Thursday 29 December 2011

Lesson 12, 13 And 14

In lesson 12 we had a blogging catch up lesson which allowed us to complete any unfinished work that we may have had regarding our blogs. For me this lesson was helpful in many ways as I was already up to date with my work so this allowed me to improve my work by adding greater detail to what i had already done and correcting any mistakes that I may have made in my work. This lesson also helped me as I could check with my teachers to see if there was any work that I may have missed or if they had any problems with the layout or quality of work that i had put on my blog.

In lesson 13 we began to draw up our ideas for our pre title sequence on storyboards, this required our group thinking of how we could go about filming our title sequence. Also in this lesson we thought of some ideas of what font we could use for our pre title sequence titles. There were many ideas that we thought of when thinking about the titles for the title sequence as I had analysed many exisiting title sequences.This lesson gave me plenty of ideas for our pre title sequence as we were now placing all of the pieces together to make one picture. In this lesson we would use all the research we had previously done and combined it to plan and begin to draw up our storyboard for our pre title sequence. This lesson helped me as it gave me plenty of time in which to plan and draw our pre title sequence, the benefits of doing this in this lesson was that when one of us was drawing the other two members in our group could be thinking of ideas for the font for our titles.

In lesson 14 we finished off the drawing of our pre title sequence storyboards and began to look on the website 'Da Font' for different font types that we could use for our titles. In our group we designed a questionnaire with many possible fonts on and gave it to the class for them to decide which would be best for our title sequence. This lesson was very useful as it allowed us to get other peoples opinions on the fonts that we had chosen as well as which one they thought that would suit our title sequence best. Also the feed back we got from other students allowed us to broaden our minds with what font we could use. Furthermore the feedback that we were given was extremely useful as it gave us a chance to go back to the drawing board and see if there were any other fonts that matched the feedback we were given. This lesson was also useful as it allowed more time to plan and prepare our pre title sequence.

Wednesday 28 December 2011

Finishing Storyboard and Deciding On Typography For Our Pre Title Sequence

In this lesson we finished our storyboard for our pre title sequence and moved on to making the questionnaire for our typography for the rest of the class to decide which they liked best and which they thought suited our film best. Michael made the questionnaire and we as a group decided on which fonts we wanted to put on the questionnaire. Below is our questionnaire that we handed to the class.



This is the questionnaire that we gave to our class in order to see which title they liked best and which they thought best sutied our narrative and pre title sequence idea. The font title that the class liked best was this one below.

The class said they liked this one best as it was the font that looked the match when thinking of our pre title sequence. They also said that this font is a type of comical font which best indicated to the audience the theme of fluidness and the fact that the film we had done a pre title sequence for would be from the comedy genre.

In this lesson we looked at many font designs and picked out the ones we thought looked best to suit our pre title sequence and communicated comedy to the audience. The list of fonts which we have shown above are the ones that we gave to the audience on a sheet for them to decide which ones they like out of the list. We then took the answers from the class and decided based on their opinions aswell as our own and we decided that the typology above on its own should be the typology that we'd use in our pre title sequence.


Storyboarding And Typography Ideas

In this lesson we began to start drawing out our storyboards for our pre title sequence for our film. We already had an idea of what our storyboard may look like and how we may shoot this title sequence, we then just had to transfer our ideas onto the storyboards. We split the work between the three of us by each doing a shot on the storyboard paper; we done this so that we each got a chance to draw and to take part in the making and planning of our storyboard. The idea of our storyboard was thought up between the three of us. The first thing we established was the narrative of the title sequence, we then looked into how best to deliver the title to the audience such as; the font, colour and size of the words. This was important as the titles are one of the factors that communicates the genre of the film to the audience. The idea for our pre title sequence is as follows; our main character (Andrew Anderson) is on a sofa throughout the sequence, like his characters personality he is being lazy while laying back watching television. The props around him are mostly fatty foods and sugary drinks, which are on a table that Andrew's feet are resting on. The sound in the background which will be added on will be American sort of rock music, this will be played throughout the title sequence. The camera movement will be a 360 degree angle throughout the scene, starting at the back left of Andrew's head and ending with the camera looking at the front right of Andrew's  face. We will be using a medium close up shot of the main character Andrew, we will be using this shot continuously as the title sequence unfolds. Furthermore we are going to go with the fluidity theme of pre title sequences by the way that we show our titles to the audience, for example whenever Andrew moves his body, part of his body or object a title will be uncovered for the audience to see; doing this will continue the theme of fluidness.

When looking for typography ideas all we had to do was look on my blog as I had researched many different pre title sequences, mainly ones that can be linked to our film's genre. The three main pre title sequences we looked at on my blog were 'Happy Gilmore', 'Step Brothers' and 'Superbad'. I looked at these three films as they were similar in some way to the film that we had come up with. The ideas we got from these films was that the titles were black, block capital letters that were mostly placed alone away from any images. We took some ideas from these pre title sequences and encorporated them into our own ideas. The ideas that we thought of ourselves were the fluidity and placement of the titles within the shot. We looked for the font and colour on the website 'Da Font' which is a website consisting of various types of fonts. The ideas we got for the colour and font came from looking at the pre title sequences that i had previously researched on my blog. We picked out a few from 'Da Font' and placed them in a questionnaire which we handed out to the class to recieve their opinion on what they thought of the fonts and which they thought best suited our pre title sequence.

