Our finished Title Sequence

Evaluation

BRIEF: To create the title sequence and opening scene of a new film.

Genre: Action Thriller.

Target audience: 15+ both genders.

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms of conventions of real life media products?

During the research and planning of creating our opening title sequence I looked at in depth the codes and conventions of a title sequence in the same genre as ours to make sure we followed them.

In the title sequence we wanted to make the audience want to carry on watching as we left them in suspense to find out who the kidnapper actually was. I believe this to follow the conventions of an action thriller title sequence as throughout the film more and more is revealed. Some of the elements we wanted to add to our sequence were an edgy feel, creepy, dark and most of all a feel of unease. We felt by using these elements we would be able to start off the narrative strongly and successfully. I think that we created tension and suspense which plays a key part in all thriller crime films. We created this feel by the different use of camera shots and through the editing process. One major thing we did in the editing process was to use two shots but play them in a split-screen at the same time. As the two camera shots we both moving in different directions, as they play together it give a twisted feel which adds to the concept of it being a thriller film. This will also give the hint to the audience that there is more to the narrative then they have already witnessed. As we were able to consider these codes and conventions into our title sequence I believe the finishing product is much more successful and also looks very professional. If we hadn’t of done all the research into title sequences then we wouldn’t have been able to work to the best of our ability. Our title doesn’t give too much away, however ‘Seized’ means taken so this will give some insight to the audience of what the narrative is about. We came to the name ‘Seized’ as we was thinking of other words that can be associated with ‘kidnap’ this is why we chose ‘Seized as it didn’t give too much away, and would keep an element of surprise for the audience as they kept watching.

Who would be the audience for your media product? How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The age group we targeted for our film was 15+ for both genders. We chose this because we wouldn’t have many restrictions on what we can and can’t add into the narrative, however if this was based to a younger target audience we would have had to of been very careful in the storyline. To target this age group we used characters around a similar age as we thought that it would make them think that it could happen to anyone they know and how it would affect them. It would make them think about safety and put the idea in their heads that they have to be careful. This will help them relate to the film and for it to have more of an impact on them. We also targeted this age group as they are young and love films with suspense and energy; these are features that we wanted to add into the title sequence.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As a group we put in a lot of time to research what different types of films were distributed by who. We wanted a distributer who had distributed similar films to our idea and also one that was well known to give our film recognition. We decided that we would use ‘Lionsgate’ as this has distributed films like ‘American Psycho’ and ‘Saw’. We thought as they had experience distributing similar films in the same genre as us then that would be the best choice for us.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We addressed the audience by showing an ordinary girl walking home from school, which is a normal thing most people do each day, we thought that this would draw in the audience as it will be a subject close to home. They will be able to relate to the storyline, which will keep them hooked.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

By doing this project I have had the chance to be able to gain many different skills using Final Cut Pro. None of us in our group had used this before which made it really difficult at first and made the editing process very slow at first. I really enjoyed using this software, as now I feel comfortable in the future to use it again.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

From the preliminary task I have learnt many different skills that I shall use again. I now know the importance of storyboarding as it is a crucial part in the planning process to make a professional title sequence. I have also learnt how important it is to calculate our time efficiently. This was important as we had lots of work to complete in a set time period so we had to make realistic time slots for any obstacles that may of risen. We had to make sure that we was well prepared by making sure the camera was charged and that we had all the equipment we needed before we set off because if we didn’t it would of just wasted time! Another thing we have learnt is how difficult filming can be. We would start filming and a car would approach down the road, making us have to start again. This was all time consuming.

Overall, I think that we created a very successful title sequence that told the storyline well as we had done lots of research and planning before hand.

Feedback on our title sequence!

Journal - 9th February 2011

In todays lesson we got lots done! We made a questionnaire to get audience feedback from, made an animatic, done screen shots of our editing process and updated everything on our blogs. We are way ahead of our schedule so we can now focus on making sure all the finishing touches are perfect!

Screen Shots of our editing process

Here is all of our different shots that we had to put into our sequence. This is was very hard to do at first as we wasnt really sure what we had to do as we had never used 'Final Cut Pro' before. This element of the software is very useful it stores everything that has been edited into our title sequence.
This was the starting point of our title sequence. We decided to use Longate as our distributor because they have distributed films that come under the same genre as ours, so we thought it would work well and fit in with the overall mood of our piece.
This is when we started to add the titles to our title sequence. This was a very long process!! We had to cut the image into lots of different pieces and move them up down to make it look like the titles were jumping about.
Here is the logo that Daisy created. I think this works really well and gives the eerie effect that we wanted.




This is the stage of the editing process when we added music to it. This took a very long time to choose the right piece of music that will not make the film too obvious!

This is our finished title sequence!! I am so happy with our finished product and believe that it has been very successful!

Questionnaire

Here is the questionnaire Sophie produced. We plan to give this to people so they can give us some feedback about our title sequence, we hope that this will give us an idea of things we could change and make better.

Final Typography!

This is our final typography idea for out title. We decided to use this as it is bold and stands out as the writing is white on a black background. We created this in a website called Picnik. We then decided to download the font we used so we can use it throughout our title sequence. We feel as a group that this font represents the stalker/investigator very well within our film as it looks like its decaying.