Thursday 30 January 2014

Group Analysis


Analysis:Se7en

Sound
The title sequence of se7en includes of a lot of distorted noises, most can be made out to be faint voices. As the fingers are shown being cut across the sound of the strapping is emphasised and is continuous when the shot is finished. Cracking noises that could be linked with the distortion of the title sequence are made. ‘Walkie Talkie’ signals are heard, this gives away to the audience that this is a police detective thriller. Mysterious but more upbeat is played over the current sounds, this gives the feeling of suspense for the audience. It then slowly develops into a rock music genre which creates a sense of violence towards the film. The music goes back to distort and the words “You get me closer to God” is said to show that biblical references may be made in the film. The scene then ends with faint breathing which may be a foreshadow to a bad ending to the film. 


Cinematograpgy

At the start of the title sequence this a straight angle shot of a plain book and you see pages of the book being slowed turned over, next there is a high angle shot, which the audience can see a pair distorted drawn hands on some paper so there is a clear view of the scene telling the audience that there is something creepy to follow in the film. After this there is a extreme close up at a straight angle shot of fingers and someone slicing the skin off them, this creates uncertainty and mysterious about what the film will unravel. In addition there is a mix of shots shown some include books and paper. Furthermore we shown at a canted angle someone writing with a pen on paper then the shot changes to a close up, straight angle shot of the writing to the camera. Then someone cutting up images and paper is shown from a high angle shot so the audience can see the whole scene so they can try and guess more what the film will in tale. Just under half way through the title sequence a side shot of someone writing again is shown and a shadow of a hand is seen through the paper, it adds to the mystery and suspense of who this person is because we never see any facial features at this point. Throughout the sequence a black background with white text pops up on the screen of which lists cast members and crew at canted angles and in different places at each time it appears. In addition the same shot from the start of the title sequence is shown which is of the plain pages of a book being turned at a straight angle, this could be hinting to the audience this a common thing this person does. As the title sequence continues there are more shots that appear and fade into each other at a quicker pace we see again see drawings and writing by the person. At 01:38 minutes through the sequence another extreme close is shown but this time of a needle going through a thumb and to the disturbance the audience will already be feeling. The camera movements and angles in this title sequence are varied but all add to the effect of this film being in the thriller genre and makes the audience feel excited and disturbed.



Mise-en-sense
At the start of the title sequence the first thing you see is a book with the hand turning the pages. The lighting gives a dark gloomy feel to the sequence. Then we move onto the drawing of the deformed hands which is in black and white with a light shining through perhaps a window or a door. We see an injured finger rolling something. We know it’s injured because there is a plaster on the human’s forefinger. The human is using a blade to cut off his finger prints. This suggests that he is quite a sadistic person and that crime may be the story line for this film. Dirty nails are shown to us to perhaps let us know that he is artistic. We might think this because of the drawing of the hands. At this point of the title sequence there are flashes, and in one of the flashes we see a picture of a deformed baby it looks like, with its nose, lip and eyes distorted. This could give away that he might not be a regular person. After this, we see the person writing in a book perhaps a journal. There is film and paper being cut. Pictures are being stuck down on a piece of paper. A book about pregnancy is altered by the person crossing out words in a black highlight pen. Now the title sequence gets a bit sick as the person crosses out the picture of a boys eye suggesting from the distorted baby’s picture that the person likes to see/do things that are distorted. A little more than half way through the title sequence we see that he has picture equipment as we see him dip the picture in the liquid. The colour of the background changes from black to red. We see hooks. The book at the beginning is shown repeatedly throughout this title sequence. A needle is shown coming out of the person’s fingernail. We see thread going through a needle. We see a plastic envelope which the person put something in it with tweezers and a scalpel to cut out the text ‘GOD’ from a dollar bill. Throughout this title sequence a sinister feel is created by the props it used for example the different pictures of distorted/injured people and the change in colour. Red connotes danger and blood.


