Our initial idea for our opening was to make our our music out of basketballs bouncing and trainers squeaking after being inspired by our research of watching High School Musical. However after trying to achieve this we realised we didnt have the right sound equipment as the sound wasn't clear enough to make a beat from. Although what we wanted to achieve for our opening was harder to create than we though and wasn't achievable for us in the space of time we had and the equipment needed we have decided on our music to be quite urban to connote the basketball theme, yet happy for our comedy side of the film. We would still like to include basketball noises as long as it fits in with the rest of our music.
This is the sort of thing we wanted to achieve and had inspiration from.
Halfway through our editing process we asked Emma for her feedback on what we had done so far. She said she liked the comedy side of it and how we have used editing techniques such as the two sets of shoes swiping across the screen in opposite directions to make it more unique and childlike. Although we had messed around with a few other ways to do this, such as trying to make the image of a basketball move as though its bouncing in time with the real life image which we realised was harder than it seemed so we didn't include this, Emma thought we should include more to create this theme and identity throughout the opening. Also we asked Emma to see if our opening seemed to stop and start a bit. Although she didn't seem to think so she gave us the advise of using our credits to break up the footage slightly. After this feedback we are trying to create more of our editing technique and are trying to use our credits to break up the footage to try and improve our opening so far.
In the production process I have created the storyboard. I decided on what cinematography to use when filming into this storyboard and ways to go about filming our idea.
I also took on the role of director/camera man with Vanessa.
I did the storyboard to 'back to the future' opening as part of our research to help us be able to show and give as much information needed to help with our filming.
With Vanessa we have started editing our footage and have played around with different editing techniques which we hope to continue after half term
At home I have researched into other children's films than the ones seen in class such as: 'Princess Diaries' and 'Hairspray' to inspire our ideas and get a clearer picture of what is expected of a children's film opening.
Also with research into the BBFC to know how to target our film correctly.
Reading over notes and researching different camera work to use for our film to vary our filming so it's more interesting and to be the best possible action for each clip.
At the beginning we found the planning quite hard for our children's film. I think the main reason for this was being able to think of an idea. We brainstormed our ideas as a group but many seemed unable to fit the criteria of a children's film and some seemed impossible to produce. But once we had our idea, things got a lot easier and clearer of what we were going to do. Our storyboarding was very helpful to give us a clear idea of how we were going to go about producing it, with the different cinematography techniques. Our research of children's films also helped with our planning and production and different parts from different films inspired our final idea. The production of our opening was quite easy as we followed our storyboard and had a clear image in our heads of what we wanted to produce. However it was hard to think of enough clips to film as the point of our opening is quick hints of the character, so it was hard to film enough to fit the 2minute criteria. We will try to overcome this by repeating some of the clips without it looking repetitive and maybe making the clips and using a variety of speed to the clips instead of them all being fast. We also have a feeling, when editing that the sequence may look quite jumpy. Although this is the initial effect we want, it may be too jumpy for a children's audience. We will try to overcome this by again varying the speed of some clips and also using the credits to split up a few of the clips also.
After half term we hope to continue with our editing, create our credits and our soundtrack. Our main priority is to do these tasks well and to fit them together and for it to run smoothly. Our plan is to split up these tasks so two of us will have our main priority of editing the film and the others main priority will be to design the credits. This way it will save time and be easier to get on with as with 4 of us working on the same task is stressful and some people end up not contributing as much. So hopefully this way we can bring all our tasks together and create our final production to create a successful children's film opening.
The opening to the film 'Hairspray influenced the idea for our children's film. Although the content for it and our opening are completely different, techniques such as close ups of different parts of the character are very similar.
We see quick shots and hints of what the main character is like from her getting out of bed to her doing her hair. The character is also doing these actions in time to music which influenced our sound choice to hopefully fit with it too.
We also don't see the full main character till about 10 seconds in after these hints, we shall hopefully follow this too so we can just connote what the main characters are like without just straight out showing them.
We want to show a clear contrast in both of our characters and jumping cuts which are used in the opening
of 'Hairspray' will show this and has influenced our decision to do this.
The first 25 seconds of this is exactly the type of hinting of the characters we want to achieve.
We researched the British Board of Film Classification to give us an indication of what our children's film opening should allow or not. The BBFC decides on what ratings a film should receive from its content. We were looking at 'PG' and 'U's. As a group we researched how a film could be classified as a 'PG' according to the BBFC. We saw that they must follow: moderate violence, natural nudity,no references to illegal drugs etc. From researching this and discussing what 'U's must follow also we tried to modify the correct classifications.We looked at individual film openings and guessed what rating the film received. We looked at films such as 'UP' which we guessed was a 'U' and 'A series of unfortunate events' as 'PG'. We need to know these correct classifications as it is essential for children's films in particular to get this correct as you have to target the audience and make sure you follow the rules and children aren't watching things they ethically aren't allowed to watch.
As part of our preparation for our coursework we looked at many children's film opening. We specifically looked at 'Back to the future' in more detail and noted down key points such as: camera angles, camera movement, sound and key hints to connote to the audience of genre, audience and what the film could be about. After these notes we made a detailed storyboard of the shots shown in the opening with the specific techniques shown. From this task I learnt how to produce the correct storyboard with the right type of information. I also learnt how important it is to create a storyboard as you have to follow the right techniques and know what your doing in order for the film to work and make sense. I also learnt how to use a theme appropriately, from watching this sequence as it was very clear with all the main camera movement of tracking used to show many clocks and the sound of ticking, that the film was about time travel. Doing the task helped me to realise how much specific techniques you have to show and be aware of. I also realised that 11 detailed pictures of storyboarding only filled up about 30 seconds of filming so it helped to realise how much is needed to go into this filming. I also learnt how to be more aware of techniques and how they are shown throughout and how to use them in storyboarding.
The first image shown is of a blue sky with writing presented by ‘Walt Disney’, this immediately connoted to me that this was a happy film with a fantasy story behind it. The font used for the credits in the opening is italics, almost in stereotypical diary handwriting, suggesting we will be following someone’s diary.
The music at the very beginning is orchestral, with strings playing mellow and peacefully contrasting to the mise-en-scene of a busy city with sounds of cars and sirens suggesting things may not be as peaceful as they seem. The shots are of a high angle to get the full scene of where the film is set with fades from each cut. The music fades quickly into a more upbeat tempo and modern feel as the camera zooms in through the window of a teenage girl. This is a contrast suggesting how we have hit the reality of the film.
The first character we see is a teenage girl with uniform on, suggesting her age. There is a mid-long shot of her looking out the window connoting she’s a daydreamer or is wishing for something with the mise-en-scene of her bedroom which is like any other school girls room. The character seems like an ordinary girl, in an ordinary house and living a pretty ordinary life. The camera tracks the character as she is walking to her front door ready to leave for school. We see a high angled shot from the characters point of view looking down at her Mum tracking her as she moves closer. The Mum is generally chatting to her and talking to her about school. We just get the feel of a stereotypical morning for a schoolgirl, as though nothing special will happen. There is a long shot a tracking movement of her riding her scooter to school and hitting a bin connoting she's a clumsy character. All these clues of how ordinary everything seem, makes the audience foreshadow later that something special could happen to this character.
The mood at the beginning is happy with a fantasy feel leading into a reality of a typical schoolgirl’s life. The theme shows friendship, when she meets her friend walking to school and a school life.
From the opening the genre of the film seemed like a rom-com family film.
