Editing and creating the soundtrack

Within the next 3 lessons we dedicated our time in editing the opening sequence and creating the soundtrack. We all decided that during the titles we wanted a soundtrack that represents the genre and also the idea of spy's. This idea was influenced mainly by the Kim Possible theme tune. The editing was quit easy due to the fact we had already storyboarded our opening sequence so we just had to spend the time creating what we had planned and developing our use and knowledge of the software.

First of all Sami imported the footage we filmed while I started on creating the soundtrack. We spent all of the lesson focusing on our own tasks, but we swapped tasks the next lesson so Sami was then doing the soundtrack while me and Steph started to edit the footage. This enabled all of us to use all the different software and contribute to all aspects of creating the opening sequence.

First filming lesson

In today's filming lesson we managed to film all the footage we needed for our opening sequence. We also managed to find a classroom to film in rather quickly too which enabled us to start filming more swiftly.

We used a science lab to film and the people we were going to film was all rather keen to get started. We worked well as a team so the filming was done quickly.

We stuck to our filming plan though by filming all the scenes with the extra classmates in them then after we had finished that we then filmed the scenes with just the two main characters. Overall, this worked well and enabled us to finish all the footage in that one lesson.

We included all the shots we had plan to use and all the characters worked well as well as the use of location and all the probs.

As we have finished filming our footage this lesson, next lesson we are going to concentrate on editing the clips in the correct chronological order and also to keep up to date with the blog.

Our Children's Film idea

The group has decided on the overall story and plan for our opening sequence. We were planning on doing animation however, we were going to use barbie's as a characters but we were unsuccessful in trying to find anyone who would be willing to let us use them. Also we encountered that it would be difficult to build a set with the barbie dolls as they are quite big. Because of all these problems we decided that it would be better to use live action of characters. Jade knew two people who would be willing to star in our opening sequence and we came up with a plot almost instantly.

The narrative: There are two twins who are late to school and one of the twins have a new, cool watch. During the lesson the twin who owns the watch tries to set it to the right time however, she presses the wrong button and she manages to freeze time and all the people in the classroom including the teacher and fellow classmates. They realise they have done something wrong but decide to muck around with the people who are frozen. As the film progresses they discover this watch has powers and they turn into the characters known as 'The Spy Twins' who complete mission's in order to save the world. However, they soon discover that is their life better when they have powers or when they were normal?

The location: for the opening sequence will be based within the school. We will find an empty classroom and use that to base the classroom scenes. Also a corridor will be used for one of the shots during the opening sequence.

The costumes: all the characters will be dressed in normal, casual clothes.

The characters: Twin 1 will be played by Emma Lambert
                         Twin 2 will be played by Philipa Baron
                         The Teacher will be played by Sami Piggott/Jade Peters
                         Extra Classmates will be played by Sophie Housden
                                                                                 Holly Hibbett
                                                                                 Amy Barker
                

Planning the filming lessons

We have overall 3 lessons to film our material for our opening sequence. 

In the first lesson we will try and shoot all the footage located in the classroom and the shots that include the extra classmates. This is due to the fact we have 3 extra people helping us out in their free to play the class mates and they are only available this lesson which means all the shots in the class have to be finished by this lesson. In this session we will be located in a free classroom. Most of the props we need will already be located in the classroom such as the white board, tables and chairs. The extra props we need to supply are text books, coats, bags and books for the school classmates. We also need to supply a watch which is our main prop.

In the second lesson we will concentrate on shooting the two main characters in the beginning scene such as them running down the corridor. Both of the main characters are free on our second filming lesson which enables us to use them and concentrate on these specific shots as we don't need the extra characters. We are planning to shoot in the same classroom as the first filming lesson and also one shot will be located in a corridor. The same props will be used as before too. 

Jumanji Analysis

Jumanji meets the the charactersitics for an opening sequence due to the following reasons:
- the main prop/ character was introduced nearly straight away, this was the use of the 'box' that was being buried.
-the age and gender of the main character matches the age and gender of the target audience; an 11 year old boy was the main character which helps to represent that the film is considered to appeal to boys around the age of 11.
- the use of titles at the begining of the film, the titles in this film helps to represent the genre of the film; adventure.
-the moral of the film was represented nearly straight away.