Blogging Lesson

In this lesson we had an hour specifically for blogging and catching up with our blog. When going into this lesson i was already very ahead with my work and therefore i had a chance to improve and make the work on my blog look that little bit better, for example I changed the lay out of my blog by making the widths longer so that my posts were not so compact. I added more writing to my previous lesson posts to make them more detailed. I then also had time to go through and edit and correct any mistakes that i may have made in my blogs. I was also able to make any changes that i needed to and move around anything i may have needed to in order to make my work look more professional and presentable.

Lesson 10 And 11

In lesson 10 our group presented our ptich for the new film that we would be making a pre title sequence for (Andrew Anderson). This helped me with my presenting skills as it allowed me to give a presentation on my pitch to communicate the different aspects of our film to the audience. My pitch presentation also allowed me to see what different points belong in a pitch for a film. It also allowed me to see just how much pressure people who are giving a pitch to film producers are under when giving the presentation. I think our pitch went very well as there wasn't many criticisms about our pitch and Shaun only gave a few comments on how to improve our pitch and paid us many compliments on our flawless narrative. The pitch below in the lesson 10 post is our pitch presentation with the correction that we have made. In conclusion I think that this presentation overall went very well as the class seemed to like the idea of the pitch.

In lesson 11 we was given time to make our pitches look more professional and to catch up on any work that was outstanding. This lesson was useful to me as I was able to correct any mistakes I had made on any previous posts. I was able to do this as i was ahead of my work with regards to my blogger and so instead of having to catch up with work on my blog in this lesson i had time to make my blog look more presentable.

Blogging Catch Up

This lesson was dedicated to revision so that if there was any work that we hadn't yet done we would be able to catch up on it in this lesson and get any outstanding work finished. When going into this lesson i was already very ahead with my work and so i had a chance to make my work look that little bit more proffesional on my blog and to go through and edit any mistakes that i may have made. I also have been able to make any changes that i have needed to and move around anything i may have needed to in order to make my work look more presentable.

Monday 12 December 2011

Presenting My Film Pitch

In this lesson we presented the pitches that we as a group made for our film that we have created. In this lesson we gave our pitch to the rest of the class whilst being filmed and after was given feedback on our pitching skills, our film idea and whether we answered all aspects of the film that the audience needed to know within the pitch. The aim of a pitch is to sell the film to the audience that are infront of you and this is what we as aimed to do as a group when presenting our pitch to everyone else. Once we had finished the pitch we were asked questions on our pitch and we were given comments on how we could possibly make it better. I think our pitch went well as there were no questions or criticisms from the class but there were a few from Shaun about our pitch itself, however there were not any about our film or our pre title sequence idea for the film. Shauns comments on our pitch were as follows;
  • To add the characters name in the Narrative slide of our pitch PowerPoint
  • To add the Genre of the film before the storyline (narrative) so that the audience know what the genre of the film is before they here the film idea
  • Also to add the director who will direct our film to the PowerPoint
  • Also to change one of the slides that says our film is a Romcom. We need to change it as our film is a comedy, not a Romcom 
This is my groups pitch PowerPoint presentation below, with all the corrections and errors, that Shaun pointed out to us, changed.
Pitch Andrew Anderson

Sunday 11 December 2011

Lesson 9 And My Own Research

Lesson 9 has helped me in many ways with regards to my pre title sequence as it has enabled me to get a better understanding of just how the film industry work, especially with regards to the distribution of a film. In this lesson i have learnt about what distribution is and just how films have been distributed in a certain way in order to communicate things to the audience. I have also looked into a Hollywood film myself and done a task set from the lesson to explore a film that is specifically from Hollywood. I chose to look at the new Sherlock Holmes film as it hasn't been released yet, so i saw this as a great opportunity to explore the distribution that this film would undertake and just how much would be put in to the distribution of this film. Looking at distribution in this lesson has helped me with regards to my pre title sequence and overall about films as it has enabled me to understand that the distribution also plays a big part in messages communicated to the audience about the film and it's themes and messages it is trying to communicate to the audience.

We also looked at how to write a pitch in this lesson and was later given the task of creating a pitch for our film that we are to make the pre title sequence for. This once again helped me as it gave me an added boost in knowledge of how to write a pitch and the basic fundamentals you would need in order to write a pitch and learning this in the lesson helped me with regards to the task we had to do which was to create a pitch for the film that we would be making a pre title sequence for and without the information that we was given in this lesson, i don't think that i would have been able to create the pitch that i created for the task.

My own research also helped me with planning my pre title sequence and also now looking at drawing sketches for the title sequence for our film. It helped me as it once again broadened my ideas of what i could possibly do when it came down to mapping out my pre title sequence and thinking about the design and how best to go about communicating certain themes to the audience. The pre title sequence that i have analysed in my own research is Superbad, this is a unique pre title sequence as it looks to be using silhouettes throughout of two of the main characters dancing and this communicates many of the themes of the film to the audience but also sets up many enigmas as it doesn't give the films narrative and plot away too much. When looking at this pre title sequence i think of how it could possibly be fitted to my film or how i could perhaps use it when drawing out the sketches for my pre title sequence but for now i will keep my ideas open, however when it comes to drawing the storyboards for my pre title sequence i will have many ways in which i could go about filming this title sequence as i have picked up many new ideas from specific title sequences that i have analysed.

Superbad - IMDB

Storyline

Seth and Evan are best friends, inseparable, navigating the last weeks of high school. Usually shunned by the popular kids, Seth and Evan luck into an invitation to a party, and spend a long day, with the help of their nerdy friend Fogell, trying to score enough alcohol to lubricate the party and inebriate two girls, Jules and Becca, so they can kick-start their sex lives and go off to college with a summer full of experience and new skills. Their quest is complicated by Fogell's falling in with two inept cops who both slow and assist the plan. If they do get the liquor to the party, what then? Is sex the only rite of passage at hand?

