Our Opening Re-make

For our film re-make our group decided to re-make Drive. The reason we decided to pick this out of any of the other films was that we wanted to test some of the equipment that we are going to use for our real film opening. We would be able to re-create this using a real car and for the areal shots a drone. For our real film we are intending on using the same equipment as we all own it, so things like drone's, Go-pro's and shoulder mounted camera's are available for our final product. Using this we decided to put some of the equipment to work and to play around with the functions on the camera's and drone to see what we can use for our final product (things like filters, white balance and settings in the camera's itself). This would be effective as it then means that it will take less time to get the shots we need because we would already know the settings that we should have the camera's on to achieve the look we need. This then means that it reduces the time spent on location (in a restaurant) and we can spend more time editing. Using this re-make would also help us in making titles and adding them into the opening. For the opening of our film to look professional we need the titles to look good and be in the correct order. Doing this re-make should help us do just that.

The Difference Between Mainstream and Independent Films

There is one main difference between mainstream and independent films and that is the title's at the very beginning. whenever you look at large, mainstream films, they always have a lot of titles at the beginning. This differs from independent films because there aren't as many people working on the film. This means that when you are viewing an independent film the title sequences at the beginning are a lot less.

Another way that you would be able to tell an independent film from a mainstream film is the production companies logo's at the beginning. Nearly all big, mainstream companies would have moving, animated logo's, making them stand out. A good example of this is the Universal logo, it would have cost a lot of money to animate the planet spinning as the camera is panning round to show the logo. This is completely different for independent films because they cant afford to create these. Instead you would normally see a still image on the screen as their logo.

This will help us when we create our own film as we can then create our logo specifically for what type of institution we are. As we are a mainstream company we are going to have an animated logo. This will help us when it comes to making our own films because it means that we can make our own logo look professional. This means that then our overall piece would look a little more professional which hopefully would make our piece stand out.

Generic Conventions In Film Openings

When we have a look at generic conventions in film we can see that depending on the genre that you are going to make/watch then there are specific things that you expect to see.
when we compare a load of genre's together we get an understanding of what should be shown in that genre and what should be avoided.
Horror:

When we have a look at generic conventions in a horror film opening you would normally wouldn't get any action at the very beginning. you would normally see that it builds the film up. Unfortunately i couldn't find the film opening on YouTube however i could find the trailer and you can get an idea of how the opening should be. At the beginning everything is OK  and that there is nothing going on, as you can tell by the trailer they were all happy and that they had moved to their grandparents for a bit. This is what you expect to see in a horror film as it then means that you can start to create the tension and start to change the mood of the film from there. When you have a look at mise the film, you normally expect a horror to be set in some sort of location that has connotations of horror. Good examples of this could be in a grave yard, old hospital or in some sort of house. The setting has to be effective, if no the film wont create the tension that is required for a good horror film which means that the film wont have the same effect that it should. The generic props that you would normally see in a horror would be that they are wearing ripped, old clothing and would often be covered in blood - giving all the connotations that they are stressed and in danger - building the suspense and tension that is required.
Comedy 

When we have a look at the generic conventions that you would expect to see in a comedy, normally it would be setting up the scene for what is about to happen. This would normally start with an establishing shot to then going into some back story to make the whole thing a lot more understandable. A good example we can use here is the film Central Intelligence. In the opening of the film, the generic mise that you would expect to see in a comedy is things like explosions with extravagant sound effects, or something that just looks funny. This would create the right atmosphere that is required for a comedy. When you have a look at the location of comedies it is very random. It all depends on the kind of story line that the film has, normally if its a mickytake of an action you would normally see small, dirty houses as well as large, expensive towers. Again it all depends on the story line.

Action

When we have a look at the generic conventions in an action film you expect to see a lot of money spent on mise at the beginning to set the film to set the mood. When we have a look at the opening of the film Spectre you can see that it starts with a huge action scene right at the beginning of the film. Just like most mainstream you would expect to either see that money has been spent or mise or some sort of action scene. The generic conventions of mise that you would normally see in an action is men in smart outfits - normally with weapons. This then sets up the atmosphere required for an action film. The location that you commonly seen is exotic, luxury locations that are normally not seen by common people.

The Impact of Classification

Classification has a big part on how films can be viewed and how a production company decides on what they are going to make and who they are going to try to sell it to. Before any film is made the initial crew including the writers and the director would have to get an idea of who they are going to try to sell their film to, then decide what can and cant be shown in it. This means that they cant go and have scenes with people taking drugs and try to put it in for a 12 as it wont get classified as that. This means that they have to take into consideration what they are going to show in the film as well as the language that would be used.