Jumanji also meets the conventions for an adventure genre:
-the idea of looking/searching for something represented through the box that has been buried at the begining of the film and the idea of knowing that the box is about to be found.
-the use of sound; non-digetic sound of wolves and other animals.
-use of dark lighting and shadows.
-contrast in scenes to represent different time periods.
-the titles are presented to convey the genre- green coloured font was used.

Pictures of our storyboard, timeline and shot list.



Storyboard- Page 1





Storyboard- Page 2





Timeline of our opening sequence.




Shot list









Inspector Gadget Opening Credits

Inspector Gadget opening is created using CGI animation. This makes the audience wonder what the film will be like. The animation is of metal springs, cogs, springs and other things related to machinery. As the sequence progresses the animation shows the letter G for Gadget.
The soundtrack used is upbeat which lets the audience identify the genre of the film which is adventure and action. The lyrics within the soundtrack are the title of the film and the main slogan ( Go Gadget Go )
The credits are presented in this way because then the audience can relate the main characters with the metal and gadgets shown in the  opening sequence almost immediately and they will draw the audience in from the beginning because of the mystery of the cogs and springs and how they will link in with the film. 

Toy Story Opening Sequence

Analysis:

Main characters are introduced.
Engaging music which is non-diegetic, this is used to match the mood of the characters
Soundtrack is empathetic which also helps to represent the mood of the characters to the young audience.
A colourful setting is introduced, this also implicates that this will be the main setting. We can see this because all the main characters are introduced here and are all in one place.
The colourful costumes helps to engage the young audience and identify with at least one of the characters. It also helps to convey each character's personality through what they're wearing.

Analysis of Childrens Film Opening

The first thing we hear is quite upbeat music which could be identified with adventure as it gets more intense as it progresses. From this the audience automatically guess that the film is going to be an adventure. The use of the black background and white text for the opening credits gives the audience time to think about what the music means and which character they're going to meet first. As the opening scene progresses the music cuts out once the title of the films is shown, this builds tension for the audience about what will happen.
Once we meet the main character, the dalmatian dog, a different sequence of music starts. The music is upbeat and light. The music plays as the dog is going around the house doing chores for his owner. The music almost shows the smartness of the dog and also the loyalty he has for his owner. We are introduced to the dog's name as he turns the computer on.
The dog's bark shows us that it is his name. The atmosphere created by the sounds and music is happy and before watching the rest of the film the audience could identify that the film will be an adventure about the dog. 

BBFC Requirements

Definition: 
No special effort is made to make the film appeal to other audiences.


- Does this happen less nowadays?
            - Yes, because in films like "Shrek" aim some jokes to the parents and adult that may
               be watching with children. 




Children: Under the age of 12
- Teens have different tastes
- The films need a U or PG


U = Universal: 
- Suitable for all over the age of 5
- Positive moral framework
- Offer reassuring counter balances to any threat / horror / violence
- Suitable for children to view above


NO: 
- Bad language or discrimination
- Drugs (unless educational)
- No emphasis on realistic or accessible weapons
- No sexual content - kissing & love


PG = Parental guidance:
- Suitable for 8 or above, parents should consider if it's suitable for younger
- Discrimination only for educational purposes
- Drugs must carry anti drugs message
- Horror - short & not intense


Some mild bad language. More grown up themes
eg. Domestic violence - will be strongly negatively portrayed

Childrens Film - Action Genre

The Incredibles: Action

A typical example of a children's action film is "The Incredibles".

The characters are made up a number of retired superheroes, the main characters are a family of 5 who all have different super powers. This is appealing to the target audience because it's a fantasy action film because all children at some point want to be a superhero. 

The opening scene shows what seems to be the main characters in the past, we can see it's the past due to the old film effect at the beginning. The characters names are displayed to show who they are. In the first two minutes they answer some questions that the audience may be asking in their head. For example "do you have a secret identity?"

The is effective because our main focus is one those three characters introduced.

From the opening scene our main focus is on the colours. Each character has a different suit so we can tell which character is which. 

Animation example

Animation - Rocco

The fact that the setting and props are realistic makes the audience believe that the character is real and lives among us "in an alleyway far, far away". This is effective because when the audience watches the clip they will be able to separate themselves from reality.
The character used is a cute mouse that young audiences can relate to because of his innocent behaviour.