Saturday 25 January 2014

Enigma Code

Roland Barthes Enigma Code

In the first hour of the lesson we learned about The Barthes Enigma Code

Enigma = Encode messages


Barthes Enigma Code is a theory that suggests a text whether that be television, film, a poster ect. portrays a mystery to draw an audience in, pose question and as such, become intrigued in the piece. Preparing you for the film, (hints, ideas e.g. Catch Me If You Can) it intrigues you.


A title sequence is supposed to make you question what will happen in the film.


Narrative/ Enigma Codes

Barthes' theory of the five codes is a way of grouping signifies according to the role they play in the text. These are categorised as:
- The Hermeneutic Code: The voice of truth - The code of enigmas or puzzles
- The Proairetic Code: The voice of empirics - The code of actions. Any action initiated must be completed. The cumulative actions constitute the plot events of the text.
- The Semantic Code: The voice of the symbol - Binary oppositions or themes. The inscription into the text of the antithesis central to the organization of the cultural code.
- The Culture Code: The voice of knowledge -  Though all codes are cultural we reserve this designation for the storehouse of knowledge we use in interpreting everyday experience.


  • Reading a text with the five codes in mind is like looking at an image through a series of colored lenses. Image remains the same but your impression of it change.
  • Text in which the semantic, symbolic, and cultural codes dominate are closer to Barthes idea of the text. They give you a sense of what the narrative is like rather than tell you what happens.

STINCS


In today's lesson we were taught what is essential to be in our film in order for the title sequence to work and make sense:

STINCS:

S- Setting: Where and when is this film set?

T-Theme: What is the mood of the film? What it is really about (love, revenge, friendship, jealously ect)

I- Iconography: Costumes, Make up, Props ect relevant to the genre

N- Narrative: What is the story about?

C- Characters: Who are they? What are they like?

S- Style: Cinematography, Sound, Editing. What the film will look and feel like?

Production Company Name


In our Wednesday's lesson we were asked to come up with a Production Company name and a logo for our title sequence. My group took some time to think of a Production Company name and i came up with Silent Studios which links in with the Thriller genre. My group liked the name i came up with. The Production Company Silent Studios, link with our title sequence as we want our title sequence to create suspense and nothing to be given away hence the use of 'silent' and that (her) secrets is tied into our whole title sequence idea. Our whole story idea is not given away in the title sequence which is what we wanted to achieve so that the audience wants to see more of what the film is about.

These two are the logos we created for our Production Company.





Lucy made these logos on Photoshop CS6 as she was the most familiar with the software.
These first logo i like because it is dark like our title sequence idea. It links in well with our idea. The fingers on the lips is portraying a secret being kept. The text is perfect for the logo as the cracks in the text suggest that secrets are going to be broken or something is going not going to be correct. the second logo i like as well as it gives the whole production company name even more darker.

Audience Profile


Audience profile is a task all media institutions need to perform when creating a new product to launch onto the market be it a magazine,film,album, website etc.

Demographics: What you cannot change



  • Age, Gender, Race and Sexuality
  • Education
  • Occupation
  • Annual income
  • Disposable income
Psychographics: What you can change

  • Current lifestyle/ Aspirational or desired lifestyle
  • Culture
  • Media interest
  • Buying habits
  • Loyalty to brands

Profile-
Gender: Male/Female
Age:15-20
ABC (Demographics): A/B/C/D/E
Religion: Any
Education: Any
Occupation: Any
Marital Status: Any
Income: Any
Nationality: Any

Current lifestyle / culture: Experimental

Media Interests: Blogging / Social networking 
Buying Habits: Fashion 
Loyalty to Brands: Fred Perry / Ralph Lauren / 


Psychographics: Aspirers / Explorers


Likes: Cinema, Magazines, Twitter, Shopping, Mcdonalds, Dominos, Topshop/man, Friends, Eastenders, Skins, Subway, Late nights, Nandos, Mountain Dew, Reality TV, Photography, Makeup, Chocolate.

Dislikes: Queuing, Emmerdale, Smoking, Waking up early, Diet fizzy drinks, Bad weather, Sports.



