Completion

We have finally completed our opening sequence!! Today we worked on getting the credits done and I think they are really nice because the fonts are all different colours which suit our genre of a coming of age/ romantic movie. The music is also very effective as it creates a sense of exciting and happy atmosphere which is exactly what we wanted. Overall I am pleased with the finishing opening sequence and am glad we have completed it after all the hard work we put in :)

Film Distribution

Film Distributors: §A film distributor is a company/ individual who is accountable for the advertising of a film. The distributor may set the release date of a film and the way in which a film shall be displayed/ made available for viewing. The best examples of this are: video on demand (VoD), DVD/Blu-ray, TV and download. A distributor may well do this independently, but this is only if they own theatres to do so otherwise it will be done through other theatrical exhibitors.

What are the film distributors main objectives?: The main objective of a distributor is to persuade the exhibitor to essentially ‘buy’ a film. With this in mind, a distributor will often organize industry screenings for exhibitors, and will use other marketing techniques that will make the exhibitor a) want to show the film and b) make a profit from the film

What else do film distributors do?: After this, the distributor will:

-Secure a written contract, which specifies the amount of the gross ticket sales to be paid to the distributor

-Collect the money

-Review the exhibitor's ticket sales (this is to ensure the gross informed by the exhibitor is precise)

-Secure the distributor's share, and diffuse the remaining money to the production company/others

-In most cases this is a set amount but may be varied depending on the film.

Distributing for everyone to see: -The Film distributor must therefore create enough advertising for their film. They may do this such as advertising on media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, etc Thet may also put adverts on buses, at bus stops, hand out leaflets, packages, merchandise and more. 

Here are some adverts on the way Harry Potter has distributed their movie: 

Film Premiers are also a great way to promote the movie because it brings together all the fans and if they enjoyed this event then they can pass it on their friends and other people, creating interest in a larger number of people, thus spreading the word of the film.

What must a film distributor think about?:  §A film’s first weekend in cinemas is vital for further success; most films gain 30% or more of its entire box office during the first three days, which is why it is important to get the marketing correct.

§Film distributors must think about:

§Who is the audience?

§Who does the film speak to?

§Do the story, characters and situation attract the audience?

§Does the film make up for the cost (risk) of a theatrical release?

§What sort of audiences have similar films attracted recently?

§These are all very important and explains why many distributors may only release  1-2 a year and others may release 20-30.

The different scenes and settings of distribution:§Different releases are accomplished in diverse ways. A blockbuster release may open simultaneously on 1000 screens UK-wide playing at two or more screens per multiplex: this includes large scale sequels or star led holiday releases  and therefore helps to accommodate mass audiences eager to see a film at the earliest opportunity. Sometimes, a single print can service multiple screens if they are ‘interlocked’.

Genre

In film theory, genre refers to the method based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. There are many different types of film genres such as:

Action films usually include high energy, big-budget physical stunts and chases, possibly with rescues, battles, fights, escapes, destructive crises (floods, explosions, natural disasters, fires, etc.), non-stop motion, spectacular rhythm and pacing, and adventurous, often two-dimensional 'good-guy' heroes (or recently, heroines) battling 'bad guys' - all designed for pure audience escapism. Includes the James Bond 'fantasy' spy/espionage series, martial arts films, and so-called 'blaxploitation' films. 

Adventure films are usually exciting stories, with new experiences or exotic locales, very similar to or often paired with the action film genre. They can include traditional swashbucklers, searches or expeditions for lost continents, "jungle" and "desert" epics, treasure hunts, disaster films, or searches for the unknown.

Comedies are light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed to amuse and provoke laughter (with one-liners, jokes, etc.) by exaggerating the situation, the language, action, relationships and characters.

Crime (gangster) films are developed around the sinister actions of criminals or mobsters, particularly bankrobbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and murdering their way through life. Criminal and gangster films are often categorized as film noir or detective mystery films - because of underlying similarities between these cinematic forms. This category includes a description of various 'serial killer' films.

Dramas are serious, plot-driven presentations, portraying realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories involving intense character development and interaction. Usually, they are not focused on special-effects, comedy, or action, Dramatic films are probably the largest film genre, with many subsets.

