Evaluation - Luke Nicholls 3147

Here is my evaluation of our opening sequence project.

76323 Evaluation

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Evaluation - Sheryl Teather

Evaluation for opening sequence.

Evaluation.

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Evaluation - Emma Cottee

Evaluation2

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Amy Gallacher Candidate Number: 3079 - Evaluation

Amy Gallacher Candidate Number: 3079 - Evaluation

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Finished Product

Editing

After we had finished filming all of our footage on our various locations we then uploaded it onto the computer and used a programme called Adobe Premiere Pro.
We did have some idea about how to use this programme as we had each read the user guide to it and had used it for our preliminary task. However, as we got more into the editing we learnt more about what worked and what didn’t through trial and error.
We all had a go at editing our film, and all incorporated our different ideas that we had. Overall, I think that the editing makes the film look much more interesting with all the different transitions and effects.

Written by Sheryl.

Music

As soon as we got into filming our footage we came across a song that would fit perfectly to the action scene, however we were then informed that we were unable to use that as we had to find music from an uncopyrighted source. This made us later in finishing our film, as all the sites with uncopyrighted music on you had to pay for. However, then our teacher said that her husband used to be in a band and we were welcome to use some of there music. So we then looked through the albums of his and found music for the action, date and travelling scenes. In the end the music worked well with our film and makes it more interesting to watch.

Written by Sheryl.

The Shoot - Props, Costumes, Locations, Filming, etc.

On our shoot at our final location everything went well. Apart from the daylight fading as we went further into our filming, but we managed to disguise this fact and the filming turned out to be fine. Our props came in to use and made the film more realistic and added more impact to certain parts of the action scene. We had no trouble with the costumes and I think we chose the right ones for each of our characters, as they help to portray what sort of person they are. Whilst filming certain parts of our sequence we were unable to use a tripod, such as the low level shots, so we had to be very careful and rest the camera on something in order to get a steady shot.

Written by Sheryl.

Time Management Log

Shooting Schedule

7-10th November 2008 – New York Footage – Filmed by Emma Cottee – No cast.

21st November 2008 – London Footage – Filmed by Emma Cottee, Luke Nicholls, Sheryl Teather and Amy Gallacher – No cast.

10th December 2008 –
1.45pm-2.45pm – Date Scene – Sixth Form Sensory Garden – Filmed by Emma Cottee, Luke Nicholls, Sheryl Teather and Amy Gallacher – Cast: Charlotte Nicholls and Ryan Taylor.
3.30pm-4.00pm – Running Scenes – Outside On Location – Filmed by Luke Nicholls, Sheryl Teather and Amy Gallacher – Cast: Ryan Taylor.
4.00pm-4.30pm – Car Chase Scenes and Shooting – Outside On Location – Filmed by Emma Cottee, Luke Nicholls, Sheryl Teather and Amy Gallacher – Cast: Ryan Taylor and Pelham Wickes.
4.30pm-5.00pm – Hotel Scene – Bedroom On Location – Filmed By Emma Cottee, Luke Nicholls, Sheryl Teather and Amy Gallacher – Cast: Charlotte Nicholls.

11th December 2008 – Phone Call Footage – Media Classroom – Filmed by Luke Nicholls – Cast: Ryan Taylor.

Written by Emma.

Casting

Sheryl - "We orginally cast three main characters - Carl for the man, Samantha for the woman and Pelham for the driver - for our production and began to arrange props, costumes, hair and make-up for those people. However due to medical reasons one of the cast members had to drop out of the shoot, which resulted in having to find new members at last minute. We changed Carl to Ryan and Samantha to Charlotte and I think it turned out well with the new people."

Emma - "We had planned our ideal cast members from the startof the project, however, a few days before filming it became clear that our male lead would not be well enough to take part. This caused issues as we were unsure whether to wait and see whether he would be well enough with a bit of luck, or whether we would have to find a replacement. A day or two previous to our main filming involving the characters, Luke and I decided that we would need to find someone fast, and so after lengthy evening phonecalls, and online conversations with Amy, we decided to change our male lead to a friend of Luke's sister: Ryan. With this change in actor, we realised that the female lead we had had in mind would now be unsuitable as she would be too tall, and looked older than the male. For this reason, we then changed our female lead to Luke's sister Charlotte. We decided that it would still be okay to stick with our driver actor as he would only appear briefly, and would not look out of place next to the others."

