Opening Title Sequence Creators

Comparing this to Coopers opening title sequence for Flubber shows everyone that he is able to convert his imagination to whatever the client is asking. He manages to make the opening title sequence  aimed at a younger age rather then Elm Street which is aimed at a more older age. 

Click on the link below and go to the bottom of the page with the first box and a pal sign on it, click on that and enjoy.

http://prologue.com/media/whats-past/projects/flubber

Opening Title Sequence Creators

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbsAyWOsnXk


The opening title sequence of this instantly gives the audience the idea that the film is a thriller which is what the director would want. He is able to portray the idea that the film is a thriller, and give the audience the impression of what they should be expecting.

Analysing Opening Title Sequence Creators

Looking at this clip it really shows off Coopers true skills. He is able to change his style of editing and design depending on what either the genre of film is or what company the advert is.

Analysing Opening Title Sequence Creators

In many movies there is various opening title designers hired to create the best opening credits for that specific film. Out of all the film I have watched I cant instantly say which opening title sequence I enjoyed the most, however, a specific designer who I like is Kyle Cooper. He has created credits for movies such as seven, nightmare on Elm Street, Flubber, Zoo-lander and many others.

As you can see Kyle Cooper is very versatile, he is able to change what genre his opening title sequence of the film is going to be depending on who the film is aimed at and whether it’s a comedy or a thriller. Cooper is commonly compared to Saul Bass, another well known opening title sequence designer, and in my opinion I believe its because they are both very versatile. Bass, who died in 1996, was not only a graphic designer but a filmmaker too. He worked for many respected directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese, and also his designs for world large business logos. Saul Bass was known for his opening title sequence in Otto Preminger’s film The Man with the Golden Arm, and in Hitchock’s Psycho.

 

Connotation and Denotation

In the lesson today we learnt about denotation and connotation.

Denotation: is basically what you see, so, it’s the physical side.

Connotation: is the other meaning to what you see

For example

With the red lips above the denotation is a pair of lips that you speak, eat and so on with. But the connotation side to it is sexy and seductive.

As you can see Denotation and Connotation are completely different things but are also linked to each other in the sense of what you are looking at.  

Account of prelim post production

Our first experience with final cut pro is when we were editing our prelim videos, I learnt many things through out this experience such as how final cut pro works and different tricks on how to either lower a certain sound and how to place different shots next to each other to create our final product. But, I also learnt how to work together in a group using this and helping each other out when stuck, this was good expierence for future when we have to edit our thrillers. We chose to put close ups of the shoe and the untied laces to emphasise the story plot so that the audience gets a more detailed idea of what our prelim was about. After the process ended my overall understanding on post production process whilst creating a media product showed to be quite a lot of work, you need to have an understanding on how to work with not only people but the programme itself, even though our prelim is tiny compared to other media products, a lot of time is put into creating it. However, its an expierence that helps you develop your skills so you are able to do more then one thing and broadens your knowledge about post production.                           

Preliminary Storyboard

Below are the story board that we had to follow. What we did was we grouped all the same shots together, like all the mid-shots or all the close ups and filmed them at the same time because that way it saves you a lot of time and allows you to spend more time on editing your media product to make it look the best it can.

Preliminary Task

In our Preliminary task we were put into small groups by our teacher and given a sheet with various different camera angles on them and lines for characters to say. We had to create a story line so that the whole task fit together and come up with a shot and prop list, after this was done we were ready to film. in my group our story line was that Character B was unable to tie their shoes and character B was getting impatient with them. Whilst filming we filmed various different shots such as over the shoulder, Close up, Long shot, medium shots and we also decided to add in extra shots as in extreme close ups of the shoe laces trying to be tied, POV (point of view) of Character A opening the door. Overall i believe that our group worked well together and in the end that benefited our video as we all agreed on everything after we had talked about it. I think that our video was edited very well and even though some of us found it difficult to understand how to work Final Cut pro, the programme that we were editing on, each one of us helped each other in some way to create a great final product.

Below is the clip of our prelim and the final product.

We differed between roles during the shooting of our prelim so that everyone got a chance to experience either filming or directing. However, the actors that were in our prelim were in our group so we had to show them what we were doing and how we were filming them. I had a better understanding of filming and all the necessary criteria to do it. I believe that overall our prelim was very successful, we managed to film all the shots needed and it showed off our skills when we were only beginning. We stuck to the way that we were told to film and the language we used was things like 'stand by' 'rolling' 'action' this also helped our knowledge expand on this area of media studies because we got an inside look on how people film and what they go through, obviously not to the extent that the big budget films go to. It was a very good experience for all of us when being introduced to media studies and what we should be getting prepared for.

Preliminary Task

 Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Camera Lesson Two

In our second camera lesson we learnt about the 180-degree rule. The 180-degree rule means that characters in a scene should basically stay in the same position that they are in. For example, if Person A has the camera filming on the left of them then that’s how they should stay throughout all the different camera angles and if Person B is has the camera on the right of them then they should stay in that position so the camera doesn’t break the rule and film so they are on the opposite sides to what they were on when filming the characters. If the camera does break the rule then it’s called crossing the line and creates an odd look to the scene for the audience. The picture below gives a basic explanation of the 180-dregree rule.

Camera Angles

In class with Adam, our main media teacher, we learnt about the various different camera angles that are used in media. There are:

- Extreme long shot/ Establishing shot

Gives the audience an idea of where the location is and where the scene is set.

- Long shot

Shows the characters full body to give the audience a sense of who they are depening on body language and clothes etc.

- Mid shot

Gets in closer to the main subject allowing the audience to get to know them better.

- Medium close up

Has the characters head and shoulders in the shot.

- Close up

A certain part of the character, usually face, takes up whole shot so that the audience can see their emotion if it’s the face.

- Extreme close up

Gets even closer to the character exposing their true emotion.

- Over the Shoulder

Allows the audience to feel as if they are in a way eavesdropping in on the conversation and also shows what the character whos shoulder and back of head we can see is feeling and the situation they are placed in.

 

- Reverse shot

If a character is walking in the shot instead of seeing what is in front of them we see what is behind them and their expression.

- Low angle

 Can add superiority to a character if the camera is looking up at them

- High angle

Looks down on the subject in the shot. Can decrease status of the person looking down on, make the audience feel that the characters position that they are in at that moment is more superior to the one they are looking down on.

- Point of view (POV)

This just shows the audience what the character is seeing in the shot so you feel like you are in their position. 

Camera Lesson One

In our first lesson with Mat and Guy, our media teachers on Thursdays, we started learning about how to set up the camera and tripod, we also learnt about the different functions on the camera.

White balance: 

This basically means colour balance. You hold up a piece of white paper in front of the camera lens press the WB (white balance) button and the camera will automatically fix the colours so they don’t look odd.

Aperture:

This means how much light the camera lets in. If your shot is over-exposed (too bright) it means you need to lower the aperture but if the shot is under-exposed (too dark) then you might raise the aperture so that the audience is able to have a clear view of whats going on in the scene.

Shutter Speed: 

This means how many shots are taken in one shot. For example, if you have a slow shutter speed then everything in your shot will look as if its in slow motion. If you have a fast shutter speed then everything in your shot will be sharp an example of when using this would be an action scene.

Focus: 

To focus everything in your shot you must first zoom into the main subject, allow the camera to focus and sharpen the image and then zoom back out for everything else to look less blurred.

Zoom:

In a shot if there is a subject which you want to get closer too without moving the camera zoom allows you to do so by turning a certain part of the camera.