Analysis of the Walking Dead

I chose to analyse this film opening as it is similar to what we want to do and has similar themes. It has the theme of loneliness which is a big part of our film opening. I'm going to focus on the titles as they are presented quite well in this.

The font used is very bold and is in capitals which makes it stand out. All of the titles appear in front of a scene of a deserted place. There are pictures of the cast and their names appear when they are on screen. This is a good way to show people which actor/actress is who. The title appears in front of a black background so it stands out and informs people of the title. some titles fade out and others move across the screen until the shot changes. The shots are always moving and the transitions and fast and build tension. The music also builds a lot of suspense and tension.

The scenes feel deserted because there is no one there and everything is dirty and broken. We aren't going to make our scenes look like this. Our scenes are going to look like a town that is lived in except that no one is there. This will be mysterous and people won't think it's a zombie film

 

Sound Research

 

 

 

To research sound Ben flatt looked at similar films and how they used sound in different scenes. He looked at some of our inspirations such as 'I am Legend'. In 'I am Legend' there isn't much music because the silence is used to show how alone and isolated the character is. A lot of similar films also use silence and the sound of nature to convey that there are no more humans.

Ben then looked at theme songs for our inspirations and found that they create a very eerie and sounds like slow realisation as the music builds up. In the theme for 28 days later the music builds up and gets more intense. We think we should use something similar as Maddie will get clues of her situation as the beginning of the film progresses. We think this will help the audience understand what Maddie is feeling without her saying anything. We will need to find some similar music to this that is not copyrighted. 

He thinks we could use sound effects to give the feeling of isolation and loneliness. He thinks using sounds of nature such as birds will create the atmosphere that we want. Putting more emphasis on the sounds Maddie makes will make the audience aware of the silence and make the atmosphere very eerie.

Titles

This is the title sequence for the film Napoleon Dynamite;

Title 1 - Institution 0:02-0:07
Title 2 - Production company 0:09-0:14
Title 3 - Association 0:16-0:21
Title 4 - Starring 0:26-0:29
Title 5 - Napoleon Dynamite 0:31-0:36
Title 6 - Jon Gries 0:39-0:45
Title 7 - Ason Ruell 0:48-0:53
Title 8 - Efren Ramirez 0:56-1:02
Title 9 - Tina Majorino 1:04-1:09
Title 10- Diedrich Bader 1:12-1:16
Title 11- Casting by Rory Weitz 1:22-1:26
Title 12- Music by John Swihart 1:30-1:34
Title 13- Edited by Jeremy Coon 1:39-1:43
Title 14- Production by Cory Lonenzen 1:48-1:54
Title 15- Director of photography by Mumn Powell 1:56-2:01
Title 16- Produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt and Sean Covel 2:05-2:10
Title 18- Writen by Jared Hess and Jeksha Hess 2:13-2:17
Title 19- Directed by Jared Hess 2:27-2:40


Each different title that appears is different but all have something in common, for example some are presented on plates using food but its different types of food. From this opening sequences we get the inmpression that the film is going to be about a young child who is intrested in space and food.

Art of the Title

1. What is the definition of a Title Sequence?

 

A Title Sequence tells us the names of the people who are responsible for being in the film and the making of the film or TV program.

 

2. What is the function of a Title Sequence?

The function of a Title Sequence is to name the people who are credited for the making of the film. Title sequences are usually created and presented in a way which fits the genre. For example, in a Rom com movie, the typography used could be girly and pink, and the non diagetic sound (background music) could be a happy song.

 

3. Name three films featured in the A Brief History of the Art of the Title Sequence?

• Forest Gump
• The Ward
• Juno 

4. Select a film Title Sequence shown in the A Brief History of the Art of the Title Sequence and discuss how the Title Sequence uses Typography Elements (text), Visual Imagery/Sound Elements and what kind of mood/feeling is created as a result?

Coraline - The title sequence is quite a spooky one as the main title 'coraline' is written in stitching which we don't understand as we haven't watched the film but it will be come clear when we do. The actual titles are written in quite bold letters. The music is the background is quite dark and scary to start of with. The music is quite tense to start of with as the music increases quickly and then decreases suddenly to maybe trick the audience. Towards the end of the title sequence the music starts to become more upbeat and chirpy which maybe indicates the film is a happy one with a dark twist.

 

5. What does the use of Typography Elements (text), Visual Imagery/Sound Elements in the chosen film Title Sequence suggest about the theme/content of the film?

