The Game

We came across 'The Game' on the off chance while watching television last weekend. We really liked the opening sequence as it has very similar ideas as to what we are planning to do with our film. In particular, we liked the the vintage style home filming that we plan to do ourselves when showing Cassie and Faith when they were younger before Faith was kidnapped. Here's the link to 'The Game' opening sequence.

The Game (1997) — Art of the Title

Production company logo

The production logo that we design should reflect the tone/genre of the film we are going to make. So in our case  we would have have to make a logo to reflect the serious, dramatic tone of our film. Many major film company identities tend to reflect a wider appeal- Universal, Paramount and Dreamworks, for example. We decided that the name would have to be a neutral name meaning that it didn't evoke laughter and people wouldn't prepare themselves for a comedic feel to the film. Here are some of the names we decided upon as our possible production company name.

Rizzim Productions

Liquid Silver Studios

Indigo Blu Studios

Aluna Blu Studios

Aluna Light Films

Infrared Indent Pictures

Strobe Studios

Still Strobe Studios

We decided it was a toss up between 'Aluna Blu Studios' and 'Still Strobe Studios'.These were a few sketches of ideas for what our logo would look like:

We decided in the end to go with 'Aluna Blu Studios' as we feel it doesn't limit the film's plot to a particular genre such as horror or comedy, but instead has a wider appeal. We picked sketch 3 to develop and made our logo using photoshop. Here is the finished result:

This is only a still of the logo as we want to animate it for our opening sequence. We quite liked how the credits are animated in the opening sequence for 'Scott Pilgrim vs The World', the letters move ever so slightly leaving a coloured, faded version of where it was before.

Target Audience

Deciding on a target audience is a crucial point when making a film as in most cases it secures the possibility that the film will be a success, so it is very important that we get it right and research into what they want from our film.

Here is a clip of us disscussing our target audience.

Certification

When deciding on a certificate for our film, we looked at the issues that are focused on in the film such as: mental illness, kidnapping and murder plus the use of expletives. We then researched films with similar issues addressed in them and looked to see what the certificates they had been given.
The symptoms that Cassie shows in the film that we can tell are due to mental illness are very similar to that of schizophrenia as she has hallucinations where she can see Faith, she can't remember being told that Faith died and she has social withdrawal.

 

Here are some of the films that we looked at with simialar issues:

Through A Glass Darkly (1961)

"A young woman, Karin, has recently returned to the family island after spending some time in a mental hospital for treatment for schizophrenia. On the island with her is her lonely brother and kind, but increasingly desperate husband. They are joined by Karin’s father, who is a world-traveling author that is estranged to his children. The film depicts how Karin’s grip on reality slowly slips away and how the bonds between the family members are changing in light of this fact."

Certificate given = 15

Donnie Darko (2001)

 

 

"Donnie Darko doesn’t get along too well with his family, his teachers and his classmates; but he does manage to find a sympathetic friend in Gretchen, who agrees to date him. He has a compassionate psychiatrist, who discovers hypnosis is the means to unlock hidden secrets. His other companion may not be a true ally. Donnie has a friend named Frank – a large bunny which only Donnie can see. When an engine falls off a plane and destroys his bedroom, Donnie is not there. Both the event, and Donnie’s escape, seem to have been caused by supernatural events. Donnie’s mental illness (schizophrenia), may never allow him to find out for sure."

 

Certificate given = 15

 Shutter Island (2010)

 

 

 

 

"U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He's been pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he hasn't been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals "escape" in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything - his memory, his partner, even his own sanity. We are then shown at the end of the film that everything we have seen has been a lie as part of an elaborate fantasy of Teddy Daniels to make himself the hero and erase from his memory the fact that he murdered his wife and children."

Certificate Given = 15

Synopsis

This is our Synopsis of our film. Our idea has slightly changed from our initial idea as it is no longer a happy ending. We have also tweeked the genre to a slightly darker mystery drama due to the subject. Here it is...