Taglines:Come and Get Some

Genres: Comedy

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA) Rated R for pervasive crude and sexual content, strong language, drinking, some drug use and a fantasy/comic violent image

Official Sites: Sony Pictures [France] Sony Pictures [United States]

Country: USA

Language: English

Release Date:14 September 2007 (UK)

Filming Locations:
California State University Northridge - 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office
Budget:$20,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend:$33,052,411 (USA) (19 August 2007) (2948 Screens)
Gross:$169,871,719 (Worldwide) (4 May 2008)

Company Credits
Production Co:Columbia Pictures, Apatow Productions





Superbad Pre Title Sequence Analysis



  • First sign of visuals that we see is a boy dancing in a strange fashion. It doesn’t look like it’s a dance movie as the way he’s dancing is something you might want to laugh at.
  • First sign of typology that we see is plain block capitals that change colour if anything crosses it on screen, visual wise.
  • The colours used suggest this will be an upbeat film as there are bright colour used which correspond with the titles on screen as the colours mix to make new colours.
  • The music used is an upbeat dancing sort of music, but not music you would find at a dance contest but more at party or getting ready for a party.
  • The second character we see in this pre title sequence is larger than the first character who is more slim and tall. The second character is dancing just as stupidly as the first character as if they don’t know what they are doing.
  • A good technique is used within the visuals of this pre title sequence as the character has be quadrupled to give an added affect to the title sequence and make it look more funkier.
  • We then see the two characters together in one shot and this time it is only one dancing whilst the other one watches on as if the guy is telling him, this is how you dance.
  • The audience can clearly see that this film is about two guys who are probably good friends as they dance together and they probably do a lot of things together, we can see this as they feel comfortable dancing with each other and enjoying themselves.
  • The effects are once again used well within the title sequence as the two characters are double in the visuals and this once again makes it look cooler within the title sequence.
  • Towards the end of the title sequence we can once again see that these two are good friends as they almost have a good time dancing with each other in rhythm to the music and no matter how stupid they look, they still carry on.

The only indication that we as the audience get that this film belongs in the comedy genre is the way the characters dance in this pre title sequence as it makes the audience laugh in the way they attempt to look cool in dancing. The pre title sequence does communicate some light tones to the audience as you can see by the upbeat music and the bright colours that this will be a quite upbeat film with light tones about it.  

Monday 5 December 2011

How To Write A Pitch

First - The pitch opening should be brief, one short sentence to introduce your film to the buyers.

Second - People should already understand the building block of the pitch. Such as for the film Se7en the audience understand that the building block for this is the seven deadly sins.

The pitch should also be no longer than 7-8 minutes long.

The pitch should also include; what the film is about but also the themes and messages it us trying to communicate. Furthermore it should include;
  • a general outline of story
  • apply Todorov's narrative theory
  • consider a whole story for the pitch
These are some of the questions you should consider when writing a pitch;
  • What genre is your film?
  • What other films in this genre have inspired your film/is your film similar too?
  • Who is the target audience for your film?
  • When will the film be released (what season?)
  • How much will your film cost to make?
  • How much will it make?
  • Who will star in the film?
  • Who will direct the film?
Using the Questions above and what i have learnt from this post of how to write a pitch, i have now been given the task in my group to write a pitch for the film that we have made. Our Pitch will have to cover all apsects of what is written above in order to make it a good pitch and in order to do this my group have to create a presentaion in which we will present to the class who will give us feedback on our pitch and the film idea in general.

The Distribution Process

There are several critical things the distributor must consider in order to create a productive campaign:

Who is the target audience?
The distributor will think about the demographic and psychographic profile of the larget audience.
Demographic profile includes: gender, age, socio-eonomic class and ethnicity.
There are many measures used for identifying psychographics proflies, however that most commonly used by advertisers is Young and Rubicam's 4Cs (cross cultural consumer characterisation)

What do the target audience do?
what magazines and newspapersdo they read? where do they travel and how? what are their interests? what other films are they likely to watch?
The distributor will aim to define everything about the audience, in order to maximise profit for the film, by targeting advertising in the most appropriate places. For example, if the audience is unlikely to take public transport, but likely to purchase political magazines the distributor can avoid the tube station posters and instead buy advertising space in The Economist.
The distributor will find out about their audience through surveys and data analysis and will divide their data into three areas:
1) who the audience is
2) what they think
3) their media

Is there a wider audience this film could apeal to?
Major studio projects are so successful because they are mainly family films. Distributors will look for secondry audiences or whether a film has mass audience appeal, they may create a number of different poster campaigns for example in order to appeal to these different audiences. This means they could advertise the film in trailers and posters as action/adventure (mass appeal), then Science Fiction and Romance (secondary audience) if there are elements of these genres in the film.

What majorcast or crew are involved in the project?
The distributor will consider how to maximise the exposure of key cast and crew, measuring the successful of their most recent productions will not only allow the distributor to see what audiences particular stars attract and perhaps widen the audience appeal in the marketing campaign, but it will also allow them to see which see which stars or crew (mainly the director/producer) should feature prominently in the advertising campaign.

Film Industry - Distribution

Objectives:
  • To be able to indicate how film distribution works.
  • To begin to understand the difference between the US and UK film systems.
Keywords:
Producers
Distributors
Exhibitor
Studios


A film distributor is the link between the producer and the exhibitors (the cinema chains and television networks) their aim is to get as many people as possible to see the film.
The distributor markets the film and develops an appropriate advertising campaign.
To market successfully the distributor has to target the appropriate audience.
This can be easy if there is a star but harder in the case of low budget independant films.

