Evaluation Task 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The Title of the Film

The title we chose for our film was ‘Don’t Look Back in Sadness’. We chose to display it in the final shot of our title sequence when the boy (Sam) sat beneath the tree returns to the present day and gets up and walks slowly out of shot, leaving an empty space in which the title appears. Not only did we choose this shot to place it in because we thought it would be most visually pleasing, but also because we thought it came best at the end of the sequence as the title itself reflects back on the longing flashbacks that feature in our title sequence itself. The font we used for the main title was called “Zaphia“ and the font we used for the accompanying titles was called “Apple Gothic”, both of which were in white.

I took these print screens from the title sequences of two films also from the Romantic Drama genre (Titanic and The Notebook) to compare to our title sequence. They both use white text as we did to

reflect the delicate nature of the film, however ours seems to be the only one that uses a script like font to illustrate the main title.

Setting/Location

Our establishing shot reveals the location of our title sequence. The location we chose for our filming was Danson Park in Bexleyheath. We chose this setting for a number of reasons. Firstly because the area is quiet and usually quite empty which was good for filming uninterrupted. It also has lots of large trees and wide open spaces which is vital for our storyline as it revolves around a big tree. The location could be shown as both romantic in the flashbacks, and isolated and depressing in the present day scenes. In addition to the appearance, the location is also safe and easily accessible. Our final reason for selecting this location was a very practical reason because the children we wanted to use in our filming live very close to this location and therefore it will be easy to get them to the location for filming. When filming we did have some issues with things such as dog poo left around our location, however we had covered these issues in our risk assessment and they were easy to get around and sort out.

In Titanic the establishing shot shows a crowd on a docking station waving at a departing ship. The camera then pans left to reveal the entirety of the Titanic, where the film is set. The Notebook opens on a shot of a lake at sunset, creating both a romantic atmosphere and also revealing one of the key revolving locations of the film. In that our title sequence mirrors both of these as it reveals a location that will feature again within the film and

hold great significance.

Costumes and Props

The costume and props are very important in most films. For ours the main purpose of them was to show the aging of the two children to teenager, and also to emphasise that the female character is now dead. For this the main actor wears a black suit in the present day scenes to signify he has just returned from a funeral, and is also carrying a funeral program and a childs watch. The costumes in the other shots weren’t as important because they were just casual clothes both children and teenagers would be wearing, but the props were vital sometimes in carrying along the opening plot. Particularly the watch from the first shot which appears again on the wrist of the young girl and the teenage girl, signifying she is the one who has passed away. Of course our most vital prop was the tree in the location as our entire title sequence revolved around it and used it to show progressions in time.

Our title sequence differed from the two I was comparing it to in the fact that neither of them featured their main characters during the title sequence, and therefore there were no key storyline props except maybe the presence of the boat in the Titanic.

Camerawork and Editing

The camerawork we used in our sequence all flowed together and rotated around the pin point of the tree. We used a variety of shot types during filming as well as slow pans and zooms to follow specific actions of the characters. In editing to transition between it we used fades and cross dissolves to allow one shot to glide over the next, also signifying transitions in time. This transition adds a dreamlike quality to the scenes and signifies to the audience that what they are seeing is a memory and not something that is currently happening. The most significant piece of editing that we did was the rotation and fade through of the photograph to real life. The main aim of the photograph was to allow us to make the transition back in time and also to signify to the audience that we were travelling back into the main characters memories. The fading on top of the main image again adds a dreamlike quality to signify that it is not the present day.

The Titanic also used cross dissolves in their title sequence in order to show the flashbacks to the day the ship was departing, however the Notebook used straight cuts which is something we also featured in the opening of our film and occasionally during some of the memories.

Title Font and Style

The font we used for the main title was called “Zaphia“. We chose this font because we liked how flowing and delicate it was. It appears like calligraphy, almost handwritten, which relates to the personal and emotional storyline we chose. We had also previously decided that we did not want a bold or sharp font as the straight edges and pointed corners would appear too harsh against our emotional story. The font we chose is also quite feminine so would play out well with our predominantly female audience. During the editing process we decided that we wanted to use a different font for the credits that accompanied the title so we chose the font “AppleGothic”. We chose this font because it was quite soft and had rounded edges, however was not too detailed that it would distract from the main title. The colour we chose for our text was white; not only because it stood out well against the green grass where we proposed to put all our titles, but also because it made them very soft and delicate and sympathetic to the story line. We also used a cross dissolve at the beginning and end of each title so they would fade in and out delicately.

Both films I compared it to also changed their font for the main title, however they used fonts a lot more similar than the drastic change of ours. We also shared the pale colour of the text in common with both the films.

Story and How the Opening Sets It Up

We used the first shot to frame the boy under the tree, which is the pivotal point of the rest of the footage. The opening shows him as he opens and studies the funeral program, whilst fondly clutching the watch. It sets up for the rest of the film as we already see that he has suffered the loss of someone close to him which the title sequence will reveal further, and implies that the rest of the film will be about his strive to rebuild his life and move on.

Using memories to set up the storyline is common in our genre, as illustrated by Titanic, however The Notebook does not follow this and keeps a much simpler sequence overlooking an idyllic lake instead.

Genre and How the Opening Suggests It

The genre we created our film to fit into was the Romantic Drama genre. We show this through the use of close intimate shots between the teenage characters under the tree, and then against the stark contrast when the sequence returns to the present day to find the boy sat in the same spot alone.

Our film seems to challenge the genre as in the other two films, the characters end up together instead of being ripped apart before the film has even begun. However death of one of the characters near the end is quite common and is shown in both Titanic and The Notebook.

How Characters Are Introduced

The first character we see is Sam, and although during the title sequence we see him transition from a child to a teenager and almost travel with him as he grows up, we decided not to introduce his name in the sequence as we wanted no dialogue for dramatic effect. He is featured first and is the only person in the shot to reveal that he is the main character and is central to the storyline. The second character introduced is Emily, she is brought in via the introduction of her name on the front of the funeral program, then is brought to life when we enter the photograph and travel into Sam’s memories with her. Although we watch her grow up alongside Sam, the return to the present day and the lack of her presence emphasises she is dead and that it is affecting him greatly.

Because neither of the two sequences I was comparing with featured the main characters at all, the introduction of ours so early on was quite uncommon in the genre.

Special FX

Special FX is extremely uncommon in our genre so our film did not really feature any either. This kind of technique is more common in sci-fi, action and fantasy films. The only element of special FX or difficult editing that we did feature in our film was the rotation of the photograph to signify a fading transition into Sam’s memories and away from reality of the present day.