Live Type Practice

Costumes & Prop List

For Our opening sequence we will need two different costumes for the two characters that will be shown in the scene. We will also need different props that will make the opening sequence look more professional.

The Costume for Jayne (Teenage Girl) is a  long white dress which is a bit ragged and dirty, this is mainly all the clothing we will see of her as she will be tied up. Her make up and appearance will not be perfect and she will look like she hasn't been taking care of her appearance for a few days.

The only other person which will be shown in the scene is an older man, he will be wearing smart clothing,  a shirt, tie, trousers and shoes, predominately of darker colours such as Dark Blue, black and grey. He will look well kept, and like he has made effort for the occasion.

The Props that we will need are as follows:

A Dining Table
Two chairs
Two cooked dinners
A bottle of Red wine with two wine glasses
Rose petals
Circular candles
An old type Stereo
Two knives and Forks

The room they will be having the Meal in will be a normal Dining Room which looks a traditional Middle Class household, the room is likely to have paintings and pictures on the wall,  as well as it looking clean and tidy.

Shooting Schedule

In order to make sure we film everything that needs to be filmed, and get it finished in time to start the editing process it is crucial we plan out what days we are all going to film. We have additionally included the location, shot description and the people who will need to be present at the certain tasks. Below is a shooting schedule of our plan of action. 

StoryBoard

 This is a storyboard we produced to give us a better idea of what our opening sequence is going to look like. It includes different shot angles, the time of the shot and also what sound or dialogue is going to be in that shot. Also, we included credits and what they are going to look like. Here is our storyboard:

Motifs

A film ‘motive’ is a recurring image or idea that is designed to enhance the viewing experience for the audience. It is shown throughout a film to subconsciously create a build up of tension or the reverse effect of a tranquil feeling- it conclusively represents what kind of genre the film is. For example, if a heart is repeatedly shown within a film (for the background effect) then the audience will associate the film with romance and pick up on the certainty it is to do with love.

EXAMPLES:
1) In the film 'Psycho' by Alfred Hitchcock, birds were used as his motif. This was purposeful as for some cultures birds are seen as a bad omen. Hitchcock used this motif to remind the audience on a regular basis that his film contained ominous, frightening themes. Therefore, just through the use of crows, ravens etc. the audience throughout is reassured and reminded of the genre in hand.


2) A second example of a motif is in the film 'Jaws' by Steven Spielberg (1975). The motive used in this film is the repetitive music. Due to the fact this specific fast beat music is played whenever the shark is close, helps the audience to label the shark as fearful and dangerous, which would regularly create tension whenever it is played. In addition, it also reinstates the genre of the film, as the bold, commanding and non-diegetic sound involves the audience further making them continuously on edge.


3) A third example would be from the film ‘The Woman in Black’ by James Watkins (2012). The colour black is the motif for this particular film, as it signifies death and sinful behaviour the audience can immediately become aware of the genre. The decision to use this colour throughout would make the audience feel anxious of the unknown, but also apprehensive with the film in hand. This would have the exact effect Watkins wanted, as a chain of anonymity is thoroughly created.

From researching into different motif’s and the effect they all hold with their target audience we have decided to include one in our opening sequence. Like ‘The Woman in Black’ we have also chosen to use a constant colour, with ours being red throughout. The connotation of this colour represents love and danger, and this works positively with our film idea of the man thinking he is in ‘love’. When the locations change and we see the girl tied up, she has spots of blood on her top, this shows the danger side of the colour, and hopefully with this specific motif the audience will get a sense of unease and worry.

Encoding Our Text

Encoding is the process which institutions use to embed ‘signifiers’ into their products to act as a signpost to the audience, which will help them to understand the genre, the narrative, the form, the purpose and the messages they want to get across. The audience will ‘decode’ these signifiers and interpret them to come up with a meaning. As a group we have decided what ‘signifiers’ we are going to include in our opening sequence.


Music:
We have decided that one of our signifiers will be the music we use. The choice of music from the start will be soft and soothing, this will give the audience the initial impression that the genre of the film is romance, but as the opening sequence slowly comes undone, the music will evidently be opposite to the feeling the audience is receiving. This is up until the last few seconds where the music suddenly changes, and there is a loud bang at the end. Although this music doesn’t signify from the actual start, it slowly unravels and this has a greater effect on setting out the genre for the audience, but additionally will help with the message we want to get across, of not making any assumptions when watching opening sequences.


