PLANNING: STORYBOARD

Today we created  a storyboard to work out what scenes we want to incorporate in our film. We planned out what we wanted to film and how these scenes flow together. 

 

REAEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE: THE BRIEF HISTORY OF FILM TITLES

I watched a brief history of film titles, courtesy of the art of the title website, (http://www.artofthetitle.com) and I discovered how film titles have developed and modernised over time, for example the clip opened to show a film title for the movie "intolerance". It is clearly very old fashioned, with many good features, such as what genre the film is (Drama) and the logo of the company who produced it (DG). These features help communicate otherwise lost information to the viewer in a clear and concise way, I found this to be very effective.

Secondly I looked into the opening titles for the film "Anatomy Of Murder". I found these titles to be effective as they clearly showed an cartoon like drawing of a murdered victim  with the title of the movie written inside. Also the title is generated with very dark colours such as black and grey, I found this to be clever as the title linked to the theme of the movie, (dark and mysterious) and instantly communicated to the viewer the tone of the film. 

Thirdly, this title sequence stood out to me personally, as I found it very effective in setting the theme and time period of the movie ("Sherlock Homes"). The directors name is clearly presented on top of vintage style paper with a watercolour painting of the two main characters. This is effective as it illustrates to the viewer that the movie is old fashioned and is about the two fictional characters presented in the left hand corner. 

Lastly, towards the end of the video montage of film titles a modern one arose, It showed it block letters the title of the film ("ALIEN"). Although some of the letters are distorted, I find this to be effective as it really gives the sense of an unfamiliar presence as the viewer is confused by the letters being presented in this way. Also the background somewhat resembles that of a planet and the use of very neutral colours backs up this idea. This also sets up the film to the viewer as the theme is instantly established in this one shot. 

RESEARCH: JUNO

I looked into the opening of, Juno, The Title Designer Gareth Smith used Xerox-copied cut-out animation. This gave it the effect of looking like a drawing. 

• The genre of this film is a comedy, this is reflected in the opening credits of the film as it is cartoon like as well as the soundtrack playing throughout it is very upbeat and cheerful. 
• The credits coincide well with the opening titles as they are written in bubble writing and resemble a doodle which is similar to the back round drawing.
• The atmosphere is created to be joyful and childish: The back round is all doodles and colourful as if a child has drawn them. Also the back round is simple and easy for the viewer to scrutinise and depict. 
• The camera work was shot on two cameras: a Panasonic HVX200 and a Canon DSLR. They were shot using the burst mode at around 8 frames per second. This is generally the frame rate used for the title sequence, which created a lovely stop-motion look.

RESEARCH: ALIEN

 watched the opening for the film, Aliens, (director: James Cameron). It looks into the supernatural and this is reflected in the opening titles.

• The genre of this film is sci-fi, this is presented by the colours and editing of the opening titles: The scene starts in all black and slowly a neon colour develops in the back round it presents a futuristic and unfamiliar feel for the viewer and soon it is revelled to be the film title (Alien).
•   The sound used helps to set the tone as it starts of very soft and then builds up the climax reaching a crescendo. This not only amps up the viewer, but shocks them by the sudden sound of the symbols crashing together. 
• The titles are very simple but effective as the neon blue light is clearly the main focus, with the credits appearing in a simple font in white with the blue never fading from the back round.

RESEARCH: DELICATESSEN

Today I started to research title sequences, on the website The Art of The Title (http://www.artofthetitle.com).

I looked into the opening of Delicatessen (director: Jean Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, 1991)

• The genre of this film is black comedy, so the title design is witty, in that it invites the viewer to take pleasure in the way that each credit is embedded in an appropriate visual clue: The Costume designer's name is seen to be sewn into a clothing label, the director of music's name is printed onto a broken cd and so on.
• The time period in set and easily established by the quality and age of the artefacts: the broken vinyl record, wooden folding ruler and so on. Also many of the props are covered in dust and clutter. 
• Colour and lighting are key visual codes. The use of sepia tone familiarises the audience with the time frame, this with the added use of the colour black adds to the dark and grim nature of the subject matter. 
• The camera movement is important to add to the atmosphere: as it pans across the lay out of props it slows down and allows the viewer to inspect and digest the clever placement of the credits. 

 I

PRELIMINARY VIDEO

• Continuity task: filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room, sitting down in a chair opposite another character with whom she/he exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180% rule.