We made a survey monkey to ask our audience some questions. From this picture we can see that our audience is mainly female than male but the males are not far behind.
We also asked what age range they are in between.
Most people chose age was 14-17 and 3 people also picked 18-20. The target audience is male or female as Thriller/Horror genres have a mixed gender preference.  

Thursday 23 January 2014

Codes & Conventions


We were told to research codes and conventions of our chosen film genre. I found out that :
The characters thrillers would have are:
  • Prison inmates
  • Psychotic characters (like our character for our title sequence)
  • Criminals
  • Stalkers
  • Spies 
  • Soldiers
  • Convicts 
The themes thrillers would have are-
  • Assassination
  • Suspense (like our character for our title sequence)
  • Chase
  • Crime
  • Supernatural 
  • Psychological mind games (like our character for our title sequence)
  • Terrorism 
Iconography-
  • Low Lighting (like our character for our title sequence)
  • Cars
  • Weapons
  • Urban settings
  • Face paced editing
  • Tension building music (like our character for our title sequence)
The feelings thriller give-
  • Suspense (like our character for our title sequence)
  • Excitement
  • Anxiety
  • Anticipation
  • Tension
  • Uncertainty (like our character for our title sequence)
  • Confusion
Some Narratives of thriller-
  • Characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces
  • Life is threatened 
  • Deadly situation
  • Dangerous mission
  • Provide thrills and cliff hangers with a climax
  • Mind games (like our character for our title sequence)
All of this codes and convention made our group feel like we are going in the right direction of creating a psychological type title sequence that would make a consumer confused just as the girl in our title sequence is.

Recording Sound



In this Friday lesson, we were looking at sound and how we can make our own sound in our title sequence. In the first hour, we looked at different title sequences like Avengers and Napoleon Dynamite looking specifically for the type of things that were used to make the sound. We discussed as a class and we heard things like: drums, symbols, footsteps, wind, door slamming, birds tweeting, whistling, and crashing.
In the second hour, we were given a sound recorder. The sound recorder was a special kind of recorder as it picks up the tiniest sound in the front and back speakers, like this one:



We got into our title sequence group and went around the school and made sounds. My group made a screaming sound (by someone screaming), crunching (by someone eating something crunchy), zipping (by pulling on a zipper), clacking (by plates being banged), whooshing (by someone turning the dryer on), beeping (by someone beeping their card on the card reader) and lastly scratching (by someone scratching a bag with their nails).

Having a lesson on creating sound got me and my group thinking of possible sounds that we could use for our title sequence.

Wednesday 22 January 2014

Richard Morrison Research



We were told to research Richard Morrison and find one of his title sequences to analyse. I decided to create a Prezi because it makes may work more interactive and pretty instead of a simple PowerPoint Presentation. This is my research and analysis:


Sunday 19 January 2014

Saul Bass Research


In Wednesday's lesson we looked at a graphic designer Saul Bass and a bit about him and his work as a title sequence designer as well.
He is an American graphic designer, born in May 1920 and died in April 1996. He went to a art collage. He is most famous for his logo designs in posters as well as his title sequence work. Bass' title sequences are unique because of his hand drawn images and geometric shapes and their symbolic meanings. He became recognisable after his title sequence called 'The Man with the Golden Arm'. Bass worked with Alfred Hitchcock. Here are some of the title sequences Bass worked with Hitchcock: 
  • North By Northwest (1959)
  • Vertigo (1958)
  • Psycho (1960)
We were told to do a bit of research on Saul Bass.
I decided to do it as a PowerPoint so it is easier to see the images and information.


Saul Bass Research and Analysis 

I also included an Analysis of one of his title sequences.



Analysis Napoleon Dynamite



At the beginning of the title sequence there is no music, just a plate of nuggets and a squirt of ketchup. This choice of food suggests a cheap and easy kind of food. Also we see the production company which is Fox Searchlight Pictures. The plate display is on a red carpet. 






We hear faintly birds chirping suggesting that the film is in the suburbs. The next two images is of different styles of plates with different food on different backgrounds. One says Paramount Pictures and the other says in association with MTV Films.






The music starts to play showing us a U.F.O card suggesting that Napoleon is into extraterrestrial things. It also tells us who is staring in the film. 







