Final Opening Sequence

Final opening sequence for Write of Passage

Evaluation: Question 7

Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Evaluation: Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

Research

The first thing we did was research 3 different filming techniques; Shot Reverse Shot, 180 Degree Rule and Match on Action. Here is a SlideShare which was helpful in providing definitions and examples. With this knowledge we produced a Preliminary Task including those 3 different techniques.

Match on action, 180 rule, shot reverse shot from joe940

The Kuleshov Experiment allowed me to understand different perspectives of meaning when something is changed. This theory was created Kuleshov and also adapted by filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock who both provide videos on their example. As a group we also produced our own.

My research into genre and genre conventions led me to IMDB and Art of the Title where I researched into the Mystery Thriller genre following my audience surveys. The results from IMDB led to the popular films in both Mystery and Thriller which helped me understand what stands out in the genre. 

The website ‘Art of the Title’ helped me with looking at examples of opening credits from the films of the genre such as ‘Seven’. 

The page for ‘Seven’ shows the opening sequence , discusses the film in general and the impact of the opening sequence, images of people recreating the opening sequence, the design/planning for the opening credits/who created them, an audio commentary of the ‘notebook’ design/prop design, description of the typography and graphics and finally the ending credits.

For research into conventions of the Horror Mystery genre I went onto the Internet and looked at different SlideShares. 

Horror genre conventions from marine18

Codes and conventions of the thriller genre from JasonsA2Media

Furthermore I looked into different narrative theories to help with the structure of the plot and storyboard making. Knowledge from lessons and the Internet helped me with this. Here is a good link;
https://brianair.wordpress.com/film-theory/narrative-theories/

To help with characterization of characters we watched the film ‘Drive’ and analysed the opening sequence to see how the main character was portrayed with the use of camera angles and lighting etc. 

Planning

For the audience survey we recorded are responses on a video and kept the background as a green screen to give it a more ‘production’ feel.   The use of recording the responses was very helpful especially when brainstorming ideas and my evaluation. Here is the survey we did;

For my editing plans such as what techniques I should/will use I watched various film clips and comment on the editing. Here is the link to my blog post about it; 
http://asmediastudiesaisha.blogspot.com/2015/12/editing.html

Furthermore to present my storyboard I looked at other storyboards and created 2 of my own; one is visual and the other is animatic; 

For the location we created a video of our inside location defining what objects we were going to use to our advantage and also took images of our outside location. Here are the videos and the images; 

For the Music aspect I had to find copyright free music so I googled it and found a website -  http://www.purple-planet.com/ where there was various songs of different themes all of the songs were linked to Soundcloud which meant downloading the songs was easy and legal. Here is the song we chose but the YouTube version;

Construction

For the filming aspects we used the school provided equipment such as the camera and a tripod. We did have problems with the fact that the battery life was short so we did need to take more than one camera. We also took a camera to take behind the scenes photos which we didn’t have any issues with. 

For the editing we had to add different effects and transitions to the video to enhance it.

How to get rid of the green screen - Open the Video FX tab and select 'Chroma Keyer' and the 'Green Screen' option. Then place the image you want to replace it with on a layer underneath the video footage. This article provided me with the knowledge of how to change it http://content.videoblocks.com/tipstricks/tutorials/how-to-use-sony-vegas-to-do-green-screen-and-chroma-key-editing/

 How to darken the image - Click on the video footage and then open the Video FX tab and click on 'Brightness and Colour' then drag the 'Darker' effect onto the clip. You can edit the amount of brightness to any scale. 

         









To Fade in and out of the video I just had to drag the corner of the video clip and place it to where I wanted the video to fade in/out to. 

 For the sound aspect I had to minimize the volume, take away the sound from a clip and add in sound effects and music. 

Controlling the volume from the volume slider on the left;

Muting a video's audio - Left click on the audio track, click on 'Audio Event FX', click on 'Volume' and then slide the volume to 0 to mute it. 

Adding the music is very simple - just import the media and then drag it to the timeline and it will automatically add on to a new layer

For the credits i used Photoshop to add the text onto a plain background and I used Window's Live Movie Maker to add the sequence together;

Evaluation

For the evaluation I used different forms of media to display my questions etc Prezi, Canva and Picktochart and SlideShare. Within those media I used pie charts to display results and images from Google. Here are some examples;

Evaluation: Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Here are the videos linked to audience response;

Evaluation: Question 4

Who would be the audience for your opening sequence?

Evaluation: Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation: Question 3 from Aisha Ali

Evaluation: Question 2

How does your opening sequence represent particular social groups?

Evaluation: Question 1

In what ways does your opening sequence use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real opening sequences?

