Opening sequence

Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation question 6 from Jack Davenport

Evaluation Question 5

Question 3 from Jack Davenport

Evaluation Question 4

4    Who would be the audience for your media product?

Demographic

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Religion: Roman Catholic

ABC: C1

Education: Full time 6^th Form student

Occupation: Part time Referee

Marital status: Single

Income: enough disposable income to afford to have a season ticket at Manchester United and is able to socialise

Nationality: Polish

Psychographics

He is an aspire and despite being on a low wage due to having only part time work job as a referee. He is currently completing a level Physics, a level Business and a level Computer Science at his 6^th form college. He is an independent, explorer who is outgoing, likes to experiment with things, meet new people and try new experiences. He likes going on nights out and socialising with friends and family. His favourite hobby is playing football and watching Manchester United every week home and away. He is into pop music and Hip Hop music such as Drake, Mist and listens to them on a regular basis. However, he is also a main-streamer as he is into the latest gadgets but like to spend his money making sure he has the latest up to date phone to fit in.

 Furthermore, my media product should have a BBFC rating of a 12a, due to the fact that the majority of the opening sequence is having Joel Beckford as a hostage, therefore we wouldn’t like to influence the likes of young children to start keeping people as a hostage. Also another reason why our BBFC rating is a 12a, because it may stress certain audiences, for example young audiences might not understand what’s the purpose of m media product. On the other hand, the reason why my media product’s BBFC rating isn’t higher is because there isn’t any inappropriate language or graphic or sexual scenes that wouldn’t be appropriate for an audience of our target age of 15 years old. Due to the fact that our full finished product has a BBFC rating of 12A, there is no offensive language or inappropriate imagery throughout the opening scene, which could create a reputation the intended target audience would want to see.

Before I created my media product, as a group we carried out a focus group, which included men and women. This helped us gather valuable information about what type of films our audience likes and what they would like to see in a film. This was massively important that we carried this out because as a group we knew what to include in our media product. For example, in focus group one of the audience said they would normally like to see chase scenes in a film, therefore we took that information on board and we’ve included a chase scene, which means that our audience will be attracted to the film.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Editing #3

During our third editing session, as a group we started to work out where we should place our credits. Josh Worrall came up with a great idea that we should have the theme that each character should walk into the credit and it disappears. For example, when Luke was walking down the stairs, we placed each credit on the stairs, therefore when Luke stepped on one credit it disappeared. Furthermore, I edited a few credits to make it look sharper. For example, for the credits I was decreasing the time of how long it was on the footage, it helped the disappearance of the credit look more realistic, therefore our product would look even more professional, as if we got our timing wrong, our product would of looked unprofessional. Also during this session, we had to include a title scene at the end of our opening sequence. Luke came up with a great idea that the main colour we should use is the colour red. This is because one of the conventions of a spy film is blood and blood is the colour red.

Editing #2

During our seconding session, we added our non diegetic background music behind our footage. Once we added the soundtrack, I realised that we had to reduce how loud the soundtrack was, when the characters are speaking. This is because you could only hear the characters quietly over the background music, which means I had to fade the soundtrack in many different sections in our opening sequence, in order for our audiences to hear the characters clearly. Furthermore, I started to choose the font for our subtitles. This is extremely important because I had to find a font that suited our genre, which is Spy. Once I found a suitable font, as a group we started to workout, where we should place our subtitles. This wasn't easy as we had to find a few shots that was long enough, so the audience can identify our subtitle clearly. Also with the placement of our subtitles, we had to be unique, so therefore Jack Rundle came up with the idea that we could place a couple of subtitles on the lining of the stairs in one of our shots.

New Editing #1

In my first session with our new footage, I had to piece all our new footage together in chronological order, therefore all our new footage would flow. We also made sure that there was continuity within our clips so that our non diegetic background music would fit together with our whole sequence. Furthermore, I realised that we should include short clips in between when Luke was speaking to Joel Beckford to get answers, in order to create a dramatic atmosphere. During our session, we realised that we had too many clips as our video was 3 minutes 15 seconds long. We had to change this, due to the fact that our opening sequence had to be 2 minutes long, therefore I shortened a variety of clips using the blade tool, in order for our opening sequence to be under 2 minutes.

