The titles that I have used at the very beginning of the film were there as part of the typography and visual effects that I have used in my film. Showing a variety of ideas for each of the production logos. Also the Titles in the whole film show each of the actors as their characters appear on scene. I chose the effect where the text has the black border because that way I could make sure that there was enough contrast between the text and the background so the audience could read them easily without having to strain their eyes to read and understand them.
The lighting I had for one of the scenes (Shot 6 - 8) was very useful, although I did not deliberately aim to use the lighting that I did, I was driving around with the actor trying to find to a location to shoot, and by the time it came to me and we had gone back to the house to pick up the rest of the equipment needed and then gone to the location that I had decided to use, the sun had gone down enough and so had given me a nice lighting set to film with.
The settings and locations that I used, although rather limited in themselves, are well used I think, Particularly for the scene of the detective on the roof top killing someone, and the last shot of him looking out over Cambridge. (Shot 9). Also the scene with 'Gregs' character, I think that the location suited the shot well, and I was able to get allot of cool angles with the camera.
I had allot of fun when trying to frame different things, and also trying to move the camera and still keep everything in shot. Especially Shot 4 on the picture above. I had to have a few different attempts at this, first of trying to get over a small area of broken up tarmac was difficult on my skateboard, and I almost fell off once or twice. I think that all in all, I managed to frame each of my characters in their shots, and keep all of my motion shots as steady as possible.
In term of transitions in my opening, I used mostly basic cross fades, to either black or the next shot. Which I think work well where I have put them in, other times I have used a simple cut to black, on these occasions I have used them because the voice over clip ends with something dramatic enough to cut strait to black, and add emphasis to the voice over. I think all of my transitions worked well.
Visual Effects were scarcely used in my film opening, the most effects that I used were in the titles, where they were completely computer generated. Using various textures and lighting effects I managed to achieve something that worked well and fitted in with my film opening.
The narrative in my film opening came in the form of a voice over, and although you can't actually see it in my 9 frames, it is there the whole way through, describing what is going on, and keeping the audience interested. Without the voice over, the whole video would make no sense, and the cuts to black would seem very out of place. I think that the voice over is an essential element of my film opening and so I am proud that it is in there.
On the whole, with this cloud of people that invoiced me, I cannot really tell much about any relationships between the people and my feedback to them, because I only recieved one invoice from each person that did invoice me. And the feedback that I gave was all fairly similar in all instances. Although in this one I can notice that the one person that I invoiced more than once gave worse quality feedback than the rest, usually a simple "It was useful" or similar. This could be because she was getting tired of writing feedback to me after the second or third time. Other people gave more feedback that I could take in mind and feel good about.
I think in for this project I would like to develop my skills in advanced camera work, and some more interesting after effects work. I think the only way that I could organise this for next time is to just keep practicing between now and then. Spending time on after effects at home and practice other effects.
Three people in the class that I did not help this time around are: Matt L, Philippa and Joe. Perhaps next time I can help them by doing simple things like helping them out with the camera work, and perhaps helping them with a few ideas for their editing, giving advice on their editing, and how they could improve it.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Here is a picture of me doing some filming. Camera - Headphones - Tripod - HD tape. Using them for all of my filming, setting up different static shots with the tripod, and some tracking shots with either one of the cars' in my scene or my skateboard. Learning lots about how shots are set up, and recorded in a suitable way. I also had to learn how the tripod worked, and how I would use it to move the camera so I could get motion shots and track the car.
Here is me doing some editing in Final Cut. Using it to most of my editing and cut all of my shots up so I could arrange them all and make them fit with their surrounding shots. Also using it to add all of the titles one by one. What I learnt from using this software was about all the different transitions that I can use in my video, fading into black, and fading into the next shot.
And some editing in After Effects. Here I was using it to add all of the special effects to begin with, but after several test shots I decided that they weren't neccesary and took them out, in the end all I used from this software was the title that I made for the film. I learnt that everything that I do in after effects has its price on the system that I am using, the more I add to it the slower it runs and the longer it takes to render and preview it all.
And here is the blog where I post all of my work as I do it, Uploading everything that is relevant and every piece of planning that I do for my project. I used this to keep a record of everything I did, and everything that I planned to do. I learnt that this is a good way of keeping track of everything I do and everything I want to do. By keeping a schedule on my blog I managed to get everything in order and keep everything on track, enough so that I could get my work completed on time.
Overall I think that all the software and hardware that I used all ties in together, without only one of the many pieces that I used, I would not have been able to complete this project. Because each piece of equipment, hardware or software, played a part in the creation of my final piece. Using each of them was a great opportunity to use a range of techniques, and ideas. I could have used some substitute technologies to achieve my goal, but the ones that I did use would be my first choice again.
Learning a large manner of thing about the equipment that I have used in this project, I feel that next time I will be able to achieve what I want allot quicker than I did this time around, because I had to spend time learning about what to do, now that I know allot more techniques about the equipment, next time I will be able to make sure that I get everything done allot quicker and be able to get it done to a much higher standard so I have more time to focus on the special effects and editing. Refining my video much more.
By planning on the blog, shooting with the cameras, Editing in final cut and after effects, and then finally posting the finnished project on my blog, it all goes round in a nice circle, ending up at the same place it began.
