Film opening ideas ...

I've recently been looking online at other AS media students work for inspiration for our film opening, here are some that I find interesting ...

Film opening Ideas ...

what ... what ... what ... what ...  

Here are some of the most popular Teen films

Most of these films are romcoms, however the majority of the films were made before the 21st Century
I consider action fantasy and horror to be The most popular genre of films in the 21st Century watched by Teens

I decided to do some research on current films

most of the genres of these films are Horror, action and fantasy. With the equipment we have and small budget I think the easiest and most entertaining films to create are horror.

Here are Some popular horror films I will look at for inspiration 

Research of Sound and Music used in Teen Film Openings

Research from teen movies and music used

Superman 1978

 

Here is an example of music used in a teen film opening. The type of music used in the opening of the film 'Superman' is very 'heroic' and uplifting, it is almost like a warm welcoming to the audience watching. It is also very obvious in terms of showing what genre the film is. The music helps with the emotions, as they are expressed through the type of music. 

As the titles are introduced there are sound effets used on each title to add to that 'heroic' approach to the film. 

  

2. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The music used in this opening is a song that is very 'edgy' and gives a kick of toughness. This is an indicator that the film will have some action, which gives away the genre.

Compared to Superman's film opening the music seems to be less reassuring in this one in the sense that it is quite a loud and 'in-your-face' kind of song. 



3. Panic Room

The music used in this opening sequence reveals that something unexpected and unusual is going to happen, also the tension builds as the music progresses. again, through the music we can guess the genre, in this case, the film appears to be a Drama and possibly a Thriller.

conventions we expect to see in a teen drama title sequence

Quick Recap - conventions to a teen drama title sequence.

Location 
School
House
Social hang out
corridors
Characters 
Misfit
Pushy parents
teachers
Bully
Weirdo
Props
phone
laptop
books
bag
drugs/alcohol
make-up
Cars
Costume 
Trainers
Boots
Mini skirt
trainers
jeans
leggings
low cut tops
crop tops
baseball jackets
denim jackets
leather jackets

The Original Breakfast Club and Shot by Shot remake Comparison

The Original Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club Remake 

Comparing the Breakfast Club Shot by Shot Remake side by side to the Original film, is a little embarrassing, Seeing the quality difference between the two projects is a little frighting. I don't think we captured the true essence of the SHOT BY SHOT REMAKE task, as we could of done more to try and recreate the opening accurately. I think our project show's we understood the story line and attempted to recreate it but I think our quality could of been better.

Thing's we could have done to improve our project

Added Titles 

Emphasised the begging of the remake and minimised the focus on the end 

Added the Company indent and David Bowie quote

Focus a little more on costume and character, making it clearer who each character was

Focus more on the shot types.

Overall I thought our remakes was decent, however next time we could be a little more focused on the objective. 

Sound!

So i have been searching the interwebs and browsing through stacks loads of music, because i have realised JUST how important it is! And lemme tell you...it is VERY important. Music is another one of yet the oh-so-many elements of a film that manipulate your emotions to make you feel something and without it, it may just feel like something is missing. So here are some different music tracks that i found for the many emotions that we as humans feel.

Here is 30 minutes of soft music which would calm and relax the audience.



Here is some intense music which will make the audience feel tense and anxious.


 Happy music to make the audience feel GOOD.



Music is SO SO SO important when it comes to a film. It has the power to set a mood and heighten emotions, that's why when it comes to our film opening we will make sure we find the perfect music. There is also another problem with the music here which is some of it is copyrighted, therefore unless rights to it our gained it cannot be used. So when researching sound for our film it will have to be copyright free, which will be difficult considering it is a teen film and teens listen to popular music but we'll figure it out.

Tracks that I could work with…

• Researching Music and Sound for our film openings has been one of my favourite tasks I've done so far, as I thought it was pretty cool how sound could change the context of a clip.

So the first sound that I like was happy house music. This type of music could be used in the opening of a summer/spring break sort oF teen drama for example: SPRINGBREAKERS

The next track I've chosen is a R&B/Hip Hop  which I believe will be suitable for a teenage romance films such as 'A Cinderella Story'.



My third track reminded me of something sinister and abnormal so I think it could go really well will a fantasy/sci-fi film such as 'Twilight' or 'The Mortal Instruments'





My final track I've chosen is something I think can really work well with an indie teen drama film such as 'Submarine'

Sound used in teen film

I have been doing some research on what sound is used in teen films and teen films openings and here it was i found.

Teen films usually have soundtracks that use popular music that teens will recognise and associate with. This is because of the conventional themes, locations and characters in teen film. For example in teen films characters would be in the car or at a party. These are places where music is extremely important and also shows how much music is associated with teenagers. 