Footage from London and New York

Before we began filming the main block of footage for our production, we went out to two of the world’s major cities to capture the culture and landmarks there. London and New York are two of the major locations for highly financed and successful films, and we believe that using this location for our own narrative would open new prospects for us, and allow us to do much more with our film than before.

Emma travelled to New York as part of a family vacation, so we took the opportunity to give her a camera, and allow her to film for us.

“Whilst I was enjoying my family holiday, I made sure that I filmed everything that I could to capture all of the important landmarks, and also anything that symbolised everyday life for New Yorkers and tourists. I wanted to make sure that I had more than enough footage for the rest of the group to look at when I returned, and that I didn’t miss any good opportunities, and so therefore carried the camera everywhere with me for the whole weekend. I made sure I captured the most important like the Statue of Liberty, Times Square and other well known buildings, and I also paid specific attention to hotel-like buildings and yellow taxi’s, as I knew these would play a key role in our film. I ended up with more than enough footage, but this gave us plenty to choose from and a lot left over for any further projects.”

Once she had arrived back, we reviewed the excellent footage she provided for us, and arranged to visit London as a group, to get similar shots and footage to match – but of the different cultures and landmarks. We know that this will better the overall production, and increase the audience’s enjoyment…

Here is a schedule of landmarks we needed to shoot, and the route to get there, and the tube stations to arrive at:

Liverpool Street -
Circle/District Line to Tower Hill
@ Tower Hill film Tower of London, Tower Bridge & Gherkin


Tower Hill -
Circle/District Line to Westminster
@ Westminster film London Eye, Big Ben & Houses of Parliament


Westminster -
Circle/District Line to Embankment
Change to Northern Line to Leicester Square
@ Leicester Square film electronic billboards


Leicester Square -
Piccadilly Line to Convent Garden
@ Covent Garden film Covent Garden


Covent Garden -
Piccadilly Line to Holborn
Change to Central Line to Oxford Circus
@ Oxford Circus film Oxford Street


Oxford Circus -
Victoria Line to Green Park
Change to Piccadilly Line to Knightsbridge
@ Knightsbridge film Harrods


Knightsbridge -
Piccadilly Line to South Kensington
Change to Circle Line to Notting Hill Gate
Change to Central Line to Marble Arch
@ Marble Arch film Marble Arch & Speaker's Corner (Hyde Park Corner)


Marble Arch -
Central Line to St. Pauls
@ St. Pauls film St. Pauls Cathedral


St. Pauls -
Central Line to Liverpool Street

Written by Luke. Quotation from Emma. Schedule by Sheryl.

Photographic Storyboard

Above is our photographic storyboard. After drafting our first storyboard by hand, we decided to recreate our sketches using a digital camera. We photographed all of our still images and put them into our storyboard. The blank areas in our storyboard are the images from London and New York that we did not have at this point, however, we knew what footage we would need as it was already planned on our sketched draft. We also included what the action would be around that still image, the shot type, the length of the shot, any sound/lighting effects, graphic codes and any music and dialogue in that scene.

Mood Board

When planning our film, Emma and I worked together to create a mood board that would show our groups ideas of what was to be included in our production. The mood board is split up into 3 sections:
- Costume
- Props
- Location

After planning the basic costumes that would feature in our film, we searched through magazines to find images of the styles we were looking for. We also found images of the props we planned to use and also pictures of the locations that we had planned to feature in the production.

Below are the still images taken of our completed mood board.

Possible Costumes

We discussed possible wardrobe ideas, and Sheryl created the images above. When it came to our female protagonist, we said that we wanted to show the woman's naive and youthful side, and so decided that a softer primary coloured dress for the date scene would be more suitable than an sophisticated or sexy costume. Also, taking our possible actress choices into account, we researched actresses that we planned for them to be like. We had a common interest in Kate Hudson's look, and decided to, if possible, use a similar hairstyle to hers. For her other outfit of the sequence, we chose to use something simple and casual.

Our two male leads were going to be similar in age, job and looks, and therefore we decided to use their costumes to signify the differences in their character. Our speaking lead would be wearing a suit from the date scene and would continue to wear this throughout. We were originally undecided as to whether he would appear again at a later stage, and so considered another outfit of blue jeans and a jumper that would be simple but classic. Our driver character would only appear once, and would have to be portrayed as a totally different character to our speaking lead. We used darker coloured clothes to give an edgier feel to his character and took into account the props we wanted such as black leather gloves.

