This is the opening sequence we made as a group which consists of me (Vithush), Ashad Khan and Shehryar Sheikh. It took us over a course of a few weeks to start and finish our film and during that process i have learnt a lot such as editing, camera work, storyboarding and real-life situations such as scenery setting. During the planning we started to search for places to shoot and some places were off limits preventing us to shoot in those areas so we had to change our storyboard along the way however we got most of the places we wanted. Filming took us a course of two days to shoot and we planned to have more than enough footage to help us in the editing part and we were happy with the amount of footage we had. When it came to editing we didn't have a clue however with a bit of guidance and help i got the hang of it and found it easier as we went along. We over came some minor problems that caused us to stop editing for a few lessons however after this problem was overcome we carried on and finish before the deadline.

I was proud of the final product and thought we made an great opening sequence. However after this process i think that we could have done better because after i edited for the first time i found area that would have made the sequence better, and i thought we could have thought more on lighting as some areas are unprofessional. I thought that the music track suited the sequence as it took us a long time to get it correct.

Feedback for our opening sequence

Evaluation question 7

Since my preliminary task i have learnt a lot as that was my first time using the camera and editing. When planning the preliminary task we never gave it a lot of thought and looking back i think that we scratched the surface of what we could have done but learning from those mistakes i now know that planning is key to what the movie will look like, the better the planning the better the movie. For our second project we took around 2 weeks preparing details and knowing what we will do before shooting. For the preliminary task we never went out to see sight and places to shoot and again we learnt from those mistakes, we got permission from various places to shoot and we dedicated a day for scene searching.  The roles where well thought out this time for the full project as we got two characters that will represent out film best. When it came to the shots in the main task we took time in the storyboard to get the basic shots we were going to use however when we went to shoot we used far more than we planned which was good as we thought on the spot.

For editing our preliminary task was a first time experiment, we had never used a mac or i-movie and with the limited time we had we couldn't go into detail. In the full movie we took the time to chose a better program and learn the programme before we used it, with the help of the tutorials we got the hang of the project under a week. The tutorials and the teachers helped us with the different programmes such as live type, we made an effort with the title sequence in this task however in the preliminary we never took the effort to do so. The feedback for the main task helped as we took it seriously and listened to the feedback and it made our work better but in the preliminary task we never had the time to comment on the feedback.

In the preliminary task we never worked as a team because i was mostly left to do the work while the others left me and so in the editing suite i was never shown the video but in the main task all three of us listened to each other and got a film that suited all three of us, we were all happy and never had an argument. 

Evaluation Questions 6

Evaluation Question 4

This is my video for question 4

Evaluation Questions 2,3,5

Evaluation on Prezi

Evaluation question 1

This is my video for question 1

Individual Response to group choice

I liked the idea of the storyline we will be using for our opening sequence as my ideas were included and we thought out the storyline well before we made the final decision. As we go along i hope we make a few minor changes to make the storyline better.

Our Opening Sequence

So we have thought of an idea which i like because it incorporates parts of my idea however we haven't made it flawless. Now getting a visual picture with the story-boarding but some work to be done.
 

Brief

For our task we were given a brief to follow, which was to make an 2 minute opening sequence for a fiction film, this sequence should also include titles. We were told to pick a genre to base are sequence around, me and my group picked action/thriller because we felt comfortable doing this genre, another reason was that we watch more action/thriller movies so we have an idea of what it is like. We wanted our audience to be off their seats wonder what will happen next. An inspiration was Casino Royal because personally this opening sequence made me anxious. But before we choose this genre we had a few thought about other genres, such as comedy, horror etc. but these never appealed to us and me because if we choose comedy then we are taking a risk because the sequence had to be funny and same with horror, the sequence had to be scary. The brief sounded amazing because the number of ideas were not limited. This brief also gave us a chance to physically incorporate our notes on camera shots, angles and editing. It is going to be a great experience.   

Analysis of Opening Titles

This is the opening titles sequence for 'The girl with a dragon tattoo' this is s a David Fincher Movie released in 2011. In this post i am going to talk about the opening titles and the basic order.

Firstly to the beat of the music the name of the studio appears, which is 'Columbia pictures', then after a few beat the next title appears which is production company. Then the directors name appears again to the beat of the music and fades away into the dark background. Then the names of the stars appear which suddenly appears and suddenly disappears. Then the movie title is shown to the audience, in a larger font taking up most of the screen as this is important. The movie title disappears with an animation. We are then shown the featured actors one by one. After a few seconds we get to the casting director. The next title we are shown is the music/sound. Then we the production design for example, set design, make-up artist etc. however in this movie we are not shown the production design but instead we see the executive producer and then we skip to 'book, this is important because this film is based on a book however if the movie is not then this title is skipped. After a long break we get the screenplay and lastly we get the director.