The style of the typography in this case is the main title of the film 'Coraline' sowed into some kind of fabric with a button acting as the 'o'. At this point we don't know what the film is about but judging by the creepy music is defiantly got a dark twist to it.

 

6. Select another film Title Sequence shown in the A Brief History of the Art of the Title Sequence and discuss how the Title Sequence uses Typography Elements (text), Visual Imagery/Sound Elements and what kind of mood/feeling is created as a result? Name of chosen Film Title Sequence: Use of Typography Elements (text): Use of Visual Imagery/Sound Elements: Mood/feeling:

 

The Ward - We can clearly tell this is a horror film from right at the start as the music is tracking backwards down a hospital corridor with the main lights flashing, this is a typical scene from a horror movie. Not only does the visual imagery tell us this but so does the music. At first its sounds like someone whistling with the thunder and lighting effect in the background then it gets louder and the sound of lightning appears and a loud organ starts. The main title 'The Ward' is created as though it is an object in the corridor and the camera goes through one of the letters. It then appears in a large font in capital letters as 'John Carpenter's The Ward'. Throughout the title sequence there are animated pictures of people in the olden days getting punished for whatever reason and glass smashing at various points. The titles of the various cast members and key production people are quite simple but work well with the film.

7. What does the use of Typography Elements (text), Visual Imagery/Sound Elements in the chosen film Title Sequence suggest about the theme/content of the film?

The typography suggests that its a horror film from right at the beginning of the title sequence. Its visual imagery is set in a hospital with a broken lights and thunder and lightning in the background. The music is at first someone whistling then continues to play creepy organ music, accompanied by the large font of the main title.

8.Visit the following website;

Art of the Title watch the sequences and read the 6 Film Title Sequence interview with Richard Morrison. The typography for Sweeney Todd is quite sinister, the title for 'Sweeney Todd' is red, this symbolises blood, death and rather haunting things.

9. What does the use of Typography Elements (text), Visual Imagery/Sound Elements in the chosen film Title Sequence suggest about the theme/content of the film?

The title starts just as the organ finishes playing and a quite noise replaces the organ, a haunting noise that sounds like violins in the back ground, on top of that the next scene that comes up is of a dark raining sky and you can here thunder in the back ground, this helps to give the film a mysterious atmosphere as the audience try to work out where it is, you then start to see chimneys and smoke, this is when the titles of the people that were involved in the film begin to appear. The text is in white so it stands out against the dark back ground, and is in an old fashioned Victorian text, so it fits with the era of the film, the writing also looks like skeleton bones which fits in with the main part of the film which is death.As the film carries on and the titles, objects appear that are going to be see through out the film such as a bolts and screws that are covered in blood and even a stream of blood, this makes the film look much more darker and gloomier, as the red contrasts with the dark back ground. When the title of the film appear in bold red against the black back ground, the music increases and picks up its pace and the writing is the only thing on the screen, this makes it stand out and get the audience more excited for it as the title of the film builds the tension and excitement of the film, and makes it dramatic as if the title is the grand opening of the film. After the name of the title is shown the objects shown become much faster and more intense such as meat being grinned through a machine and the meat falling out a and the screen switching to more blood.

10. What does Richard Morrison explain about the Film Title Sequence?
Richard Morrison quotes "Animating blood and its movement became the most crucial and challenging element of the sequence. We had to build special platforms within which we imitated blood movement and filmed it"

11. Does Richard Morrison feel the Film Title Sequence was successful, why or why not? Name of 2nd chosen Film Title Sequence created by Richard Morrison: Use of Typography Elements (text): Use of Visual Imagery/Sound Elements: Mood/feeling:

Richard Morrison quotes "And we had to give it this comical feel, which worked really well. That was a dream project. We would love to work on something similar."
12. What does the use of Typography Elements (text), Visual Imagery/Sound Elements in the chosen film Title Sequence suggest about the theme/content of the film?

High Fidelity - Its starts of with the production logo of 'Touchstone Pictures' whist in the background there is some shuffling. After the slight noise has disappeared a song plays and its a zoom in shot of a record player. The main title and the production names are in red to stand out from the black background. The rest of the titles are presented on posters and stickers.

13. What does Richard Morrison explain about the Film Title Sequence?

Richard Morrison tried to keep the film as original, simple and distinctive enough but at the same time reflecting on the older classier movies and still keeping it feeling fresh and contemporary at the same time. He quotes "Many creative will tell you that short pieces are the most difficult ones because you need to ensure that you make the most of every single second, graphically and visually."