We then see that it goes back to food on a plate while telling us who else is in the film. We see a tray with food and a lunch paper brown bag suggesting that this film could be based in a school. This is similar to the way Americans carry their lunch to school. 








Here the title sequence gets creative when the person is holding a paper star and then the camera focuses on the star (dept of field). We find out that he has a library book ‘Bigfoot and me’. He likes reading. We see that he is interested in science and the universe. The image changes to a type of sweet which tells us that he could be quite nerdy as they are stereotyped to always have mints. Another dept of field is used when the name in the chap stick is revealed. This is confirming that Napoleon may be a nerd. 


Then we see that he is quite artistic as we see he drew a buff man with weapons. We see that he is interested in mystical creatures by his drawing. He comes across as childish because we see that he still plays with toy cars. We become positive that he is a smart kid as he likes maths.
This title sequence shows a pair of hands putting and removing different objects on a table. This title sequence is a low budget one as not much is shows other than a few things that Napoleon likes and is interested in.
This title sequence is clearly of the comedy genre. The title sequence is light hearted by the mood of the music and the presentation of the titles. Most of them are written out of sauce or written by pen suggesting that the film is not serious. 
We do not see the face of any characters but we already have a feel of what type of person Napoleon is and isn’t. We see that to make a good title sequence, you do not have to have an actual character or key scenes in the title sequence for it to be an effective title sequence. We only see a hand creating excitement and suspense of what the film will be about.

Sound: At the start of the sequence there is silence but then we slowly start to hear some birds tweeting suggesting that the movie is set in a suburban area where there is a lot of fresh air and everything is clean and proper. In other words posh.  There is music throughout the title sequence as we see what different types of things Napoleon likes to do. The beat of the music is quite awkward suggesting that Napoleon is an awkward character.


Cinematography: The cinematography is very limited in this title sequence as it is a stand still title sequence meaning that the camera does not move to give us different angles. They would have needed to get the camera still and in the right place.


Mise-en-sence: Mise-en-scene as used to create a persona of Napoleon. Different types of food that Napoleon likes were shown. His library books. Cards for clubs he is a part of. Chap sticks and sweets that you suck on was shown. Maths equipment and his drawing all give the audience a feel of what type of boy he is.


Editing: A type of edit used in this title sequence was dept of field which made the star in focus and the background not in focus. As this title sequence is not a moving one the only edit it did was cutting to different items. 





Thursday 16 January 2014

Conventions of title sequence


Conventions: ingredients of a title sequence
Transition: one place to another
  • A title sequence is the method by whom a films credit production and cast members utilising visuals and sound.
  • The opening credits of motion pictures list the most important members of the production and they are either superimposed on a blank screen over the action. 
  • There may or may not be accompanying music. the aim of an opening sequence may be to establish character, setting, genre, mood or atmosphere.
  • The sequence is supposed to foreshadow the film and create suspense and interest.
Media text, film titles have conventions. visual and audio clue tell you that what you are watching is a title sequence.
Technical convention = The technical side of conventions e.g. putting it all together
Symbolic convention = What it is supposed to mean
Genre convention = What kind of film it is based on and what is being shown

Common credits in a film opening:
- Name of production company
- Producer
- Name of title
- Director
-Executive producer
- Top billing actors (stars)
- Name of studio
-Music composed by
- Other key crew staring

We looked at several title sequences in class. They were:
-Hulk
-The Avengers
-Se7en
-Juno
-Napoleon Dynamite  

In the lesson, we did a time line together on a film title sequence noting down on the bored all the text that was shown as the title sequence was going on. We were then told to go on the website 'artofthetitle' and find a random title sequence to make a time line for that. Here is my one: i picked 21 Jump Street


When i finished doing my own timeline, i payed more attention to titles in the films that i watched. Getting all of the titles in a 2 minute title sequence must have taken a lot of time. I can apply the titles of any title sequence into my coursework as the names are a very important part of a title sequence.