Although this is not something that is exactly a directors commentary in which I talk about the film and how it was made, it is a commentary about the production companies involved and my ideas about how it might be used by other production companies.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)
Using the same placement of titles as many films, putting them so they fit in with the shot. Many other films have used this so that they can easily be read by the audience.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
It shows a definate representation of class of people, showing the boy in the boot, and the 'gangster' above him shows a definate clash of class and personality.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Someone looking to distribute a comic book style film about a cop that is not on the right side of the law.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Males aged 15 - 25
How did you attract/address your audience?
With the voice over describing what is going on in the shot. And the obvious prescence of violence.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Cameras have a tendancy to be left on record for longer than intended and record things that aren't needed, but sometimes useful.
Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
I think that I have learnt a great deal about film making in general, not to be too ambitious, and not to try and do things that are not plausable on a zero/low budget. Also to make sure that I have planned, booked and sorted everything out before it comes to the day of filming.
-----
Note for Pete, I am not really sure about half of these questions, they are very vague. Will email you about it now though...
If I had one more day on this project, I probably wouldn't change anything because what I do want to change would take so long that I would end up running out of time again.
If Time was not an issue, I would probably shoot the whole thing again, just to see how it would turn out. Using my time wisely to make sure that I got everything shot on time, and was not taking the cameras out at the last minute to film one last bit. Also making sure that I hadn't set myself un-reachable targets.
And if I were to do the same thing again, I would make it allot simpler, but allot more effective. Using clever camera angles and editing sequences to emphasis a major point, while still keeping it in the realms of simplicity.
But as it is, I do not have any extra time, and with what I have done, I am happy with the way it turned out. Perhaps I would change the soundtrack, and volume differences, but other than that I like it.
Feedback Summary: On the whole most people said that I had used a variety of interesting and clever camera shots. And that I should just leave them as they were.
What I changed: Because people liked my camera work, and I couldn't really change it atall, I left it as it was, and when shooting the last bit that I shot, I made sure to use the same style of camera work as I had for the whole thing already.
Mise En Scene
Feedback Summary: Overall people loved the cars that I used, and the locations that were used. But some did mention on the fact that some of the costumes didn't seem quite in place.
What I changed: Because I couldn't go back and re-shoot any of the footage I just made sure that in the last shooting session everyone was wearing something suitable.
Editing
Feedback Summary: Mostly people liked how it was edited together. Commenting on the quick cuts and smooth flow that it had. But some didn't like the fact that there was very few cross fades in.
What I changed: I added a few cross fades and made sure to keep everything flowing the way it needed to to keep the audience interested.
Sound
Feedback Summary: Because the speakers in the classroom weren't working terribly well, not many people could hear the sound. But those who did thought that the voice over explaining everything worked well, especially when the editing cuts to black after certain things were said. They also said that it needed some sort of soundtrack, music to go along the bacground of the voice over.
What I changed: I spend a good hour working on the soundtrack. Making sure that it wasn't too complex for me to cut it and change the volume in final cut to fit it around the voice over.
Titles
Feedback Summary: There weren't any, but people thought that it should keep the titles in a place on the shot where they fit in with the scenery. Making sure that they do not obstruct anything or distract the audience too much.
What I changed: I put all the titles in, making sure that they were in places that worked well, and were not obstructing anything. Rotating them so they fitted in well with the scenery.
Because my last rough cut was so damned terrible, I decided that it would be a good idea to try and do this again. I went out with a camera, and shot the two scenes that are different from the last one (first and last clips)
After that I then spent about an hour battling with Final Cut trying to get it to do what I wanted it to. Annoying as it can be, I got there in the end.
Here is the new video:
I know that there is still allot of work to be done, from this one I can tell that I will need to re-record the whole of the voice over, perhaps changing it, so it sounds better on the video. Also I am going to need to do the soundtrack to it. Creating some audio/music to fit over the top is going to be a long job, but I will probably crack on with that for most of the afternoon tomorrow.
I also may need to re-shoot the final clip, perhaps waiting until sunset, so I can get a nice background behind the character. But we'll see closer to the time. Am looking forward to the final outcome now, its allot more plausable than the original plan. And so far, I have managed to pull it off.
Here is my rough cut of my film opening, its is extremely far from completion, and I have allot of work to do in order to get it done to a decent standard.
So far what I need to do is re-shoot the first and last clips. Edit the voice over so I can sync it up for the footage, and also create and import the soundtrack to my finished product.
Here is the video:
Having watched it through, I can see that what is going on makes no sense at all. So when I add the voice over, I am going to need to work very hard to get it to make enough sense that it is watchable and can be understood.
I know that there is allot of work to get done, but I plan on spending allot of time on it. In order to actually get this done I am going to spend as much of the available time to work on this.
Here as I am sure you can clearly see, perhaps not, is me holding the camera by the side of the car as it drives along. This was not a shot that I had planned prior to actually doing it, but it was a possibility at the time, and in the end turned out very well.
Today I went out with the actor to play my second villan character, Greg.
We had allot of fun with the camera, and trying out different shots and angles. Overall I think that the day went well. I had a few speed bumps to get over (often quite litterally) but managed to improvise and substitue everything that I needed to.
One of the biggest problems that I faced during the days filming was trying to create the one clip in my storyboard, where I am filming the curb, and the car goes past and splashes a puddle over the curb. Because it was such a dry day, I knew that I would need to create the puddle myself. I took out 4 2 ltr bottles of water to the location, and tried several different things to try and get it to work. None of them succesful. I tried putting a bottle with a loose lid by the curb and having driven over... No success. I tried pouring one out onto the floor where I had dammed it in with sand... No success. After a few more attempts, I gave up and concluded that I wasn't going to be able to pull that one off with the time and resources that I had.