These are just temporary ideas that we will evolve to fit to our characters as our project progresses.

Images by Sheryl. Written by Emma. Ideas by all.

Possible Props

We knew the types of props that we wanted for our opening sequence, and we managed to borrow a gun and pair of black leather gloves, that matched our vision, from our school. One problem we did have when using a mock gun as a prop was that we had to make sure people were aware that it was infact fake, and that there was no danger. Because of this, we made sure that on the school premises it was kept in its case so that no one could see it. When it came to filming, we were on private property with a lot of land, and therefore it was not so much of an issue, however, we still informed the land owners of the gun. We also realised that to fit in with our script, we would need a plane ticket of some sort. We figured that the easiest wasy to do this would be to just print one from the internet. We realised that although the text and information on the ticket cannot be applied to our storyline, this would not matter as there are no close-ups of the ticket, and the text cannot be seen clearly at any point.

Possible Locations

The settings we needed for the filming of our footage included: a deserted road, with trees and fields around it - for the running, car, and gun scenes; a hotel-style room - for the girl / phone scene; and an isolated but warm, romantic area - for the date scene. We looked around the local area, and then during one of our production meetings, we brainstormed ideas with each other, considering using local parks with trees and roads, but still not knowing what to do for a hotel room. We thought about having to get a room at a hotel nearby for the scene, however, we wanted to try to avoid this, keeping a low budget for the production; it would be impractical to pay the full fee for a hotel room to shoot for a small amount of time.
After some thought, I suggested that we could use an associates property and facilities, which would allow us to capture all of the footage we needed in one session, if they agreed to allow us to film there. I contacted them, but we kept searching for an appropriate location until the associates kindly agreed to allow us to use their property. The location included the isolated road, surrounded by trees and fields, noisy gravel, bridges and lakes we could make use of, and a clock tower, which would allow us to get an aerial shot.
The location proved an excellent success. Due to a tight shooting schedule, and restrictions set on cast members, we had to quickly find a different location for the date scene, after which we headed over to the main location, and got the rest of our footage before the evening got too dark. The associates also agreed to let us film in the main building for the hotel scene, which allowed us to complete the majority of the footage. Everyone was very pleased with the result.

Draft Storyboard

Here is our draft storyboard for our film. We all discussed the shots which we wanted to use and then each sketched a few of the different still images on the storyboard. We also included the action that would take place in that particular shot, the length of the shot, any sound and lighting effects, graphic codes, music and any dialogue we wanted in the scenes. Once we were happy with our storyboard, we moved on to our photographic storyboard.

Shot List

1. Man running down an isolated bumpy street – Canted low shot.
2. Car screeching down a road – Canted low shot.
3. Man running down an isolated bumpy street – POV, shakycam.
4. Car driving along – POV of driver’s view, road, dash etc.
5. Man running – mid shot, straight past camera.
6. Car driving – mid shot, straight past camera.
7. Man running – crane shot, long distance.
8. Car driving – long shot.
9. Man runs towards a gate and slows down - ???
10. Car drives around corner, stops at gate - ???
11. Driver gets out of car, walks towards man – shakycam followshot, beginning with the car door opening, with driver getting out and walking towards man, ots, but don’t yet see man.
12. Driver points gun at man – POV from man’s view.
13. Man’s eye – begin on long shot, then zoom quickly into his eye.
Fade to white – Or w/e transition
14. (Greyscale or faded somewhat) Man handing tickets to woman - ???
15. Man whispers to woman keywords – ecu.
16. man and woman kiss goodbye – Mid 2.
17. man and woman kiss goodbye – cu.
Fade to white – Or w/e transition
18. Both driver and man standing still, gun still being pointed – ots from behind man.
19. Gun trigger – cu of trigger.
20. Man’s fear and worry – ecu of eyes.
21. Gun trigger pulled – ecu.
Cut to black – main title.
Dissolve into next scene.
22. Plane flying – els.
23. NY
24. LDN
25. NY
26. LDN
27. NY
28. LDN
29. Girl goes into hotel room – cu of key being pulled out of the door.
30. Man walking along pavement towards red telephone box – low shot.
31. Girl enters room and sits on bed, still – mid shot.
32. Man puts coins into phone booth – ecu.
33. Girl’s phone rings, she picks it up – high angle POV.
34. Man talks into speaker – ecu (we don’t see who it is)
35. Cut to black – end of title and credit sequence.

