12P2 - 35 - Opening Sequence

12P2-35 Individual blog - Laura Gill

We have decided that the character in our adventure movie will be played by Joe, who will be our only character. Costumes used in this clip would be smart casual as we decided set in modern day, Joe will be responsible for bringing in his costume because he will be the only one who will be wearing costume. Props we will use will be things such as, an iPod to make it look like it is set in modern times. Another prop we will use is a treasure chest that we will make out of card.

We will be filming around the reception of college which we will not need permission to film in.

12P2-35 Individual Blog - Joe Scott

Our productions main actor, we have decided is going to be George (Tibbett), he will be the sole character in the children's film production and the costume we have agreed on is a modern day/standardised one, this allows the viewer to relate the character due to them seeing such costumes in everyday life, the main actor is going to need to react with our sole prop (Treasure chest) we will be filming this throughout the Long Road college including inside reception and and the car park.

Joe Scott

12P2-35 Risk Assessment sheet

12P2-35 Individual blog - George Tibbett

Plan for the Children's film we are going to create. In our film we will have one character, this character is going played by Joe. It will mainly consist of him mysteriously walking about the empty and deserted school grounds through long and dark corridors, while the camera crew take different shots and use different techniques of filming to create the mysterious adventure genre. We will need a chest/box that we will use to introduce the plot of our film. Joe will also have to dress in smart modern cloths to fit the character representative of modern explorer. These cloths will help create and build the mise-en-scene and display the genre of adventure. Another prop we will use is an ipod to make the viewer sure that the film is set in modern day. We will be filming in a well used and available to student's area of the school and do not need any permission to go into, and film in this area.

12P2-35 Mise-En-Scene Research

There are multiple areas of Mise-En-Scene to be considered in our children’s film opening, location is to chosen carefully and environmental factors must be taken into account before filming, for example patches of ice in the cold weather and large amounts of wind muffling recorded sound, in addition to this costume has been chosen to allow the viewer or target audience of children to relate to the character and be able to fully understand the narrative with ease, the costume worn by the actor is going to be mostly normal everyday ‘Modern’ clothing and this also meshes well with our ‘catch line’ of  ‘A modern day explorer for the 21^st century’

Finally with regards to props, we are going to need a treasure chest for the adventurer to discover on his travels in the deserted college.

12P2-35 Soundtrack

In our media children's film production we aim to use engaging and interesting sequences aimed toward children, two songs in particular that we have looked at are; indiana jones theme track and pink panther theme track.

These sound tracks develop the conventions of adventure because it creates suspense and tension but it also is bubbly and fun for children, this engages the younger viewer. The songs are also catchy with makes the film memorable to the audience. 

Pink panther theme song in detail;

The theme song from "pink panther" was composed by Henry Mancini, the sound track was created to be in tune with the animation on the screen. The single was released in 1963, it reached the top 10 and won three Grammy awards. It has been re used throughout hollywood over the years since it's release including films such as Charlie's Angels. It has been adapted many times to create many different versions of the original, there have been many different genre's of music that have used the oink panther theme song and adapted it.

Indiana Jones theme song in detail;

The theme song from "Indiana Jones" which is called 'The raiders march' was written and composed by John Williams who has also written other theme songs such as the harry potter and the philosophers stone sound track and the star wars sound track and many other famous and successful movie franchises.The raiders march won a Grammy award in 1981. 

We will use the indiana jones theme tune at the start to catch the viewers attention strait away, this is because it is a well known and interesting song which follows the genre of the film we will make. It is also good for the target audience of children because it is of a bubbly and up beat rhythm. 

12P2 Storyboard, Shot list and Mind map

12P2 Children's film classification and why

Our film is classified PG because we feel that although it is a children's film it will contain scenes of a darker nature which could scare younger children. And we feel that parental guidance would be recommended.

Research BBFC (British Board Of Film Classification)

R18 is very graphic, these films can only be shown in licensed cinema's to adults over the age of 18. They primarily consist of scenes of a strong sexual and/or violent nature.Our opening sequence will not apply to this category as it is aimed at the target audience of children.

      
            18 is less graphic than R18, however still consists of scenes of a violent nature or dangerous acts, scenes of a sexual nature must not be entirely graphical or of a strong fetish nature otherwise it is classified as an R18.
Our opening sequence will not fit this category because children on the age we are targeting will not find these sorts of scenes comfortable to watch.





15: 15 is overall less obscene than both previous classifications, it is classified as a 15 if there is an explicit use of drugs, imitable actions or light violence, with little graphic detail overall being shown






12A: This classification only exists for films in cinema and can be watch by audiences younger than 12 if accompanied by an adult, violence or danger are frowned upon and only allowable if openly/strongly condemned.





PG: Can be watched by children of any age, however may be unsuitable for especially younger children, violence is disallowed and imitable behaviour must not be detailed, our opening sequence may apply well to this classification as there are various scenes planned in darkness and designed to be scarier.