Another few mistakes were made during filming, during the first couple of takes, I had completely missed the fact that I was actually casting a shadow into the shot. After I then moved it was all fine, And I managed to get some really nice shots.
All in all I think that the day went well, and I really enjoyed having the freedom to do what I want and direct my actors how I want to. I think that I will be able to use the footage that I have got well, and use it to move my story along smoothly.
Today, I started by filming the scene with the BMW and actor.
I think that all in all I managed very well with the filming. Jumping a few hurdles with bad shots and poor camera work. Working around them helped me learn what to do and what not to do in the future... For instance, don't try riding a skateboard over stone covered concrete.
I had fun, and with a flexible actor, I managed to get every shot that I wanted to get, How I wanted to get it. Am looking forward to doing some more filming in the future, hopefully next time I will have more time to film things, and can get more refined shots, and more interesting effects.
Here I went out with James with one of the HD cameras and recorded the two of us speaking about our film openings, just simply to test out the sound recording capabilities of the microphones on the cameras.
It turned out pretty well, you can hear the audio pretty clearly and the extra noise that was recorded isn't too off putting and can be taken out fairly easily. Overall, this was a succesful test and I think that I won't have any problems when recording the audio for my film opening.
Here i got some test footage for my film opening, I got some simple footage of the curb in my classroom and have then added some text in after effects, the sort of style and effect that I want for my final product.
After the last continuity task being a total disaster, and now that we have the HD cameras available, we have now re-done the continuity task, one in standard definition, and one in High Definition.
Standard Definition:
High Definition:
The difference between the two is very obvious to those that can see it. The Standard definition is much lower quality than the high definition, and you can see allot more detail in the high definition, unfortunately you tube has lowered the quality of even the high definition, and so you cannot view it in all its glory.
(Also severly unfortunatly, I am not sure what the hell happened, but the standard definition version is not what I uploaded, and is certainly not what I edited. I'll try to fi that soon)
Now that I've got almost everything done in pre-production, I can start to schedule everything else that I will need to do in order to get my film opening completed.
Thursday 5th Feb -- Sunday 8th Feb
-- Costume Design - Use the Sims to create 'dummy' costumes. -- Transition Test with own footage. -- Find Locations that I need for all shots
Monday 9th Feb - Sunday 15th Feb
-- Continuity Exercise with HD Cameras -- Film Shots 3 - 9 -- Location 1 for 3 (any suitable road) -- Location 2 for 4 (corner road with a building with a sharp corner) -- Location 3 for 5 (Inside a cafe/shop with a window looking out onto the road) -- Location 4 for 6 (Inside a carpark with pillars and lighting, probably Grand Arcade Car Park in cambridge) -- Location 5 for 7 - 10 (Eccles Close, Sawston)
Monday 16th Feb - Sunday 22nd Feb (Half Term)
-- Upload all filmed shots to computer and begin post production. -- Film Shots 1 - 2 & 10 - End -- Location 6 for 1 - 2 (Any suitable clear curb with a puddle and a clean road) -- Location 7 for 11 (Inside looking at an old fashioned desk and a dark backdrop) -- Location 8 for 12 - End (Same building as above, preferably, corridor with a coat rack, and a door at the end for the hanging) -- Location 9 for the Last shot, to be green screened in. (Sawston Police station)
Friday 20th Feb - Friday 27th Feb
-- Upload all remaining shots to Computer and continue Post Production -- Add all neccesary clips to After Effects -- Use photoshop to create images for transitions -- Use after effects to create transitions -- Use after effects to create any other effects -- Import all footage into Final Cut/Sony Vegas for editing -- Edit -- Render -- Upload to Blog -- Evaluation -- Done
Explanation: Because I want to set my characters up well enough so the audience know what they are like even from the very beginning, I will need to have cars that suit their personality. Another issue that I have run into already is that the guy that has a very nice Mercedes SL600 who agreed to let me use him and his car for one of my characters, is currently out of the country and I cannot now use his car.
Possible Solution 1: Change the characters so that the cars that I can use suit their personality. Although this would change the aura of my film completely, and possibly make it look a whole lot worse than it did before, it is a simple solution and would enable me to get the opening shot.
Possible solution 2: Ask around at some car showrooms (Elms BMW, Shelford) to see if I can borrow a car to film with. Although it is a long shot, I can atleast ask to see if someone will let me borrow a car to use.
People to help: Parents, because i've not got a driving liscence yet, I will need one of them to come along and drive it for me.
Explanation: Because there will be a very limited number of cameras to share around the class, I think that I may not be able to have one for long enough to film all of my opening with the hd cameras. Because there are so many people in the class that will want to use them the availability of the cameras will be very limited and I may not be able to get one for aslong as I will need it to film my entire opening sequence.
Possible solution 1: The obvious solution to this problem is that I am to use either another college camera, and sacrifice High definition film for being able to film the whole thing. Or to use my own camera to film my opening. This way I can guarantee that I will be able to use the camera for the whole time that i need it.
Possible solution 2: Another solution that I can use to fix my problem, is that if I were to arrange with another class mate to share a camera with them, and in exchange help them out on there opening. This is potentially risky because I cannot say for definite that someone will agree to this.
