RESEARCH: AUDIENCE: A KEY CONCEPT

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RESEARCH: OCR SPECIFICATION

The OCR specification consists of 7 questions, which we will answer in our evaluation. We are advised to look at them during our planning, so that we know which target market audience we are aiming for (comedy, horror, mainstream, niche), how we should be learning new camera angles and editing techniques when filming the opening (establishing shot, low angle shot) and the use of forms and conventions.

The reason we should be looking at the specification during our planning, construction and production is to make sure that all the questions will be able to answer. To do this we need to follow a plan, where we will set out how the film look like aesthetically, which target group will we aim at, taking into consideration age, gender, sexuality and class. As well, a variety of camera shots and professional editing skills will be needed to achieve a good film opening.

RESEARCH: TWITTER ACCOUNT

For further research into my film opening, I made a Twitter account, so I could keep up with any news on a wide variety of different aspects of media. Twitter is seen as revolutionary social media in that it uses web 2.0 with its interactivity to allow audiences to communicate and respond in an active way. This aspect is exploited by filmmakers who benefit from audience's ability to retweet, to favourite and to hashtag tweets that they are enthusiastic, resulting in viral marketing. For the latter reason, my film group has created a Twitter account to promote our film.
Alan Rusbridger wrote an article on why Twitter matters for media organisations, such as it being an amazing form of distribution, a great reporting tool, it creates communities, changes notions of authority, much more diverse, due to more voices commenting on the issue and is an agent of change. We hope that we will build a community or audience for our film, FOCUS.

I personally have also used it in a more conventional way as a research tool. On my twitter account, I have followed various accounts, which I feel will help me in the planning and development of my film opening. I followed accounts like OCR Media and Film, which will keep me up to date with any OCR-related film buzz and by following this account, might catch some ideas on how I can make my film opening better. I followed a variety of production companies (Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros.) to keep me updated with recent films, so I can see what is genres and themes are popular. Other accounts I followed was my teacher's personal account, which is where I can retrieve any information about media-related articles which interest her, which may help me on my planning.

The reason I followed films accounts, like The Martian, is to see what a twitter film account posts on its feed, since for my film opening I will be making a twitter account for it and want to be prepared on tweets I should post and how often I should post. As well, I followed some twitter accounts relating to film and television, which interest me.

RESEARCH: PETE'S MEDIA BLOG

Pete's media blog is a good and trustworthy source where I can retrieve media-related articles and videos, which could help me on improving my own media work. Pete's Media Magazine Blog has already helped me in my Art of the Title work, since he has a post where he describes and analyses opening title sequences. 

One of his posts is related to my upcoming Media AS Production on film openings and is about all the steps from Research to Post-production. Many of the comments in the blog post are helpful to when I will be making my own film opening, like "if it is a film opening, it MUST follow the conventions of film openings!". Overall, Pete's Media Magazine Blog has been and will continue to be helpful on making my film opening for my Media AS Level.

On my media twitter account, I am following Pete's account and looking at his tweets which are useful and will enrich my media experience since many of his tweets are informative and  are media-related which make it relevant. 

RESEARCH: STUDENT PRODUCTIONS

I looked at earlier student productions from our centre, and looked at four productions specifically for their use of mise-en-scene, lighting, editing and sound.

The production of Lights Out has a good use of mise-en-scene, since it captures the essence of the 1950s era, by having authentic costumes which fit the period and shooting their scenes in rooms and areas, which look convincing to the 1950s period. The music used in the opening scene 1950s jazz, which makes the world inside the production seem believable. I now realize the importance of sourcing convincing props and costumes particularly where period drama is concerned.

The production of Immortal Beloved has a variety of shots with good lighting. Such as in the beginning of the production, there are shots where the light shines on half of her face, which makes  it look artistic and romantic. In the mid shot where a bride is wearing a wedding veil, the light passes through from low down and back lights the veil, this makes for a beautiful spectacle and encourages the construction of the girl as innocent, which adds to the shock when the voice over states: 'It turns out that being a violinist in the Berlin Phil was not the only job that my grandmother had" and we see her acting as a spy in the Cold War.

The production of Titan's Hammer uses wonderful editing techniques to conceive a realistic yet comic production and make it feel like a mockumentary. The mockumentary style used in Titan's Hammer is both conventional where the editing is slow paced, allowing for considered questions and answers, then extremely fast paced, when the reportage is designed to re-create the drunken haze of the heavy metal duo's early days.

The production of The Raven was characterized by the use of voice over in the soundtrack and was composed of Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven. The sound effects in the background like the thunder and lighting, create an atmosphere of gothic horror, which is in keeping with the horror genre. 