"Cassie,7 and Faith, 4 are sisters. Faith kidnapped from fairground. Cassie never gave up hope so she starts her own investigation for years as everyone else has given up. Cassie sees Faith wherever she goes and thinks she is sending her clues to solving her disappearance. Cassie thinks she knows who the kidnapper is so plots to find her sister and kill him. After months of planning and following him she is caught in the act by her mum and detectives who worked on the original case and is stopped before killing this innocent man. They bring proof to again try and tell Cassie that Faith was found dead years ago and the killer was caught soon after. Revealed to audience that Faith has been dead for years and Cassie was told but never believed it  as the film is shot from her perspective and is showing her mental deterioration. It ends in a mental hospital with Cassie in her room asking if they've found Faith."

25 Word Pitch

This is our 25 word pitch of the mystery drama idea. Although our idea is quite simple, it was very hard to limit ourselves to just 25 words in order to explain the whole plot. We must have written it out what felt like thousands of times in order to come up with the words that we felt best described our idea. Here it is...

"Kidnap trauma leaves Cassie highly distressed, unable to deal with life and without a sister. Or that's what people keep telling her. Is there hope?"

Initial Ideas

This is our initial ideas mind map that displays our initial thoughts towards an idea for our coursework. We like both ideas, however, we would say that we sway more towards the mystery drama idea. This is due to the fact that it appeals to us more due to the creative aspect as we feel that there is alot more that we could do with it and develop it into a very strong concept.

Influences

Influences

 

Up

We really liked the idea of using the opening scene to tell the story of what has happened previous to the film and give the audience some context without having to explain it in a dialogue or monologue. Although 'Up' is an animation they've still used pictures and videos to start the story without the use of words. We thought this was a really interesting and unique way of starting a film as you don't see it very often.

Napoleon Dynamite

Napoleon Dynamite has a really quirky opening scene with the credits and title displayed on objects such as student cards, library books and food. We are looking to do something like this with our own opening sequence with the concept of displaying credits on inanimate objects. When we watched this we thought it really interesting not only because it was food but the way it had been used to write on and arranged and also the fact that not many films that we had seen had done this original idea. 

Mean Streets

Mean Streets was one of our influences because we liked the old films and old photography used. The credits were around the picture like an old video camera set up where it would say the date and time but replaced with names and we thought this was an interesting way to display the credits. In many opening sequences they use very quick cuts between shots to show different things, however it wasn't too fast in Mean Streets meaning you could actually see what the picture of film was.

The Grass is Greener

The opening sequence to The Grass is Greener is very funny as it is four babies in a field and you don't actually know if they have anything to do with the film. We thought it was a very clever opening sequence because the babies actions reflected what the credits said, e.g. when the credits of screenwriter came up, the babies were playing with a typewriter and when the costume designer credit was run, one baby was dressed up. The idea of the action matching/relating to the credit was very interesting.

Se7en

From the opening sequence you can tell that the movie is scary because of the music and the lighting. The shots all look very dark and grey and we weren't sure what the person was doing even though the cuts weren't too quick. We liked that it was also an opening sequence with quite a lot of action as it cuts between the different stages of what the man is doing and we see it in such detail as each of these shots are close-ups, however, they don't give away the bigger picture of what is happening entailing that element of suspence. Another aspect we liked was that the writing flashed and moved around quickly because it also showed the film was going to be scary.

 

Beau's moodboard

This is my moodboard displaying images that I quite like and that inspire me. A couple of images are from the 90's as I love the photography and film making of the time as it has a slight sepia/vintage look to it. I have also included some chiaroscuro lit images as I really like the effect that it creates and the aesthetics.

Ellie's Mood Board

Mood Board

This is my mood board which is filled with images that I like or am inspired by. It includes the aspects of: beaches, summer, photography of cities such as New York and London, old films, old photography and films that I like and am interested in.



What is an 'Opening Sequence'?



An opening sequence is the method by which cinematic films present their title, key production and cast members, utilising conceptual visuals and sound. They are key to revealing the genre of the film through the use of music, fonts and lighting. They usually consist of various production company logos, opening credits and introductory shots of the main characters.