People to help: Classmates and/or teachers, arranging times for me to have the camera so I can get my whole film shot.
I have looked at the list below and have predicted that three of them may be a major set back if not fixed before filming.
Problem: Perhaps not enough time to film.
Explanation: Because the weather is not great right now, I have been out of college for two days. And that's two days that I'm not going to have added onto the end of my deadline. If the weather gets worse or even repeats itself, I am going to loose more time in college and so even more time to film my opening.
Possible Solution 1: One way of getting around this is to talk to the teachers and get them to put all the work that we need to get done onto the blog, so that any time that I am out of college, I can find out what I would be doing in college, and if it is possible, complete the tasks at home. Other tasks that I will need to be in college for, I can do as much as possible at home and minimize the amount of work that I need to do in college.
Possible Solution 2: Another solution to this problem is to work really really hard while I am in college and get as much of the work done as I can. So that when I am out of college I can do some more and hopefully get the work done earlier than originally thought.
Possible Solution 3: One more thing that I can do to make sure that I can get all of my filming done in time is to schedule all of the filming sessions so that I know that all of my cast and crew are where they need to be when they need to be there. And so if I stick to the schedule that the filming is all done in time.
People to help: Teachers, by putting all the work on the blog.
There are several problems that I can predict I may run into. Here is a short list of some of the potential problems that I may run into when trying to film my project.
Lighting not being quite right, trying to get a night time effect. Finding Ideal Locations that fit well with my storyboard. Having the actors do a quality job, not making it look amateur. Making sure that the Costumes fit with the characters that I am trying to portray. Weather not being suitable for filming. Weather reducing time in college, and so on filming. Soundtrack being suitable for film (am not too good with audio) Perhaps not having enough time to film because planning takes too long or am not in college for the full time on project. Not enough time with the camera because others are using them and there are not enough to go around. Finding the ideal cars for the characters, and not using cars that don't go with the scene that I'm trying to set.
I think that the locations for my opening are very important, I was thinking about shooting it in a limited number of locations so that the film gains the sense that its going to loop over at some point.
For the detective and second bad guy, I was going to use 'Eccles Close' and the Police station in sawston. The police station would be useful because it has a large amount of police cars and vans out the back, and it is set up with the road next to it well enough that I can fit it in with my film.
One scene that I foresee problems finding a suitable location for, is the very first shot, of the curb with the credits going past. While I have seen several curbs that would be suitable, I have not been able to find one that is both clear enough to put the credits on the top, and has the ability to have the puddle for the car to splash. I will keep looking though.
For the inside shot of the first bad guy getting out of the car, I was going to use the car park in the Grand Arcade. It has the pillars and the lights that are perfect for my film. I just need to find a time and date when it is not too busy to film in it.
For almost all of the other shots, I can find generic locations, with scenery that closely mimics that of my storyboard.
I will use this for one of the bad guy's cars, probably the first. Although the car that I have access to is not exactly the same as the one pictured above, it is still a bmw 3 series.
Another Car, hopefully a black car that can give the impression of a villan character. I was hoping to use a Mercedes SL600, but unfortunatly the guy that owns the one I wanted to use is now out of the country, and so I can't use that unless he is back before the deadline.
Mobile Phones: Not particularly important what make or model, just aslong as they are easily recognisable as mobile phones, and have a big enough screen so that I can effectivly use them for the transition between characters.
Coat hanger, this is an important prop because it is where the detective character picks his coat up as he is walking towards the door, I will need this because it will show the audience that the character is heading outside.
Fake Blood, I am going to need enough of this to make sure that the drip from the hanging body at the end looks realistic.
Desk, again with the detective, I need an old fasioned enough desk for him to sit at, this is important because it will set the characters personality a bit more, showing that he still uses an old desk, giving him a very authentic aura about him.
After much cosideration, and various ideas I have to think about a name for my film, so I can atleast create the title sequence accuratly. And due to College being closed today and yesterday, I may aswell get what I can, done.
For a long time I just used "Film Title" as the title for my film, as you can see in my storyboard. I think I was trying to avoid thinking about it, because I know that choosing a title for my film would be one of the hardest parts.
As you can see in my animatic, I used "A Fallen Lie". I like it, but I am not sure it really works. Not that it doesn't fit with the film, more that it doesn't fit as a phrase/title.
I really like the idea of a lie/truth having fallen; so I have come to a conclusion on my title.
The Fallen Truth.
I think that it represents the film idea well, and gives it allot of mystery to it, which is exactly what I am going for. It is also a very dark think to say, making sure that the audience knows the film they are about to watch is not a light hearted film, but a film full of heart and mystery; Which I am intending to portray in the first two minutes.
Here is my newly done animatic, with the two missing frames from the storyboard shown at the end. I know that the timings are not quite right, some are too long and others are too short, but I will have a much easier task at fixing that when it comes to shooting the real thing.
A few posts ago, I tried out turning a still image into a Rock'n'Rolla style image. It worked quite well, and I was pleased with the outcome. I also said that I was going to try and test out the effect that I was thinking of doing with some live footage. Here it is:
To create this I have taken two short clips from youtube. For the first clip I made a freeze frame of the last frame, and used photoshop to turn it into the comic style image that I wanted. I then did this with the first and last frames of the second clip (although its very short). After that I put all three images along with the two video clips into after effects, and then animated the different layers to rotate and turn into eachother. Creating the Transition that I was after.