Epics include costume dramas, historical dramas, war films, medieval romps, or 'period pictures' that often cover a large expanse of time set against a vast, panoramic backdrop. Epics often share elements of the elaborate adventure films genre. Epics take an historical or imagined event, mythic, legendary, or heroic figure, and add an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by grandeur and spectacle, dramatic scope, high production values, and a sweeping musical score. Epics are often a more spectacular, lavish version of a biopic film. Some 'sword and sandal' films (Biblical epics or films occuring during antiquity) qualify as a sub-genre.

Horror films are designed to frighten and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films feature a wide range of styles, from the earliest silent Nosferatu classic, to today's CGI monsters and deranged humans. They are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not usually synonymous with the horror genre. There are many sub-genres of horror: slasher, teen terror, serial killers, Satanic, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.

Sci-fi films are often quasi-scientific, visionary and imaginative - complete with heroes, aliens, distant planets, impossible quests, improbable settings, fantastic places, great dark and shadowy villains, futuristic technology, unknown and unknowable forces, and extraordinary monsters ('things or creatures from space'), either created by mad scientists or by nuclear havoc.Science fiction often expresses the potential of technology to destroy humankind and easily overlaps with horror films, particularly when technology or alien life forms become malevolent, as in the "Atomic Age" of sci-fi films in the 1950s.

Progress

Today me and my group stayed after school in order to complete our editing and make sure we get it to a high standard like we had before the burglary. We had struggled over the past few days with maintaining all the work we had to do in such little time. In terms of editing our sequence we are half way done, so we mainly worked on sound  and Nicola started editing our behind the scenes footage. We created good music for the part when the main girl and boy are getting ready but we struggled creating music for the party scene as it kept turning into too much like club music, and this is not something we wanted for our opening sequence. Therefore, we have tried to find some copyright free music which is more of a party sound than a club, which would also suit our genre of a coming to age/ romantic film. 

The music we had found for the girl and boy getting ready I thought was well suited because it was not only ideal for what a boy may listen to, but also a girl. Originally, we had created music similar to Legally Blonde but we were not happy with it as it turned out to be too girly, and therefore when inter-cutting with the guys parts, the music did not appear to suit with his actions. Therefore, the current music we created is much better and fits in nicely with our footage, shots and genre. 

Over the next couple of lessons we are aiming to complete our editing of the opening sequence and edit the sound onto our footage. We also need to compete our credits and figure out where they would be best to put into our sequence (i.e.. the beginning or just before the end of the whole sequence). 

Catch Me If You Can

The action of this title sequence is supposed to take place between 1963 and 1969. I think that the music matches this style very well, because, not only does it create a feeling of being around that time period, but at times the orchestra will range from being high to low pitched which creates this running feeling and so it matches title.  I like how the title sequence is very plain and consists of mainly white, blue and black which creates the sense that it is quite formal and therefore the target audience would not be for younger people but adults or older teens. The title sequence is also effective because the tall long black letters match the tall, stick black characters we are shown, and the fact that the letters on the title are extended further matches the name of the film which is about trying to 'catch' someone. I also like how the opening sequence does not consist of real people but it is also like a cartoon, and the swanky music further creates a sense of excitement. Here is a picture of the drawings before the actual sequence was made:





I thought that the way they created the credits was also very interesting and entertaining because of the way they have tried to match the sequence with the actual credits title.  For example: 


What is also effective is the choice of colours used; in a recent interview by Florence Deygas this is what he had to say about this: 

The color palette does so much to set the feel of the jet setting era in which the film takes place. Was there an intentionality to the colors that you selected and if so, what materials did you reference?

The film takes place in the 1960s and Spielberg desired for us to transplant the audience into a varied universe, with a bit of chic and a sense of drama (certainly not a humorous cartoon). We decided to take on the same approach as those who created title sequences during that era: as if we were in that era, working amongst colleagues. Not in terms of technological means, but in terms of philosophy. We wanted to deliver a personal creation that has our mark, that works in contrast to studio title sequences in which the artist’s hand is less visible. We wish to have the audience of this film rediscover a paradise lost.

VIEW 4 IMAGES

Color palette examples from final sequence

The colours signal geographical and temporal transitions. The silhouettes stem from our own graphic vocabulary with a sixties twist so it adheres to the subject matter. We decided to employ them here for their symbolic force. The silhouette evokes a character we all ignore — the hero is a trickster. Those are in fact hand-carved stamps, animated in a traditional manner on paper by hand. That “handmade” aspect belongs to title sequences of that era.