14. Does Richard Morrison feel the Film Title Sequence was successful?

Richard Morrison exclaimed that it went just how he wanted it to go. "I believed simple content would be the answer to a finely tuned piece of work. Hence, the sequence abounds in this somewhat old-fashioned vintage style ‘brand identity’ approach with a titled logotype centrally set in a 3D background movement."

Turning Pages

I chose this opening scene that was made by pupils in the school Latymer because i think its really good. The camera shot that pans across city is really effective and it looks like something from a professional film. The font on the titles really tells us what genre it is (romance). At the start of the film, the girl is using a handheld camera which wasn't completely steady but that gave of a whole other effect to the film. The music also gives us the vibe of what genre it is.There were good use of props e.g. the handheld camera and book. Overall, i think the acting was good and it was very successful. I would give this mark a 55/60.

Opening Scene of The Conjuring

Enigma Code - What questions are you asking yourself?

 

• Where are they?
• What are they talking about?
• Who's doll is it?
• Who are they two girls talking too?
• Why did he sound so surprised when they said they gave the doll permission?
• Why is the doll on the floor?
• How did they doll get back into the house?

Sound - The sound at the very beginning of this film is a high pitched violin playing. I think they used this music because it comes across quite scary and high pitched noises are usually associated with horror films of which this is. This is non- diegetic as the characters cannot hear this, but it tells us that it is going to be a horror film because of the distinctive sound. Hearing this music already makes you feel slightly scared and its only the very start of the film. Also, whilst the scene of the two girls coming home from work is playing, there's talking in the background of the two girls speaking to the man and woman about the doll, this is non-diegetic as the two characters can't hear them speaking. The music plays again but this time its not the high pitched violins but a sudden piano sound, this is also a distinctive sound from a typical horror movie.

 

Editing - There is not much editing in this opening scene, it just flips from shot to shot. This carries out smoothly and changes each shot from each other and carries them on. The camera is concentrating on certain characters, and is showing you different incites to each persons view.

 

Camera - Frames

This is an extreme close up and its used to show the damaged, scary detail in the possessed doll. If this frame was maybe just a close up, it would have the same impact on the extreme close up that this is showing. It does zoom out slightly but you don't see the full face of the doll until a different frame.

 

 

This is a close up of the doll. They've used this frame as well as the other one to show the true look of the doll. After seeing the first frame of the doll (extreme close up) the audience wonder what the doll looks like, how big it is, what its wearing ect. After showing the audience this frame, its clearly showing them the true identity of the doll.

 

Movement -  At first the movement of this opening scene is zoom out. This is then drawing your attention to the focus and the main point, which in this case is the doll. It draws attention and builds tension to look of the doll. In the next scene it also zooms out giving the audience a full perspective of the surroundings in the scene.

 

Angle - The angles on most shots are neutral and quite focal, to draw your attention to specific props in the scene, for example the doll at the beginning.

 

Mise en Scene

 

 

Costumes - The costume in this opening scene varies as each character is wearing different things. The doll is wearing a little girls dress which has been torn and stained. Normally when there is a little girl in a horror film, they tend to be wearing a disturbing outfit to scare the audience. Whilst in the interview between the two girls and the man and women, the two girls are just wearing everyday clothed to show that they are still going about their everyday lives however, when the two girls come home from work, they are wearing the nurses uniform to clearly show what they do for a living.

 

 

Lighting - The lighting in this opening scene is very dark. In the interview, it seems as if they've purposely darkened the room too make it seem that little bit more scary. Its quite hard to see the characters face because of the facial shadows.When the woman goes into the spare room, a light appears on her face just like when a torch is held underneath a face when someone is telling a horror story. The light flashing in the room also adds a scary effect to the film. Throughout most of the opening the lighting is very dull and dark to add the scary effect.


Characters - The only visible characters at the start of this opening scene are the two girls and the boy. From right at the beginning the boy is in the scene but has no relevance to the film from what we know. The two girls are the main vocal point of this. We hear a male talking but we cant see him. At the very end we are shown the males face from a side angle. The camera pans around and we are shown his identity and then shown his partner.


Props - There aren't a great deal of props in the opening of 'The Conjuring' but a main prop in this opening scene is the doll. The doll is a major part of it as she is what they're talking about and is the main topic of conversation. Another small prop in this scene is the smashed photo frame. They use this to show that the 'Demon' has done this to the picture of the two girls.



