Production

Construction of Opening sequence

Editing

As mentioned in the editing of scene one, before we actually started editing we decided to split up the tasks so we could each contribute to the editing, I decided to take scene one and the opening sequence, the reason for this is because scene one was the shortest scene which meant it was one of the most simplest scenes to edit which was why I wanted to edit the opening sequences as that would be more challenging for me.

Editing

When it came to thinking about to do for the opening sequence we decided that we wanted to include establishing shots of students playing around in the playground at break and lunch, the reason for this is because we wanted the audience to be able to establish where the film is set which they will hopefully be able to relate to straight away as the film's target audience are students. We decided to film students outside playing, one of the codes and conventions for a short film is that they use unprofessional actors which is exactly what we done, we asked a few students if they minded to be filmed but everyone seemed happy with it which is why we got shots that are so natural. When creating it I wanted to ensure that the clips that we combined together weren't too long otherwise the audience could get bored easily, I also decided to included shots that were hand held so a few were a bit a shaky but the reason I done this is so it fitted in with the music for the opening sequence. I put all the footage in the timeline and through each one cutting them at the appropriate time and also adjusting where they needed to go.

Editing

One of the most important aspects about an opening sequence is to ensure that the transition between the opening sequence and the first scene can be as smooth as possible, to do this I made a split screen. The split screen meant that I could create a fun and interesting way to start the film sequence without it being too obvious, I used a clip of students walking towards the field which is actually located behind the bench Molly and Lucy are sitting one, which was the other part of the split screen.

SoundI mentioned previously that I needed to choose appropriate shots for the audience to be able to relate to the settings as soon as possible, to do this I needed a suitable non-diegetic sound. Due to our very limited budget we didn’t have sufficient funds to use published music that we would need to pay royalties towards which is why we located a website which allowed me to download sound for free which was adaptable to this software. There were different sounds that we liked however, we needed one that was fast-paced to connote how busy a playground can be, we also needed something that was youthful and fun. The sound that we picked was called “secrets of a schoolyard” which I believe to be the most suitable sound, not only does the title fit with the storyline it also fits within the hand-held shorts and hecticness of the playground.

FontWithin the opening sequence I have decided to incorporate the title sequence within it. One of the hardest things to do was to decide where to put it within the opening sequence, however, I decided to put it right at the start just before students walk out into the playground, I tried experimenting with different fonts to see which ones would work the most, I wanted fonts that was fun and youthful however, still mature as our theme of the film is about how young people feel pressured into growing up and wanting to be ‘adults’. As you can see there were a lot of fonts to chose from however, I shortlisted several:

FontThese were the fonts that I shortlisted down as I felt these were the most ‘youthful’ and playful fonts as I wanted the font to be able to attract the younger audience. I decided to go for the font to the left, the reason that I went with this font was because I believed that it was playful but mature. It also had a transparent effect to it which meant that when the students started to walk out it looked as if they were walking over the title which I thought looked professional. The final thing I needed to was decide the colour, I had several ideas for the colours, at first I thought of choosing white as it is the colour of innocence and purity but the white didn’t stand out well enough for it to be engaging for the audience, so then I thought of red even though it has opposing connotations to white it is the same colour as the apple which would fall into the theme of ‘Adam and Eve’, but then it didn’t look professional. This left me to make the font the same colour as the pole and door within the frame which is similar to a greyish navy colour which I felt looked professional.