Texts/Fonts:
By choosing to include our credits on top of the scene when the sequence is running, ensures that the audience don’t overlook the action that is happening - but instead make them more cautious of it. By having bold, black and old fashioned writing, any assumption that the genre in hand is a comedy or romance will soon be out of the picture. I think that the type of font which is used is vital and this is because it lays out the mood of the film, but also shows to have a meaningful purpose when making the audience feel uneasy (when referring to a crime-thriller).


Locations:
Likewise, the two diverse locations which are used contradict each other. The first location being a dining room, the audience will feel no worry, but as the opening sequence goes on and the location changes to a dark and dingy forest, this signifies clearly to the audience the genre of the film. This will furthermore help us with our representation of gender. A stereotypical man is publicized to be more powerful and dominant than a stereotypical girl who is shown to always need someone to ‘save’ her and is frail and vulnerable. Where we see the girl tied up in the forest and the man causally eating dinner, it is obvious who the more dominant figure is.

Analysis Of Primary Research Results

Following on from our questionnaires and our focus group, I produced a series of bar and pie charts to illustrate some of the results in a different format. As it was only possible to make these charts from our closed questions, I analysed the results of these and discussed how they were to influence our film idea.

If you were to film this, what location would you use for the young girls point of view?

- The results from this question show that the Forest and the Abandoned place are the most favoured locations where people were likely to film. This was beneficial for our group as we had already planned to film in a forest, therefore knowing that this is a popular selection means we made the accurate decision.


What age group do you associate a crime-thriller with?- When we asked people what age group they associate a crime-thriller film with the most common answer was 15 year olds, which was 70% of the total result. However, 30% of the people said 18 year olds would be the most appropriate age range. As a result of this, we are going to aim our opening sequence for the age group of 15+ therefore it
meets in the middle.

What do you think the most important thing to include in an opening sequence is?
- Our final closed question asked what the most vital convention is to include in an opening sequence. 60% of people answered music, and due to the fact no other convention came particularly close to this answer, when filming our opening sequence we will ensure the music chosen is relevant and therefore has a virtuous effect.


Although these results help us a considerable amount with our final film idea, when watching the focus group and reading the results from the open questions, we have gained an enhanced understanding of what people prefer and controversially don’t prefer about opening sequences. Boring, dragged out, long winded and too predictable were some of the main answers agreed which were unconstructive things about an opening sequence - whereas the music used, real life situations, sudden expectations and mysterious surroundings were some of the answers given which people were fond of in opening sequences. We have therefore took all of this into account, and although we are going to keep our film idea the same, we are going to make sure the music we use is suitable and not make the opening sequence too extensive or unrealistic.  

Focus Group

This is a focus group where we filmed three people discussing what they think should be included in a crime-thriller film. We managed to get people who are the actual age of our target audience for the film, which is 15+ to get an improved understanding about what as individuals they think about the genre - we accomplished this through asking a series of open questions. To put this video together we collected all the technical equipment needed beforehand and then after we had asked all the questions, the filming was uploaded onto final cut where it was then edited.

Audience Questionnaires

We created severall questionares to hand out to people who generally fit into our film's target audience, this is good help as we can get a better understanding as to what people think of our film idea and good or bad we may be able to change our idea slightly pre-production. There is some basic information asked such as name,age and gender - this is to make sure they fitted into our targeted audience category. We then layed out a brief description of our opening sequence, and from that asked a series of both open and closed questions referring back to our description. Below, is a copy of our questionnaire results, which  was then scanned and uploaded to a prezi.

Description Of Target Audience

Identifying the target audience is essential when basing an opening sequence around them. Below is a detailed description of our target audience.

Age - 15+
Gender - Female/Male
Social Demographic - Working class
Occupation - Student at college/university
Hobbies and interests - a standard day to day female/male who enjoys socialising and going out with friends in their spare time. Attending parties on the weekends and regularly going to the cinema. They are dedicated and enthusiastic in terms of their education and work hard to achieve their full potential at college/university. She/he would be interested in regular stuff such as going to concerts, keeping up-to-date with fashion etc.
Style - She/he likes to follow trend in order to ‘fit in’ and they take care of their appearance.
Personality - An outgoing, bubbly character who has a good sense of humor, but can also be serious when convenient. They are friendly, and doesn’t judge a book by its cover. While accepting everyone is different, they will be conscious of situations around them, refusing to be influenced by other peoples decision making. She/he would be quite sensible and aware of the line between what is right and wrong when acting upon things.
Media Grouping - Their favourite films will be jumpy, crime orientated films. She/he will watch these to receive a ‘buzz’ but at the same time to understand the actions that are/are not acceptable in a modern society. They will however watch ordinary television, soaps such as hollyoaks but also entertaining television like x-factor.
What audience theory’s will the film offer? - The Uses and Gratifications Theory is an approach to understand why people seek out specific media content for different purposes. Blumler & Katz suggested that a text must ‘gratify an audience’s needs’. This could include a series of different needs such as offering the audience information, entertainment, education, social interaction and personal identity.
 