Peer analysis of Juno worksheet

 

Group	How was the use of camera shots?	Use of editing?	Use of lighting?	Overall success of video
Sarah, George and Kaitlyn.	They have used long shots to show the surroundings of the scene but you can stil see the actor clearly. They have used all of the correct camera shots in this scene just like the original opening. The have also used medium shots to show the expressions and gestures.	The use of editing was used very widely. Every different shot seemed to have a different transition. They did all work smoothly however some of the transitions maybe weren't needed for the opening scene but they have definaltly proved that they are confident when using premier.	As they only had the use of lighting outside, it worked well which shows the setting of the scene. This is just like the original and that was the task, and it was successfully completed	In my opinion, i feel this is the best video. although they may have gone over the top on the transitions, it showed they were confident with using premier and it was very similar to the opening of the real Juno openeing.
James and Emma.	The camera shots are very similar to the original Juno openeing scene. Their tracking shot is very steady and look professional. They've also shown medium shots and this helps us see the expressions on the characters face.	Whilst editing its clear they've used a different lighting in the beggining and in the middle. The effect is brighter in the beggining and darker in the middle. Also, they didnt use any transitions which was key feature in this task.	The only natural lighting in this opening is the sun however it does change due to the fact that they used effects on the lighting. In my opinion i dont feel like this works because the sun on its own would have made it look more effective.	I do not think the editing is very successful because they have not used transitions and used lighting effects when the light should have been natural. However the timing of each of their clips was very natural to the original and looks very much like the real Juno opening scene.
Charlotte, Ben and Ben	they've used a variety of different shots; long shots too show the surrounding and close up too show the shoes which was a key shot in the opening scene. They have also ued medium shots to show the expressions on the characters face.	They've used an effect to make the scenes look animated just like in the original opening and also used a few transitions from each different shot thisdramatically changes each shot and carries it out to the next one.	The use of lighting in this scene is just daylight, this is the same as the original clip. This is good as the task that we was given is to remake the Juno opening scene as similar to the original as possible, and in the original the lighting was just the daytime light to show the setting.	This clip was successful. I feel that the big error was having the title page before the clip started, however the transitions ran smoothly and they have used a sort of animated effect on each clip to make it as animated as they could to make it look like the same as the real Juno opening scene.
Dom and Lara	The use of the camera was very effective. They paned left and right, also tilted the camera up and down when needed. If there was one negative it would be the camera being a shaky at the start.	The use of transitions in their opening of juno were really successful. The music also was in time to the original opening scene as well as this they've proved they are confident with using premier.	The lighting when it was filmed was overcast, however they used an effect that made it look more cartoon like to fit the Juno clip. This also made the lighting a lot brighter, possibly a bit too bright.	Overall, i feel like this was a succesful opening video and was very well thought out as the transitions ran smoothly and the timing was perfect to the second.

Juno Experience Reflection

What did you learn about filming and editing?

After watching the official 'Juno' opening scene many times and planning the shots, camera angles on a storyboard, we went out and filmed the scenes as best as we could. We filmed free hand because neither of us owned a tripod or anything thats similar
I also learnt that using Adobe Premier,  can shorten certain parts of the video, speed it up, you can use different video transitions. We shortened the video slightly to fit better to the original.

Did you find/use any premiere effects? If so, which ones and what was the effect?

We spent a lot of time trying different transitions to get it as close to the original as possible, the only effect we found was called 'push' which was used to transit to the foot scene. We tried the different video effects however no one of them produced the result we were looking for so decided to use the video how it was.

What went well in the filming and editing? How does it look compared with the original opening sequence?

Its very true to the original opening sequence, and looks pretty good, but it is missing the animated part of the original. the sound track fits the video well and starts at the same place as the original..

What could have gone better with the filming and editing?

The timing of the opening sequence was well planned and the music fits well, however the camera was slightly shaky on the hand held parts.

Mythologies Theory

Legally Blonde Opening - In the opening of this movie the music in the background explores the fact that they think everything is perfect hence the title of the song 'perfect day'. The music is also very upbeat, which makes you think that the film is going to be happy and a chick flick. The font in this opening scene is girly and pink which makes you know that the film is going to be mainly focused on girls. It mainly shows how the girls are getting ready. It shows them spraying their perfume and putting jewellry on. Shots are repetitively shown on the girls getting ready. The clothes all the girls are wearing perfect clothes and designer handbags, which show that they take pride in their appearance and care about what they look like. This also shows that their social status is high and perhaps they have a lot of money. Many people relate money to happiness, therefore this is why the happy vibe is given off. The girl comes across that she gets everything that she wants and lives a very perfect life.