Title Sequence Script

The following is the dialogue we will use for our 'Date Scene':

Man: Take these tickets; go to New York.
Girl: Why?
Man: Just trust me.
Girl: But…
Man: Purple monkey’s fly at dawn - ?
Girl: Wha…?
(Man’s right index finger on her lips to stop speech)
Man: I love you.
(Eyes lock and then kiss)

Title Sequence Characters

These are the three fictional characters featured in our title sequence:

Man – Our main protagonist for the production is a cool, witty, agent who works for MI5. He keeps a low profile, which allows him to lead an as normal life as possible. He’s a hit with the girls, but is charming and caring – unlike some of his shallow colleagues. He assesses the situation, and fully understands each target he is given. He will not hesitate to kill those who deserve it, but will not kill just for the sake of killing. He trusts people – this is his downfall; this alone could lead to his death…

Girl – The main female protagonist of the production is in love with Man, naïve of the true danger of his career, believing he is safe and hers. She trusts him implicitly, which is why she goes to New York on his command. She is always worried about him, and will do what it takes to make him happy, and keep him alive…

Driver – Driver also works for MI5. He is an associate with Man, which is why Man looks confused, and Driver hesitates before shooting Man. Driver doesn’t understand why he is asked to do things; he just does them. He doesn’t get emotionally involved with his marks, and enjoys beers, girls, and fast cars in any spare time he can find…

Written by Luke.

Title Sequence Narrative

The following is an outline of the narrative of our title sequence:

A man is running away from something… running fast. We don’t know why, we don’t know where. Does he even know where he’s going? We see a car driving – speeding – as if the driver is chasing something, or again, running from something. Suddenly, the two meet, and a nasty, dirty looking agent steps out of the vehicle. As he points a gun at the man, we see the victim’s thoughts in a flashback. He is in a pleasant park, sitting with a beautiful girl. They are talking. He gives her tickets, urgently commanding her to leave and go to New York. She is surprised, but trusts him. He whispers something to her – "Purple monkeys fly at dawn" – before abruptly leaving. We return to the present. Worry is setting in the man’s eyes. They communicate only through their eyes – no words are uttered. The trigger is pulled. The film jumps to New York, where the girl is entering her hotel room. Her phones rings, but no number comes onto the screen. Cautiously, she answers. She doesn’t recognize the voice, but what’s said make’s her heart skip a beat; "Purple monkeys fly at dawn". What does this mean…?

Written by Luke.

Action Thriller Conventions

As we have decided on using action as the main genre for our opening title sequence, I did secondary research into the conventions of an action movie. Here is an extract from the article about action films from the encyclopedia website Wikipedia:

Action movies are a film genre where action sequences, such as explosions, fights, shootouts, stunts, car chases or explosions either take precedence over or, in finer examples of the genre, are used as a form of exposition and character development. The action typically involves individual efforts on the part of the hero. While action has long been an element of films, the "Action film" as a genre of its own began to develop in the 1970s. The genre is closely linked with the thriller and adventure film genres.

This effectively puts into writing the conventions of an action film we conciously or subconsiously expect to see as an audience. We will take one or two of these conventions, and use them in our own opening title sequence to demonstrate the genre of the sequence. Pyrotechnics may be both dangerous and expensive to set up on set, which restricts us from using it; however, fights, shootouts, and stunts can easily be reconstructed, and could be used with our opening title sequence.

Target and Intended Audiences

Before we plan the narrative, storyline and script for our title sequence, we had to do some research into what the intended audience would want in an action film, which was our initial genre idea for our production. This research will be useful for our group to use when creating the finished product and could potentially give us new ideas that we possibly hadn't thought of.

When creating the questionnaire, I took into account the kind of information that would be useful when it came to deciding on what would feature in out title sequence.
An example of a question that featured in our questionnaire is:
"What are the main conventions you would expect to see within the opening sequence of an action film?"

After printing off the questionnaires, we distributed them throughout our media class – who would be accustomed to the conventions and necessities of a well-constructed film – and also to members of the public of different age, gender and demographic. We then collected the questionnaires, collaborated the results and evaluated our findings, which follow:


The results from our questionnaire show that people thought there was a gap in the industry for an action film.
This helped to clarify our original ideas for a genre of film, and we decided to go with an action film with an added theme of romance.