The film 'The Hunger Games 2012' had originally been put as a 15 due to the violence shown in one of the scenes. As you could tell by this it really limited their target audience and meant that half the people that they wanted to see the film couldn't because they were too young. This meant that the production company had to remove several seconds of footage so that they were able to be classified as a 12.

With things like classification it really can limit a films target audience if they don't have a good understanding of what can be shown in that age bracket. If a film was going to try to be shown as a 12 like 'The Hunger Games 2012' but gets shown as a 15 instead it means that they have pretty much half'd the amount of people that can go to the cinema and watch it which overall means that less profit will be made on the opening weekend. This is why production companies have to make sure that they get it right before they make a mistake to great which could impact the amount of people that are aloud to see it.

This is why it is essential that our group understands what our film genre is going to be so that we can sensibly plan what can be shown and how we can plan to sell our film meaning that we wont run the risk of missing out on some of our target audience.

Certification in Films

Certification in films is a big part of how you are going to target, make and sell your film. You need to make sure that you understand what sort of certification you are trying to aim for before going to make your own film. Companies like the BBFC (British Board Of Film Classification) watch films day in and day out giving them appropriate age ratings. When a film is planning to be produced the production company would think about what their target audience is and what certificate they think they will get. This then means that they are able to gauge what sort of humour that they are going to have in as well as the scenes they are aloud to show, they cant have someone swearing and having sex in a 12A, however they can show that in a 15.

Currently there are 5 age ratings that can be put onto a film. Each have different levels of materials that they are able to show. these are:


U: Films with a U rating should be pleasant and not upset and children from the ages of 4 and above.

PG: This age genre should be aimed at children from the ages of 8 and up, younger children should be accompanied with an adult. This may contain scenes that could upset younger children.

12/12A: 12 and 12A are not suitable for children under the age of 12 and if are taken to the cinema to see it, they must be with an adult at the age of 18.

15: The 15 age rating would contain material that is not appropriate for anyone under 15, this would contain bad language, violence and sexual scenes.

18: Pretty much anything can be shown in an 18 and its not suitable for anyone younger to view it.

Film Timelines

 Movie Opening Timeline's
So for the three movie's i had to do, i chose Transformers, Hot Fuzz and Forrest Gump. And by the different types of genre you can really see the difference in the amount of title's shown in the opening scene.

To start off with and the top timeline was Transformers. from the beginning there were only a few titles that appeared. these were the production companies and to the end of the first scene the title appeared. In my opinion I think that they done this because of the type of genre the film is and the type of people who are watching it are different. As Transformers is a big Hollywood blockbuster the people watching the film don't really want to see all of the titles at the beginning, they want to see all of the violence and damage. this is why i think that they limited the amount of titles as they were trying to let the viewer get right into the action. we can see that this is different with the second film I chose.

 The second film I chose to do was Hot Fuzz. This film's genre is more comedy however does show a few signs of action in. The opening to this film had a lot more titles in however. From the beginning you had the classic Universal into play, then it had all of the production companies slowly played before the character got to the screen. this is when a montage started to play. this i think was done because they wanted the slow intro and to have more production companies titles shown at the beginning, however this is nothing compared to the last film i chose.


The last film i chose to do was Forrest Gump and this had a lot of titles in! from the very beginning it had the production companies names shown, then to the producers, then the director, followed by the cast. After that they had some of the main people who made the film possible like the music producer, editor and director of photography. lastly followed by the director and the producers. I think that this was done because they wanted to put all of the main workers name's in at the beginning to show them off instead of the end because most people don't stick around for the credits. So if they played the main workers names at the beginning like the editor it would mean that more people are able to see their names. I think that they put the titles in the order of most importance. So first you would have the production company which would have had the funding and all of the equipment, then the producers that would have produced the script and everything else they needed, followed by the director and actors who played in the film. Lastly followed by people behind the scenes like the editor and music producer. This meant that more people could see the names of the people before the film was to end.

Overall this will help me when it comes to making my final film as it will show us what titles we should have on them, as well as what order they should be in and how long they should be up there for. Forrest Gump also sort of fits in the genre that i have picked so i can copy the order in which they come up from there.

Student Film Opening Detailed Analysis

The film that i have chosen to do a film analysis on is called 'Outlaw' and was created by Patchwork pictures.
Genre
When we have a look at this clip you can get a pretty good idea of what genre that this film is. If we have a look at the mise in the first few seconds you can get a clear idea that there will be violence involved due to there being a gun. This means that the genre would defiantly have to be action and adventure. You also get an idea of the genre from the music. The non-diegetic music is slow however it has a lot of bangs and other action - based sounds in.

Editing
This film opening has some brilliant editing on it, you can tell that they had spent a lot of time putting in the special effects and putting all of the clips together. They have put all of the clips in chronological order which meant that all the way through you understood what was happening. I like the way at the beginning that all of the shots were slow and that they all built up to the last few action shots. These were fast paced and that they all built up tension for the end.

