Children Of Men- Opening Sequence

Children of Men is a Thriller movie.

• In the beginning of the opening sequence we are shown the universal logo. Universal are the distributor of the movie so their logo is shown to show this. 
• Then the logo STRIKE is shown as they are another distributor
• There is talking which sounds like a news report telling us the headlines
• Whilst the headlines are being told the credits are shown on the screen in black and white 
• It then goes to a cafe where loads of people are crowding round watching the TV with the news report on
• There then is a man that makes his way through the crowd who comes to the front and asks for a coffee
• We are then shown what everyone is looking at on the TV which makes the audience more involved in what is going on
• We can then hear a lady crying which shows us that something bad has happened
• When the man gets his coffee the camera follows him out of the cafe
• It then sets the scene for the movie. The big red buses show us that it is set in London
• It then says on screen "London, 16th November 2027" which tells us it is set in the future
• The cars and taxis show us that it is no longer present day
•  The camera then starts following the man again and goes round him to look down the street when he stops
• Then the explosion goes off and everyone runs or hits the floor
• The man spills his coffee 
• The camera then goes back towards the explosion as if someone is running towards it 
• A lady comes out of the cafe holding one of her arms all blown up and someone is screaming

The idea of this opening sequence is to set the scene for what age it is set in. It is set in the future and many things show this to us. The buses have moving sequences for advertising on the side of them. The shops have big signs above them that are multimedia. The taxis are not the basic black cab they are motorbikes with seats on the back. They also introduce the main character which is the man with the coffee. The credits introduce the distributor of the film. It also sets the genre to the movie we can see it is the thriller by the sounds when the explosion goes of the screaming and the women walking out of the cafe holding her arm. I liked the camera angles and sound that were used in this opening sequence.

Opening Sequences- Jaws

Jaws is a thriller movie but also has detective side to it when they are searching for the shark.

• In the opening sequence at first we are shown the Universal logo. 
• It then goes on to showing the credits and titles first on a black screen and then the camera is underwater going through the sea. This sets the scene for the movie and shows us that it is going to be set near the sea or in the sea. The text is white and big in the middle of the screen.
• The music that is playing makes it seem like there is something to anticipate and that something bad is going to happen. It is very loud and jumpy. This starts to set the genre for the film as it sounds eerie and quite scary. 
• After the titles are done we move to the beach where there are loads of teenagers having a party. This also sets the scene for the movie that it is based in a seaside town. 
• The teenagers are having a beach party, there is drinking going on and there is a boy playing the harmonica. The sounds you can hear are people laughing having fun, talking and the harmonica.
• The teenagers are fully clothed with jumpers and jeans. Some of them have blankets covering them and they are all sitting round the fire. This shows that it is quite cold and breezy.
• It then introduces two of the characters which is a girl and a boy. We can see that they are introducing these characters as the camera is focusing on these two.
• The camera then tracks the characters as they are running towards the sea.
• The camera stops following the girl at the waters edge when she jumps in and starts swimming out to sea.
• The sea is calm and the only sounds that the audience is able to hear are the sounds of the girl swimming in the water. 
• The camera is then looking up from under the water watching the girl swimming and the sounds in the background start again. The music is very loud and is making the audience anticipate something bad to happen.
• The shark then attacks the girl and the camera follows her when she is being attacked. There is a lot of screaming and the tension sound music is still playing in the background.
• When the attack is over everything is back in order everything is calm and quiet. The sea is still.

Narrative

Narrative

Tzvetan Todorov discovered that in folk tales and fairy tales the structure and pattern of the stories were all very similar. This also applies to mainstream films and TV shows today. Vladimir Propp another theorist who also studied fairy tales and came up with the idea that there are distinctive character types and actions that occur. Even though both theorists were successful at making the theories they were not always correct and did not apply to all fairy tales.

A classic narrative pattern that could occur would be:

1. Equilibrium- This is when everything is happy and all in order in the beginning of the narrative
2. Disruption- Something happens which is normally bad and disrupts the balance of things
3. Recognition- There is recognition that something has taken place
4. Repair- There is some sort of attempt to fix the disruption
5. New equilibrium- The problem has been solved and the narrative returns back to normal like in the beginning.

Finding Nemo

The movie Finding Nemo it follows this sort of narrative pattern but also follows it more than once.