After learning about the film industry and distribution, we were then given the task of researching a new Hollywood film on IMDB.com that hasn't been released yet and create a PowePoint on the specific distributor of the film to try and cover all aspects of the following questions;
  • Who are they?
  • Why are they distributing this film?
  • Identify the main target audience, their interests and media use and any secondary/mass audience apeal.
  • Idetify key cast/crew/pre-existing property and the film's USP.
  • Identify the success of similar films by the recent director and/or key cast.
The task was optional in whether you wanted to do it in pairs or independantly. I chose to do it independantly as although it maybe a lot more simpler and less work when doing it in pairs, i feel that i would learn more about distribution if doing the PowerPoint by myself as then i would be able to answer all the aspects of this task independantly and gain more knowledge on the subject. Below this is my distrbution PowerPoint on the film Sherlock Holmes - A Game Of Shadows.

Sunday 4 December 2011

Lesson 7, 8, Shaun's Hw And My Own Research

In lesson 7 my group presented our groundhog day idea to the class and then watched the rest of the classes groundhog day ideas. This gave me many ideas as to what things i could do for my pre title sequence as there were many different aspects of how best to go about doing a pre title sequence for this new British version of the film.  Also the ideas that other people came up with and the different ways in which you could do the pre title sequence were intriguing as i was able to take ideas for other people's presentation of the ground hog day idea and perhaps twist them so that they could fit my film or even just use little ideas for my own pre title sequence that may make it look better or can assist it in helping me to communicate the themes of my film to the audience. This lesson also helped me with regards to my presenting skills and my confidence as i was able to present my groups piece of work to the class and see the response of what they thought of it and whether they had any comments on it that i could perhaps correct or things that the class thought went well about the idea. Also in this lesson we started to brainstorm our ideas for a new film that we would make the pre title sequence for, i thought this was good timing as i had made many notes on what i could do for my pre title sequence such as little ideas and aspects of how to go about doing it; perhaps animation or just one shot. Also the benefits of brainstorming our new film in our groups is that on my blog i had just done a few brainstorms on different ideas for different genres that we could possible do so then this helped me out a lot when it came to thinking of different ideas for our film. Having done some brainstorms on different genres i was able to suggest some ideas to my group  and see what they thought and whether they like any ideas that i had thought of.

In lesson 8 we as Paramount Vantage watched the films pitches of the other groups to see which one best suited our studio. This lesson helped me to understand many things about pitches and different studios as i was then able to understand that particular studios looks to put money into particular films depending on their budget, their genre and cast used. Also listening to the pitches to our film helped me to understand just what should be included within a pitch and just how to present a pitch as the rest of the groups demonstrated to me at the front of the class. Doing this task helped me to understand perhaps just what film studio might be linked with my film more than other film studios and when looking at the budget, cast and story line i have used, i think that one of the big 6 would be best suited for my film as i wouldn't see a film studio such as paramount vantage ever putting money in towards my film as they go for low budget drama/comedies. Also towards the end of the lesson we as the film studio presented our presentation of reasearch about our film production company to the rest of the class which gave me a boost in presenting as i got more practise at it.

I found that when doing Shaun's Hw it was very useful as i was able to get an understanding of what films, that are similar to my films, pre title sequences are like and in researching and analysing these two film i was able to get an understanding of the sort of budget, the cast, setting and director that it would need to use. This piece of homework has also helped me with ideas when thinking about my group and what we could do for our pre title sequence. Having looked and now analysed aa pre title sequence within the same genre as my groups film, we now know just what themes to communicate within the pre title sequence as well as what typology to use for the titles.

Finally when doing my own research this helped me with regards to my pitch and constructing my film idea as i have mentioned above. This has helped me as i am now able to understand what budget i will use for my film and also how much the film will make. This post has also helped me with what director, cast, setting and tag line to use as i have done research on Step Brothers and Happy Gilmore which is similar to my film and i can now give reason for my groups choices with regards to the director, cast, setting and tag line that we have all come together to think of.

Step Brothers - IMDB

Storyline

Brennan Huff and Dale Doback are both about 40 when Brennan's mom and Dale's dad marry. The sons still live with the parents so they must now share a room. Initial antipathy threatens the household's peace and the parents' relationship. Dad lays down the law: both slackers have a week to find a job. Out of the job search and their love of music comes a pact that leads to friendship but more domestic disarray compounded by the boys' sleepwalking. Hovering nearby are Brennan's successful brother and his lonely wife: the brother wants to help sell his step-father's house, the wife wants Dale's attention, and the newlyweds want to retire and sail the seven seas. Can harmony come from the discord?

Taglines: They grow up so fast.

Details

Official Sites: Sony Pictures [United States]
 
Country: USA

Language: English

Release Date: 29 August 2008 (UK)

Also Known As: Hermanastros

Filming Locations: 1987 Midwick Dr, Altadena, California, USA

Budget: $65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $30,940,732 (USA) (27 July 2008) (3094 Screens)

Gross: $100,468,793 (USA) (21 September 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co: Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media, Apatow Productions






Happy Gilmore - IMDB

Storyline

A Hockey player wannabe finds out that he has the most powerful golf drive in history. He joins the P.G.A. tour to make some money to save grandma's house. The downside is that his hocky player mentality doesn't really go on the P.G.A. tour. Especially with the favorite to win the championship.

Taglines: He doesn't play golf... he destroys it.