Information: Satisfying curiosity and general interest, for self-education which they could gain a sense of security through knowledge.
Entertainment: To escape, or be diverted from problems. To get emotional release or just general enjoyment.
Education: To gain a better understanding into situations, understanding the bigger picture.
Social Interaction: Gaining an insight into circumstances of others, to gain a sense of their own belonging. To find a basis for conversation, while having a substitute for real-life companionship.
Personal Identity: To look at different models of behaviour, which would enable them to gain an insight into themselves. But also to find a reinforcement for personal values.


Our opening sequence and film plan on offering these needs to our target audience. They will gain information and self education on how to behave and react in certain situations. This will help them to look at the bigger picture. By watching a situation which somebody else is in, they will be able to relate this to themselves and think about what they would do given they were the character. This would stimulate interaction, as a basis for conversation. I think the main need that our film will promote is personal identity. This is because they will be able to look at different models of behaviour (the old man thinking it is acceptable to keep the young girl) and again relate this to the behaviour of themselves. They will learn what is acceptable and what is wrong, this will reinforce their personal values.

Group Opening Sequence

1) Exactly what is going to happen on screen.

•  The opening sequence will have a linear narrative. It will therefore begin with the man having a ‘loving’ meal.
•  The camera will be focusing on the table and its arrangement.
•  About 7 seconds into the scene, the mans hand will gradually come down to light the final candle.
•  The camera doesn’t move, the hand is just now in view.
•  The man will start to speak, however the camera will still not have moved, we can only hear his voice in the background.
•   He picks up the knife and fork which is laying also on the table, and we see his arm elevate away from the camera.
•  When he realises he has forgot to play the music his hand comes back down. an
• The camera gradually lifts to see him push a button on an old radio player.
•  The music starts to play at this moment and the credits fade on top of the scene.
•  The camera steadily moves up (over the shoulder shot) to the man until finally we are in contact with his face. At first the camera is shaky but it soon finds its place and is at a standstill.
•   The man starts to have a conversation and the camera is looking directly at him.
•  He then goes to pick up a bottle of wine wish is centered likewise on the table, the camera follows his arm down the table and afterwards a fade-in-fade-out is used.

The location changes

•  The camera is still focusing on him pouring the wine and the music is still playing.
•  The man looks exactly at the camera, and then it comes off the tripod and is a handheld shot.
•  It slowly rises and more credits are shown on top of the scene.
• The camera finally pans around the setting until it is eventually in contact with the girl who is tied up.
•  The final credits are shown as the scene slowly fades out.

2) Sketches and rough ideas of how the credits are going to look.

Although the font cannot be exact to how it is going to be shown on screen, here are some rough drawings of how we want the credits to come into sight. We want an old-fashioned style font and have already agreed, a similar one to ‘Zapfino’ from LiveType will be appropriate. This is because we wanted our film to be based not in the present tense, as mid to late 1900s is the time era our film revolves around. The credits will be faded onto the scene and be a bold black font, we thought this would have a better effect, as the audience will be watching throughout, instead of a cut away to the text being shown on a blank screen. As a result the tense atmosphere will be present throughout.

3) Ideas for the music/sound.
It is essential that we get the music and the sound of the opening sequence precise; referring back to our questionnaires the majority of the people thought the music was the most imperative factor. Although we haven’t decided on the specific song we are going to use throughout the duration, we have agreed that the music is going to be slow, comforting and fairly soft. This is because we want the audience to have a reverse feeling to what is actually happening on screen, so when the location does transform it is unexpected, meaning narrative enigma will be created a lot more effectively.

Group Film Idea

Title of Film:

Genre of the Film: Crime/Thriller.

