Plan of things to do.

Things to do:

Find or create music and add it to our film. (done)

Look at each shot that we have and either cut some of the shot away, or add new shots into the film. (done)

Add sounds. (done)

Look at other film titles and see how they position them. (done)

Add titles. (done)

Add all the effects needed to make film opening stand out. (done)

Fianalise and check over film. (done)

Film complete! (DONE!!!)

Sophie and Charna's rough cut (Feedback)

Sophie and Charna rough cut from cmdiploma on Vimeo.

Strengths of film: I think the strenghts of their film opening are the shots. I really like the way that they have positionedand angled each of their shots, to get a full view of each frame. I like how it is really dark in the background of each shot, and in the foreground the fire stands out really well. I also really like how they have positioned the titles aswell.

Weaknesses of film: In my opinion the weaknesses of their film opening is the music as it has not been timed very well with each shot, and I think that it doesn't fit in with what is happening in the film. I also feel that the opening to this film looks more like a trailer because of the way that they have layed it out, and the order in which they have put each title.

I think that the group should change the music, because it doesn't suit the film. I also think that they should add dialogue, so that people know what is happening, because it is difficult to explain what is happening without dialogue when you only have fire to explain things, it just doesn't work.

Apart from change a few things to make it feel and look like a film opening, this group does not need to add anything into the opening sequence.

My Rough cut for film opening

JAHMAL/SVEN rough cut from cmdiploma on Vimeo.

This is the rough cut version to mine and Svens film opening, and as it is a rough cut everything hasn't been sorted out properly. I am going to share with you the views of other people about our work.

Feedback for our film: In class the feedback about the strenghts and weaknesses of our film were as followed.

Strenghts: The strengths of your film were how you positioned all of your shots, and how you managed to time each action with the next action. Good acting from the actors.

Weaknesses: I expected something more to happen at the end of the opening, like the person in the hoodie to pop up somewhere. There was no sound.

We don't intend to change much at all because we feel that as an opening to make it look like an opening you need to keep it simple and not have to much going on otherwise it will look too much like we are trying to get everything into the first minute of the film. The teacher said to us that he was expecting more to happen like the person in the hoodie to pop up again at the end, but in my opinion that would ruin the film because the opening is supposed to introduce the characters, and if we made what he said happen we wouldn't know what to do with the rest of the film.

In our film opening we still have to add music because without music it is bare and you don't know what is happening and it doesn't appeal to the audience. We also have to add all of the titles aswell, and also cut down on a few of the shots.

Charna and Sophie think that our camera shots and not revieling the main character are our strenghts of the film.
They think that our weeknesses of the film are not having any music, and they think that we should have more in the background like people or animals etc.

This is my drawing of my favourite part of mine and Svens film opening sequence. The reason why I like this part of the film is because I like how the two main characters walk past each other as it builds tension.

This is a screengrab of the scene I would call the meeting point as this is when you see both the main character (Lars) and the gang leader (Jahmal-With the hoodie), both in the same shot which suggests that something is maybe going to happen with these two later on in the film, which also builds up tension as they walk past each other, and I think this would make the audience want to watch more. In my opinion this is the best scene of the whole opening sequence, because as I said it builds up tension, and I like how it goes in slow motion as they pass by.

This screengrab is when we introduce the gang leader, as he walks across the road looking suspicious, with his hood up, and hands in pocket. I think that the way the camera has been positioned makes the shot stand out as it is quite diagonal to the gang leader (Me).

This screengrab is the second shot of the opening sequence introducing the main character (Lars). This is an effective close-up as it shows the full emotions on his facial expressions, and what I think makes it even better, isthe fact that you can also see his school books, and because he is on the floor, these two signs suggests to us that he has been bullied and knocked to the ground.

My Opie

This is my opie which i created on photoshop. An opie is when you make yourself different by using effects, and as you can see I have made a normal picture of me into a cartoon picture of me.
I think that it is quite cool, but it is also very hard to make at the same time. I like how I have done my opie because I have made my t-shirt a different colour to what it actually was, which shows how much you can actually change things just by using tools on photoshop.

