Finn's mood-board

 Mood Board - Opening Sequence Research

 News scenes:

Heist scenes: 

Brief Getaway:

180 Degree Rule

This rule means the invisible line between the conversing characters should not be crossed. The line is between the two character's eyelines. Meaning that character A on the left will always be looking to the right and character B on the right will always be looking to the left. 

Opening Title Sequence Analysis - Dawn of the Dead - Kyle Cooper

Narrative is given in the opening title sequence through the use of a montage of the world after the disease outbreak. The audience also gets an idea of the rest of the movie because of the blood, gore and violence used in these short clips, for example the short clips of people screaming in pain and struggle to control their body's shows the violence and the transformation of the humans into zombies immediately telling us this movie is post-apocalypse. The target audience for this movie is people who like gore, blood and violence. I can see this because of the amount of blood and violence shown in this sequence. It is very easy to gather the information from this opening title sequence to say this movie is a thriller because of the blood and violence used. The credits are also written in blood to show horror and death furthermore showing thriller. In this sequence we are introduced to many people however the audience isn't made to form a bond with them because it only shows a montage of people panicking and infected people trying to kill the regular humans. We are also introduced to a news reporter who is explaining the current world situation and giving context to the audience, the audience is given some short clips showing of the news reporter on air, giving the audience a closer connection to him. 

Many extreme wide shots have been used to show the audience the scale of the catastrophe. Extreme close-ups have also been used to show the blood and gore to shock and thrill the audience from the very beginning. The use of dialog helps the audience understand the situation and gather information to get context. The lyrics "the hairs on your arms will stand up, to the terror" are used to compliment whats on the screen, adding to the thriller and terror of the movie and showing the genre and theme from the very beginning. Short duration shots showing panic have been used to create tension and to highlight the sense of panic for the audience to understand the intensity of the situation. I think this opening title is very successful because of the amount of context and narrative given through the use of camera, editing, sound and mise en scene. I also think that the genre and theme of the movie is very clearly given in this opening title sequence making it very easy for people to get context and further understanding of the movie. 

Opening Title Sequence Analysis - SE7EN - Kyle Cooper

The sequence commences with a close up of hands turning the pages of a book, alongside distorted non-diegetic music. The music contains disk scratches and screaming noises that reflect the horror genre. The music increases in volume and tempo throughout the sequence, this helps to build suspense and makes the audience feel nervous and eerie of what is to come. The sequence reveals a compilation of close up clips showing hands, books, razor blades and a needle and thread. As an audience member it is very difficult to to understand what is happening because all the shots are extreme close-ups, however this adds to the uncertainty and suspense. The use of the sharp objects, for example the razor blade and scissors appear many times throughout the sequence as we see the character cutting paper, newspapers and his fingers. This disturbing imagery immediately reveals the horror genre of the film and creates themes of violence and danger in the audience member's head. We also see the character crossing out lines in the book and cutting pages with precision, this creates a link to mental illness as it often comes alongside disorders like OCD. The clip durations shorten at many points and the sequence becomes fast paced, we also see lots of flashing images as each clip begins to overlay one another. This creates a distorted look and becomes heavier throughout the sequence. The titles are displayed with shadows layering the words, distorting the words. Other words are also shown in a messy handwriting, linking to the character in the sequence.

Research on Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper is an American designer who has producedand directed over 350 visual effects and title sequences. Born in 1962, from a young age Cooper became obsessed with comics, drawing monsters and horror films. Cooper says he has "always been interested in film and editing—more specifically, the juxtaposition of images in film or on a single page". Cooper attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, however he didn't study anything to do with film. Cooper soon moved on to study graphic design at Yale University and earned a Master of Fine Art in 1988. In 1996 Cooper founded Imaginary Forces which went on to become one of the most successful creative agencies in Hollywood. However, in 2003 Cooper left Imaginary Forces and founded Prologue, another creative agency that focuses more heavily on opening title sequences.   

Cooper has received many awards and was credited in Details magazine with "almost single-handedly revitalizing the main title sequence as an art form". Cooper holds the title of Honorary Royal Designer for Industry from the Royal Society of Arts in London. He has seven Emmy nominations and two wins.

Our opening title sequence shot by shot

 

• ENTIRE SEQUENCE:
• Wide angle shot of dark room with desk with tv on, playing news story of bank robbery group still on the run, display clips of past heists
• After some time, light in room turns on and TV is thrown off of desk e.g. swiped off
• Cut on action to floor, see tv land on floor and smash, focussed from tv on floor to the background where the elevator is - NO CUT
• 4 heist crew members seen walking into the elevator
• gender not visible
•  Close up of heist members finger pressing down elevator button
• Low angle shot of elevator doors opening, 4 women walk out wearing overalls and masks and holding bags and gloves and guns
• gender not visible until final walking from van scene
• FROM ENTRANCE OF PAV, Women walk underneath a high angle wide shot of the inside of vault (pavillion)
• paintings, trays of money (lunch tray stacking shelves with bills on them) and jewellery on black clothed desks
• Compilation of POV shots of women grabbing money and placing in bags, grabbing jewellery and placing in bags, boots shuffling etc
• Heist members seen walking towards pan entrance
• whip pan
• Members in elevator with the full bags and guns camera inside
• Shot held for prolonged time, doors open, camera tracks back
• whip pan
• Wide shot outside hurtwood building facing away with white van waiting doors open
• driver (masked) inside already?
• Camera pans forward, in-between the members, into the van and around to face the members
• The members remove their masks and throw onto floor to reveal their faces
• 3 members chuck bags over camera and into the van and disappear around the van
• Final member places bag in view of camera to transition to black
• END SEQUENCE

