Kieran Jackson

Task 7

IG1 Film Opening Title Sequence Evaluation-

In this task we were required research into existing film opening title sequences. This research helped in the planning, production and post-production of my project. We also had to pitch our idea to our teacher. In this project I did research into different genre of film, different film opening title

sequences which I analysed, expressed my own ideas using mind maps and moods boards, researched into different media content and then planned and produced my own film opening title

sequence. My film opening title sequence was a psychological horror which was called “Broken” which lasts for about 1.28 seconds.

The first task we had to do was to produce a word-processed analysis of three film opening title sequences, I analysed the film Skyfall, Zombie land and Sweeney Todd. We had to analyse the images in the film, colour, Genre, Target Audience, camera techniques and the title credits. I had to also give an image to go with my analysis, I also put a link to the Film opening title sequence above my analysis off YouTube, I chose these films to analyse because they are personal film favourites and they were kind of film that I wanted to base my opening title sequence around, they were both in the genre of horror, supernatural and psychological horror, this did help with my own production of my title sequence because I got to learn and understand all the different aspects involved in making a film opening title sequence. I thought I analysed them well and I include everything what I was supposed to on the task brief, by researching and analysing these three film opening titles sequence it really helped be understand the concept of genre conventions.

Kieran Jackson

Pre-Production

In this task we had to Show our creativity and style ideas for a film opening title sequence production. These ideas can be presented in the form of sketches, hand drawn and digitally

produced mind maps, mood boards. The first thing I did was present my ideas all on a mind map, this had ideas which I liked, different camera techniques , the genre of my ideas, locations, type of

characters and iconography and types of title credits. I explored my ideas in this task and talked about all the different types of things which relate to the genre of horror, I also explored my own

initial ideas which I used to produce in my film opening title sequence. I thought this helped me a lot and helped my build my ideas on the different aspects I needed to think about when producing a

title sequence, the genre of horror is what I was working on and thinking about, this was because I find the genre of horror fascinating and intriguing, I also thought it was the best genre to use

because you can be extremely creative with your ideas and there so many different things you can explore with the genre of horror.

Kieran Jackson

The next part to this task was where I presented my ideas in a mod board, a mood board, in this task we could explore our chosen genre even further. A mood board is a type of poster that often consists of many images the mood board, and in the mood board I explored 5 key parts genre, character, props, camera angles and location. I then found many images related to these key titles and then gave a small bit of information to go with images, I found this really fun and help because I got to look and take in different key aspects that need to be in a horror film. Overall task 2 was extremely helped me a lot because made think about my ideas and gave me clear indications of what main aspects are in my chosen genre.

Kieran Jackson

The next task I did was I needed to pitch my idea for my opening title sequence, my idea for my film opening title sequence was going to be a psychological horror called “BROKEN” the film opening title needed last no more than 1:30 seconds, I chose the genre of a psychological horror because there is such a wide variety of things you can explore such as mental illness, distress, how someone’s sanity can be broken and it is a good genre to use editing skills. I was able to explore many camera shots and visual effects when it becomes to this type of genre. I had the idea to create an opening title sequence which was focusing on one main character and the narrative was going to be about mental illness and how someone can be pushed too much to commit horrible crimes.

The start of my pre-production I had to create a storyboard to show my ideas of what I wanted in my film opening title sequence, I had to draw a quick sketch of my idea of the shot and scene, then I had to write what was in this shot, what kind of shot it was and any key edits I was going to make on the shot. i also had to put where I was going to put the title credit on the shot, I thought in this task I made it very clear on what was going on in the sketch and the description clearly was shown. On my own opening title sequence looking at the story boards and looking at my film opening title sequence, I did well at making sure the storyboard matched my own title sequence, but if I was ever to do this task again I would make sure I follow it more accurately and make sure I add the things I have put on my storyboard. I found the storyboards where extremely effect in helping and guiding me through what scenes, shots and title credits I had to add to my title sequence. One thing I found difficult when it came to the actual filming, I planned to have different props laying on a table, but I could of find one of the props to use and we were supposed to film the library pf my college but we weren’t able to, so I did hit a couple of problems when it came to making it the same to my storyboard, we also added some outside shots which we didn’t plan on the storyboard so in future I will make sure I have added all of the necessary scenes.