The bling ring for example used the hit Kanye west song 'Power'.

 

Other example of songs in films are...

From Mean girls, Milkshake by Kelis

From Pitch Perfect, Don't Stop the Music by Rihanna

 

From a Cinderella Story, To Make You Feel My Love by Adele

Opening Sequences for Three Teen Dramas

I have to say that most (ALL) of these movies are comdey based. But they do feature awesome title sequences!

 

 

 

The type of sound that could be identified in this clip is non diegetic (sound which is added during post production) as it's a peice of music that's used throughout the opening. Obviously, the piece of sound goes along with the clip as the two main characters (I'm assuming... Though I know it's them!) are dancing around to the music. Due to the type of film (that being comedy), the creators decided to use something upbeat and fun which allows the audience to understand that the film would probably feature similar elements. 

 



 

 

Again, the same upbeat tone is used here (that being non diegetic). As the title sequence is quite quick, it would make sense for the music to be at similar pace. In addition, the music is used to allow the audience come to terms with the type of movie they'll be watching, a comedy.

 



 

The use of sound is used differently as it appears to be a diegetic sound (sound on set) as the members of the band play their music. But this could have been 'imporved' during post production so the sound could have a clean finish to it. The type of music that's used here is indie music which obviously tells the audience that the movie will have an indie outtake, that being slightly darker etc than a usual teen movie.

 

CONCLUSION: Analysing all three title sequeces it's pretty clear that the sound during the title sequence is important as it sets the tone for the film, allowing the audience to come to terms with the type of movie they'll be viewing. On that note, the sound of music could change the tone of the film too. For example, if you were to put a more of a 'gangsta' beat to 'Superbad' then people would assume the film would have more of an urban feel to it.

The type of music that was heard during the three title squences were usually fun and uplifting so I'm guessing that's usually the type of music you're expected to listen out for as the teenage years are our happy years (for the majority of us, anyway). 

 



Final cut pro vs Camtasia

Throughout the process of creating trailers , remakes and short films I have been using two  different editing software's to edit my footage. I think its about time to review both editing software's and tell you my opinion on what I like best.

Camtasia 

I think Camtasia is the easiest software to use , its basic and focuses more on animation,  you can use a variety of emotions on the screen and the layout of Camtasia is colourful big and bold and it's clear to see where everything is. One of my favourite things about Camtasia is the screen recording device which final cut pro doesn't have, the screen recording device enables you to create a new type of video where the audience is not only able to see your reaction but in addition see the content your watching.

Here a tutorial I made about the basics of using Camtasia,  ironically I used Camtasia to record and edit this .

This video has no sound it's just visual.

Advantages 

You don't have to convert the footage from the flip cam

Available on other laptops and computers not just apple mac

video recording software

Cheaper on mac's

Disadvantages 

Your limited with the amount of things you can do 

You can't  'in' and 'out' your clip you have to just keeping trimming in timeline

no filters

harder to adjust audio

Final cut pro 

I think final cut pro is the more advanced software, the layout is very scary it looks very technical and there are many tabs and options.  Once you get your head around that, you realise that this editing software has alot to offer and there is so much you can do . One of my favourite things about this software which Camtasia don't have is filters, you can place a filter over the video clip making it look sharper, blurry or fuzzy ect.  

Here is a video explaining the basics of final cut pro

Advantages 

You can unlink the video and audio making it easier to edit

You can create split screens easily 

you can use Filters 

you can use a range of audio and video transitions

software is more popular so there's more online tutorials, tips and tricks for this software

Disadvantages 

Only able to use on apple mac's

Can't use certain video formats 

I prefer final cut pro because I feel like the software gives me more options and more versatility. I like using Camtasia for editing vlogs and short videos but for big projects such as trailers final cut pro is better because it's more advanced .

What do people online say ?

Copyright Free Submarine sound

COPYRIGHT EXPLAINED

3) We all decided to go with a simple mellow piano piece of music because the clip was rather simple and didn't consist any dramatic movements/actions so it was the best option to keep things safe and simple. The tone of music allowed the clip to take a dramatic and serious tone as if the piece of music is informing the audience what type of movie it's going to be.

Concept behind Creative Commons:

The concept behind Creative Commons is to offer a range of different media whether it be images, music or videos which are Copyright FREE from a selection of different organizations (YouTube,Flickr, Jamendo…). 

It's very simple to use Creative Commons, there is an option below the Search bar to pick whether you want media for commercials or to even modify and adapt! 