• In the beginning everything is happy Merlin (Nemo’s dad) and his wife are happy and they have their eggs hidden in a hole in a rock to keep them safe.
• Then the problem occurs when a big fish appears and notices the eggs. The mother desperately tries to save her eggs but the fish kills her and her eggs. Merlin has hidden in the coral.
• When he goes back to the hole there is only one egg left. He takes care of the egg and this is the repair to what has happened and then Nemo is born.
• It then goes to Nemo and Merlin happy and it is Nemo’s first day of school which is the start of a new equilibrium.
• The disruption happens when Nemo swims out to the boat and touches it. A diver catches him and puts him in a net and climbs back onto the boat.
• Merlin fights to get his son back with a female fish who helps him called Dory and goes through lots of challenges in order to do so.
• Merlin finds where Nemo is and gets him back. Everything is happy and seems in order.
• But when Nemo and Merlin see other fish being caught in a net by fishermen they try and help and get them to swim down to break the net. Nemo gets stuck between all the fish and cannot move.
• Merlin tries to get him out but he can’t.
• When the net finally breaks Nemo is on the bottom of the sea bed lying still. Merlin swims over and Nemo is still alive.
• Merlin tells Nemo all of the adventurous things he has had to do in order to get Nemo back and everything returns to normal and the equilibrium is restored.

Levi- Strauss developed Propps’ theory further and focused on the structure of the stories. He looked at the connections between story elements such as themes and characters. He concluded that if there is an element that has a meaning then there must be another element of the story that does not have that meaning and is an opposite of the first element.

In Finding Nemo there are elements which are Binary Opposites such as:

• Male/female- Merlin’s friend dory was female and she helped him find Nemo.
• Fear/ happiness- Nemo was happy to touch the boat but when he was caught he was scared and fear struck him.
• Hero/ Villain- the Villain was the man that caught Nemo and put him in the fish tank. The hero was Merlin who fought to save Nemo.

Synopsis and Personal Response

Synopsis of idea

A girl is walking home and when she is on her way home she is followed by a boy. She notices the boy following her and she starts walking faster. When she gets to the alley way she starts to run and he starts chasing her. He grabs her and attacks her. She is left dead on the floor. We then go to a skyline panoramic view and there is dialogue from the detective as a voice over. We then go to the scene of the crime and the detective is looking at the scene and the dead body. The scene will fade to black and a famous quote will be said and then the credits will appear.

I think this idea is good. We can work on the idea and improve it a lot and change the way it works. The quote will be very effective because it will set the scene of what has happened. The panoramic view of the town is also good because it set the scene of what type of area the film is set in; suburban, industrial etc. I like our idea because it is exciting and will be fun to create.

Audience for Opening Sequence

Audience
An active audience is an audience which will engage with text and attempt to interpret their own idea of what they have seen. In a crime thriller these people may try and work out who 'the killer was' or 'who did it'. 
A passive audience doesn't engage with media text and they don't question the message that is being portrayed they just accept what is happening. 

As the opening sequence our group will be creating is a crime thriller, the audience’s ages have to seriously be taken into consideration. Movie makers involve a lot of anticipation, uncertainty and pose on the audience’s fears in their movies to make a good thriller movie.

The audiences for thriller movies are normally 15 upwards. Most thrillers are marked 15 which means the youngest age to view the movie is 15 years old. Some well known thrillers which are marked 15 are The Dark Knight Rises, The Hunger Games and The Impossible.

As our movie opening is a thriller we will market our movie and do our audience research on teenagers aged between 15- 18. This is a good market for our movie as it is about knife crime and this is becoming a big issue in today's society with teenagers around this age.

Institution- Distribution and Production Companies

Institution- Distribution and Production Companies

Distribution Companies
The role of the distribution company comes into play when the production line has completed the film. Their role is to get the film they are given advertised and entice customers to watch the film. They can advertise the films in many different ways such as television advertisements, on buses, flyer distribution etc. Their role is key to the making of this film. If they do not do their job right and if the film is not distributed properly then the Production Company could loose their money and not make profit.

Revolver Entertainment is a distribution company which is based in the UK. They have distributed a wide range of films including Anuvahood, Shank and Kidulthood. Gunslinger is an in-house production arm which produces films for a worldwide market and has produced 3 hit releases and has 3 more planned and in production for 2012.


