Task Six: 25 Word Pitch

Our film is about rebels fighting to win their town back. However one of the members is killed and the rest go out for revenge.

Task Five: Initial Ideas

Within this prezi, we have displayed our initial ideas towards our opening sequence.


The general information within our prezi on our initial ideas, shows the overall choice of genre we are using for our opening sequence.

Genre : The genre we have chosen to use for our opening sequence is 'Action'.

How will the sequence fit the genre? : The opening sequence will fit the genre through the use of certain props, camera angles and costume.

What will happen in our opening sequence? : In our opening sequence, we will show a a package hookup that goes wrong and turns into a robbery.

Actors : We have chosen to use the members of our group to star in the opening sequence.
              Yassir : Hades (antagonist - face unseen) / Radar (Computer Wiz)
              Charlie : Jupiter (Team Leader)
              Michael : Jester (Hard man that cracks the occasional sarcastic comment)- Dies in the opening sequence.
              George : Hulk - (tough guy).

Props : Guns : AK47.
                        Pistol x2.
                        Pump action Shotgun.

       Costume : Balaclavas.
                        Black clothing.
                     
General items : Suitcase or large box.
                          Large white cloth.

Location : We have chosen to film in and around the school grounds.
         
                     

Task Four: Inspiration from real media

For task four we had to present what inspired our ideas from real media. We decided to use Prezi to portray our ideas because it makes it look more presentable.


We used different forms of media to inspire our ideas such as; The Expendables movie, The Assassin's Creed video game series and the Revolution TV series. Similarly we used a variety of different forms of action movies such as spy based films like The Bourne Supremacy and heavy conflict based films such as The Expendables.


After viewing our inspiration ideas we have concluded that our opening sequence will be a heavy conflict/spy based film set in a war stricken town. The three characters would have been three close friends before the war who are now fighting to protect their home town.

Task Three: Mood Board

For task three we created a mood board display our general ideas to the genre in question.

From this mood board we put together a collage of pictures that we believed would relate to our opening sequence. For example, we used the Bourne Identity because it inspired us to use fastbacks in our opening sequence. We also used the Assassin's Creed games because we liked the idea of someone important being killed near the start of the film. Another one that links to our idea is Red Dawn because we liked the idea of having an individual group of rebels who go by their own accord. Similarly, we used the Expendables because it is once again a group of people who are effectively a private army, which is what we wanted to do. For Pulp Fiction we liked the idea of two partners trying to bring justice. This is similar to our idea because we are a group of mercenaries trying to restore order in the war.

Task Two: What is an Opening Sequence?

An opening sequence is the beginning sequence to a film or television series, usually to draw in the audience. The opening sequence sets the scene to the film and usually presents the characters and may hint toward the plot in the film


The Dark Knight
For example, the opening sequence to The Dark Knight is an action-packed heist,  involving masked gunmen and the introduction to the main villain of the film. It includes an establishing shot of the bank in which they will perform the robbery and a dramatic, slow zoom into the villain's mask, creating tension and showing the opening plot to the movie. At first, there are many different characters, however, they slowly kill each other off, with the intention of getting the money for themselves. But the last man is killed by the main antagonist, the Joker. This presents the Joker as being a manipulative and well thought out character, he is seen to be psychopathic but very clever, with no remorse.

Establishing shot of the city bank

Slow zoom to the Antagonist's mask

Se7en
For the opening sequence to the film Seven, there is a constant use of distorted transition between scenes. Also the background music used in the sequence has a slow tempo that correlates with the actions in the sequence. The tempo of the music speeds up and gets louder the further it goes into the video. The music is like a cluster random noises brought together to create tension and give the audience a sense of fear. In the sequence, the unidentified character is performing sadistic acts such as using a razor blade to take the skin off his fingers supposedly so that his fingerprints can't be traced. Every shot is a close up, combined with quick cuts to increase the suspense of what he's planning.

Close-up of the unidentified character's pen whilst writing

Use of distorted images

The Bourne Supremacy

The opening sequence to Bourne Supremacy involves similar scenes to the Seven opening title, however this time it becomes clear that the main character that is being focused on is the Protagonist, in contrast to Seven which seems to be more of an Antagonist. The similarity between Seven and Bourne Supremacy is the distorted transitions and quick cuts between scenes. This also links to the idea for our own opening sequence, as it involves flashbacks o past events which link to the main storyline and give the audience an idea of the backstory to the film. It also involves the use of non-diagetic sounds, such as the narrator talking in the background which creates tension as it leads to the main plot. Once again, this opening sequence uses many close-ups between scenes. The opening sequence is very dynamic and also includes shaky handheld shots to make the audience feel like they are really there.

Handheld shot

Forrest Gump
This time we see something different. The opening sequence to Forrest Gump is very calm and is at a steady pace. The entire sequence is a close-up following shot of a feather falling from the sky and landing on Forest Gump's shoe, whilst this happens, we can see Forrest Gump's home town in the background, therefore it is also technically an establishing shot. The feather landing on Forrest's shoe establishes him as the main character of the film. The feather is also symbolism of forest Gump's calm nature. There is also a panning shot up to Forests Gump's face when the feather lands on his shoe. The entire scene is done in one shot with no cuts or transitions used.

First close-up shot of the feather, with 'Paramount Pictures Presents' in the foreground.

Establishing shot of Forrest Gump's home town.

Panning shot as Forrest picks up the feather.

Mid-shot of Forrest Gump's face to establish him as the main character.

UP
Another calm opening sequence is the one that is used for the movie UP. This movie is an animation using CGI which makes it different to the other films we have analysed. It involves an elderly man who has a flashback to when he was a child. In the scene he is watching a movie at the cinema about his idol. The use of this long flashback is similar to what we want to use in our opening sequence as it sets the tone to the story and lets the audience understand what has happened in the character's past. It includes a close up of the man as a young boy to introduce him as the main character.

Close up of the main character when he was young.

Constant cuts from character's face to the cinema screen.

Task One: AS Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task we had to complete a continuity task which involved filming a video which demonstrated a match on action shot, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

The video above was our first attempt at the preliminary task. However we felt it was rushed and not produced to the best of our ability. This can be seen as our shot/reverse shot isn't clear and what is happening in the clip isn't clear to the audience. The only dialogue we included was a single question which we also felt wasn't enough.

The video above is the improved version of our preliminary task. Within this video we used a variety of different camera shots, such as a match on action shot. This can be seen when George and Michael walk through the door. We also use a shot / reverse shot. This is right at the beginning of the clip when Michael and George are exchanging dialogue, which shows the audience who's addressing who. We also considered the 180 degree rule when filming our short clip, in order not to confuse which side each character was on. We originally had difficulty filming, due to lack of space and time, however, the video shown above, is the improved version of our original efforts.