First you select the website you wish to find the media, then as you type what genre of music you would like for instance, it will take you to that website and show a list of music of that specific genre, clever and simple!

In conclusion Creative Commons is a website offering selections of media from organisations such as YouTube and Flickr in order for people to use Copyright Free music or video and use it as their own. Creative Commons is just a quicker way to find good media suited to a person and can find almost anything! 

Cons of the shot by shot remake

Whilst Planning , editing and Filming the Breakfast Club shot by shot remake, I discovered some Issues that I was able to acknowledge and reflect on. I decided to make a short Final cut Pro project to document them.  

The Music in this Video is used for educational purposes.

Shot by shot remake comparison with original version

I would say our breakfast club remake went pretty well overall. We were able to imitate the types of shots used and what the shots were of easily. We used titles at the beginning of our remake just like in the original version and had shots of the school with the voiceover as non-diagetic sound. We were able to imitate exactly what was said in the voiceover as we found the script online. We then showed the teens arriving to school and were able to remake the scenes with dialogue. Although all of this went well, there were a few mistakes made. For instance we forgot to add the company ident at the beginning of our remake. There should have been the universal logo at the beginning. Apart from this the only other improvements that could of been made, were to improve the quality of our remake by making the cuts more precise in editing and raising the volume of the sound. 

Overall i would say i'm pretty happy with the outcome though!

Opening sequence for three films

The opening of a film is extremely important, as it shows the audience 

the genre of the film and what kind of conventions could be in the film.

Sound has a major contribution in the film's opening as it sets the scene and can foreshadow the events yet to come.  I have chosen to look at three very different films from different genres appealing to different target audiences, this is to look at the type of sound which is used in the start of their film openings , and what impact that sound has  made to the film. 

City of God

The City of god is a Brazilian crime drama 

created in 2002, Unlike most big films the actor's in the film didn't speak

English so English speaking viewers who watched the

film had to read the subtitles , which is why sound is 

a massive part of this film.  The sound in the start of the film's opening is dignetic , the 

sound comes from the noise made in the film the sounds in the film opening helps the audience 

to understand the location and get a better feel of the genre of film.  

People aged +18 would be interested in this film

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

 

Lemony Snicket comes under the genre of 

Fantasy, Comedy, Family and Adventure, The Target 

audience for this film is Children and teen's so the sound in this movie would be much 

more  family orientated.  There is a soundtrack at the start of the clip it has an Indian sound  

to it,  it's like a magical mysterious journey,   the sound at the start of this clip is instrumental. 

People aged +13 would be interested in this film

Austin Powers: International man of mystery. 

Austin Power's 'International man of mystery' is just one of many films in the Austin Powers series.  Austin Power's target audience is aimed more at adults with his provocative comment s and adult humour. In the films opening there's a preppy dance along soundtrack , this in non diegetic sound as it was incorporated in production, however It seems like the music is diegetic , even though the music wasn't diegetic there is diegetic sound in the opening, with the screaming . There is also dialogue between the main character and the crowd and there is use of a foley to enhance the noise in the clip such as the crowd. 

People aged +15 would be interested in this film

The Breakfast Club: Shot-By-Shot Remake

New Skills, Programmes and Technology learnt during the remake:

Lauren: I have learnt how to edit during a short amount of time, so as to get things done quickly and efficiently. I have also learnt how to problem solve and make do, due to the lack of props and budget!

Maya: I have learnt how to manage my time better and I have also learnt how to improvise as we were short of props and were not completely prepared. 

Esther: During the process of filming I have learnt how to direct and pitch in ideas and also, because we didn't have enough time we were left the only option to recreate one of the characters' entering the scene. 

Danniella: I have learn't that you should ALWAYS check the footage after filming regardless of how 'long' that may be, as you could discover during editing that a lot of the footage is not usable.  

Challenges?

Lauren: It was challenging to edit the remake in a short amount of time and still keep the remake at good quality. It was also challenging to replicate some of the scenes in the opening to the breakfast club as there were not the same props and facilities available.

Maya: I found the preparation and gathering props most challenging as we didn't have time in order to decide what exactly we wanted to have as props. Also, editing was quite a challenge because there were many clips to put in order to resemble the sequence of the film. 

Esther: It was challenging during filming in school hours as we had to face a lot of disruption whilst recording the voice over and the actual film. It was difficult to get the different shot types as we didn't use a script; so we would say one thing in one shot and then a different thing in a different shot. This made our footage harder to edit. 

Danniella: I though working as a team was quite challenging, as we had to take it in turns to film, edit and update the blog. I think giving each person a specific role would have been much easier, however working as a team gave everyone an equal chance to try different things and develop their skills.