Production Companies

The production companies’ role in film making is to organise everything and get all the pieces that are needed together. For example they will provide the film funding, cast, equipment, props, director etc. They are in charge of making the film and this is one of the most important roles. Without the production company the movie would not be able to take place. Production companies are usually owned by other companies or choose to work alongside partner companies.

20th Century Fox is a production company that has produced many hit movies such as The Sound of Music, Star Wars, Home Alone and Avatar. 20th century fox is owned by a company called NewsCorp. NewsCorp is a multinational mass media corporation. 20th Century Fox have had many actresses that are well known star in their movies such as Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Temple and Jayne Mansfield. Having big actors star in movies allows companies to produce a better profit at the box office and this is why 20th Century Fox has become such a well known company.

Genre

Genre

ActionAn action movie is a movie full of physical action and adventure. They are normally targeted at a male audience as they may contain violence and guns but in the recent years they have attracted a female audience through an idea of romance during the film. The film most of the time will have continuous movement and chases. Action films normally include:

Fights, stunts, car chases etc.

a hero/heroine trying to save something or complete a mission of some kind

incredible odds that are against the hero/ heroine

loud noises

fast paced action

a villain/ villains

Action films include Skyfall, Die Hard and The dark knight rises.

HorrorHorror movies are usually movies with fear, panic and that are alarming for the audience. They often rely on making the movies about the audience’s worst nightmares. In the last few decades more horror films have been produced due to the audiences reviews. Many horror films include:

the arrival of an evil force, person or event

mythical creatures such as ghosts, vampires or zombies

gore and violence

there is often a girl character that is left alive at the end

death through torture

victims are usually relatable to the audience to almost make them picture it happening to them

Horror films include A Nightmare on Elm Street, Saw and The last house on the left.

Crime thriller

Crime thriller films normally focus on the criminals and victims. They are films which incorporate the idea of crime and thriller.
Crime thriller films normally use conventions such as:

• Suspicion
• Extroidnary events
• Crime
• Victims
• Cliffhangers

Crime thrillers normally are about:

• Murders
• Robberies
• Chases
• Shootouts
• Investigations

Examples of crime thrillers include Se7en, the silence of the lambs and Witness. The video shows a scene from the movie se7en and is an example of a crime thriller.

Foundation Portfolio Self- Assessment on Feed the Fish

Foundation Portfolio Self- Assessment on Feed the Fish

In order to complete this task we were given a sheet of paper which contained a script and the main words in which we had to incorporate into the film were ‘feed the fish’. My group was myself, Aaron, Agata and Tom.

When filming ‘feed the fish’ we had some problems with actors not being there and clip’s being lost. This gave us a minor set back when trying to complete the task on time. Luckily we managed to complete it but I feel that it wasn’t to the best of my ability of which this was done.

The effects and transitions from each clip did not suit what was happening. They should have been straight cuts from one scene to the other. We tried to add effects in like dissolves and fades almost. These didn’t suit what was happening as the dissolves are normally to show a long length of time passing. A page flip effect was also used which looked wrong and shouldn’t have been put in. If we were to do this again I would make sure that straight cuts were used to flick from shot to shot and if effects were needed to be used then I would make sure they were put into the right place.

When clipping different parts of the shots, we didn’t put much time into doing this. For example when the character walks through the door and we focus in on the hitch sign the door shuts and then when we flick to the shot where the character is walking through the door from the other side we see the door shut again. This means that we didn’t edit or clip the different shots to allow them to fit together and work properly.

Good parts about our feed the fish were the zoom in to the sign of HITCH on the door. This gave the sign a good effect and made the audience focus on it rather than the rest of the door.

Using different camera angles when filming also was a good part of our production. We chose different angles to film from to get the most out of what was happening. We did shots from above the characters watching one hand a book over to another. This gave it a good effect by showing the importance of the passing over and the book itself.

Overall I feel I contributed to this task well as I filmed the shots and also contributed to editing the sequence. Even though the editing could be improved and the use of effects should be understood before using them next time, I feel that we did do well during this task. Next time improvements would be on the final part of the production, so the editing and the clipping. I would give us a 5/10 for the completed product.