It was very hard and complicated when making an opie because I had to do about 8 layers, and on each layer was a different feature to my face, so it took quite a long time to do, but I enjoyed it overall.

Template for opening sequence (Beat the Bully) Edited by Sven

This is the template to mine and Svens film opening sequence to our film Beat The Bully.
In my opinion the opening to our film has gone really well. Of course we have to add sound and effects to make it look much more film like, and we also are maybe going to add shots that aren't in this template, but we are going to take a look at other alternatives.

At this moment in time I think that this first draft looks very good, for what it is without editing lighting effects, and sound effects, and I think that when we have finished this whole opening sequence project our film openinf will look very good and well presented.

Also because this is a first draft we haven't added the titles because that is something we will take care of, when we have the final piece, and when we are happy with the whole opening to our film with the angles and shots.

The credit must go to Sven for this template, because he was the one who edited it at his house on an editing software.

Todays session

In todays session we are going to create our music for each character.

For the gang leader we are maybe going to get copyright free music, and the sort of music that it is going to be is, grime or hip-hop.

However for our main character we are going to create some music in garage band and that is our final decision, although we have yet to decide on what type of music it is going to be.

Moodboard

This is a moodboard closest to our film opening. In this moodboard we show a gang, someone getting bullied, a tunnel which we have in our film opening, gang fight, and more. In the board we have included all sorts of things that we are going to add to our opening sequence.

This is the storyboard for mine and Svens film opening sequence. As show on each board there are arrows to tell us where the character is going.

Since doing this storyboard we have added some extra shots which we recently thought of doing and we feel that they make the film opening stand out to what it used to be.

Fontboard

This is the fontboard for the types of font that we are going to use for the opening sequence of our film when the titles come up. In the end we are going to choose one of these font styles.

Greenscreen Activity

This is the greenscreen activity which we had to do. I am the model of the video and I am the one on the treadmill.

I had to walk on the treadmill, and when editing we had to make it look like I was walking in front of the school.

Similar opening sequence to my film (2)

This is Juno the opening sequence which is similar to the opening of mine and Svens film because in our film opening all the way through it there is a person walking through the streets of Cambridge and in Juno it is just a girl walking all through the opening sequence.

Similar opening sequence to my film (1)

This is the opening to the film kidulthood, which is very quite similar to the film opening sequence which me and Sven are doing becuae it kind of has things to do with gangs, and it also is to do with young teens and gang activity.

First Shootings For Film Opening

Today, me and my partner Sven had a go at doing the first few shots and scenes for our film opening. As we can only use the main character on a weekend, we decided to change a few things, and we added more shots to make our film look better than it would have originally been.

We first of all did the first shot of the film which is supposed to be from the main characters point of view looking into the sky, and although it was from the main characters point of view, we didn't need him as the camera is looking into the sky. For this particular shot in editing we are going to add a blinking effect, and also you don't see him getting beaten up, and the shot is dark which creates tension.

Me and Sven also did some cityscape shots of cars going past, people passing by, and cars on a roundabout. As we are going to introduce the gang leader played by me (Jahmal) we also did some shots of me walking, but unlike the main character (Lars) most of the shots taken with me in them are handheld, where the camera isn't held totally steady, which kind of shows my characters personality. Some of the shots with me in them are from different angles, but with (Lars) all of them are different angled shots.

The main point of the opening sequence is going to be them passing by each other in the underground bit near the grafton, where they link eyes adding some tension and the mood of that scene is bitter, this shot of them linking eyes is showing the audience that they are to of the main people in the film, and, makes them wonder what is going to happen in the whole of the film.

Tomorrows Session

In tomorrows session we have to start our filming for the opening sequence to our own films, but as me and Sven don't have our main character we can't do all of the opening as he is our key focus of the opening sequence.

As we cannot do all of the opening sequence we are going to do parts of it by doing the opening shot which is just a shot of the sky from a persons point of view whilst laying on the ground, and we can also do some cityscapes as well.

Me and Sven can also do some editing for the few shots that we can take, for example on the opening shot we are having it from a point of view, so we are going to add a blinking effect, and we will go on garage band to edit the music, and any other sound effects that we are going to use for the sequence.