Age rating of the film: 15+

Characters:

There will be two main characters throughout the film, and one of these being Jane. She is a white 17-year-old girl who is from a standard working class background. She is currently studying her a-levels at school, with a part time job being a waitress in a neighbouring restaurant. She has a strong personality, but also a very reserved person when put in a situation she is not familiar with. Her role within our opening sequence is restricted but effective. She is merely going to be tied up to a chair, with tape around her mouth. She will be struggling, and we will see tears roll down her cheek. This is the point in which the opening sequence will bring to a close.

The other key character will be an old man. His identity is kept quiet, and as his name isn’t revealed. He is also white, and around 45 but from a middle class background. He doesn’t socialise and lives by himself in his house; the audience has no real perceptive about his background, or of his family. However it is evident that he enjoys playing chess and frequently reads. During the opening sequence he will be sitting at the dinner table, smartly dressed and acting like he is enjoying himself. He will be having a conversation with someone, and the camera will be focusing on only him and the table up until the remaining 15 seconds of the sequence. We are kept in the dark about his profession, but as he is always dressed in branded suits we assume he has a well-paid job.

I will be acting out Jane, as there is no talking involved it will be a reasonably simple role to play, this will also work better as I have a set understanding of how I want the scene to look which might be complicated to explain to another actor.
A close family friend, who is enthusiastic to act will play the old man, however we have considered a second actor in case he fails to do so.

Location/Setting:

Our opening sequence will consist of two different locations. The first scene will be in a spacious dining room, where a small circular table will be centred. There will be picture frames in the background, and the romantic atmosphere will be set. However, the second setting will be either in a forest or a deserted building, this is where the whole mood of the opening sequence will transform for the audience.

Storyline:

Beginning – the opening sequence will start with Jane and the man having a ‘loving’ meal, the audience will presume that the genre of this film is associated around romance. However, when he pours the wine into a glass, there is a black out and the location changes. The man is still having dinner with someone, although with the music playing the mood of the scene changes. The camera pans around to see that actually the person he is sharing dinner with is a young girl tied up. From the beginning a chain of narrative enigma is created, the audience doesn’t understand why the man is smartly dressed, set out a table full of roses, is having a conversation and acting so natural in a situation which is visibly disturbing.

Middle – the main part of the storyline will be revolved around the girl and her escaping. As she doesn’t remember how or why she has been held captive she starts to get flashbacks of where she was when it happened. She meets another one of the man’s victims, and together they secretly plot how they are going to free themselves. The old man starts to get angry that he does not threaten the two young girls anymore, and he starts to plot something, which will make them regret this.

End – One of the girls pretend to have a fit, and the other screams at the old man to get water. As his intention wasn’t to kill them, just make ‘friends’ he gets anxious and bothered at this situation. He then goes onto have a panic attack as he realises what he has actually done. The girl persuades him to untie her so she can get water for her friend, and as he genuinely believes she is in danger he unwisely agrees to this. She obviously gets away, but when she returns with the police and her family, the old man has hung himself from the tree and the other girl isn’t there anymore..

Initial Ideas

Anaysis of Reservoir Dogs (1992) Opening Sequence

This is the opening sequence for the well- known thriller film "Resevoir Dogs", it is just over 2 minutes long and just under half of the whole sequence is a black screen with just the cast and crew information.

Sound
Throughout the whole of the clip there is a Non-Digetic song played which is "Little Green Bag" by The George Baker Selection. The song is upbeat and fits in with the crew walking down the road, also you get the impression that the film might be a happy storyline, however this is the polar-opposite as to what the film is actually like. There is a short voiceover in the opening seconds of the clip, the deep voiced man says "it's just somebody else wanting to be in with the partridge family, it is hard to workout what the character means by what he is saying, but the chances are that he was one of the men that were sitting down at the table. There is no actuall dialouge in the opening sequence.

Colour

The coulour scheme for the credit sequence is a black backround and orange font writing, the font stands out on the backround, as well as when they are introducing the actors when the characters are walking. The colours of the setting are of a bright, sunny mild day, this isn't exactlly emplying anything apart from the fact that it is just a normall scene.

Mise-En-Scene
The film is set in Los Angeles, this is a good area, but the area is often associated with criminal activity, you get the sense that these men fit in with the setting, and the fact that most of the men are dressed in suits suggests that they are in some of gang or associated with crime, this is something which occurs in the film. The suits that the majority of the men are wearing is a conventional colour which is linked with gangs around the time period of which the film is set in, it also makes the men look rich and powerful. Some of the men are smoking, this is also something which adds to their "gangster" image, and some are wearing sunglasses this is as they are trying to look cool and impressive.
The majority of the men have a serious facial expression, but some are smiling, this could be to signify the different personalities in the group, that some are more easy  going than others and some feel like they have always got a reputation to live up to.