Sound
When we have a look at sound in the clip they use a lot of non-diegetic music throughout the opening. This is think is really good at building up the tension that is needed in this kind of genre and clip. I think that the song that they had chosen went very well with the way that they had edited the fight scene at the end. The music in the clip seemed to build up to the very end which i though worked very well as the fight was then and the faster music worked with the punches and the violence.

Camera Angles
When we have a look at camera angles in the clip you can see that they have used a wide range of camera angles. which keeps the viewer entertained, you can also see that they have used quite nice transitions between each clip, they have't just stuck a load of clips together and hope for the best. this really does go and improve the quality of final product and does make it look a lot more professional. they have managed to use the camera quite well when trying to fade at the end of the first few clips however you could tell that they didn't know which way to turn the focus wheel. this lead to it going out of focus however only for a little way. They had to focus it and turn it the other way to fade it properly, which had the sort of opposite effect on what they wanted to happen. They used quite good shots during the fighting scene as well, however you could see that they didn't keep the main characters in focus, which didn't work too well. Apart from that it was shot very well.

Mise
I think that the mise worked quite well with the opening and what the character had weapon wise made sense, I think that they used the costumes quite well and that it worked with what they were going for. One problem with the mask that they used however is that it is based off a game, which could be a problem when it comes to copyright. I think that the location worked well, and the way that they were able to capture the scenery in the clip again was very nice. I think that they should have used a little more light when it came to shooting in the dark, this is what reduces the quality of the camera.

Titles
I think that the titles worked very well and were put in the correct order. It started off with the main production company, followed by another. Then it went to the name of the film followed by people who worked on the film. From my own experience with working on titles and putting them in films it did seem that they put them in the correct order, which made the piece look very good. My only criticism for the clip is that it didn't have an institution logo at the beginning, which most films would start with. I would recommend making one and sticking that at the very beginning.
Characters
Now characters are the biggest problem in this opening in my opinion. There isn't really isn't any backstory behind the characters and that it didn't seem to clear about who they are and what they are doing. This could lead to confusion and put some people off. You don't know why that solider is going into an abandoned house, and who he is fighting, so they should have tried to make that a little clearer.

Overall analysing this clip would help us create our film opening as we can learn from their mistakes and that we can hopefully make less mistakes on our own.

What Makes A Good Student Film

10 points on what makes a good student film.

• It has to flow - For it to be a good film opening it has to have a good story to it and that it has to flow, it cant be confusing for the audience.
• It cant have everything shown in the first two minutes - its only the first two minutes of the film, there shouldn't be all the action. 
• It has to be directed well - people should know what they are doing and that it should be clear that everything was directed well.
• They should have focused on mise - it should look like an actual film, not something that they have thrown together in 10 minutes at home. If they are creating a restaurant scene it should be at a restaurant, not at home!
• It should have a variety of camera shots - it shouldn't all look the same, it should look like an actual and using a different variety of shots, not just long shot or close up.
• They should make sure that the audio is of good quality - you shouldn't hear the wind in the microphone if it is outside.
• Use a camera stabiliser or tripod - this will make the film opening look more professional and will make it stand out compared to shaky footage that just wont look as good.
• Make sure that you use titles correctly - using titles correctly and in the right order will make the whole film opening look more professional and like a real film.
• Make sure that the genre is clear in the beginning - the genre should be clear to the audience from the beginning of the film, not confusing.
• Don't re-invent the wheel - don't go and try to make a new opening as it wont look good, get inspiration from a real film and try to incorporate it in your opening.

Making sure that we all follow this in our group we can make sure that our film will look bad and not professional - it should help our film stand out, look interesting and overall help us achieve a better grade. 

Independent Research On Film Openings

For my independent film opening research I am going to look at how production companies logo's and how they have been used at the beginning of films. Being a mainstream film you want your logo to stand out and be recognisable for people when they watch a film. This means that it has to be big, eye catching and impressive. The example I am going to use is Warner Bros intro. As you can see by the video it clearly stands out and is recognisable for viewers when they hear the music start to play and the big gold rings spinning around the screen to form the logo. This would have cost a lot of money to create as the animation wouldn't have been cheep, and getting someone to produce the music would also have cost a lot of money, however being a mainstream company they can afford to do things like this. As Warner bros owns some of the biggest and most popular films they can afford to do specialised logo's for specific films. A good example of this is the logo that they had created for the Harry Potter films and they changed each time a film was created. As you can see by the video below you can see 

that they had changed the music and the colour of the logo to fit the film. Again as they are a mainstream film they can afford to do this. This will help us when it comes to making our film because as we are a mainstream production company it means that we are able to re-create our self one and make our company look more professional. This would involve us animating a logo to play at the beginning of our film.