Embedding such lovely handmade animations into a precise, down-to-the-millimetre décor on a computer served as a bridge between the past and the present. The audience was able to taste a remnant of that past through the visual comfort of which they are used to today.

Update

We have been unable to do any group work for the last 2 weeks because the Macs got stolen. This means that our editing work is lost and so we need to re-do this again which is annoying as we did finish it the first time round. However, now that the Macs have arrived, tomorrow we will need to start editing again in order to get this finished and to the standard we want it to be. This does mean that we have to work as harder and have more lunch/ free periods/ after school sessions in order to get this done in time and as good as we had it before. Despite this, I think we all know exactly how we want the sequence to be as we have had it completed the first time, and so it wouldn't be too much of a hassle. 

Credits

In the creative arts, credits are an acknowledgment of those who participated in the production.  They are often shown at the end of movies and on CD jackets. In film, television, theatre, etc. the names of actors and behind the scenes staff who contributed in this production. 

Opening Credits

The opening credits show the most important people at the beginning i.e. the actors that are taking part, the director, producer editor and more.  They are usually shown on a blank screen, at the bottom/ top of action and even next to the characters and where the action is taking place. This for me makes it more visually interesting and we are able to see exactly who the characters are, and doesn't bore the audience by looking at just plain text on a plain background, but the action keeps their attention drawn to the movie.

Opening credits since the 1980s, identify the major characters and crew, while the closing credits list the extensive cast and production crew. Here is a typical way of how credits are being layed out:

Common opening credits order

While there are numerous variations most opening credits use some variation of the basic order^[4] noted within:

• (NAME OF THE STUDIO)

Name of the studio that is distributing the film and may or may not have produced it (Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia, Lions Gate, Universal, Marvel Studios, Dimension, Miramax etc.).

• (NAME OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY)

Name of the production company that actually made the film or name of the investment groups or companies that financed a substantial part of the film (usually credited as "in association with" or "A (studio name) production.").

• (PRODUCER NAME) PRODUCTION or/and (director only) A FILM BY (DIRECTOR NAME)

Director's first credit, often "a film by XY or "a XY film".

• STARRING

Principal actors and the most important cast in the film.

• (FILM'S TITLE)

Name of the film.

• FEATURING

Featured actors

• CASTING or CASTING BY

Casting Director

• MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY

Composer of music

• PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER

As a variation some of the below may be noted:

• SET DESIGN
• COSTUMES or COSTUMES BY or GOWNS (older movies)
• HAIRDRESSER
• MAKE-UP ARTIST
• SOUND RECORDING (older movies)
• VISUAL EFFECTS DIRECTOR or VISUAL EFFECTS BY

• EDITOR or EDITED BY

• DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

• PRODUCER or PRODUCED BY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Producers, co-producers, executive producers, 'also produced by' (credited for various reasons according to contracts and personal scrutiny of the principal producer). Often, though, the name of the producer will be the next-to-last opening credit, just before the director's name is shown.

• BASED ON THE BOOK (PLAY, GRAPHIC NOVEL etc.) BY or FROM A PLAY/BOOK BY (older movies)

If based on a book or other literary work.

• BASED ON THE CHARACTERS BY or BASED ON THE CHARACTERS CREATED BY

If based on characters from a book or other media.

• STORY or STORY BY

Person who wrote the story on which the script is based, gets "story by" credit, and the first screenplay credit, unless the script made substantial changes to the story.

• WRITER(S) or WRITTEN BY

• DIRECTOR or DIRECTED BY

Director. The Directors Guild of America usually permits a film to list only one director, even when it is known that two or more worked on it. 

What we still need to do...

Overall, I am happy with the progress we have been making so far and I think that our opening sequence is nearly completed. Tomorrow we have a final thing to re-film which is the phone cal,l which I will be doing and also  Ruby's part as she was slightly off frame on one of the shots for the phone call.

Next week we will be editing on Garageband our music because although we have experimented a lot, the music sounds like something you would listen to a club so we have been trying to find some vocals to go alongside the music. We also need to complete adding the credits over the boy and the girl's products.