Camera & Editing

The camera and editing used for the opening sequence is rather basic, however this could be down to the year  the film was produced (1992). The main editing technique what you pick up on is when the group are walking, slow motion is used, it makes the men seem cool, and this is something which has been replicated in alot of more recent films. The slow motion alows you to see the characters for longer, and get in the actors names which is shown underneath when they are shown. Close up shots are used to show the characters facial expressions, something which can tell you alot about a characters personality. A tracking shot is used to follow the men as they are walking, and shows them as they walk of into the distance, this could be to imply that they are going to do some sort of job.

The opening sequence does not show enough to say if there is any dominant ideologies or not, and there is some conventional opening sequence elements such as introduction to characters, cast and crew information and credits. You do not get a clear indication of what the genre of the film is, but you can tell that the film will be about crime and gangsters, an example of something which gives you this indication is that the men are wearing black suits.

In conclusion i feel that this opening sequence is good, howvever is does'nt really give away much about what the film is going to about, or really what genre it is. It does have some conventional elements for an opening sequence, but not as many as you would expext. The film is an all time classic however and one of the most notable thriller films of all time.

Analysis of "Se7en" (1995) Opening Sequence

This is the opening sequence for the thriller film "Se7en", produced by Arnold Kopelson, which came out in 1995.

Sound


In the clip, there is both digetic and non-digetic sound used. There is digetic sound used throughout the clip, such as hearing the scribblingof a pen and turning of pages, this is scary and adds alot of tension and suspense, something of which is supposed to be in a thriller film. From the digetic sound, you get the idea that this is a thriller film otherwise it would look out of place using scary and mysterious sound for example a comedy film. The non-digetic sound in the film is "an uncredited remix of the nine inch nails song", the song is of high suspense, but it's played underneath the digetic sound so both the sounds can be heard. The song also goes at a higher pitch when the man turns the page of  a book, this is a stereotypical element of a thriller/horror film which is often used as it builds suspense and tension to the scene. Aswell, when cast and crew information comes up on the screen, there is non-digetic sound which is like a light flickering this fits well with the style of text used and how the text flickers on and off the screen.

Colour

The general colour scheme for the opening sequence is black and white, this makes the person in the scene seem like a mysterious character, again it also leads you to believe that it is a thriller film and it has a dark and deep storyline to it, your normall, everyday person would not need to been shown in black and white. There is red used, is like a blood splatter, this signifies that the person in the scene could be a convicted murderer or could be involved in some type of crime. The fact that the only colours in the clip are black white and red is significant, its almost saying that there is only one ending in the film, and that is there will be blood. After the person's face is crossed out, the screen turns to blood red, this could mean that he has already fell victim.

Mise-En-Scene

From the shots used you cannot tell where the film is set, so you cannot say whether or not the location effects the activities what the man is doing. There is no indication given as to why this person is scribbling out people's faces and parts of text, other than the fact that he/she may be plotting against these people. From my own knowledge i know that crossing people's faces out and lines of texts is something which is done by cereal killers and if you are stalking someone so this is certainly a probability as to what the man is doing. The fact that we only see the person's hand in the whole clip is significant as he's identity is not given away which is more of a thriller element.



Camera & Editing 


The majority of the camera shots used are close-up's of what the person is crossing out and of the things he is putting together. There is a lot of short jump cuts used, this signifies the time change, but as they are only short cuts you know that the person is still working on the same project. The Cast and Crew information flickers on and off the screen like a flash, it fits with the genre of the film, and it's jumpy, just as the film will make the audience jump and be hesitant.

There are many conventional elements used in this opening sequence, such as using the film company logo, and showing Cast and Crew information. I feel that genre of the film is shown clearly in the opening sequence, you can tell that it is a thriller film by the sound (both digetic and non-digetic), the colours used (Red, Black, White) and what seems to be a collage that the person is putting together has a thriller type stalker feeling towards it.
I think that the audience reception to this opening sequence is that they will feel that it is a film that puts you on edge and that it will be rather gory and have some mild horror elements to it.