I am fairly proud of this, although I know there are many mistakes, and most of them just stupid mistakes, I think that this is a good oppertunity for me to practice some more, maybe when I get home and charge my camera a bit I can try again with some of my own footage.
Here is a breif shot list that I will be using to create my first rough storyboard.
Zoomed in mid shot of curb, tracking forwards. - Text flies in on curb, then out once read - Car drives past, at speed, splashing a puddle over the path - Sound of rain, maybe faint music all the time over this shot
Various shot of car driving into carpark - Some tracking shots - Some long shots
Mid/Long shot of car pulling up in the car park. - guy (Detective/Antagonist) gets out of the car - maybe dialogue - Move to close up of face and top of car - Turns into image for transition - Actor's Name comes up across the top of the car, somewhere that works well.
Rock'n'Rolla style transition - Moves from the last frame of the guy's face and car to first frame from next shot - All done in after effects (Finnish test footage)
|---------- | | | | | Undecided shots, but will include things like mid shots, and close ups, also with some smooth | tracking shots. | | | | |----------
Long shot of Detective walking towards a crime scene/building. - Police tape around the area - cuts to a close up when he gets there, to see shock/horror on his face.
So far this week I have been focussing on planning out my storyboard. I have had a few attempts at creating some short storyboards that are not related to my project, but are good practice for creating a storyboard.
To start off with creating a storyboard, I created a 9 keyframe storyboard, which shows 9 key frames from my sequence, much like the images seem on www.artofthetitle.com. This was good because it gave me a chance to really think about what I am going to put into my sequence.
Another thing that I have done is to create a 3 clip storyboard, where I have chosen 3 key frames from my sequence, and drawn them out in much more detail. In the Below post you can see the image that I drew for this task.
Next week I will be creating a mood board for my project. Before hand I am going to collect a set of images that I can use for inspiration. Here is a long list of images that I could use:
I know that a few of these go off the page, but I can talk about them none the less. From these images I can see that allot of graphic novels use either very vibrant colours or very dull colours, either sepia tone or a lower saturation effect. I think that I can easily acieve the latter effect, and that is what I was going for originally, the other might be a little harder, but I am not going for that effect anyway, so it doesn't really matter too much. Perhaps I will look at doing something like that at a later date, when my project brief fits that effect.
The following image I found very interesting indeed. Because this is a graphic novel that came up under a search for "Crime Graphic Novel" it is an extract from the Max Payne 2 graphic novel. This is especially helpful for me because I am doing something along those lines.
From this I can see that another Detective Graphic Novel has been done showing the detective as a dark character, the lighting is very dark/dim, and I can see that there are few other characters. This is exactly the type of style I was going for, and the shots shown here are easy enough to re-create. Hopefully these images will help me with my moodboard next week.
I have had a look at some title sequences, and while on the most part they use very bland fonts, but some of them have used more interesting fonts, and I was thinking that I could possibly use some different fonts for my Opening Sequence. Making sure that they fit with the genre and film, I can now look for some different fonts than the standard ones found on my laptop.
-------------- 20 minutes later --------------
Now that I have looked at some fonts on www.dafont.com and have picked out a few to consider using for my sequence.
I thought about what might work for my sequence, and I thought that I will need something to suit my genre and film. And I thought that for a graphic novel you would usually use something big and in-your-face; so I had a look on dafont and found a few, looking under the catagories :
Fancy - Eroded Fancy - Distorted Fancy - Curly
I found a few that I really liked and have put them on this simple Photoshop image:
I have also made sure that these fonts are free to use, so I can't get caught up in some copyright deal with the owner of the fonts.
The ones that I have selected would all fit under the catagory "Graphic Novel" and so would fit in with my film. At the moment I am not completely sure which one i should use, if not more than one. I was thinking perhaps I could use a different font for each of the characters, so when I introduce them, I can use a font that fits the character, even though I will be introducing the names of the actors not the characters.
List of the Font Names (Not in order shown)
Aftershock Debris Ank Beyond Wonderland Broken Ghost Chicago House Docteur Atomic Hard Rock Steak Vtks
Here is a short list of some essential elements that need to be considered when creating a good opening sequence to a film.
1: Title - The title needs to be memorable, nothing over the top, but nothing too simple and easily laughed off ("Snakes on a plane"). Something short, but clever, perhaps a play on words, something that people are likely to remember when thinking about the film. After you have the title decided, you need to think about where to put it in the sequence, do you put it right at the end? Or right at the beginning? The answer is - Neither. Most film openings that work have the title of the film about half way through the sequence. Usually introducing the Production companies that worked on the film first, title, then the actors that play in the film. When thinking about placing it in the sequence, don't just place it in anywhere, make sure that the action that is happening at the time can be paused for a few moments so that the audience can read the name of the film. But does not take too long or disrupt the flow of the sequence.