Draft Versions and Feedback

Here is the first draft we created;  

Feedback;

Following on from the feedback here is the second draft we created;  

Feedback;

  Audience Feedback;

Behind the Scene

Behind the scene video of the construction of the opening sequence 

Editing

 Editing  

Here are some screenshots of the editing process for the opening sequence. The editing was done on Vegas Pro. 

Here is a general overview of the software and the early stage of editing involving splitting videos which don't fit and placing them next to the scenes that go together

Here is the process of cropping a part of a video to hide something;

 

  

 I also added in different transitions however the fade to black and white were the most common

 

 Here is a screenshot of finding the right place to split the video

 Here is a more final version of the editing with the audio added in

Credits

Draft version with credits

Credits are created on Photoshop using different layers to move the words around and then edited together on Windows Live Movie Maker

Behind the Scene

Behind the scene of how the draft for the opening sequence was created

Draft and Final Treatment

Final Treatment and Draft

The draft for the opening sequence

Music

Here are the 3 options for the background music for the opening sequence. The music was found on http://www.purple-planet.com/ and in the end we decided to go for House on the Hill

Final Script

FADE IN:

INT. DARKLY LIT ROOM – DAY

(Wide Shot)In the room (Behind View) of Villain is shown sitting on a desk

[MUSIC: EERIE/DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Unknown Character (Villain)

Female, British, Plain Looks, Early 20s and a University student

FADE OUT:

INT. BRIGHTLY LIT DRAMA ROOM/DESK - DAY

(Extreme Close Up)A (Bird’s Eye View) of an open paged diary is shown with the view directly on the certain words

FADE OUT:

BRIGHT LIGHTING

 (Close Up) with (Eye Level View) of Villain’s face reflected on a mirror surface

ZOOM OUT:

LIGHTING IS ONLY BRIGHT ON HER FACE

As camera zooms off the face (Over The Shoulder Shot)(Close Up) is used to show slow transition from face to compass. 

ZOOM OUT:

EXT. NATURAL LIGHTING OUTSIDE LOCATION – DAY

(Establishing Shot) with (High Tilt) shows an entire dead body on the ground.

Unknown Character (Victim)

Mother, Face down, Early 30s

FADE OUT:

INT. SPOTLIGHT - DRAMA ROOM/DESK – DAY

(Mid Shot) of a Music Box being winded up (Eye Level Shot)

[MUSIC: EERIE CHILDISH MUSIC]

FADE OUT:

SPOTLIGHT

 (Mid Shot) with (Point of View Shot) of Villain holding a white rose

FADE OUT:

SPOTLIGHT

 (Extreme Close Up) with (Side View) of Villain’s hands and fingers whilst she crushes the petals

FADE OUT:

EXT. NATURAL LIGHTING OUTSIDE LOCATION – DAY

(Extreme Close Up) with (High Tilt) of the victim’s lips - A little blood drops down

FADE OUT:

INT. DRAMA ROOM/DESK – DAY

(Point of View Shot) of a Nokia Phone ringing (Close Up)

FADE OUT:

SPOTLIGHT

 (Close Up) with (High Angle from the Front) of Villain picking up phone and flipping it open and closed

FADE OUT:

DARK LIGHTING

 (Close Up) with (Bird’s Eye View) of Villain looking down at the diary

FADE OUT:

LIGHT

 (Extreme Close Up) with (Side View) of Villain crossing something put in diary  

FADE OUT:

EXT. NATURAL LIGHTING OUTSIDE LOCATION – DAY

(Extreme Close Up) with (High Angle) of the victim’s nails and fingers

FADE OUT:

INT. DRAMA ROOM/DESK – DAY

(Long Shot) with (Bird’s Eye View) of Villain cleaning up her mess on the desk

FADE OUT:

MEDIUM AMOUNT OF LIGHT

 (Extreme Close Up) (Level with Eye) of Villain’s lips

ZOOM OUT:

MEDIUM AMOUNT OF LIGHT

 (Close Up) with (Over the Shoulder Shot) of Villain applying lipstick to her lips

FADE OUT:

SCREEN GOES DARK

FADE IN:

EXT. NATURAL LIGHTING OUTSIDE LOCATION – DAY

(Extreme Close Up) with (Eye Level) view of victim’s eye

ZOOM OUT:

(Establishing Shot) with (High Tilt) view of the victim’s dead body on the ground

FADE OUT:

Update

Update on Production of Film Opening Sequence

The first script for the sequence was created based around the first storyboard and a second storyboard will be created based on the shot list

A Moonboard of costumes that the main characters will wear is created to help with production and casting

Auditions for the 2 main roles occurred with screen tests along with them to determine the cast

Roles were assigned in our group to ensure everybody takes part

A second storyboard was created to fit in with new changes made

A shot list was created describing each individual shot that we plan to use to help with actual filming

Locations were visited with photos taken to make sure they fit with the story and opening sequence

Practice of filming via the sweded clip

Music options have been explored to suit the genre of the film