OUR BREAKFAST CLUB SHOT BY SHOT REMAKE!

The Breakfast Club Editing

Once we gathered enough footage, we saved them all onto our video drive so it could be edited later on. Then uploaded all the clips onto Final Cut Pro and began to order the clips according to the movie sequence. 

Firstly, we  were looking through all the useful footage for our shot by shot remake, this took some time as there was a lot to go through. 

Looking through the clips, we already came to a prediction that the editing process was going to be difficult because as we only used one camera, we captured the scenes at different angles it was hard to edit as we had to match the clips so the piece flowed seamlessly. 

We also had difficulties with editing because when we looked back at the footage a lot of it was out of focus (how annoying!).  We had to use a smaller amount of the shot as we still wanted to use it and there was nothing we could do about it (belch :|)

We used a variation of match cut; when Lauren's character was forced to move away from her scene. In addition, cross cut was used too which made our footage look slightly clumsy but we wanted to show things were moving on quickly. 


Diegetic sound, Non-diegetic sound and voiceover were the sounds       that we used. For example the dialogue (Diegetic) and the song 'Don't Forget About Me' (Non-diegetic).  With the music we allowed it to fade once the opening scene started (just like in the movie) 

The Breakfast Club Filming

During the filming of 'The Breakfast Club'… 

We decided it would be best if we worked back to front, recording the last few scenes than going in actual order. The reason for this decision is because we thought it would be best to get all the hard things done first and then (due to the lack of timing) and then worry about the order during the editing process. 

Of course before we started filming, we watched the opening scene once more so we could have a clear idea of what was happening as well as known what was in the scene. 

Then, we analysed the different characters and their personalities through the costumes they wore as well as props used. 

Firstly, we went to film the car scenes because we thought it was the most difficult thing to film. We had to improvise and use small toy cars, however, to make them look somewhat real we zoomed in so it took up most space on the screen. 

Even though the classroom scene wasn't the main focus of the intro  we still thought it was important to include as it was the scene where you see all of the characters together. 

Next, we moved onto the scenes inside the car (where the students are seen to be conversing with their parents and dropped off to the school).  During this process it came with great difficulty as the location wasn't exactly ideal (if only we could drive D=). 

The Breakfast Club Planning

Characters:

The Criminal- Bender (John) : will be played by Maya

The Athlete- Andrew will be played Esther and Andrew's father will be played Maya 

The Basketcase-  Allison will be played by Lauren 

The Princess- Claire will be played by Danniella and Claire's father will be played by Esther 

The Brain- Brian will be played by Lauren  Brian's mother will be played by Danniella and sister will be played Maya

As we are a group of girls, Danniella and I decided to make some of the characters more feminine as I way of making the opening our own. So some of the male characters will become...

*ANDREW: Andrea 

*BRIAN: Bria 

*JOHN: Joanna 

Script:
Danniella and I also thought it was important to understand the opening scene so we thought it would be a good idea to look at the opening scene on paper:

The Breakfast Club

Written and directed by

                         John Hughes

BLANK SCREEN:

     Against Black, TITLE CARD:

           "...and these children that you spit on,

as they try to change their worlds are

immune to your consultations.  They're

quite aware of what they're going through...

                                        - David Bowie"

     The Blank Screen and Title Card SHATTER to reveal...

1. EXT. SHERMER HIGH SCHOOL - DAY

     During Brian's monologue, we see various views of things

inside the school including Bender's locker.

                          BRIAN (VO)

               Saturday...March 24, 1984.  Shermer

               High School, Shermer, Illinois.

               60062.  Dear Mr. Vernon...we accept

the fact that we had to sacrifice a

whole Saturday in detention for

whatever it was that we did wrong,

what we did was wrong.  But we think

you're crazy to make us write this

essay telling you who we think we

are, what do you care?  You see us

as you want to see us...in the

simplest terms and the most

convenient definitions.  You see us

as a brain, an athelete, a basket

case, a princess and a criminal.

               Correct?  That's the way we saw each

other at seven o'clock this morning.

               We were brainwashed...

                                                  CUT TO:

2. INT. CLAIRE'S CAR - DAY

     We see CLAIRE and her FATHER sitting in their car in the

parking lot.

     Claire is the prom queen and is clearly a snob.

                            CLAIRE

               I can't believe you can't get me

out of this...I mean it's so absurd

               I have to be here on a Saturday!

               It's not like I'm a defective or

anything...

                       CLAIRE'S FATHER

               I'll make it up to you...Honey,

ditching class to go shopping

doesn't make you a defective.  Have

a good day.

