Music Development 3

During our media lesson we went to a spare classroom to try and get some lyrics to go with our song. We came up with some, which were improvised and then changed them slightly so they fit in with the opening sequence. Here's a video to show what we have so far :)

Music Development 2

Here is a video, taken shortly after, but with drums added, with the help from our friend Conor. So far this week we have been able to record the guitar and drums in the recording studio, so next we hope to record the lyrics and bass guitar.

Music Development

We booked the recording studio after school last week for our music. We started playing around with chords for our soundtrack which will play throughout our opening sequence, and we came up with this, which is quite upbeat and will fit nicely :)

Opening Sequence Ideas

After changing our synopsis, in order to make our story less cliche, we came up with an outline of what we wanted our opening sequence to look like. From the start we liked the idea of using a yearbook because it's creative. After much discussion, we have come up with a rough final idea....

1. We will open the sequence with an aerial shot of the front of the yearbook, presenting the title of our film and our production company name. Our own music that we have composed will be played whilst this is happening and it will carry on throughout.
2. Then, our geek character will open the first page which will include credits, and pictures, which the geek will stick down. (Like he is creating the book).
3. The pages will then be turned over, introducing the different stereotypes in the school with a voiceover of the geek expressing his thoughts towards these groups of people.
4. The first three pages, will be showing pictures of the dancer, the actor, and the band, which we will zoom into these photos and switch to a short clip of them. 
5. After those three, we will show the other stereotypes with short clips overlapping each other, getting faster and faster, to emphasise how many different 'cliques' there are. They will get faster and faster to give the impression that he is flicking through the book really fast. 
6. Then it will come to a sudden stop, and a picture of the geek will be shown. Then the voiceover will help lead into the film..





Our target Audience.

After discussing we have decided that our target audience is aimed at 15-25 year olds because they can relate to it because its based at a school. 

It will interest both boys and girls however it might not appeal to everyone as it deals homosexuality for example people who have strong religious views may find the content offensive.

We feel the boys will be interested in parts they can relate to such as being a young teenage boy in high school and the problems that come with it. During this age you are going through changes and you feel different things so they might find they are able to relate to the film. 

Also the comic points of the movie will be interesting to teenage males and females because people aged 15-25 tend to enjoy comedy's. 

We thought we might find that a few boys might be put off by the idea of homosexuality in the film but we don't feel this will be a big issue. 

Synopsis

A young boy, Barney, aged 16, is perceived as a geek at his school, Lodgedale Academy. He is assigned the job of Yearbook editor because of his great photography skills. While composing the yearbook he realises the vast amount of stereotypes in his school and how he doesn't fit in. This in the case until he accidentally finds out that the most popular boy in school, Jack, is actually a homosexual but is seeing one of the most popular girls in school to try and keep his secret so that people at his school wont treat him any differently. When the geek confronts Jack, Jack proposes the offer that he will be friends with him and invite him to school social events if Barney keeps his secret. Once he becomes friends with him he finds that school life is a lot easier and he feels more accepted. Someone from the yearbook committee stumbles across the photo of Jack kissing another boy and leaks it to the school. Jack becomes scared the school wont accept him anymore but he goes to school and no one's opinion have changed of him. He is treated exactly the same as he was before. He thanks Barney for helping him and supporting him throughout and the school becomes a more accepting place.

Analysing 3 Opening Sequences

Before watching examples of opening sequences from different films we came up with a list of functions that we thought every opening sequence should include.


Opening Sequence Areas Of Interest:

• Introduce location/environment
• Introduce main characters
• Production company
• Title and credits
• Establish style or tone of the film

Opening Sequence 1
Office Space
In the opening sequence straight away the production company is introduced (Twentieth Century Fox) and it shows the title of the film. The text used for the credits is quite fun and bubbly and a light blue colour is used which gives us the impression it's going to be a cheery, lighthearted film. The audience are introduced to an outdoor setting which shows a busy traffic jam. The camera focuses on the main character, and different shots are used to emphasise how slow he is moving. 0:58 seconds into the clip he notices that an elderly man is moving faster than him which adds humour and confirms the genre to be a comedy. The opening sequence continues to show different characters/personalities and at 1:54 into the clip they focus on a stereotypical geek character who is listening to rap music but slowly turns it down when people walk by, which adds a humerous touch to the clip and establishes it as a lighthearted comedy. The upbeat music starts playing straight after the production company is shown, (0:25) which makes the atmosphere relaxed and fun. I really liked how straight away it was easy to see what type of film it is, and the opening sequence was very effective.

Opening Sequence 2
Trainspotting
It introduces diferent set pieces quickly, and doesn't show the production company, unlike the other 2 opening sequences. An energetic soundtrack is used over the top which holds kind of holds all the scene together and links them. Throughout the opening a voiceover with lines of dialogue introduces the characters and is very informative to the audience. I thought this was a good way of drawing the audience in. Later on in the opening sequence, as the characters appeared on screen freeze frames were used of the characters in a certain pose which showed us a bit about there character. Also the names of their character appeared next to it.

Opening Sequence 3
Sweeney Todd
Deep music sets the scene and establishes the genre as a horror. A continious theme of blood is used throughout the opening sequence: in the title of the film, credits and flowing of blood from the top to the bottom of the screen. Like the other opening sequences it doesn't introduce characters, it introduces the scene and setting instead, which makes it stand out from other films. The whole opening sequence is shown through graphic titles, and they reveal the location of the film, showing pictures of old, dirty buildings and gutters, which are all things we relate to horror movies. It also gives us the impression that the movie is set in a suburb area. As the title of the film is shown the font gets bigger and the music gets louder for dramatic effect and interest the audience.