Feedback

more good work jahmal- keep it up!

Mine and Svens anamatic

http://www.vimeo.com/6988595

This is mine and Svens anamatic video of the opening sequence to our film. We have used final cut express to do close-ups of shots, and we have also used it to frame a picture, and to fade from picture to picture in some cases.
I think that we have done well in our anamatic video, and it gives us a good idea to how we are going to edit our film.

The Brothers Bloom (Anamatic video) Opening Sequence

Brothers Bloom Childhood Sequence Animatic from rcjohnso on Vimeo.

This is the anamatic version of 'The Brothers Bloom' film. I thought that this was made to look nearly exactly like the actual film, but they got some things mixed up. For example they got some of the shots the wrong way round. They made some good special effects that they decided not to do in the real film, but for an anamatic, I thought that this was great. I liked the way they still had the arrows to show what they were going to do next. For example when they were going to do a close-up of the shot they put a box around the place that they were going to zoom in to.

Brothers Bloom (Video) Opening Sequence

this is the opening sequence to 'The Brothers Bloom' film, which I thought was actually really good, in the way they used effects, and the music went with what was going on.

180 Degree Rule (picture)

This is a picture showing what the 180 degree rule is, and how it works.

Creating Storyboard

This picture is showing me and Sven doing our work for the storyboard of our opening sequence. Sven is cutting out images which he drew, and i am sticking the images on, and writing about what is happening in each of them.

In this picture Sven is still cutting out images and I am recording the times of which each shot is going to happen.

production Ident (video)

L3 JAHMAL (J.C.A.C. Media Productions) IDENT from cmdiploma on Vimeo.

This is my production ident video which will appear at the start of all of my films that I make, and it will first appear in the film opening sequence that me and Sven are going to make.

I think that I done well in making my ident video as it moves around quite well, and I like the way each word and object comes into action, and appears in screen. I found it hard to pick the right sounds, and up until the last day of making the idents, i had trouble picking sound that goes with each action, but I think that I now have the right sounds in my opinion.

Timeline and Title Sequence to Boris 2 opening sequence

These pictures are the timeline for each title. I have recorded a timeline for each second a title comes up, and I have also said what is happening at that particular point in some cases. The reason that I have doe so many pictures of the same timeline is because my camera could not zoom in on all of the timeline at once, so I had to do some of them individually.

I could not say which person was director, or casting members, as all of the titles were written in a different language, but I did still write down everything I saw, but some of it I do not understand as it is not English.

I found it to be quite hard to get each point accurate so I had to keep going back to check if I got the time right. On my timeline I have put down all the seconds in which a title came up.

Boris2- Contact sheet

Here is the link for Boris 2: http://artofthetitle2.com/media/tv/2009/boris2_480p.mov

In this video I think that the music fits in well with the effects that they use. The reason why I picked Boris 2 for my timeline film is because I thought that it was the best one out of all the ones that I watched, and I liked how in the first shot it shows a fish in its fish bowl, and then it zooms in, and lots of different things start to happen which in my opinion makes it stand out from the rest. I think that the colours in this opening sequence makes it look very lively and interesting fopr the audience watching it , making them want to see more.
The wasy that the titles start to come in also makes it look quite spectacular as well, and I think that this has helped me in a way, becaues I can take some ideas from Boris 2, for example the titles and how they enter the opening sequence, and I can do a similar thing in my opening sequence.

This is the contact sheet for Boris 2. I picked this one because I thought it looked really cool, and I really like the effects that they have used in the video, as well as on the contact sheet.

My film logo

This is my logo for my film, so when ever I make a film this will come up at the beginning to tell the audience that it is a film production, from me. I think that my production logo looks good, because fist of all I really like the colours which I have used, and I like the way it is set out.
I have also done something that I think is quite clever in my production logo, because I have used my initials, (J.C.A.C) which I think lookes quite cool. I also really like the shape in the background. The thing which makes the audience realise that it is a production logo is the bit at the bottom, where it says media produtions, as it says what it is.