We watched a variety of different opening sequences in order to sample the various styles of different genres and also to see how each film interpreted the concept of 'the opening sequence'.

OFFICE SPACE

At a first glance of the opening credits you can tell that this film is a comedy due to the font used. The rounded letters portray a cartoon like aspect going on to imply humorous qualities. The blue colour of the font is used ironically as it usually implies sadness, however, paired with the comical font, it does the complete opposite.
After the initial production credits, some up-beat, happy music is played with the cutting of shots in time with the beat of the song. The ideas behind both the shots and the music conflict with each other as the happy/up-beat music strongly contrasts the stressful environment of a traffic jam giving off a hint of sarcastic     humour.
We like this opening sequence as we think it's clever how it shows the main characters in the same environment but showing each of their different experiences. Every aspect of it is tailored to the comedy genre and displays various humorous qualities even with minimal dialogue. We especially like the shot where the first character we see is looking out his car window to see that even an elderly man is moving at a faster pace on foot than he is in his car which is stuck in the traffic jam.

RED LIGHTS











Instead of focusing on the filmed content, Red Lights focuses more on the creative effects of editing during this title sequence. We thought that Red Lights had a very edgy approach to the bog-standard title sequence and could immediately be linked to the thriller genre via the font, shot angles, images, and colours used throughout.
The flashing lights at the very start of the sequence immediately disorientated us and set us on our toes preparing us for the content to come in addition to the dark and sinister music. The various chiaroscuro lit images changing at a rapid pace create intensity and feelings of restlessness. Another feature of this opening sequence that gives off restless connotations is how the credits move in a jerky fashion and the individual letters dislocate themselves. The colours used are perdominately black and white with the occasional flash of red lights which creates a serious tone yet the red brings that element of urgancy and danger to the table.
We love this opening sequence and are inspired by it due to the effect it has on the audience. It left us on the edge of our seats and wanting to see more which is pretty much how an effective opening sequence should be done.

Bourne Supremacy

Like many opening sequences, the production company logo is the first thing to appear before the film and then the title is shown immediately which isn't un-heard of but it is not the same as some of the other opening sequences. However a strange difference is that no credits run throughout the sequence even though we see some of the characters. After the title a very quick cut montage is played which immediately made us think that the film was part of the action genre due to its speed or possibly the thriller genre as it is very dark and the music is very downbeat and gets louder as the shots change faster.
After the montage we find out that it's flashbacks in a nightmare. The montage seemed very dream-like due to the voices echoing and the very quick changes of image or film as though they were bad memories that he didn't want to remember. The quick cuts, blurry images and overlapping movement and shots made us confused to begin with as the images didn't stay on the screen long enough for us to take into account but when it was revealed to be a nightmare we thought it was a very clever way to show the opening sequence and introduce the audience to the main character.
We really enjoyed this opening sequence as we thought it was very unique and captivating because although many films start with dreams, this opening sequence didn't give much away of the plot line as it was so fast but also did give away the genre. We like the idea of an opening sequence not revealling much in dialogue and making the audience intrigued to watch the rest of the film.

 The Dark Knight



The Dark Knight is an amazing action film and we could tell this from the opening sequence as it immediately revealed the genre and style of the film. Before the film, multiple production company logos are shown which also tell us that this is a big film, however throughout the opening scene we are not shown the title of the film. 
The opening sequence gets straight to the point of the film unlike some of the others as it goes straight into action by shooting the window and you see all of the clowns in different places doing their part of the job. We could also tell that this film had lots of killing in it as at least 4 people were already killed, 4 minutes into the film. Although, unlike many other opening sequences, the Dark Knight doesn't focus on any main characters but it does focus on the clown mask especially when one of the men is standing at the edge of the street. We also keep hearing the name 'The Joker' as there is a lot more dialogue in this sequence than others which I think shows the film would be quite confusing if you didn't listen to it.
We really liked this opening sequence because it didn't mess about with intriguing images at the beginning and it went straight into the action, however the dialogue still explained what was happening.