Details

Country: USA

Language: English

Release Date: 19 July 1996 (UK)

Also Known As: Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore

Filming Locations: Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada


Box Office
Budget: $10,000,000 (estimated)

Gross: $38,624,000 (USA)

Admissions: 400 (Netherlands) (1 January 1998)
Filming Dates: 6 July 1995 - 1 September 1995

Company Credits
Production Co: Universal Pictures, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, Robert Simonds Productions






Monday 28 November 2011

Film Pitches and Film Production's Presentation

In this lesson we as the film production company watched the film pitches to see which one best suited our film company. There were three film pitches being presented to three film companies and each pitch matched to one of our film companies. Our job as the film compnay was to do research into our own film company which was Paramount Vantage and to know the film companies ins and outs ready for the film pitches we was about to be given. The film pitchers also had the task of researching the film company they had been given so that when they thought up the idea for their film pitch they had based it around the production company they had been given.

Each pitch was presented to us and we as the film company had to look at different aspects of their pitches and see which suited our production company the best out of all the other pitches. When we heard the pitches my group knew exactly which pitch belonged to our production comapny as the filmwas a low budget, American, teen comedy called 'good boys', they got the idea from the film mean girls.

Once they had pitched to us and we knew straight away that the film belonged to our film production comapny and so now we had to present our presentation on our film company (Paramount Vantage) to the rest of the people who pitched and the other film companies and at the end of the pitch we told the class which pitch we thought best suited our film company and why it best suited our film company, we guessed right in thnking that this film was suited for our film company as our group had done its research well and was knew what we was looking for in terms of what the pitch was to be like. This is mine and Luke's pitch on the film production comapny Paramount Vantage:

Happy Gilmore And Step Brothers Pre Title Sequence Analysis

Happy Gilmore
  • immediately we as the audience can tell by the music used that the pre title sequence will be about someone communicating what has happened so far in their life to the audience
  • or in fact the music sounds like someone should be talking over the top of it as it sounds to light to be played by itself
  • the typology used is very bland white block capital lettering that doesn't necessarily connote anything to the audience if the font they have used or the way it has been laid out
  • the tone of the music is very light, suggests to the audience that this isn't a horror as its not the type of music you would use for a horror
  • the audience have also decided in their heads from the music that in the film there may be a light tone used and that there are no deep dark scary scenes used that have the intentions to scare the audience 
  • the first sign of visuals that we see is of an old filming that is placed towards the right of the screen in a box, the visuals is of a little boy playing hockey on the street, this links in with what i said about the sound above as the voice over kicks and the audience find that they are being told a life story
  • comedy elements have been communicated to the audience through the use of visuals within this title sequence as the boys dad is hit with a puck which kills him, somehow the comedy element is communicated through this by the way that the voiceover makes it sound so easy to get over and how it doesn't bother him in the slightest
  • the effectiveness of the way the visuals have been presented in this title sequence are almost like old movies that flicker, this is effective as it shows that the character Happy Gilmore is showing his life story up until the point he is at now and we can see this by the way it is shown in the style of old movies
  • throughout the pre title sequence the titles are shown to the left of the visuals that are going on
  • more comedy elements are brought in towards the end of this pre title sequence as he is now showing how he is getting older and the hobbies he done and the jobs he also under took
  • the voiceover is used effectively in this pre title sequence as it describes what is happening in the visuals and Happy Gilmore's life story up to date and now the audience have an understanding of where the film is at now as it cuts into the begginining of the film, the present time he is at in his life
In-conclusion, i think that the audience can tell this is a comedy straight away by the comedy elements used throughout this pre title sequence. The comedy elements kick in more towards the end of the title sequence as Happy starts to tell the audience more about his life that is closer to the present day such as the previous jobs he's had. We can tell through the high key lighting, the music and the voiceover used that this clearly isn't a horror or thriller as these things are what mostly indicate to the audience that this film belongs in the comedy genre and no where else.





Step Brothers


  • typology used at the beginning of the pre title sequence indicates to the audience that the film will be about families and that perhaps the film maybe set in America
  • also a quote is used write from the beginning and the quote is American which also suggests that this is a typical American family
  • the typology used to show the titles is like a comic sort of font and is in big lettering so stands out to the audience 
  • the comic feel to the typology used in this pre title sequence suggests that perhaps the film is a comedy as the titles have a comic feel to them and comic books make people laugh, so this communicates to the audience that the film has the intention to make them laugh
  • the visuals in this pre title sequence at first indicate that the man who is eating likes to eat quite fatening foods
  • the music kicks in within this sequence and indicates to the audience that this is a very upbeat film, we can see this through the sound track that is a very upbeat sort of music. We as the audience can hear that it is a very upbeat piece of music as electric guitars and drums have been used to make this soundtrack
  • the second character that we see isn't wearing any clothes on the his torso and smells a piece of clothing which looks to be a top, this suggests to the audience that he doesn't do the washing very much as he is having to smell his own clothes to see if he can wear them or not
  • the visuals indicate to the audience that the first character we see likes eating a lot of food as we see him with a bowl of cereal aswell as the tortilla chips coverd in cheese
  • the audience can straight away tell that there will be some elements of humour within this film as the first character we see is living at hom with his mum and we can also tell that he doesn't work that much as when his mum is going to work, he is only just having breakfast
  • the character pays more attension to the TV then he pays to his move, this implies that he enjoys the TV more than having a conversation with his mum or listening to anything she says
  • more comedy elements are communicated to the audience as he tells his mum hes not watching anything important but when she goes he turns the channel onto aerobics and puts his hand down the front of his trousers
  • the second character who we havn't seen much of in the pre title sequence also looks like someone who is out of work and doesn't do much like the first character as he is playing guitar hero
  • more comedy elements are communicate within this pre title sequence as the second character also like the first one like porn according to his dad, it is also indicated to the audience that he doesn't earn any money as he still has to get money off his dad for food
  • final comedy elements are communicated as the father of one of the characters says in a speech/conference how he would like to put his face into the mum of the other characters breast, this indicates humour to the audience and sets the tone of the film as being comedy themed
  • the typology throughout this title sequence is almost like the music, you don't tend to notice it as it doesn't stick out within the frame at all or when listening whilst watching the visuals
In-conclusion the fact that this film is from the comedy genre has bee communicated to the audience through the use of visuals and dialouge used. Also typology could also have an effect on the audience which could lead them to believe that this film is also part of the comedy genre. The visuals that have been communicated to the audience that this film belongs in the comedy genre is through the use of characters and props as the two characters who live with their parents use the props to communicate humour to the audience. Also things such as the dialogue have also been used in this pre title sequence to communicate humour, especially in the last part as the dad of one of the characters is staring at the mum of the other character and he quotes 'want to pu my head in those breasts' this communicates to the audience and certifies them that this is definatley a funny film that belongs in the comedy genre. The typology also plays a small part in this pre title sequence as it is like a comic book font which ones again impliea to the audience that thia is a film from the comedy genre.