Progress

Today in lesson we had to review each others opening sequences and look at rough cuts of what it might look like as a finished sequence. I found this lesson effective because some of the people gave us some really constrictive criticism which me and my group will take on board in order to improve our opening sequence. 

Overall, we got some very positive feedback from others. They particularly liked the match on action from the girls dress into the boys hair product and they said it was very creative. They also said that it was easy to understand and none of the parts were ambiguous or difficult to understand. This was particularly important for us because we want to create an sequence which our viewers and others can understand, because if they don't then they will easily get bored or distracted.

However, we did get some criticisms such as the beginning the of the party was slightly darker and so they couldn't see the characters as well. Although being the party this was the effect we were going for, we will try to improve this by adding some light from final cut and making the whole scene easier to see. Also, some of the people said that when Ruby was talking on the phone, the extreme close-up of her face was slightly off frame so we will try to re-film that part in order to improve it.

Re-filming

We have finished re-filming the parts we had to do of the main girl and the establishing shot. I think overall it went well because this time we had managed to show close-up shots of Ruby's face which is just what we needed. 
Tomorrow we just need to edit these into our opening sequence and start adding in the music which is important in order to get a sense of realism in this sequence.

4/ 2/ 2013

Progress-

In today's lesson we had completed the opening sequence as a rough cut in order to see the overall flow of it and what else we still need to re-film. As we are re-filming some of the main girls part's today, we shall replace the old footage from our opening sequence and edit in the new ones.
A problem is that our opening sequence is quite long at the moment (3 minutes), exceeding our maximum of it being around 2 minutes long. In order to reduce these we have found that some of the shots we had which weren't as vital were too lengthy so during this week of editing we shall need to cut these down so it fastens the editing pace. In a way this can be effective because during the inter-cutting between the characters we do want to maintain a fast pace in order to keep the viewers entertained and create a sense of excitement.
We still haven't found the right music and we have found that quite challenging because the music we have created on garageband so far is like club music and not house party and so we would need to try and find some vocals in order to fit in with our edited music.

Editing

During the last week we have focused our attention a lot on focusing both during the lessons and some of us even stayed after school in order to finish the editing and make sure that we finish the opening sequence before showing it to everyone as a rough cut next Thursday ( 7.2.2013) 

What I like so far...

So far I really like how the opening sequence has turned out, but I like our graphic matching the most because it turned out just the way we had hoped. It really does make the whole sequence more interesting and it shows off some of the techniques we have learnt during lesson. As our target audience is younger people, it is important that we have interesting shots like these ones but also have a relatively fast pace of editing in order to create a sense of excitement and I think we have definitely done that in the inter-cutting of the 2 characters. Some of the shots which are less important but needed i.e. showing the boy put his hand on his ipod to change the song, these type of shots are perfect to put the credits over them. 
When the main girl, Ruby is walking to the house party, some of the shots we had I thought were really good because we had varied them a lot from close-ups to long shots. This establishes were she is but also again showing the close details of the girl such as showing her pretty shoes; an important aspect in order to fulfil our target audience's expectations, who are mainly girls.
 When the girl is getting ready the shots we had are really good because we have maintained our aim of showing only close details of her face such as her eyes and lips, in order to not reveal her face until the actual party. However, some of the times we do show her face so those will need to be re-filmed otherwise this effect would not work.
 The party scene I thought also had good shots, especially at the beginning where the camera moves along the dolly across the room to create a very flowy feel, which makes the viewer feel as though they are there, which is important as we want to make the viewers part of our opening sequence and not bore them. 

Music

The music we have first created on Garageband was good but we all agree that it all sounded too much like club music so currently we are trying to make new music which would be suited more for a house party.
We have found some really cool loops which we have combined together so I think that overall the music we are creating  now would be more suited for our opening sequence and create the right atmosphere for being in a house party.

Re-Filming Shedule

Monday 4th February, 2013  

We have looked at some of our footage and so we decided that to improve we would need to re-film some of the main girl, Ruby's parts of where she is getting reedy in order to not reveal to much of her face.
Also, we need to re-do the bit where the host is opening the door for Ruby because we had trouble with sorting out the lightning as it was too dark. To improve this on Monday, we shall film this part first at around 4.30 pm because we want it to be moderately dark to not mess up our continuity editing.