2: Audio + Sound Effects - The whole soundtrack to the sequence also needs to make sure that it sets the mood for the rest of the film. Does it have a Narrative introducing everyone & the story, or does it stick to just music? It really depends on the film that is to come, sometimes a narrative introduction fits in well, such as in Lock Stock (analysed below) and some other times a pure music soundtrack works like Terminator 2 (Also analysed below). The soundtrack in the first few minutes needs to be very careful, because if the rest of the film is made, the soundtrack from the beginning can be very thought provoking, if it is fast paced at the start, but the rest of the film is very slow, the wrong impression has been given out by the audio at the start. Also it needs to be able to relate to the action in the scene. If there is a slow dance going on in the scene, the last thing you want is some heavy/death metal playing over the top, it just doesn't fit. These are all things that I will need to consider when creating the soundtrack to my opening sequence. 3: Camera work - Camera work in this can be very important, depending on what sort of camera work is used for the opening sequence, determines the style of camera work for the rest of the film. Lots of interesting angles and clever tracks can always lead the audience to believe that the camera work is going to be like this for the whole film, and yet if the camera work then stops being interesting and just becomes a bunch of static shots, the audience is going to get very bored very easily. I think one film that has used the camera shots amazingly is "Never Back down", throughout the entire film very clever and interesting camera shots were used. Below is a clip from the film showing the camera work that I like.
I especially like the camerawork in the short clip between 5:30 and 6:30, and I think that camerawork like that if used once, needs to be used throughout the film, and this is one of the few films that I have seen that has succesfully pulled it off. I think that I might attempt at using clever and interesting camerawork, but will have to see when it gets to filming.
4: Costume -The costume that the characters are wearing is a largely important thing to consider when filming this. Make sure not to use a high class suit with trainers, unless that was the sort of look that you were going for, in which case its always a good idea to explain that in detail in the actual footage, so the audience can understand why there is a character dressed in a suit and cheap trainers. Another thing that is essential to be aware of is the fact that what a character is dressed in can give out the wrong assumptions to the audience about what sort of character he/she is. Make sure to dress them in something that is suitable to the charater that they are playing and not in the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of a certain genre. Costume can also set a scene up, if the character is at a high class meeting with the president of the united states, wearing what the actor/actress wore to an illegal rave the night before, covered in mud and with glow sticks hanging around their neck, the audience is going to think that something is up. Make sure that the costume fits in with the rest of the setting.
5: Visual Effects - Visual effects are as much a part at setting the film up for the audience awaiting the rest of the film as any of the above. But it plays a such a large part because its not only selling the genre of the film to the audience, but it is also selling the techinal expertise of the film. By showing both what is going to happen in a film to sell its genre (Explosions - possible action... Lots of Blood - Possible Horror) and the level of detail put into the visual effects, showing the audience the level of special effects that are to come in the rest of the film. Poor low budget (swede) special effects, like cardboard guns and stop motion muzzle flare, are going to give the audience a sense the film was on a low budget and mostly invested in solving the more immediate problems such as camera, acting and setting. Whereas an opening with lots of flashy high tech explosions and flashy guns:
Here in a trailer for "The Dark Knight" you can easily see that allot of time and effort has gone into the special effects. The explosion at 0:39 is a prime case of this. And this is a movie that brought millions of viewers to watch it, sometimes more than once. The Visual effects are a large part of any film these days, with technology and techniques changing every day, there is always big competition in the big special effects companies to see who can come up with the most awe-inspiring visual effects to date. They can Make a film, just like they can break a film, so I will have to pay allot of attention when thinking about special effects.
-------
Aslong as I try my hardest to keep everything in mind when creating my Film Opening, I am sure that I should come out with something that is good, and meets all the criteria, while also entertaining me and my peers.
I today found an image on Flickr that is not liscenced, and free to use, in order to test out the idea that I had for the title credits when introducing the actors. In the Style of the Rock'n'Rolla poster.
I have had a quick play about in photoshop, and have come up with a simple image that I will then use as a base point for my credits.
To achieve this effect I have turned the image into grey scale by de-saturating it. Then I altered the levels slightly to make the lighter parts of the image more visable, and then applied a gradient mixer so the two colours are the only ones shown. Then I applied a Cutout filter and created a simple background with a few custom "Splatter" brushes. After applying the text and some effects to that, I was done. A simple but effective process.
I think that I will need to have a test go at using the same effect with a clip of my own, and also animating the image at the end of the clip. To complete the process. I'm looking forward to having a go at that. Which I will probably do soon, either later this week or next.
In tandem with the Long Road Production Logo I have created previously, I have also created a personal Production Logo, something that I can use myself when creating films of my own.
Its a simple after effects video, and using the particular plugin, I have created an effect of particles flowing across the screen, by moving the particle generator across the screen and bringing the text forward, I have managed to be able to create a simple but effective clip. Here is is:
I have been thinking about the feedback that I got from my classmates today, and I think that I am going to go with the first idea, a sin city style detective action story based on a graphic novel.
I have been also thinking about how I will put it all together. I was thinking of putting a few short clips into the scene, then using the last frame and turning it into something along the lines of : (although this is a soundtrack cover design, it is in the same style that I am thinking of)
Using photoshop on the images, I will turn them into images of the same style as above, using vibrant colours, and using more than one layer then animating them slightly in after effects. Having the actors name overlaying the image somehow.