Ground Hog Day Presentation And Thinking Of Ideas For A New Film That We Will Make The Pre Title Sequence For

In this lesson each group presented their own idea of the pre title sequence for the British version of Ground hog day. We then gave each others presenting skills and the ideas itself a mark out of 10 and gave feedback on what was interesting about the idea, what was good about the idea, also what could be improved about the idea of the pre title sequence. We went through each group’s idea and they presented either a picture of series of pictures they had made in Photoshop in order to communicate to the audience what there thoughts and ideas for this remake of the pre title sequence Ground Hog Day was about. When each of the groups presented their work they each had to justify why they used that certain picture, why they used the typology and what their whole idea from start to finish is for the pre title sequence of Ground hog day.

When it came to presenting my idea for the pre title sequence, the presentation of the pictures we had made went okay, but when getting feedback on our work, the feed back was very helpful and made me understand more as to just what a pre title sequence is. Such as some of the feedback that we got from other people was things such as it sounded to much like the trailer to the film and that we was giving the film away a bit too much with what would be included within the pre title sequence. The feedback was very helpful with my own understanding of pre title sequences and my group’s ideas on pre title sequences, as now we know exactly what we are looking to do when trying to make our own pre title sequence for the new film idea we have made.

Further on in the lesson after all the group’s in the class had presented their idea for the British remake of the pre title sequence for film Ground hog day, we then moved onto brainstorming a few ideas for our own pre title sequence and coming up with a whole new idea for a film as then it would be easier for the groups to be able to make their film as then they would know the film in and out and would be able to create a pre title sequence that best communicated to the audience some of the themes and patterns that may happen throughout the film. During that lesson we wasn’t meant to think about the pre title sequence of the film, but just to think about the film itself and the characters we would use and how the narrative would unfold. My group made a brainstorm of these ideas and made sure to cover all angles of creating a film idea and this is what I have sown in the brainstorm below, my group’s ideas for the idea of our film, which we will later make a pre title sequence for.


My Brainstorms, Lesson 5, Lesson 6 And My Own Research

The things i have learnt and got ideas on from my past few posts are my brainstorms on the genres; drama, comedy, horror and action for thoughts on my own pre title sequence, also my lesson 5 and 6 has helped my greatly in thinking about my own ideas for my pre title sequence.

The four brainstorms that i did helped me as they allowed me a greater look into some of the genres that i may consider to do when it comes to thinking of ideas for my pre title sequence. The genre that i thought went most well and that i could write plenty of information on was the drama genre, as it would be very easy to make this sort of title sequence in a school. Also the ideas that i have thought of specificly for this genre are vast and are very well thought through, so when it comes to thinking of what to do for my groups pre title sequence and thinking of the genre and narrative, then i will have some input as to what we may want to do. The two genres that i thought didnt go down so well when brainstorming was the action and horror genre, these didnt go well, as i couldnt think of the full narative that may occur in the film and i also struggled to put together a narrative.

Lesson 5 helped me boost some of my ideas when it came to my pre title sequence as it allowed me to understand how a film pitch is created and also when it comes to the production companies i was able to understand what the big 6 are or as some would say the big 2 and the little 3. Also when it comes to understanding film production i am now able when making my own idea for my film with my group, it ill allow me to understand what budget i need, also it allows me to understand if i was to make an idea for a film, i would know what film company would want to buy this idea off of me.

Lesson 6 was a very helpful lesson to me as it allowed me to catch up with any coursework that i needed to complete on my blogger. When entering the lesson i was already up to date with most work on my blog so this lesson allowed me to do further research into the pre title sequence world and to explore more films pre title sequences and allow my ideas to expand beyond all imagination.

Friday 25 November 2011

National Lampoons Christmas vacation and European vacation Pre Title Sequence Analysis

Lampoons European Vacation

Even though the quality in this video is quite bad, I still feel that this is a brilliant title sequence and that this could be along the lines of a title sequence that I may want to do. This pre title sequence is brilliant for the way the titles come up and it all flows.