• NEWS SCENE
• News setup in studio
• "The 4 currently unidentified crew members remain on the loose after successfully storming and looting 4 different banks across the UK within the last 72 hours. Authorities say that these criminals are 

 

 

Poppy's independent research

Costume- 

In our opening sequence, we need 4 heist members dressed in identical jumpsuits and masks (inspiration from money heist)-

We think that using jumpsuits and masks will make our opening sequence look more professional because all four characters will be dressed the same. The masks will also limit any acting and facial expressions that may be look unrealistic. 

Jumpsuits:

 

Having the costumes baggy and long sleeved will also conceal identity and gender which will add to the curiosity and mystery for the audience making the opening sequence more appealing and effective. 

Masks: 

Robber masks, obvious to the audience and conceals face.

comedic masks (like in batman and money heist) to add dark humour and horror.  

 

SHOES-

As we will be filming low angle shots of the heist members, it is also important that the footwear is also believable. Plain black boots- doc marten like.

Props- 

 

props we will need-

 

fake plastic guns

fake money

duffle bags 

old box tv (90s inspired)  

Photo inspiration-

Exploring camera techniques

One of our teachers created a video explaining camera composition and various camera techniques such as, Depth of Field, Rule of three, Camera height and Lighting.

Here are my examples of each composition. 

Depth of Field

For my picture showing Depth of Field I chose to put an object close to the camera in the foreground to allow the camera to focus on the object. I also chose to put the object in the foreground of an interesting and detailed background to make the photo more interesting and appealing. 

Rule of three

For my intake of the rule of three I used a grid filter on my camera in order to make sure 'object 1' was completely central and to make sure 'object 2' was directly on the left vertical line.

For 'object 2' I made sure the head on the object was a on a point where two lines meet as the head is a point of interest. As well as putting the whole object on the left vertical line as the object is the main point of interest in the picture.

Camera Height

I chose to take this photo from a higher angle and with an interesting and detailed background.

Matilda's independent research

In order to insure that the audience correctly identifies the scenario as an armed gang Heist, we would need specific props. For example guns and money would be necessary to create this atmosphere of violence and realism. 

In terms of guns, I did some research to find the best way in producing fake guns, by either crafting them or simply purchasing them pre-made. I found a particularly suitable fake gun for around eight pounds which would fit comfortable into the scene. However there may have to be some adjustments made to the prop due to the camouflage print needing to be spray painted black.

Another element to the scene we will need to think about are the costumes. These will regard of matching coloured jumpsuits. This idea is taken from the well knows Netflix series called 'Money Heist', where the main crew are all dressed in jumpsuits. In this series the characters also wear controversial masks, mirroring Dalí, a famous Artists' face. With the idea that we would like to keep the characters identities hidden throughout most of the sequence we would like to take the same approach using some sort of masks that would be present throughout the shots. 

For the masks, I feel it would be an easy and low priced idea to make the masks ourselves. After some research, I found plain white masks at a very low price that would work perfectly for our sequence once they are painted to mirror a similar creepy and mocking face of that in 'Money Heist'. 

Poppy's independent research task

Researching into potential locations to shoot our opening sequence. 

 

Places we will need to shoot various scenes- 

 

empty room for tracking into 90s Tv with news reels

somewhere to shoot a newsreel or various newsreels 

a place to shoot close ups showing details of the heist 

a place to shoot a van and the getaway of the heist 

Filming the tv--> tracing/zooming in shot 

This can be shot in a studio, just in a plain dark room with the tv on a desk, maybe with some cables around the floor. We decided that the tv does not need to be connected to the story line like in the 'Romeo and Juliet' movie opening sequence.

 

inspiration from Romeo and Juliet film-->

Shooting a news story

We discussed as a group that it would be difficult to film this on a small budget but that we are willing to work around that and think of different ways we could film this without an actual broadcast studio. 

We discussed that we could find previous videos from the internet that could appear to look like a bank robbery and use them with our own news audio playing over the top with our own script and edit the videos accordingly. 

Another option would be to film an actor in a makeshift broadcasting studio using resources we already have in a studio shoot like a desk and stationary and maybe a green screen. 

Another option would be to combine both these ideas into one newsreel. 

Because it is a '90s period piece' we could just use a close up of the actor speaking the news script and use a green screen (like in Romeo and Juliet) and use filters to make the image on screen slightly blurry so that any mistakes made with the green screen would be hidden. 