Wednesday 15 January 2014

First Pitch

Leanne: Monday's Lesson

In Monday's lesson we had to present our pitch. We did a PowerPoint presentation to present our idea to the class and to our teacher. We discussed the summery of the film (what the film is about), included the Production Company, the Box Office of our supporting films, the Distributor, we added some kidnapping research to the PowerPoint as well as possible actors we want in our film, lastly we reveal what the film is really about (in more depth).

When we finished presenting our pitch, the budget was pointed out to us that it is too low for the high stars we want to act in our film meaning that our budget needs to be higher. We wanted to have Film4 as our production company but as they only do small budget films we decided to stick to Lionsgate.



Before our lesson, we ( Lucy, Megan, Christian and myself) decided that we were going to film ourselves presenting our pitch so that we can see what our teacher and classmates saw.


The Art Of Film Title


http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/10/04/the-art-of-the-film-title-throughout-cinema-history/
I have been asked to read this article and pick out five points which are of interest to me:

1. In the section: Titles In Silent Film what interested me the most was that animations affects within film
titles was around 1906. ''One of the earliest known title animations is seen in the work of 
J. Stuart Blackton." It looks like an old fashioned film. It interested me because of the use of colors. In modern day text you wouldn't normally see a grey background but even though this was made in 1906 is feels like the idea was against the normal text background.















2. In the section: The Silence Is Broken, what captivated me was that even if you were to produce a film title

with no imagination (see below), it could make the audience wonder what the film is about and start to think
about the colors that are used and what associates with the colors. This title is more of a simple title. It is good because it gets straight tp the point that the film will be about a girl and her name is Annie Hall. However it makes you think why is it that plain and that some color should be added to it.











                                                                                                                                                       3. In the section: The (True) Birth Of The Title Sequence, what stood out to me was the film title does

not have to have a blank background. I could have anything on it using different techniques. 
For example, ''A great draftsman and visual storyteller, Saul Bass ran the gamut of techniques for his 
title sequences: montage, live action, cut-out paper animation, typography in motion." This title had
text and an image on it. This is interesting because a title is normally supposed to just be a title but 
this title has an image on it which shows creativity.













4. In the section: The Digital Era, And Modern Trends In Film Title Design, what caught my eye 

was how accidents can produce something that was better then or creates an idea. For example, 
''While Cooper was working on the sequence for “Darkness Falls” (2003), some glass he was using suddenly split, and the crack cut across the eyes of a girl in an old picture. The incident added 
suspense to the effect."












5: In the section: Typography Resources, what i found interesting was that most type faces were available to be downloaded at a price which is surprising because you wouldn't associate a 

films type face to be available to the whole world to have. Also it was interesting how Waltograph 
(Walt Disney) type face has its own alphabet.













I have picked out my five points and for evidence. I have commented, copied and pasted the 

pictures and quotes that i found interesting.

Monday 13 January 2014

Start of Coursework


What we have done this week is, we have been told that we are starting to begin our title sequence coursework. We were put into groups of four, (Megan Harris, Lucy Abbott, Christian O'Brien) which will be the people that i am going to produce my title sequence with. The first thing we did as a group was, think of a genre to base our title sequence on. We had trouble deciding on what genre to do, so we thought of made up stories each and we decided on one to do. This again was quite had as we all had different ideas that we wanted to do.

We decided that our film includes a kidnap which is mainly inspired by A Beautiful Mind. Our film is about a girl who starts off reading from her diary telling us how she got kidnapped. An unexpected twist is in the film which is that she was not kidnapped but in fact taken to a mental unit because her illness (schizophrenia) was getting worse. We then decided that our genre should be suspense/ mystery/ thriller as we want the film to have a dark feel to it.

We chose the title: The Diary Of A Captive to keep the suspense of not giving the whole story line away.

Making a title sequence in 2 minutes was a concern as we had a story line but had to pick certain bits of the story to show as our title sequence. Working with a group, i thought is going to be hard as i will not always get my way and i have to listen and agree with other peoples ideas.

We decided that in order for us to contact each other and share some of our ideas that we should make a Facebook group chat. In the group chat we can send pictures of what we are working on to talk about in our blogs.