I am sure that I will have a go at this soon, and then see how well it turns out with some test footage.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator 2 - Judgement Day Linda Hamilton Robert Patrick Joe Morton Earl Boen S.Epatha Merkerson Danny cooksey Castulo Guerra and introducing - Edward Furlong casting by - Mali Finn Constumes Designed by - Marlene Stewart Music by - Brad Fiedel Industrial Light and Magic Visual Effects SuperVision - Dennis Muren, A.s.c. Special Makeup and Terminator Effects produced by - Stan Winston Film editors - Conrad Buff - Mark Golblat A.C.E - Richard A. Harris Production Designer - Joseph Nemec, III Director of Photography - Adam Greenberg, A.s.c. co-Produced by - B.J.Rack - Stephanie Austin Executive Producers - Gale Anne Hurd and Marid Kassar Written by - James Cameron & William Wisher Produced and Directed by - James Cameron
Lock, Stock and Two smoking barrels Title Credits:
Summit Entertainment the steve tisch company ska films presents a matthew vaughn production a guy ritchie film Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels
Comparison:
The two Opening sequences are very different to each other, Where the "Terminator" Sequence is very simple, but uses lots of effects, the "Lock Stock" Sequence is much more action based. Terminator has used the footage that they have of a playground on fire, which in itself is a very strong image to think about, and have just overlayed their titles ontop, In a simple white text. So to say that the viewer can either keep an eye on the fire or read the credits if they are interested. The footage that they have used is interesting enough that having quick breaks to use white text on a black background, like in "Lock Stock", would not work. It would not flow with the footage and would not appeal to the audience, probably already gripped to the fires.
Lock Stock on the other hand, while no where near as dramatic, uses the White text on Black background idea. and while very different to the terminator sequence, it works with the footage that they have. Keeping the voice of the actors in scene going while the credits of the production company are shown, makes sure that they audience knows that what they were just watching is still happening and they are not going to have missed anything when the video comes back. In this sequence it works really well, and definatly fits in with the footage that the film makers had.
Another thing that I have noticed that separates the two from each other is that the Terminator one shows the names of a fair amount of the actors, and many more of the production crew. Whereas the Lock Stock one only shows the production companies involved and the directors name. Although I am not 100% sure of the causes, I can suggest that the differing credits are more to do with the actual footage than anything else. The Terminator sequence had allot more space in which to put the credits, with a constantly flowing clip, the credits could be placed in a large number of places, and with enough time to fit them all in, there was no problem in making it look rushed. This is helped by the fact that the actual footage is very slow paced to begin with, and gives the illusion that everything is slower than it actually is. Something very different applies to the Lock Stock sequence, in this one it is a very fast paced action sequence, and putting the titles on the video would not have sufficed enough time for the audience to read them, the camera work and shots are not cut long enough to be able to place a credit on there that is easily readable with the time alloted.
On the whole I think that these are both great examples of opening credits, where one is more to set the scene, and introduce the actors, the other is there to start the audience off with a bit of storyline. Maybe I could learn allot from looking at these, and using some of their techniques.
And after pitching my 3rd and 4th ideas to the same group, this is their feedback to me:
Pitch 3 Feedback:
Most people thought my idea was interesting but bland. Perhaps if I had thought about it a bit more, I could have had a better pitch and a more interesting film.
Pitch 4 Feedback:
On the Whole for my last pitch, everyone though that it would be a believable film and very interesting to watch, perhaps an overused subject but might work well as a realistic film.
After Receiving Feedback on my first two ideas, I thought I might add a few more pitches to my bank, So I thought up an idea for both of the remaining briefs quickly, and then will ask for feedback to them.
Brief 3: An independent movie featuring a young protagonist Your film should appear to be financed through regional funding
For this one I was thinking about doing something along the lines of a small group of student males go out for a camping trip, their tent blows away, and they loose everything in the winds. The Film is about their struggle back to society, adding some comedy along the way, keeping spirits high.
Brief 4: An animated feature to appeal to adult audiences Your film should appear to be based on a "fictional" novel
For this one, after watching A Scanner Darkly, I really like the idea of a group of young adults all hooked on drugs, the film would be about the group, one of which is a 'bent' cop, who doesn't arrest the group for all the drugs because he does the drugs aswell, The film would also include a group of police officers, who are investigating the group. It would build up to a big bust, and the cop being thrown in jail, ending in tragedy, but perhaps with allot of action and/or comedy on the way.
I have pitched my Two ideas to the class, and received some feedback:
For the First Pitch:
On average everyone thought it was a good opening to a film. Very Dark and some of the people I pitched to would be interested in watching it as a whole film.
Second Pitch:
People thought that it has allot of potential, and could turn out to be a very interesting film to make, and watch as a whole film, sort of along the lines of "The Descent", Interesting and has potential for allot of twists to be added in.
Film Brief 2: A supernatural thriller that will appeal to female audiences. Your film should appear to be an international co-production.
For this Brief I was thinking about going with a very 'Disney' or 'Twilight' type of film, its aimed at a young female audience, based around fairys and wizards, it could easily be recognised as a supernatural film. To add the Thriller part into it, I was thinking about, instead of doing the basic and most common thing that people do when thinking of Thrillers, and adding in lots of blood and guns etc. But instead going on more of a "Save the Princess from the Dragon" idea. I know I'm going out on a limb here, but I think that perhaps adding the right amount of tension to certain situations in the film, I could make this easily seem like a thriller for a younger audience.
Here is my idea:
A young group of Female characters, Fairies, are stubling through a forest one rainy day, when they all get split up, and are forced to go out into the forest alone in search of rescue or each other. The film is about the group of them trying to find each other. They all have a different storyline to their journey, some of them might meet up, some of them may end up alone. By the end of the film one of them dies, and the rest get together again.
I think that this would be a good idea, and perhaps easier to pull off that the last one, but no where near as interesting to make. In order to make this seem like more of an ' International co-production' I will add foreign names to the titles. Simple enough to pull off.