U: Universal and open to any age children or adults, no violence or swearing is involved and scenes of a scarier nature are not detailed and short, these films are often comedies or family films, Our opening sequence may not apply to this as it will contain darker scenes.

Conventions of the Children's film genres Fantasy and Adventure

We have studied two genres as a group, these are Fantasy and Adventure, both of which contrast greatly in the conventions shown in children’s opening sequences, The fantasy genre includes use of magical/ambiguous characters and events that could not exist in real life. When studying fantasy we focused on one particular film “Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone”, the opening sequence to the film consists of very limited title credits but still manages to establish the target genre of “Fantasy” early on in the sequence, it does this by showing magical activity within the narrative (Transformation of cat into woman) and (Stealing of light), in addition to this the opening sequence delays the use of the main film title until after they have used a 4 minute clip to grab the viewers attention and instil a sense of mystery.

The second movie we studied was “Madagascar” which is an animation by the DreamWorks Company and fits the genre of adventure, the adventure genre conventions differ highly that of fantasy, in this particular films opening sequence the viewer is placed in a characters point of view  (Dream) and the title sequences are shown throughout the beginning of the clip, this sequence is more conventional of a children’s film because it has the opening credits and establishment of character at the very start, where fantasy delays this, to create a hook for the viewer they have used a comical introduction based around the main characters dream of adventure and release into the natural environment from which his originated.

In conclusion, both films conventions differ highly throughout their opening sequences, fantasy focuses on the use of a large opening sequence and magic to instil mystery in the viewer and keeps title sequences short in order to reduce alienation to the viewer while adventure uses a shorter adventure based sequence to establish characters and/or plot/setting.

Joe Scott, Laura Gill, George Tibbett

Various Conventions of Children's Film Opening Sequences

Monsters Inc and Beverly Hills Chihuahua

In the Monsters Inc opening sequence there are various micro elements which help to build the conventions of a children's film opening.

The mise-en-scene in Monsters Inc has been constructed carefully, they have used bright colours against a dark background to show contrast and appeal to the eye, which is often essential in a children's film in order to hook the viewers attention and build interest. Secondly, the titles in the opening sequence have been made to seem interesting to the films target of audience of younger children, for example.. the title credits being manipulated by personified characters relevant to the films plot/genre, for example:

Finally the Monsters Inc music is kept upbeat and child friendly throughout as its target audience is family and children. 

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The Beverly Hills Chihuahua  opening sequence there are various micro elements which help to build the conventions of a children's film opening.

The mise-en-scene in Beverly Hills Chihuahua contrasting to the Monsters Inc sequence, this is due to the presence of text on image in Beverly Hills Chihuahua where as Monsters Inc is based on pure animation. 

Secondly, the music has been chosen carefully in order to appeal to the films chosen audience, family and children. It is primarily cheerful and upbeat/classical. In addition to this they have used parallel sound where the song represents the video on screen. (money based song /= expensive cars, jewellery in Beverly Hills, which it is famous for)

Finally, in the editing process they have used multiple fast transitions and no fade out used. Another example of the transitions used are jump cuts, wipes and zoom in. 

 Francesca Smith, Joe Scott and George.

12P2 Preliminary Video Task

Evaluation:

Overall we found that our video has successfully shown what we intended in our story board although, some of the colouration may have ruined some continuity within the clip, this is due to the natural lighting varying during filming. We feel that we kept within the rules of filming with regards to the 180 degree rule and character placement, this helps to show continuity. Next time to improve our video we would film in an enclosed set in order to remove any background noise and/or people walking through the shot. Having people walk through the shot and background noise helps keep the authentic feel of a school but people who are unscripted may ruin the continuity as they will not walk back through the shot when/if asked.
Filmed, edited and produced by Francesca Smith, Laura Gill, Joe Scott & George.

12P2 Preliminary Story Board

Our idea is based on a story about 2 characters talking in a college reception, it starts with a generic establishing shot to show the first character and then a continuity style shot of the character turning the handle of the door and in a separate camera shot the door opening, in addition the story board consists of various Mid shots, long shots, pans, close up and tracking shots.

We got the idea from everyday life and inspired by past experiences, we also tried to remain simplistic in the message we were trying to show.

Joe Scott, George Tibbett, Laura Gill

How are the conventions constructed differently in your two chosen film opening sequences

The Princess Diaries & Monsters Inc:

The Princess Diaries uses long duration clips for its opening sequence, it also uses simplistic title font with bright appealing colors, in addition to this the sound/music used is very soft or girly to suit the films main character, The costume worn by the sole character in the clip allows the audience to instantly know the setting and initial plot, The establishing duration in this intro is long, this is directly contrasting to the second introduction (Monsters Inc) which uses fast paced and short duration clips, this clip is also animated and allows the viewer to automatically establish that the movie is designed for children, finally the credits are designed to be fun or appealing to the eye to catch the attention of the younger viewer.

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