is BBFC rating U and the target audience is children. In analysing the opening sequence I will be able to look at how this children’s film opening is like and to look for ideas that could possible be incorporated into my own opening of a children’s film.

The film starts with an animals hand trying to reach for some crisps. This gives the audience a clue about what the film is about. The themes of this film is about the suburbs and human life. 

This film is a childrens film and starts with happy background music. Then as the title of the film comes in when the music changes and makes the audience really concentrate on the titles as the music changes and the audience wont expect it.

The films title has been incorporated into the film itself making the film interesting and so the audience can really associate the title with the rest of the film.

In the opening sequence the main character is introduced first. He is introduced first so the audience can tell that these characters are the most important characters in the film. In my childrens film opening sequence I will also introduce the main charaters first like they did in 'Over the Hedge'

The dialogue also gives clues to the rest of the film. The bear character says 'enough isn't enough' this links in with one of the themes of the film which is about the consumption of food in america. When the bear says this the audience are given clues about what the film is about.

This film is an animation so all the sound is non dietetic and all put on when the film when it is being edited. My opening sequence wont be animated but might have sound effects to put emphasis on certain parts of the sequence.

The target audience of the film is children so the comedy in the film is simple so that children understand it and it is funny to them to. In the opening sequence I will make I will also put in things that may be funny for children.

'Back to the Future' task

In this lesson I learnt how to do storyboarding and also to get an idea of what a opening sequence to a film is like and to get ideas for what the opening sequence of the children’s film opening I will be making.

Firstly we watched the opening sequence of ‘Back to the Future’ and how the film first captivates and tells the audience clues about the rest of the film. In the opening sequence to ‘Back to the Future’ it first had a title sequence so the audience know the title of the film and also gives the audience clues to what the film will be like. After the title there is panning and tracking camera movements round a set that has lots of clocks this connotes the theme of time and time travel in the film. The opening sequences is also suppose to be captivating the audience so they stay interested to watch further and start to ask questions like ‘What are all the clocks for?’ and hopefully wait for the answer later on in the film.

Next I had to start storyboarding the opening sequence I had just watched, this was to get some practise of storyboarding and how to do it. Then as a class we looked at everyone else storyboard to get ideas on how are own storyboard could be improved for when it is time to storyboard our own opening sequences. A storyboard is pictures of the camera shot types and notes about sound, camera movements and what the actors will be doing in the film.

BBFC Ratings

In this lesson I learned about film rating, I learned about the classifications U and PG.  U means ‘universal’ and the film is suitable for all. PG means ‘Parental guidance’ is when a child of any age can watch with guidance from there parents and should not harm any child eight or over.

We learned them in class because we are studying children’s films and all children’s films are classified as U or PG, this is so when we come to making our film opening sequences they are either a U or a PG.

In the lesson on classification we watched various parts of children’s films all of them were either a U or a PG and we had to guess what the classifications of these films were.  Such as the film ‘Up’ was a U because it had no horror, bad language or imitable behaviour. ‘Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone’ was a PG because it had mild horror and mild language. 

Analysis of Children's Sequence

School of Rock