Wednesday 6th February, 2013

On Wednesday we are going to do some more of the boys shots. The footage we already have is really good but we found out that we have too much of Ruby's parts but not much of the boy so we need to film some more of him getting ready. For example, a close-up shot of him getting his hair product.

31/ 01/ 2013

Progress-
Today we spent editing our opening sequence and continued working on making the footage flow together nicely. We need to still re-film some of our footage because of lighting issues so we will hopefully do it on the weekend.
Overall, today was successful as Nicola and Kirsten spent time finding the right music and have tried to create something on GarageBand which would fit when the girl and boy are getting ready. We have all decided that it would be best to have different types of music on the boy and girl so it appears like realistically what they might listen but also looks like diagetic sound i.e. they are actually listening to this type of music whilst getting ready.
Meanwhile, me and Natalie carried editing the sequence together; I think that the graphic match from the girl's red dress and his red bottle works really nicely and is visually entertainer/ creative. 

 

 

29/ 01/ 2013

Today in lesson we were beginning to edit all our footage together. We split our group up so half of us were editing our opening sequence and the other half of us were trying to create some music on Garageband. While editing some of our footage we found out that some bits were good but too dark so we shall need to re-film those over the next couple of days using the lights this time in order to see the characters more clearer.
Here are some pics: 

Editing opening sequence

On Garageband

At the end of the lesson we managed to complete a rough draft of what our music for the party scene would be like which gave us all an idea of what it would sound like, what we need to improve/ add in future lessons. 

Our first draft of music we completed

Progress

28/1/2013- So this weekend we have managed to film all of our footage and this lesson we were looking through it to make sure we have captured everything we needed or whether we need to re-film. We have started to edit some of the bits of the footage and some of us are using garageband in order to create the music for this opening sequence.
We are planning to edit as much as we can all week, swapping around so everyone gets a turn to edit and have an input in this project. 

Filming Day 2

On Sunday we completed out filming by managing to film the boy's and girls parts with the party scenes. Overall I think it was a successful day because we managed to get a variety of different camera shots and varied them in order to apply what we had learnt.

On Saturday some of the girls in our group had to 'dress' a room in order for the mis- en- scene to look like it's a boy's room. I think this was effective because we wanted to make sure that all the details were correct and it was realistically a room which a boy would be in. Here is a pic of the room: 

 

For the girls part, again we tried to stereotypically create a room which would be ideally for a teenage girl in order to fulfill out genre of a romantic/ coming of age film. We made sure the props were suited for this so we placed a lot of makeup, magazines, perfume, etc which helped us achieve this aim. 

 

For the party we had to dress up a living room again and make sure that there was enough props in order to make it look like a real party. Here are some location photos:  

 

Overall, this weekend of filming and setting up the rooms was successful because we managed to get a lot done and the pre-planning (pre-production stage) of storyboards, costumes, lighting  was helpful because we know what we had to do or the types of shots we wanted. Now we will be editing this and hopefully we have done a great job! 

Filming Day 1

We did some filming on the 17/ 1/ 2013 which was quite successful as we managed to film some great shots of the main girl, Ruby.  

What went well? : We had really good close-up shots of the girl such as of her eyes, close detail of her answering the phone etc. We had also filmed half of her face when she answers the phone because we didn't want to reveal her full face or outfit yet until she finally arrives at the party, which is why we filmed a lot of variety of extreme close-ups, close-ups and medium shots. We have also managed to film a point of view shot of her spraying hairspray on her face but towards the camera so its as if the audience are the main character. We will inter-cut this with the main guy as he is getting ready in order to make this more visually interesting.

What could be improved?: Whilst filming the main girl walking outside and going to the party, when watching this back it was quite dark and not as we hoped. To improve this we have arranged to re-film this on Monday the 28th of January in order for the viewers to see it clearer and improve the quality of our footage.



Here are some of the 'behind the scenes' of us filming for the first day:

Filming

We filmed last week the first half of out whole filming project which was the girl getting ready such as putting on her makeup and doing her hair for the party scene.
We decided that it would be best if we didn't show too much of the girls face but only extreme close-ups of the details of her face such as her eye. This would be effective because no one would have seen her yet until the final reveal at the party- building some tension.

Some shots we had done were like those:

For one of the shots we are filming the main girl, Ruby put her shoes on which would be a similar close-up shot like this one