The main five conventions people would expect from an action film’s opening sequence are as follows:

- Upbeat music
- Special Effects
- Introduction to main character(s)
- Titles
- Action

When asked to suggest a possible track or artist to feature within an action opening sequence, there were only a few artists named.
One example given was the group Lost Prophets.
We went on to explore this artist and found a track that the whole group though would fit well with our ideas, however due to the specification not allowing us to use copyrighted music, we had to find other sources for our own opening sequence.

Characters that people expect to see within an action film, and the opening sequence are:

- Main protagonist (usually male)
- Female lead
- A bad guy/corporation

When asked what would make a film more interesting out of the following six options, the most popular were:

- Interesting shot types
- Good music
- Lots of action
- Able to relate to the characters
The other two options, Fact or Fictional did not seem to affect the results, suggesting that the target audience we had in mind would not prefer one over the other as long as it was a film of the genre that interested them.

[Photo of questionnaire to be uploaded]

Written by Amy.

Ideas for our own opening sequence

When we started originally thinking about what we wanted our film to be about and include, we made a draft "spider diagram" showing the possible characters, plots, genres, costumes and films that have inspired our production.

Below is a still image of the spider diagram we produced.


Written and created by Amy & Emma. Ideas by all.

Research - Title Sequence Analyses

Luke’s Title Sequence Analyses

Casino Royale

Starts in greyscale, all throughout the institutions. Fades from black into low angle show of building. Low angle shot of man. Low angle shot of elevator. High angle shot of man. Close up on numbers. Fighting very exaggerated. Genre: Action. Soundtrack: Throughout the opening sequence there are a couple of different types of soundtrack; a very minor, sharp, sudden melody during the back-flash of the fighting sequence, which includes the use of a deep, threatening tuba (or some other brass instrument), and then a menacing growl and high pitched note to intensify the meeting between the two characters. As the credits begin, the films soundtrack ‘You Know My Name’ by Chris Cornell begins. Signifiers: There is instantly fighting in the movie – evening before the credits begin. Also, guns are used. Suits to show they mean business. Font: The font is very clean, crisp, and easy to read. Stylish, like a casino, which is what the whole film is based around. Shot types: Almost every type of shot is used within the first couple of minutes of film; Low angle establishing shot showing a clean, stylish building. Close ups of the men talking. Over the shoulder. Simply too many to mention. Editing: The film is cut together so that the action and cuts fit perfectly with the music going on. This also happens during the credits. During the credits, and very advanced animation shot is shown, once again, fitting the music, which shows lots of fighting amid the twirling casino-themed animation. Mise-en-scene: Suits, guns, casino-based imagery moving around the screen. The dirty toilets they fight in. The clean office they chat in – contrast. Other: Something else which I think is really clever is when Daniel Craig breaks the fourth wall at the end of the credits, looking straight into the eyes of the audience. This adds tensions and excitement to the sequence.

The Village

Genre: Thriller. Soundtrack: Very minor, eerie, sudden heavy beats every now and then. Brooding, menacing. A sudden thud as the film’s title shows. The beat continues to get faster and heavier until a sudden end, when the camera shows a long shot of the forest before fading to black. Signifiers: Along with the disturbing music, the low angle pan of tall, bare trees gives a sense of isolation of confusion. Fonts: The graphics shows up in the centre of the screen only very briefly before fading back into black. The writing is sharp but strictly traditional. It is all very quick, and therefore sometimes a bit difficult to read. Something else I noticed was that all of the names fade from black towards you, before fading away again, however, M. Night Shyamalan’s name fades from black away from you. I think this is to let his name stand out from the rest of the credits. Shot types: Mostly low angle, showing the trees as creepy and frightening. The camera also moves and pans through the forest, but always keeping trees as the subject. As the film begins, we see a crowd watching a grieving man lying over a coffin. The camera slowly zooms in, almost as if we are part of the crowd, and are privileged to have a better view. Editing: The title and cuts are of course set in time with the music. Mise-en-scene: Trees. Very dark and cold. Traditional clothing. Fields. Other: Something else I noticed was that as the camera zoomed onto the grieving man, a shadow moves from across the forest behind him, highlighting this as an important part in the film.