After viewing this clip i believe that our group may choose to do an animation for our coursework because it's easier to make into a children's film rather than using actors. Also we can make the final clip into anything we want and aren't limited on locations. 


If we were to make an animation clip for our final coursework we may encounter some problems including time limitations, the time take to make the "Rocco" clip took approximately 3 weeks to complete. Most of this time was used for filming and the overall clip is only 3:16 minutes long. This could be a big problem because we only have 13:30 hours to complete the whole task which includes planning, filming, editing and evaluating.
Another problem we may have is that we are limited with hardware and software at home so the only time we could film and edit is in lesson. 

Favourite Childrens Film

Whats your favourite children's film?- Lion king

How does it attract the target audience? 

Through the animation of the animals, the happy and fun music used; Hakuna Matata, the use of the lions and other African Animals helps to attract the target audience due to the fact they are exotic and most of the target audience haven't seen or experienced the behaviour of that animal.

Example of music used:


Why is this film so memorable to you?
The music makes this specific film so memorable as its catchy, upbeat and creates a happy atmosphere. Most people can listen to the music in this film such as 'The Circle of Life' and 'Hakuna Matata' and easily identify the fact its from The Lion King. Also the use of the characters help to make this film memorable and interesting as it's the only film based on animated lions.

What is the Moral of the Story?
To work well with everyone around you and that friendships are important. Also not to take things that you love the most for granted. 

Analysis of animated character

Finding Nemo:

'Nemo' is represented as a young fish who lives with his dad in the ocean.

He is shown to have a disability due to the fact he only has one good, working fin. This could relate to children who watch the film who also have a disability. 

Even though 'Nemo' has a disability, he also shows he has big dreams and wants to explore the ocean.

However, in doing this he manages to get captured by divers. This is a message to the target audience (children) that it is unsafe to explore places your parents wouldn't want you to go.

His father's relationship with his son shows he is worried about him and restricts him from doing many things the other young fish do, due to the fact of the consequences.

Preliminary Task Final Film

In this task, the overall strength was filming the footage. Due to there only being 2 of us in the group the day of filming, we coped under the circumstances well. We managed to film all that we had planned using different tactics to shoot both roles. We felt that the editing stage was weak within our group, we struggled to find an appropriate sounds to make our soundtrack. This wasted time and ended up in us having to rush to finish our video clip off.
To improve next time we would allow more time for the editing process and think through carefully about our soundtrack.

Planning and Script for Prelimary Exercise

Sami- is going to direct
Steph- Character 1
Jade- Character 2

Script- rough draft
Character 2: What are you doing here?
Character 1: I thought I should come and apologise
Character 2: I don't want to hear your sob stories
Character 1: I know what I did was wrong..
Character 2: your telling me?!
Character 1: fine then. walks out of the room.

Examples of shots

Establishing shot- this clip helps to set the scene and represent the situation that the characters are in.
Establishing Shot- Saving Private Ryan

Close-up- this clip from the TV Program Sugar Rush at 00.28-00.31 seconds is a close up of Sugar's mouth. This helps to show the audience the temptation Kim has for kissing Sugar.
Close-up- Sugar Rush

180 degree rule- this clip from Training day at 00.23-00.35 is a representation of the 180 degree rule. It enables the viewers to understand who the focus is on at different points of the conversation.
180 degree rule- Training Day

Match-On Action- this clip from Waterloo Road at 00.18-00.23 shows a match on action shot on the girl walking through the field texting on her phone. This shows the audience which direction she is coming from and what is about to happen as they can see she is about to get bashed by the other girl who is walking backwards.
Match-on Action- Waterloo Road

Long-shot- at the beginning of this clip from Misfits, a long shot is used to represent the characters as their personalities are also shown through their costumes and they way they wear it.
Long- Shot-Misfits

Locations we can use for our Prelimary Exercise

Idea's for location;

Media corridor into the media classroom.
Psychology corridor and a spare classroom.
Use a door that leads outside.
Anywhere that has a corridor leading into a spare classroom.

Prelimary Task: Continuity Task

We will take out the camera in our group so we can shoot a selected sequence.