Analysis of "Catch Me If You Can" Opening Sequence

The opening sequence of catch me if you can is animated cartoonish, and everything is portrayed in a stick man-like world.

Colour

The colours used in the clip are very bright and vibrant, colours like light blue and orange, this makes the audience feel that the main character in the stick man scene lives a rich and lavish lifestyle. The characters in the scene are black stick men; this is of course because this is the normal blunt colour often used for stick men, but the fact that they are all black stick men gives some edge to the story and leaves unanswered questions as to why the director has decided to do this. The pink at 1 minute 52 seconds implies the feminist that is in the room, but again it makes the characters seem more upper class.

Sound

There is non-diegetic music used throughout the clip, it is a jaws like soundtrack but without the fast paced “da-DA-da-DA” it helps to build up tension, and when the main character turns his head (40 seconds) the music goes at a higher pitch, creating more tension, as it gives you feeling that the man is being followed. There is no actual dialogue or diegetic sound in the opening sequence, this helps add to the fact that they are living in a stick man world.

Mise-En-Scene
The setting for the clip is of course not a real place, but it is supposed to be Los Angeles as you later see in the film. It is a good area where a lot of the rich and famous live, as the man is there you get the sense that he fits in with these people and is one of them himself.
The fact that he is wearing a suit gives you the impression that he’s a man of high importance or holds a good job.
The man also is at the airport at the start of the clip, and animated planes suggest that he has just been on one, this implies that the man is always on the move for his business, something which is true if you watch the whole film.
There is a man reading a newspaper, he then turns and looks at the main character as if he is spying on the man, this implies that the main character is being watched and followed, something which is also found out to be true in the film.
The man seems to fit in and blend into everywhere, for example he is in a hospital and he then finds a doctors uniform as a disguise.
He also seems to live a lavish lifestyle as at one point he is swimming in champagne.

Camera & Editing

The same shot length, medium/long shots are used throughout the whole opening sequence, this is because there are often things happening in the backround which the director wants you to see. Furthermore there would be no real benifit for using close-up shots on actors as they are stick men and they have no emotions on their faces. There are many tracking shots used to follow the main character as he is always moving on to different places.

The arrows under the characters names, pointing to the characters shows which actors are playing the characters, this will draw in an audience as they are top drawer actors such as Leonardo Dicaprio and Tom Hanks who are world wide famous. This is of course an un-conventional opening sequence as it's stick-men animation, this is something which i have never seen before for an opening sequence. It does still have some conventions however such as production logos aswell as cast and crew info.

In conclusion I feel that this is a very good opening sequence, and I really like the “stick man world” as it’s unique and very Interesting. The fact that everything is like this implies that the whole thing is like a game to the main character. The opening sequence personally makes me want to watch the whole film as it’s very interesting therefore I feel that that this a very good opening sequence.

Conventions Of Opening Sequences

There are many conventions of an opening sequence, which will typically be seen in many film opening sequences, in particular A-list big budget films which are produced by the biggest film companies and have the ability to add in expensive special effects.In some films, the opening sequence is the most important part of the film, a good example of this is the James Bond films, they are known for the fast paced action sequence which all of their films will have, they are gripping and draw the attention of the audience. 

The first convention which is often seen in a opening sequence is an institutional logo, there could be more than one shown if the film is made by numerous companies. They are used because the audience will see straight away if the film has been produced by a big company, the audience will then get the feeling that the film will be good. A company logo is a vital component for an opening sequence. 


Something which is a must for an opening sequence is the Film title, to tell the audience what they are actually watching. This is a screen grab from the opening sequence of "Resevoir Dogs" one of the most well known Thriller films of all time.  The film title doesn't exactly need to be at the start or the end of the trailer, as long as it is in there at some point of the film. 

There may also be some credits shown which shows cast and crew info and the actors which are in the film, this is useful as if there is a A-list actors such as Morgan Freeman or Brad Pitt people will want to see the film as they might like the actors alot. Here is an example from the film "Catch Me If You Can", this is an unconventional opening sequence, but this screen grab shows an arrow pointing the character who is played by the world famous actor "Leonardo DiCaprio".  





                     This is an example of some of the Cast and Crew info which is shown in the "Casino Royale" opening sequence. This is something that i feel my group should put in our opening sequence as it will make the trailer look more professional. Cast and Crew is something which its good to be included, but it's not really one of the most important conventions towards a successful opening sequence.