 

Shooting close ups of the heist

This should be fairly easy considering we are only shooting close ups sp not much background will need to be visible. For this, we can use areas in school like the pavilion as the glass doors may be effective in the background as well as the corridor in the canteen were we can film footsteps and heist members walking into a lift. As for close-ups of actions like picking up a bag etc. this can be filmed in the studio by setting up desks, and making sure the background is dark- it could also be filmed in the pavillion. 

 

Shooting the getaway of the robbers

This scene includes the heist members walking and getting into a van. Again, this should not be too much of a challenge as there are a few potential locations we can shoot at school. For example we could use the car park by the main house and use the road next to it to show the van driving off. 

Finn's independent research task

 A1 Thriller Opening Sequence - 'Allegiance':

 

Comments:

·       Costumes and van could be used in a similar way within our heist opening sequence

·       Clever use of audio to make viewers feel the tension

·       Dialogue creates a panicked atmosphere

·       Silence creates more suspense when the doors open to reveal the man

My Independent research

For my group I will be researching props such as, money bags and guns. We want our title sequence to looks as realistic as possible and so finding the right prop guns that look real and are cheap is very important. 

I started my research on Youtube.com and found a very useful video explaining the best ways to get cheap and realistic guns for independent movies. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3gyBfu4dj0

In this video I found out that Airsoft guns are very good alternatives to buying real, blank firing guns because of how cheap and realistic they are. 

For my research on getting fake money I started on Amazon.co.uk to find realistic money in large bulks to fill our bags with. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Screen-Stacks-POUNDS-BUNDLE/dp/B07PV21LMN/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=fake+money&qid=1611065235&sr=8-4-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExREFPQlcxVUI4MU9KJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTg3NjUxM0xRMDkwN0UxOEwwMSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTIxMzUxMTUyRzdNSlNUOVFQSyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

On amazon I found a company that sells huge bulks of fake money going from £5 notes to £50 notes and reaching up to £25,000 in one bulk. The seller specialises in making probs for movies and his company is Bigscreenstacks, the UK's number 1 fake money supplier for media use. 

https://bigscreenstacks.cash/?gclid=CjwKCAiAo5qABhBdEiwAOtGmbjOAsrOQ1R_ZUpx-S4JirgzrxNJQhX2z7Y97D3ssfGAeb_PZOJrt1hoCNPwQAvD_BwE

I started my research for money bags on Amazon.com by searching in 'Black duffle bags'. I found cheap plain black duffle bags similar to others in heist movies or tv series such as, Baby Driver. We do not have to buy a lot of fake money to make the bags look full as we can stuff the bags with paper and then layer the top with fake money to save costs. 

My opening title sequence project group

For this project I will be working with Fin, Matilda and Poppy. We decided to work with each other because we get on very well and all think we can provide different technical aspects. For example Poppy has experience with editing and Fin is very keen to progress with his camera work.

My Opening title sequence pitch

Media Blog Pitches

Today in class we individually pitched one of our four opening title sequence ideas to our teacher and the rest of the class. The class was meant to pick their favourite idea they had and pitch it, however I couldn't decide my favourite and simply pitched my first idea. 

My first idea is good but undeveloped. I now need to think in further detail about how the opening title sequence would be filmed. I also need to check and change some parts that might not work, for example I need to think about how I am going to change my idea to not involve any authorities as uniforms and props can be very difficult to get.

I really liked my classmate Fin's idea. He thought about lots of details about what the opening title sequence would look like, however he needs to now put more thought into how it would be filmed for example, how much he could film in a day.

Opening title sequence idea (4 of 4)

4) A couple notice the same woman standing in the background of all their travel holiday photos. They report it to the police but are later troubled with more events relating to the photos.

Opening title sequence

A couple are sitting in their living room looking through old family photos. They man notices the same woman in two photos, they think its just a coincidence until they frantically start to check all the photos. 

Opening title sequence idea (3 of 4)

3) A story about a man who claims to have seen a very large humanoid looking creature that attacked his three best friends when they were out hunting. He tries to convince the authorities to gather a team and kill the creature.

Opening title sequence

4 men are walking through the forest with rifles when one of them comes across a large footprint in the wet mud. He calls the others over in excitement and shock. One of the men is missing. The remaining three men spread out and begin to shout his name. 1 by 1 the men are picked off although the creature is never seen. When one man is remaining he begins running frantically. Only sudden noises and sharp camera movements. 

Opening title sequence idea (2 of 4)

2) A story of a man who accidentally kills his best friend when he is round drinking at his house. His friend is reported as missing after he wraps up the body, weighs it down and throws it in the harbour. Movie is about metal damage done to man after the event effecting his life.

Opening title sequence

Begins suddenly in the past with the man panicking and sobbing over the body thinking about what to do. The man drags the body upstairs and into the wardrobe until nighttime. he then bags the body with bin bags and tape and drags the body to the car. The neighbour walks out the front door to put the bins out. The man tries to act normal after just putting the body in the boot of the car. Suddenly flashes to present time.