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE: UP IN THE AIR

The Up in the Air opening uses classical 70’s pop music to introduce it’s collage of high angle pictures which were most likely taken by a plane.

The genre seems fun due to the lively music. As well, the actors names are shown on the screen in all caps and in white, so it makes it easier to read the names. In addition, the first part of the credit (e.g. Casting by Mindy Marin), the words ‘casting by’ are in a light yellow are look hand written, whereas the actual name of the person, is in all caps and white. 

The mise-en-scene of the opening is colourful, due to the variety of pictures. However, the pictures feel quite old and like they are from the 1970s, which is where the music is originally from. The main title, ‘Up in the Air’ is situated in the clouds which is what the title is referring to.

The production companies are ‘Paramount Pictures’, ‘Cold Spring Pictures’, ‘DW Studios’, ‘A Monetico Picture Company’, ‘Rickshaw Productions’ and ‘Right of Way Films’. The director is the last mentioned of the production companies and is presented as ‘A Jason Reitman film’.

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE: SKYFALL

The Skyfall opening credits are shown as soon as James drowned and the mythical mind of Bond comes to life. After he sinks to the bottom of a riverbed,. We see a hand grabbing James’ whom we assume is another person, however it is revealed to be a giant hand, which we then immediately think that this is not real.

The opening credits are in all caps and in white against a blue backdrop, which makes it easy to read. The titles fade in and fade out. The production company for Skyfall is ‘Alberto R. Broccoli’s Eon Productions Ltd.’, which is named after one of the producers. The cast credit of Daniel Craig appears and then the main title logo does, which shows that he is the main actor. After the main title other actors are mentioned.

James begins to fight a man on the train; we can sense that already the scene leading up to the credits was action-packed. The lady controlling the gun is asked to shoot him, since she is about to lose them on the train. However, she accidently shoots Bond, which leaves everyone speechless, since people assume he would be dead. This all happens during the film’s quick and intense opening.

The colour scheme of the opening is shades of blue and grey, which is a result of Bond drowning in the river. 

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE: SHERLOCK HOLMES

Here is my Art of the Title presentation on the analysis of the opening of Sherlock Holmes

sherlock holmes from Alexdavies44

RESEARCH: THE ART OF THE TITLE: BACK TO THE FUTURE

Here is my Art of the Title presentation on the analysis of the opening of Back to the Future

back to the future from Alexdavies44

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE: SCREAM

Here is my Art of the Title presentation on the analysis of the opening of Scream

scream from Alexdavies44

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE: GONE GIRL

Here is my Art of the Title presentation on the analysis of the opening of Gone Girl

gone girl from Alexdavies44

RESEARCH: FILM OPENING INITIAL IDEAS

My group consists of: Bea, Chloe, James and I (Alex)

Genre: Horror, Psychological Thriller and Sociopath Film

Main story line to be based on a teenage boy, who is a sociopath and is obsessed with a girl and will do anything to be with her 

Locations: 
• Outside the Workshop on Claremont Grounds
• Inside the Workshop on Claremont Grounds
• Kingston Mall 

Using our tight schedule of when we have media classes to film this production, we thought about editing and adjusting the brightness and exposure of the video clips, so that it could look like the same time of the day, since all our media lessons are at different times of the day. 


Since Bea is a talented makeup artist, we were thinking of using some of her abilities to make bloody and grotesque Halloween body effects, like cuts and bruises, from such makeup, like face paint, lipstick, eye shadow, etc.

James is good at editing films in iMovie; this means that we can use his abilities, to create a film with excellent editing. He will be able to add special effects and know how to create a certain creepy tone for our film. Since, he is good at editing he can also create our ident.

Chloe did GCSE Music; therefore she can create a unique sound for our film production, by recording in the studio we have in the music department. 

My role will be to help out with any extra editing needed for the film production, as well as documenting our film’s log of filming for our blogs. I’ll do this by taking pictures on my iPhone and upload them to my blog, while reviewing what we did, what equipment was used, where we filmed and what we can do to improve. 

Possible Cast: 
• Sociopath Teen Boy
• Innocent Victim Girl
• Friend of Victim Girl
• Boyfriend of Victim Girl

Our group drew inspiration on a variety of previous films, revolving around sociopaths whereby they have strange obsessions and stalk the victim, such as Psycho (1960) and Single White Female (1992). We decided to center the film around teenagers to give a clever spin on other sociopath films. In addition, we did this since it would work best for cast choices and was the most cost efficient.