Introducing the characters is something which is very important to an opening sequence, it sets the tone for the rest of the film. If for example there is a fight scene, the audience will expect to see this throughout the film or they might end up being disappointed.  In reverse if the opening sequence is dull and boring, the audience might be be put off the film and not what to watch any more. Some characters will be frequently shown in the opening sequence if they are the protagonist or one of the main characters, the audience will then immediately expect them to often be shown throughout.                                                                                                                          

 I analysed the first two minutes of the Goodfellas opening sequence, it's a good example of introducing the characters as you see that they are very violent, the audience will expect to see this for the rest of the fillm. This trailer will draw in a particular target audience of those who like action and are into the"Gangster" genre.    
                                                                                       

In conclusion, there are many different conventions of a film opening sequence, it's important to stick to the conventions and have a gripping opening sequence so that the audience will want be interested in the film and therefore want to watch the rest of the it. There is of course a lot of films where the opening sequence may not have much action apart from the credits and a small introduction to the characters, like the "Reservoir Dogs" opening sequence, however it is still iconic, and one of which has tried to be replicated many times.   

Research Into Genre

There are many typical conventions of the the thriller genre such as quick cuts and tension building music. Good examples of thriller films are "Reservoir Dogs (1992)" and  "The Dark Knight (2008)".

In thrillers, the audience are often made to feel sorry for the protagonsit as they are shown to have a happy life but then something goes terribly wrong, an example of this is in the Batman film, the protagonist (Bruce Wayne) lives a happy childhood, and his parents are multi-millionares, however his parents are murdered and this is where he gets the idea to become a crime fighter.

Typical colours that are used in Thriller films are dark colours what will make a scene look dull and boring, yet they make you think that soemthing bad is going to happen. As you see from the poster, dark colours are used, it makes the scene look gloomy and that nothing good will come of it.
Typical props for a thriller film will be mostly  guns and weapons, generally anything that will cause damage to someone. As you see from the "Reservoir Dogs" poster, there are two men pointing guns at each other, this signifies that there will be gun fights frequently featured in the film.
It depends what the sub genre is (Horror, Crime, etc.) as to what characters costumes will be, as an example, it's a Horror thriller, characters may be wearing ragged, blood stain clothes to signify that they have been in some sort of attack. Or if it were to be a Crime Thriller, some characters may be wearing police uniform and some characters might wear normal clothes to signify that they are ordinary people.

There are many different Actors who are well-known for featuring in Thriller films including; Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Mark Wahlberg and Liam Neeson. all of the listed actors are the steretypical white, strong heroes who are
Conventional thriller directors are Alfred Hitchcock, Quentin Tarrentino and Ridely Scott, between them they have produced some of the best thriller films ever including; Alien, Reservoir  Dogs, American Gangster, Pulp Fiction and Psycho.
Companies who frequently produce thriller films are Warner Bros., Universal Studio and Paramount Pictures, these companies are some of the biggest across Hollywood and have the ability to produce big budget A-list films.

Thriller films can be based on many different themes, but general themes are revenge, hatred, murder, criminal activity and unexplained events.
The typical audience for thriller films are males aged 18-50 who enjoy action and like being on the edge. They offer escapism to the audience, someone can watch a thriller film and be cut of from the world for an hour or so.

Preliminary Task Evaulation

I felt that the group filming went well, and it was a good effort for first time filming. In my opinion the hardest part my finding the ideas of what to film, but once we had the idea it was rather simple.

The editing was to a good standard and ended up looking good, i feel that with practice and getting used to the filming, we will end up having good editing for our own film opening sequence.

The main problem we encountered was actually coming up with the ideas of what we were going to film and who would actually be in the scene, this meant that we didn't have as much time as we would have liked to do the filming.

I feel that the strengths of the prelim was that once we had the idea as to what we were going to film, we were able to film quickly and proficiently, everything fell into place. We found people who were willing to be in the clip, something which will be a massive help when we begin to film our opening sequence.

Something that i can take for next time we film is the different camera shots and editing techniques which we included in our clip, now it won't take as long to do, and it's likely that the quality of the shots and editing will be of a higher standard.

something what we can improve on for next is to be more decisive and come up with ideas quicker, i felt that we spent a little too much time on coming up with what we wanted to film, time which we could have spent improving it overall, that time could prove costly when we are filming our opening sequence and the last thing we want to do is end up rushing it. So time management is probably the thing we need to work on the most.

Preliminary Filming Task