Frames

Close up (cu) - This is a close up of the character as this can show the emotion and the facial expressions of the actors face. Here she is driving a car whilst giving dirty looks to the girls sitting in the car next to her. The close up effect can clearly show her facial expressions which then give us a clear understanding of how she is feeling.

Extreme Long Shot (els) - This is a extreme long shot of the city which it is set in but gives you the chance to see the scenery as well as just focusing on the buildings and houses. It wants you to get the impression that there's going to be a lot of people in this movie as its set in a city.

Medium Shot (ms) - This is a two Medium Shot, This shows two characters in the scene plus a few extras in the background and you can see half of each of them. This lets you see the expressions and movement of each of the characters and also see the setting that they are in.

Over the shoulder (ots) - Over the shoulder shows that the main person is still in the shot, but there is another focal point in the shot. In this case its another character who he is talking to. This gives you the shot from the characters point of view, as it is also eye line so you can see what he would be seeing.

Angles

High Angle - This camera angle is used to show the audience the scene from a high point of view. In some cases its used to show someone looking down at someone or something but in this case its used to capture the whole classroom from above.

Level Angle - This camera angle is used to show the audience the scene from their point of view. In this case there is no real purpose of it being level with the characters, just a feel of what its like.

Low Angle - This camera angle is used to show the audience the scene from a low point of view. In some cases its used to show someone looking up from their point of view, but in this case its just showing hockey stick at there level.

Hall's Theory

The film poster is advertising the film '21 Jump Street'. For this films advertisement, they decided to make many different posters for it. For someone who hasn't seen this film, they could interpret it in many different ways.

The preferred reading for this poster is showing two guys running away from an explosion, the massive flame in the background is showing us that there's action in the film.

Although, the oppositional reading is that it looks like its all about action and massive explostions when maybe only half of it is.

Company Logo

Dyers Theory

Teenagers - Most adults think that teenagers are all young youths who want to damage property, cause fights, noise disturbances and all they want to do is rebel against everything and everyone. Adults and other people think this because of the media. Whenever there's a story on something similar on the news or in a newspaper, its normally a teenager. This isn't always the case though, the people who are on the news are most probably from a rough area and have been brought up in a rebellious way but because of the media adults and the elderly think its the same with every teenager.

Muslims - Most Muslims, because of people like Bin Laden, are now associated with claims like being a terrorist which all come from the media, when most of them are not.

Black people - If a story about a black person being murdered or beaten up, people automatically think it was gang related. Due to the media, people think that black teenagers are trouble.

Film Poster Analysis

In this poster we see two men standing back to back to each other holding guns. This gives us the impression that they are either two police men or two villains that aren't meant to be there. In the background it says 'Senior ... Prom' we cant see the word in the middle but we guess that its something like 'class'. The two men are both wearing matching prom suits and with the banner and decorations we can con-notate that they are at a prom. At the very top of the poster it reads 'the only thing getting blown tonight is their cover' again, we now understand that they are in fact undercover policemen and not at school. They are both looking straight at the camera as if they were about to shoot us. The expressions on there faces are very serious, as if something important is going to happen. The title is in 3D and jumps out at us.

Image Analysis

Picture 1

In class, we got given a genre and an audience type. My group got romantic comedy as a genre and teenagers as the audience. In our group we decided to go for a usual boy and girl love story with the jealous friend who get in the way and ruins it. We decided to make the boy and girl hold hands and looking at each other so its clear to the audience that they are the couple and put the jealous friend having her back turned away from them, so it seems like she doesn't care about the fact that they are the couple. Putting the main characters in the center so its the first thing the audience see when they look at it and put the jealous girl to the side so its the next character the audience see.

Picture 2

In this picture, having the same genre (romantic comedy)  and audience (teens) we decided to do do something original and the couple that we in the first picture are still the couple in this picture but there's a twist. Instead of the girl jealous girl just being the villain in the picture we decided to have two villains, one being the jealous girl and the other being the boy who is meant to be the loyal boyfriend. We decided to lay the picture out in this way because the girlfriend has no idea he is cheating on her but this is showing the audience that he is.