Having now being given my brief for the project I now need to come up with several ideas to use for my project. Here is a short pitch for the first brief...
Film Brief 1: A mainstream action film that will appeal to 15-25yr old males. Your film should appear to be based on a "fictional" comic book.
I was thinking perhaps to do a more believeable comic book idea for this one, instead of superman or spiderman, but more along the lines of Sin City, where although based on a comic book it does not include a large amount of unbelieveable stunts and special effects to achieve the main characters superhuman abilities.
Maybe something like this would do the job:
Here is the Sin City Opening Sequence, this uses a small amount of effort to achieve an eyecatching and memorable title sequence. It uses the very simple sort of White on Black text effect for the titles, but jazzes it all up by using comic style images for the background and a more interesting font for the text, And using overlay effects it makes the text semi-transparent and again, more interesting to watch. I also really like the fact that this title sequence, while using the images and introducing the actors, nothing is ever static. things are always moving all over the place. Giving the film to come a very active feel to it, making sure the audience is not going to get bored by telling them early on that the film is not a go-slow, but will have allot of action in it.
So, I would like to create a film intro that is based on a graphic novel, much like Sin City, but aound a cop, much like 'fingerling' in the film "The Number 23". He is a very dark character, allot of mystery surrounds his past, and is a very quiet man while working. The Opening sequence would end with the very start of the big mystery for the whole film, keeping the viewers gripped.
I have created this short clip where I have animated the Long Road Logo in After Effects and added a camera to simulate motion. Simple things, just moving it in 3D space. I will use this for all my videos that I create in college. Along with my own one that I will create soon.
Having Looked at T2-61, I think that I can tell allot of things about how to do my own project. I think that some of the strengths that the research and planning had were that they did allot, and used a fair amount of visuals, but were lacking in certain areas. The construction of their video was done well, I think that the content was poor, and it certainly had a student made feel to it. But some of the effects that they used were very good, and worked well in the context that they were used.
This video from Hurtwood House, was very good, in terms of a short sequence, and special effects, it was done very well, unfortunatly, it lacked any form of story line that the audience to grab onto and use to understand the sequence. I found it interesting because of the special effects mostly, and the setting. All because of personal taste though. I also think that the camera work was done brilliantly, not too over the top, but not too bland, a mixture of moving shots and static shots really brought the film together.
The logo here, and the introduction that Paramount has to any film, is fairly simple, using a few images, such as the mountain that you can clearly see, and the stars that have been repeated and then animated along a circular path, around the mountain. Other than that, the effects used are simple and just things like text re-scaleing, and path animation. Which when put together create this very simple, but memorable production logo.
Warner Bros is the company that created I am legend, the film that I used in my last post. They have done many many more films and are one of the biggest names in the film industry.
Other films that they have created include:
10,000 BC Yes Man One Missed Call
(Full list here: http://www.imdb.com/company/co0023293/)
From this I can tell that Warner Bros are a company that create a large amount of the big films, and are also very good at advertising their new films. In the opening for I am Legend, there are no names in the sequence, but instead it is mostly just action.
Not a very good example of Continuity, and so I think I should have another go at this, to make sure that I can grasp the concept and execute it thoroughly and effectively.
The sequence starts off with some slow moving/static shots of a run-down manhattan, before moving into a high speed car scene, where the main character (Robert Neville) is driving him and his dog around, and is speeding through the completely deserted city.
He comes across a herd of deer, he instantly picks up his rifle and aims at the deer, the way that he does this gives the audience that this is not the first time he has tried to shoot the deer, showing some sort of history to the film, that is, although not explained there and then, is not explained later on in the film.
As the deer then run into a tunnel, which is dark and ominous, the character and his dog avoid the darkness with a sense of fear put across their faces, perhaps this film has a plot line where the characters are afraid of going into the dark.
At the end of the sequence, Robert is walking around an old run down cinema, where he spots his prey, and goes in for the kill. As he is thinking of shooting the deer, a Lioness jumps out from off shot, and kills the deer herself. Robert instantly puts his gun up to defend himself, but looks at the lion with an understanding in his eyes. A male lion, and two cubs then come out from the same direction that the Lioness came from, walking in casually, to inspect the kill.
The effects that are used here are minimal, obviously a large portion of the city has been altered to add the effect that the entire city is deserted, other than that the editing is simple, some quick cuts, and some slower cuts. Overall the editing is used in a way that fits with the action that is happening in the scene. At the beginning where there is nothing going on, the cuts are slow, moving from one to another to show the empty city, and at the end where the scene has allot going on, the cuts are allot quicker, respectfully for the action and drama.
(Analysis of both videos together as a sequence, could not find a full clip) (Also, embedding was disabled)
Short clip, of a made up introduction to a made up film.
I used very few specialist effects in this clip. A few cross fades, and some keyframe animation for the text and two clips of video. Other than that, this is a very simple video to produce. Should I have had more time, and better software, (after effects), I could have done something more interesting. But for now this is what I had to do, And so is what I did.
The titles that I have used at the very beginning of the film were there as part of the typography and visual effects that I have used in my film. Showing a variety of ideas for each of the production logos. Also the Titles in the whole film show each of the actors as their characters appear on scene. I chose the effect where the text has the black border because that way I could make sure that there was enough contrast between the text and the background so the audience could read them easily without having to strain their eyes to read and understand them.