Emma’s Title Sequence Analysis’s

War of the Worlds (2005)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Institutions:
· Paramount
· Viacom Company
· Dreamworks SKG

Opens with an obscure extreme close-up - this later zooms out to reveal that it is graphics. We see that it’s the cells of a plant that we were initially watching. There is also a space/sci-fi theme to the opening, with an establishing shot of the earth from space. This maybe gives the impression the earth is being watched. This with the plant cells may indicate some kind of life form or alien species. After the graphics when the footage begins, there is an aerial shot of the streets with small people walking around, these people seem almost insignificant and are not focused on through the narration by Morgan Freeman. The choice of Morgan Freeman as a narrator is an interesting one, looking at past films he has acted in, ‘Bruce Almighty’ stands out due to his role as God. With his narration over this aerial shot, and the insignificance of the people, he almost seems God-like, and he has a very smooth, mysterious voice which adds to the confusion and building tension. Many different and contemporary shot types are used throughout the opening sequence. These include typical close-ups and long shots, as well as blocked vision, pans and tracking. The genre of the film is supernatural action, or sci-fi. The font of the credits is white on the graphic scenes at the opening, and this is teamed with mysterious music. When the film title comes up, the music subsides and leaves a drum beat. This also subsides when the scene begins. There are no name credits in this opening sequence, which is something I found on several of the films that I studied. Instead they chose to just include the institutional credits and the film title.

Amy's Title Sequence Analysis's

When analysing the opening sequence of Panic Room, I took into account the micro-elements of film, for example mise-en-scene, editing, camera and sound, and how they were used to create an effective title sequence.
This film fits into many genres. Examples would be crime, mystery, action and thriller.

The sequence begins with an establishing shot of the city. The audience is introduced to one of the genres; crime, as a big city is commonly known for its levels of crime. The opening sequence seems to travel down a street in New York; this may be more evident to a resident of NY as they would recognise the sequence travelling down the street to a location.
Visual effects editor, David Ebner believes that the opening sequence perfectly achieves its goals which he says were to create “a mood and rhythm that this film was kind of different”

An interesting use of typography is present within the opening sequence. The titles link with the footage in that they look like they are hanging off of the buildings of NYC or are part of the buildings themselves.
The titles reflect on the city and its architecture, the way that the buildings have developed over time, for example the windowed-buildings, the familiar Times Square, Central Park and other associated locations feature within the opening sequence. This firmly plants the location of the film into the viewers mind so that they know what to expect from the film. The titles are embedded with the opening sequence footage which means that the talents of two Hollywood companies were combined to create a joint area of film that usually remains separate (The films footage and then the added titles). The titles in the opening sequence show names and also the institutional details of the film.

The sound within the opening sequence links with the typography, for example the stillness of the titles and the deep orchestral music is kept at a low volume. This contradicts with the films title and expectations of the films opening sequence – perhaps a viewer would expect loud sound with an extreme sense of panic and confusion within the opening sequence, however the viewer gets the complete opposite. There are, however, some diegetic sounds featured at the start, for example car engines and horns – this helps to make the opening seem realistic of the busy New York lifestyle.
The music gets slightly louder when the films’ title “Panic Room” appears on screen, it changes slightly into a lower note, that is louder and the notes are elongated. This allows the viewer to pay attention to the title of the film, and also creates impact on the title of the film. There is also a ticking within the audio track, maybe linking to time, suggesting that there is only a certain amount of time before the unexpected event occurs. After the next transition, the music quickens in pace and some stringed instruments are introduced. This compliments the earlier suggestion that something is just around the corner waiting to happen. There are underlying strings featured that contrast to the main audio heard within the sequence which help to create suspense and tension. The music and titles work well in creating suspense and foreboding – suggesting that something bad is going to happen within the film.
Linking with the suspense, the titles sometimes “creep up” on each other. An example of this is where Jodie Foster’s name appears lurking behind the production company “Indelible Pictures”, as shown in the image below.

The editing within this particular opening sequence is quite simple, but extremely effective. The camera swivels, sometimes tracks side-to-side and also sits still on occasion, tying in with the stillness of the opening sequence, and aids in the foreboding.
The opening sequence seems to be slightly saturated, perhaps suggesting the season featured at the beginning of the film, the autumn leaves suggest a change and this could be an insight into a change for the main protagonist within the film.
Transitions within the opening sequence are minimal yet still effective – it features mainly cuts and some jump cuts. These add effect to the suspense and foreboding.