Kieran Jackson

For my opening title sequence I had three main locations for filming, after location scouting I found a little forest for the outside shooting, it was close and easy to get to, my college for the scenes I need to use corridors, I used house to shoot, these locations were easy to get it, and for my opening title it was perfect for it. I used google maps to help me find different locations.

The next part to my pre-production for my own film opening title sequence I had create a Film opening title sequence shoot risk assessment, When I was conducting the risk assessment I had to consider all the likely hazards; who may be harmed, property which may be damaged, and the controls already in place. Then, for each likely hazard, bearing in mind the controls already in place, record the ‘risk assessment’ level.

I had to think about where I going to shoot, who was going to be with me while I shoot the scene, the hazards that will effect be shooting and if there was any hazards I has to talk about I was to prevent the hazards harming anyone.

Where I was filming there wasn’t too many hazards, but there were two main hazards that effected my shooting, some of my scenes were located in corridors of my college and the only hazard I could point out of slippery floors, the slippery floors could of harmed some of the people who were helping me with the filming, I did well at preventing this I made sure the floor area was not wet or slippery and if it was I would of asked for a Warning sign to show people where to walk, this could also effected the equipment I was using so I made sure this was not near any wet surfaces. The second hazard I pointed out was one of our scenes was close to a road with cars frequently driving past, I did well at presenting any problems by having a person look out for any cars and to kept the equipment away from the road, if I was to this again I would of pointed out another hazard, this was because we added a new shot after planning where the ground was unsafe in a forest close to my college so I would of added another hazard, it would have been working near deep water, I did well of making sure none of the people who was involved in filming was hurt and I kept all equipment safe.

Kieran Jackson

Now we came to the actual filming of our opening title sequence, in this task we had to use a camera and go out and capture our footage, this was a challenging because we needed to make sure we captured all the shots we needed, we needed to make sure we got all the right camera shots and still think about health and safety. I leant my camera skills quickly and was able to take clear shot, only thing I could of held the camera in a better position so the screen didn’t shake.

This was a shot of my camera I was using to filming my footage, I was checking over my footage to make sure it was the correct footage captured. I thought the camera was simple and easy to use; it was good to use to film my shots.

This a screen shot of some of my scenes of my footage before it went into editing, this shot is a wide shot type and the main point to this shot was to introduce the main character in the opening title sequence, I chose this shot because I liked the character looking out into the distance, with the dark colour tone to the shot anyway it was a good piece of footage to edit.

This shot is another screen shot of some of my footage; this is a close up of a shoe walking, this is also of the main character but of him walking past the shot, this was one of our best shots because it looked good and once we changed the colour of this shot in the editing. We did come across a slight challenge while trying to capture this shot, the camera wouldn’t focus and because of the angle it was at.

Kieran Jackson

In this task I had Produce a final edit of my film opening title sequence, once I had all my footage i started to edit my footage of two different software’s after effect and premiere, after effect is where I edited my footage and title credit and premiere was where I put all of my edited footage together. My final idea was successful because it matched what I planned. My first idea was to have a person dressed in black walking around narrow corridor, my final opening title matched my idea which I planned in my pre-production. I wanted to create a psychological horror, the filming went good and I got all the footage I wanted to. I think my final edit of my film opening title sequence was a good overall edit, with the audio added to it, the audio was a song called sweet dreams which really helped with creating the atmosphere and went really well with the sequence, at the end of my sequence there is a sound effects of a gunshot, this added an effective impact and it also added to the atmosphere. If I was too ever complete this task again, I think I would organize the scenes in my footage more, I had a problem in finding the correct props for some of my scenes, I would follow my storyboard a lot more, and in the final edit of my title sequence I could of done a little bit better when it came to making the footage flow a lot more easier. But overall it matched my first idea and it was a successful task.

Kieran Jackson