  • ·      I think the using of titles and typology is used very effectively in this title sequence as when they guy stamps to show where this guy has been on holiday, it also stamps the actors name on the passport. To me this is very effective and smartly done as it makes the title sequence flow and just looks good as it blends in within the passport.
    ·      The typology used is the same as the stamp typology, but changed slightly in its own way to make it better and in my opinion I think this is the best I’ve seen with regards to fluidity since catch me if you can.
    ·      Also typology communicates something else to the audience as they are shown the main character passport have cancelled stamped a crossed it that makes you think that the holiday he maybe going on might go wrong.
    ·      The music is also once again indicating something to the audience as the lyrics are ‘holiday road’ this suggests that maybe this film isn’t necessarily about the flying aspect but can be about driving as well.
    ·      The audience are shown the film title on the same passport and in the same typology as used on the other characters name, once again very effective.
    ·      Three more characters names are shown within the pre title sequence in the same way as the first character, this could also suggest they too will be on holiday with the first guy, also it suggests to the audience that there is a link between these characters.
    ·      Even more brilliant typography mixed with visuals used as we are shown two characters who are shown to not actually have names so far and are called ‘the thief’ and ‘the bike rider’ but these two are also shown on the passport and the fluidity between showing one character and then the next is superb as one of the pass port pages is bent over and reveals the next character and his name is stamped over the folded pages which just makes the sequence flow so much.
    ·      Also there is a contrast between characters here as we are shown two characters, one with a smile and one looking devious also the page is folded between the two which could suggest to the audience that they are opposites and that one is nice and one is mean.
    ·      Just after we are shown these two characters we are shown more shots of passports, but it starts to get messy as a cup of coffee is knocked onto it which could suggest that this will be a messy holiday for those four who maybe travelling.
    ·      However this coffee spill then carries on to add to the effectiveness of this scene as the messy airport passport checker wipes away the spilt coffee and caries on stamping out the titles, for me the scene doesn’t ever stop flowing and just fits perfectly in with the music played and the visuals on screen.
    ·      Also the things such as the spilt coffee and the now ripped off piece of paper suggests to the audience that wherever the main character is going, you can tell that they are very clumsy and do not care for the persons passport who is entering their country.
    ·      The pre title sequence just keeps getting better in my opinion when referring to the fluidly s when we see more of the titles, a page is ripped to reveal the next title and this just works in terms of the fluidness of the title sequence.
    ·      Also the audience could think that because of all the things that have happened such as the ripped pages and coffee spill and now the cigar dropping on the passport, it once again suggests this will be a messy film with plenty of mistakes by the characters and plenty of mishaps.
    ·      Also the theme of international is carried on through the visuals right up to the end when we are shown a cigar, not many people smoke cigars in Britain, they mostly come from international countries.
    ·      Also the audience could most probably tell through he visuals and typology working together that this will be a comedy as this pre title sequence is already mocking airport passport checkers in saying that they are useless at there job and that they make a lot of mess and have no care for there job at all. 



·        In conclusion I think that this pre title sequence is one of the best I’ve ever seen since catch me of you can, it’s the best I’ve ever seen just for its fluidity and how it flows from one title to the next and how it shows each character with so much rhythm according to the music. To me every aspect of this pre title sequence best describes the codes and conventions of pre title sequences and how they should be. As the pre title sequence tells a little story within itself and gives the audience that little taster as what the film maybe like. It also entertains the audience fully in the way it has been created and shown to the audience and if I had the choice on how to best base my pre title sequence, I would do it like this one and change it in my own way to make it my own idea and attempt to make it better.


National Lampoons Christmas Vacation




  • sound straight from the start indicates to the audience that this is a christmas song, we are able to tell this as all the signs of christmas music are there, from the high tones of the tambourines used and the music that wants to make you sing along.
  • we are able to tell this film is set around christmas by the lyrics of the music used... 'christmas vacation'.
  • the first shot we see is of the moon in the dark starlit sky. We then see santa's reindeer go across the screen which indicates for sure to the audience that the film is something to do with christmas or around the christmas time.
  • also we as the audience can already tell that this is a cheery light hearted film as the music is nice and the santa clause going across the screen indicates that it is a time of happiness as its christmas.
  • the typology used is very bold white lettering which unlike the pre title sequence before, sticks out of the visuals like a soar thumb and does not flow.
  • the typology used is white, bold, capital lettering.
  • when we get the first sighting of the sleigh and santa we cannot see that it is animated, however when we get a proper look at him and the colors that go with him, we can clearly tell that this is an animated pre title sequence, which could suggest at first that the film is for kids.
  • the name we are shown by the visuals on the animated father christmas is of 'Griswold' this indicates the film maybe around this family.
  • the point above also tells us that perhaps this family always gets left to last and most probably always gets the short end of the stick.
  • we are shown the first indication that this film is a comedy through the way that santa tries to clim onto the Griswold house from his sleigh but the snow gives way and he falls. Suggests that their house could have things go wrong with it and that humor maybe involved with their house within the film.
  • the father christmas and the snowman could suggest to the audience that this is in fact a family film as it communicates to the audience that there is a family with quite young kids involved with this film which maybe the Griswold family.
  • another comedy element has been shown within this pre title sequence which suggests more to the audience that this is a family comedy as santa attempts to put the button back on the snow man but it ends up falling and chasing after him.
  • comedy is shown more and more as the pre title sequence continues as santa puts his finger into a broke light bulb and gets electrocuted, this and many of the other things that happen to santa throughout the pre title sequence could be the reason why the Griswold family has been left to last as it is the house and family that causes the most problems.
  • the end of this pre title sequence communicates to the audience that there will be non stop comedy used in this film as we see plenty more stupid things happen to santa that accidentally happen but leave us smiling at it as we find it funny in our minds.
In-conclusion, i think the animation of this pre title sequence really does add to the comedy of this as it allows the pre title sequence designer to communicate comedy and the family feeling in any way possible through the animation of of all the visuals and the father christmas himself. There are two main elements communicated throughout this pre title sequence which are the family element and the comedy element. The family element is indicated to the audience through its use of father christmas and the snowman, but also through its use of the christmas time of happiness and celebration. The comedy element of the pre title sequence is communicated to the audience through its use of the animated father christmas within the sequence as funny stupid things happen to him by accident because of some of the faults of the Griswold families house.