9 frames(Beat the bully), Jahmal and Sven

Me and my partner Sven then went on to do a second 9 frames storyboard, but this time we did it in a different way and we did the whole story in 9 frames instead of just the opening sequence.
As you can see:

First shot- The boy is getting bullied
Second shot- He is running away
Third shot- Is a picture of his house
Fourth shot- Is a picture of a gang which he meets on the way to his house
Fifth shot- Is a picture of him wearing gang like clothing showing he's in the gang
Sixth shot- Shows him commiting a minor crime
Seventh shot- Has him being in a much more serious crime with a gun
Eighth shot- A picture of handcuffs represents that he is being arrested
Ninth shot- Shows a picture of a judge's hand about to slam the hammer

In our actual fim opening that we have to do in pairs me and my partner Sven, are going to base our fim opening on this, but we are not going to use all of it as it tells a whole story, and not just the beginning. Instead we are going to take ideas from this to create our opening scene. In my opinion, I think that me and Sven are going to produce a really good film opening by taking ideas from this source.

9 frames(Stuck on the beach ), Jahmal and Sven

This is the 9 frames storyboard type of thing where we had to take images from google and basically tell a story with the images that we collected, as an opening sequence to a made up story. Me and my partner, straight away thought of a good idea and this is what we came up with.

I really like our 9 frames film "Stuck on the beach" because by looking at it you might get confused, but you can kind of work out what is happening. We have also added the names of casting members, producers, actors, directors, and so on.

The pitch we are going to use

Pitch 3- Cambridge gangland(regional film)

set in cambridge, a 12 year old boy who gets picked on at school, is about to change his life around, but in the wrong ways...he wants to join a gang. Blood and violence makes him even more interested in the gang world, and he even gets involved in some horrific attacks. Bullies prepare to be beaten!

We are going to use my pitch 3 as the opening sequence for our film opening, because we think that it is the most doable sequence out of all of them. We are going to use Sven's brother as the 12 year old boy, and we going to have to get the right props to do this, for example; hoodies, fake guns, and knifes. The most important thing for us to do at this stage, is to find more actors/actresses to be our film.

I think because of the props we are using, and all of the violence, we are going to have to film on private property, or at Sven's house.

feedback

again coming along well !

Pitch 4- Street Life(fictional novel)

An animated fictional novel for adults. It may be animation but this is for adults. A woman who has to make money for drugs turns to prostitution. Can she change her life around for the better, or does she fall along the way.

Pitch 3- Cambridge gangland(regional film)

set in cambridge, a 12 year old boy who gets picked on at school, is about to change his life around, but in the wrong ways...he wants to join a gang. Blood and violence makes him even more interested in the gang world, and he even gets involved in some horrific attacks. Bullies prepare to be beaten!

Pitch 2- The Henchman

The supernatural thriller, focusing on a very muscular man, as you can tell this is aimed for girls. He may be known as the Henchman, but two problems are in his way. First problem he is blue... second problem to be solved, is how he got like that. Can he find who or what did this to him?

Pitch 1-Wiz kid(My own fictional comic book character)

An 18 year old, who by day acts like a normal teen, and hangs around with his mates, but by night is out to save the world with his super speed powers. He has to fight against bad guys, and stop comets from entering the atmosphere....Will he save the world?

My Preliminary task

In my opinion I think that my group used the three basic rules very well, as you can see in the video there is the continuity editing at the beginning, which I think actually looked quite good for the first time of doing it.
The 180 degree rule was very basic to use, and I thought it was easy.
The shot/Reverse shot was difficult because you have to get the timing right overwise it lookes dreadful.
Overall I think that my group worked really well together, and I think that mine and Sophie's editing skills were really good as we got the timing of each shot to the best that we could get them too. I enjoy ed learning how to use these three basic skills, as now I know that there is much more to filming than keeping the camera in one spot, as you have to do lots of different things to make it look accurate.

Although I liked the whole of our little film, there were some bits that didn't fit into it so good, for example, when we did the shot/reverse shot it didn't fit very well because everything was said really fast, which made it look very rushed and not realistic.