Sheryl's Title Sequence Analyses

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Writer: M. N Shyamalan
Studio: Hollywood Pictures
Spyglass Entertainment
The Kennedy/Marshall Company

Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures

Shot types: The first shot of the opening titles sequence shows a close up of a dusty light bulb slowly turning on; this suggests it’s a room people rarely go in. The camera at one point is placed behind a wine rack as she walks up to it; this shows that the woman feels she is being watched. Her expression changes to show her concern and worry. There is a long shot of the woman standing up, the director shows her shadow lots of times suggesting again and giving the audience further feeling that she is not alone. She has her arms wrapped around her whilst she is shivering; this shows she’s cold, vulnerable and scared. Keeping the camera at a low level as she runs up the stairs, this leaves the audience feeling like they’ve been left alone in the basement.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack is slow with changes in the pitch of the music, the beat gets heavier and faster. This adds to the eerie feel to the opening sequence and makes it even uneasier for the audience to watch.

Signifiers: Along with the soundtrack the low-key lighting in the room helps to create the feeling of isolation from the woman.

Editing: The transitions are straight cuts; this keeps the sequence simple to watch and allows the audience to concentrate on what is going on in the film rather than being distracted by all different transitions.

Mise-en-scene: The props in the room that the woman is in are all covered in dust and are dull colours – they are no bright colours in the room – this along with the low-key lighting makes the audience feel like something bad is going to happen. This room is in contrast to the room in which the man is in upstairs, with the colourful props and wallpaper and the lit fire.

Bad Boys 2 (2003)

Director: Michael Bay
Writer: Ron Shelton
Jerry Stahl
Marianne Wibberley
Cormac Wibberley
Ron Shelton
Studio: Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributed by: Columbia Pictures

Shot types: This film opens with extreme close ups of various machines, this is effective because it confused the audience and therefore makes them keep watching to find out what is going on. Next there is a close up pan of pills (ecstasy) all laid out and the camera gradually speeds up, this allows the audience to get a slightly better idea of what is going on. It then zooms out to a wide shot of several coffins with the pills in them, this again lets the audience know more about what is going on. The shots then switch from interior shots to exterior shots. There is a low angle shot of a coffin being lifted up by a crane with the camera placed underneath the coffin, the fact that they have to be lifted by cranes to be transported shows that there is a large quantity of the pills and that they need to be hidden from people’s view. At one point there is an aerial shot showing a boat, which lets the audience know where this sequence is being filmed. One of the last shots in the opening sequence is an establishing wide shot of a sunset over the sea and the skyline of buildings, it is unusual for this type of shot to be at the end of the sequence – it is normally at the beginning – but because it is zooming in towards the building it gives the audience the feeling that they are on the boat.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack is fast paced, like dance music. The reason for this could be that ecstasy is associated with parties and clubs. Another reason that the music may be so fast paced is because the actions of the people in the sequence are illegal and therefore they may be scared and wanting to get things done quickly. Whilst this soundtrack is being played you can hear the diagetic sounds as well.

Signifiers: Cold colours mixed with coffins set an uncomfortable atmosphere.

Editing: Throughout the sequence all of the transitions are straight cuts, this keeps the action flowing and therefore keeps the audience more interested. At points in the opening sequence there is graphic writing on the screen as if it is being typed on an old computer really quickly. This ties in with all the machines being shown during the sequence.

Mise-en-scene: All of the props used throughout the sequence tie in with the location in which the film is shot. Such as the cranes carrying the coffins onto the boat. The interior shots have low-key lighting and natural lighting sources. This contrasts with the exterior shots as they lighting is a lot more bright, but still low-key.

Preliminary Exercise

Before we began the main task, we had to complete the Preliminary task, showing our understanding of the basic rules of filming, camerawork, and editing. We began by all individually creating rough storyboards, followed by storyboards with photos, before getting together as a group, where we brainstormed to selected which shots we wanted. We collaborated our individual ideas on the storyboards, and joined them together to create a product we could all be proud of. After developing dialogue, purchasing props, and selecting a date, we were ready to film. The shoot went smoothly, and the editing was completed soon afterwards.

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About us

Welcome,

We’re Sheryl Teather (3200), Emma Cottee (3051), Amy Gallacher (3079), and Luke Nicholls (3147), and we make up SEAL Productions. We hope you enjoy our media production.