Analysis of Opening Credits

This is the opening credits for Spiderman 2 the movie, the reason to why i chose this particular sequence is because of the stunning design. Each credit is disguised in the design before appearing on screen, this is a smooth transaction. At the beginning the 'Marvel' credit appears first which is disguised in a comic book animation with the background dissolving allowing the credit to appear bright and clear. We then see the scene fade out and when it fades back in we (audience) see 'Columbia pictures' which then animates away allowing the smooth transition to the next credit which is production team etc. We then cleverly see the camera zoom out allowing the design of cob-web to appear and then the Title appears 'Spiderman'. Then the audience are shown a animated slideshow of the main characters involved in the movies and before each picture we see the name of the character. We are also cleverly shown small preview of the previous Spiderman movie. From this point we are shown the important roles eg producer, editor, and finally director.  

Preliminary Task- Feed the fish

This is our preliminary task -feed the fish, it was made by me'Vithush', Lauren Daniel and Alex. What i liked about the video was the different shots we did to present the story to the audience however some parts in the movie need to be polished to give it that professional feel.

I learnt a lot from my first video because going out to film gave me a better understanding on what was possible, for example when i was learning my theory we looked at films and the number of different shots that were used was amazing however we were not able to put so many shots because we didn't have the facility. Through this process i learnt how to use and operate a camera (basic) but when using the camera i had to keep it still and use other equipment like tripod etc. When story-boarding we came up with a basic idea of the shots however when we went to shoot we never used some of the shots we put down this shows that we may not have taken enough time on the story-boarding.  

Legally blonde Analysis

This is the opening sequence to Legally Blonde. This is a 3 minute sequence and for this post i will be sharing my main points. 

*Firstly we are shown the production trade mark which is Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

*Looking at the opening the main character's identity is hidden having the audience guessing. 

*The music starts on time with the video. Which is (perfect day) 

*The music and the credits give the audience what type of genre the film is because the titles and credits are bright pink. The genre is rom com. The gender is aimed at girls.

*Straight away the director is giving the audience tips to who this mysterious person could be. This is done by using an envelope.

* We are then shown a parallel scene between the girl combing her hair and another girl riding a bike.

* Focusing on the girl riding the bike, the camera is panning her through out the bike ride, and we are shown a point of view shot a few times. 

*Focusing on the main character, each shot is a close up indicating to us that she is the main character as her identity is hidden

* The director very cleverly shows us that the envelope belongs to the hidden character because on her table her name is written, and so the audience should know that the main characters name is Elle.

* The camera is then tracking the sub-character holding the envelope

*We are then shown the banner saying 'homecoming queen' and now audience will gather an understanding.

* The shot i liked was a bird-eye view of the the person holding the envelope.

Sherlock Holmes Analysis

(NO SOUND) 

This is the first 5 Minutes of Sherlock Holmes, this is my second analysis of opening sequence as the first one was 'Children's of men'.

Looking at the introduction to Sherlock Holmes, the storyline is kept a secret to the audience however the audience get an understanding of the genre of the film.
The titles and credits are embeded into the video, as the camera takes a birds-eye view of the floor the titles and credit appear in the ground. I found this interesting because the camera doesn't cut away to show the titles. The sound track sets the mood of the film as a hole, because it is mysterious. We are shown the main character at the start of the sequence and slowly but gradually we seem to catch up with the main character who is running. Before we are shown the main character we are shown a few characters who play an important part in the film. The sequence starts of dark which a few street lamps lighting up the scene and stays like that for the 3 minutes i watch the clip. Different camera shots were used but the obvious shot was panning and that was very regular, at the start we seem to chase after the carriage and then we pan the main character while he is running. The framing used throughout the 3 minutes was wide capturing more detail but what i liked most was that the camera never stopped moving between each shot the camera kept on moving. A few close ups were used however there was one amazing slow motion shot which appealed to me as it was also given commentary to guide the audience.  

Children of men Analysis

This is the opening sequence of children of men
Watching this video the storyline isn't clear however there are small indications to help the audience. The audience can only hear the sound of the news report, the news report is put in place to indicate that it is a vital part to help the audience understand the movie, the news report tells us that young children have all died and the last one remaining was "baby Diego" how had recently died. The opening sequence is dark and dull which no pleasant light, with the date being 2027 it looks more like the 19's. We know that it is the future because there are moving adverts on the buses etc.

Introduction

My name is Vithush Suthakaran, i am currently taking Media studies and have just started my blog. i hope to do well in this subject and concentrate on this blog making it my priority. I never took media studies before and so this is a new experience for me but i have a great intrest in the subject and hope to make an impact in this subject. For this blog i am going to have to post my research and planning as well as my preliminary task and final film.

 Hope you enjoy my blog.