Thursday 24 November 2011

Blogging Catch Up

In this lesson we had a whole hour devoted to blogging and catching up with our blog. When going into this lesson i was already very ahead with my work and so i had a chance to make my work on my blog look that little bit better and to go through and edit any mistakes that i may have made. I also have been able to make any changes that i have needed to and move around anything i may have needed to in order to make my work look more professional and more presentable.

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Paramount Vantage Film Studio PowerPoint - My Own Contribution


In this lesson we was put in groups and given the class groups were slip in half into film producers and film directors. Each of the film producers groups were given sheets that had a film company on it that they would have to find information on according to some of the questions asked on the bit of paper. The film producers were the same, they were each given a film company that the film companies had got and they had to also do research on the film company and come up with a pitch for a film that would suit that film company that they were looking at. The film producers would then pitch their ideas to the film companies (the other groups) and then they would have to choose the film that they would like invest their money in according to what their own film company is interested in.

In my group I had Chiway and Luke, we were given the task of being a film company and was given a sheet of questions in which we had to find out research on for our film company. The film company we was given was Paramount Vantage. Our group found out a lot about this film company and what we decided to do was split the questions between us so that we go it done faster and so that we all participated with the work. I decided to do industry hierarchy, Chiway did box office revenues and Luke found out information on the history of the studio.

When producing this piece of work we had no problems with finding any of the research as we were able to use many different websites such as; Wikipedia, IMDB and Paramount Vantage. These websites helped us to find that information that we needed to complete these tasks in full and create the presentation that we needed in order to understand fully what are studio produces and who they are.

Below I have shown my own contribution to the work with regards to this task. As I said above I handled the industry hierarchy of this task and found out all information to do with this. Some parts weren’t easy to find but I worked hard and search deeply and in the end found the information I needed in order to complete my section of this task as you can see below. Once all members in our group have finished their tasks we shall merge the PowerPoints together so that we are ready to present in the next lesson. 

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Pre Title Sequence Ideas For Horror And Comedy Genre





























Here I have shown in brainstorm a few ideas for three different genres that I am very interested in for what I could do when it comes to making my pre title sequence. When I do come to making my pre title sequence at a later date, I can then come back and look at this and see what ideas I can get from it for my pre title sequence.

Case Study Presentation

Danny Yount Case Study

This is my PowerPoint case study on the pre title designer Danny Yount.

Friday 18 November 2011

Pre Title Sequence Ideas For Drama And Action Genre
































Here I have shown in brainstorm a few ideas for three different genres that I am very interested in for what I could do when it comes to making my pre title sequence. When I do come to making my pre title sequence at a later date, I can then come back and look at this and see what ideas I can get from it for my pre title sequence.


Lesson 4

This is my journal for my lesson 4, in this lesson we looked at peoples case study presentations for pre title designers. I also presented my PowerPoint on the designer of my choice and in the second half of the lesson we carried on the task from last week on the new idea for the pre title sequence of Groundhog Day. For the task of Groundhog Day we had to come up with a way of presenting our idea to the class. So my group decided to make a shot of what you would see in the opening sequence of for our new idea on Groundhog Day. The shot consisted of a man and woman together on an ice rink in London with the typography above saying the title of the film ‘Groundhog Day’.
In my opinion I think the first half of the lesson helped me very much with my confidence when present to the class but at the same time it also gave me ideas as once I had presented mine I was able to take notes of others peoples pre title sequences used and see if there was any ideas that I could gather from them for my own pre title sequence. Some of the ideas that I got for watching other peoples case studies were, what designers I could possible look at next with regards to my own research also how I could go about doing certain title sequences for specific genres. Also the ideas that I got from these presentations were specific aspects that I could use in my ideas for my pre title sequence when I come to making it.
I think the second part of this lesson helped me more with regards to when It comes to me making my own pre title sequence as I was able to put myself in the shoes of pre title designer and had to come up with the idea for the title sequence of Groundhog Day and in my opinion I thinks it’s harder to make a pre title sequence for a film that already exists as you have to communicate what will happen within the film and it’s a lot harder to do that then make up your own idea and concept for a film and create the title sequence because then it’s your own idea and you can adapt it in any way you like, where as a film that’s already been made can’t be adapted.
In-conclusion I think this lesson helped me in many different aspects when it comes to pre title sequence and my own skills. It helped me in many ways when it comes to my pre title sequence as I was given more ideas for what I could do for my pre title sequence and also gave me more options for what I could do for the genre of my pre title sequence. Also my pre title sequence ideas and skills were boosted by the second half of the lesson and developing my skills of linking the typography with certain films and what font, colour and size the typography should be in the film. Furthermore my skills and knowledge of what to do for pre title sequences was further boosted by the fact that I now pay more closer concentration to how I frame my work and what I include within the frame when either taking a picture of even when filming my pre title sequence, as every little detail within the frame makes that world of difference. Finally my own skills were boosted by this lesson as presenting my Case Study to the class gave me confidence a big boost as it taught me that is shouldn’t be scared or in any way nervous to present my work as it is my class that I know and any feedback that I get back on my work is an added bonus as it once again improves my skills within myself and with my work so it is a very big bonus for me in general.