     Claire rolls her eyes and gets out of the car and walks

up the school front steps

                                                  CUT TO:

3. INT. BRIAN'S CAR - DAY

     We are in BRIAN's car.  His MOTHER is there and so is

his little SISTER.  He is sort of a nerd.

                        BRIAN'S MOTHER

               Is this the first time or the last

time we do this?

                            BRIAN

                    (upset)

               Last...

                        BRIAN'S MOTHER

               Well get in there and use the time

to your advantage...

                            BRIAN

               Mom, we're not supposed to study; we

just have to sit there and do

nothing.

                        BRIAN'S MOTHER

               Well mister you figure out a way to

study.

                    BRIAN'S LITTLE SISTER

                    (annoyingly)

               Yeah!

                        BRIAN'S MOTHER

               Well go!

     Brian gets out of the car and walks towards the school.

                                                  CUT TO:

4. INT. ANDREW'S CAR - DAY

     We see ANDREW and his FATHER.  Andrew is clearly a jock;

he’s wearing a letterman’s jacket with lots of patches on it.

                       ANDREW'S FATHER

               Hey, I screwed around...guys screw

around, there's nothing wrong with

that.  Except you got caught, Sport.

                            ANDREW

               Yeah, Mom already reemed me, alright?

                       ANDREW'S FATHER

                    (angry)

               You wanna miss a match?  You wanna

blow your ride?  Now no school's

gonna give a scholarship to a

discipline case.

     Andrew gets out of the car and walks into the school.

                                                  CUT TO:

5. EXT. SHERMER PARKING LOT - DAY

     We see JOHN BENDER walking towards us.  He is wearing

sunglasses.  A car is coming towards him but he doesn't

stop walking.

     The car slams on its breaks directly in front of him.

     Bender gets out of the frame.  Out of the car steps

     ALLISON.  She is dressed all in black.  She steps

forward to look in the car's front window and the car

drives away.

                                                 CUT TO:

6. INT. LIBRARY - DAY

     There are six tables in two rows of three.

     Claire is sitting at the front table.  Brian comes in

and sits at the table behind her.

     Andrew comes in and points at the chair next to Claire

at the front table.  She shrugs and he sits there.

     In walks Bender, he touches everything on the checkout

desk and takes a few things in the process.

     He walks over to where Brian is sitting and points to

the table on the opposite side of the Library.  Brian

reluctantly gets up and moves.

     Bender sits at the table where Brian was and puts his

feet up.

     Allison walks in.  She walks all the way around the

library and sits in the back corner table, just behind

     Brian.

     Andrew and Claire look at each other and snicker.

     Brian looks at her in confusion and then turns away.

     Enter RICHARD VERNON, a teacher.  He holds a stack

of papers in his left hand.  He addresses the group with

such disrespect it makes you wonder how he ever got the

job.

                            VERNON

               Well...well.  Here we are!  I want

tocongradulate you for being on

time...

     Claire raises her hand.

                            CLAIRE

               Excuse me, sir?  I think there's

been a mistake.  I know it's

detention, but...um...I don't think

               I belong in here...

     Vernon doesn't care.  He just continues to talk.

                            VERNON

               It is now seven-oh-six.  You have

exactly eight hours and fifty-four

minutes to think about why you're

here.  To ponder the error of your

ways...

     Bender spits into the air and catches the spit in his

mouth again.

                                        

     Claire looks like she is going to gag.

Settings:

These are the locations we need to consider in our opening scene:

• Outside the college
• School hallway
• Canteen
• Lockers
• A stage 
• Empty classroom
• Locker Room

Costume 

Original Costume

The criminal
Checkered shirt
Denim
combat boots
The Princess
pink blouse
Loose midi skirt
Calf boots
The Athlete 
Baseball jacket
Jeans
Trainers
The Brain
Sweater
Chinos
Trainers
The Blanket case
Canvas tote
Cycle vest
long Floral skirt
Modern Clothing

The criminal 
Checkered shirt
Legging/skinny jeans
Denim
Sport footwear
The Princess 
High fashioned looking bag
Blouse
Expensive looking necklace
Blazer
The Athlete 
Baseball jacket
Trainers
sports accessorise
The brain
Oversized cardigan
glasses
trousers
The blanket case
Black blouse
Maxi skirt
Canvas shoes


Props
Props
Skate board
Cars
(The Criminal/hipster)
-Cigaretts
-Skateboard
-Head phone

(The Princess/Posh girl)
-Starbucks cup
-Make up/ Makeup Bag

(The Athlete)
-Some kind of Sports Accessorise.

(The brain/geek)
-Glasses
-Project , folders , papers
-Watch


Storyboard