New production schedule #2

Date	Description
Sunday 17th of February 2017	·         Arrive at the car park at 3:30 pm meet. ·         Set up tripods and cameras. ·         Film chronologically. ·         Review product and see what needs improving.
Friday 10th of March 2017	·         Meet at 1:05 pm in common room and head to location. ·         On arrival prepare tripods and cameras as well as props for correct placement. ·         Film the main scene first and do shorter scenes afterwards to make sure shots fit together. ·         Check if produce is good to use

A new production schedule was made due to the fact that we encountered many problems in our first footage.

Brief Meeting #2

Firstly, by organising a brief meeting before our filming helped us extremely throughout our footage. For example in our brief meeting, it was clearly emphasised that we needed to include a lot more shots, than what we did in our first filming and also included a variety as well, in order to make our opening sequence look professional.

Filming Pictures

From our second filming, I would say its been a successful compared to our first filming footage. For example we've used more of a variety of shot types and camera angles, which will help our opening sequence look professional. As a group we were happy with the quality of shots we filmed, for example our shots which we filmed were extremely steady. I personally was happy with the amount of shots we filmed. This is because it will help our opening sequence look professional, as we'll be able to express to the audience,  Joel Beckford's problems.

Our footage is completely different from last time. For example, I filmed a pan shot of both the bodyguards, speaking about what there going to do with Joel Beckford. By using this shot it helps set the scene as well as expressing Joel Beckford's problems. During our filming, I filmed many over the shoulder shots, which had to be extremely steady. One of the problems that occurred in our first filming was a variety of shots which we filmed were unsteady, therefore it looked unprofessional.

Call sheets

Problems Encountered

As a group, we've been looking over our footage over and over again and we've come to a decision that we needed to re-do our footage, due to the fact of a lack of continuity in our footage and the poor lighting in a series of shots. Straightaway, before we even started filming, we had problems in setting up the tripod. This is because when we took the tripod out the bag it was all in pieces, therefore we had to put all the pieces together, which took up a lot of time. Which also made me realise that we need to take more time with our footage, therefore we need to plan a day, where nobody has any plans. Before we started filming we had to work out who's filming what, as everybody has to have a chance of filming. For example, Jack Rundle was one of the main characters in our opening sequence, therefore we had to work which part he was going to film. What we could of done was plan before the actual filming day, therefore we would of been able to utilise all the time efficiently.
Furthermore, I noticed that we could of used a variety of different shots to express how confused Joel Beckford was. Therefore there was limited footage to use for our opening sequence, which means as a group we thought that we could do a lot better.

Editing #1

In the first session, we put all our footage onto the Mac. Once we had done that we realised straightaway that we didn't have enough footage. For example our first shot was a point of view shot, which was about 6 seconds long. I realised straightaway that we could of used a variety of different shots to express how confused Joel Beckford was. Therefore as a group we thought that we could do a lot better, which means that we had to organise another filming day which was on the 11th March. Meanwhile, before the 11th March, as a group we tried our best to try and fit all our shots together, but straightaway we could tell that our shots were too long. During our editing, I decided to edit our first few shots, which was a point of view shot and a long shot but it seemingly didn't flow too well. Also, we decided to put our non digetic background music behind our footage, seemingly it sounded extremely professional but this was the only positive we could take from our first editing session. Also, our editing had continuity so we made sure that all our clips link together in order to create a flowing sequence. During our editing session, I helped crop videos shorter to make it more flowing and also try and include more shots.

Filming #1

Day 1 Filming - When we arrived with the crew ( me, Jack Rundle, Josh Worrall and Luke Mckendry) in the Altrincham cinema car park, we had a short brief meeting about what camera shots we were going to use and also a variety of camera angles we were going to use. Before we started filming we had to work out who's filming what, as everybody has to have a chance of filming. For example, Jack Rundle was one of the main characters in our opening sequence, therefore we had to work which part he was going to film I thought it would be a good idea to use a point of view shot as our first shot as it will help create a sense of enigma to the audience about where Joel Beckford is. When this shot was taking place, I and Jack Rundle were making sure that the camera would focus straightaway on to one of the bodyguards (Josh Worrall)

Before we started filming, we had problems in setting up the tripod. This is because when we took the tripod out the bag it was all in pieces, therefore we had to put all the pieces together, which took up a lot of time. During our filming, we used lots of over the shoulder shots, which I and others filmed. In order to produce high quality filming, I had to keep a steady hand and make sure I was moving at the same speed as the person I was filming. Furthermore, we used many close ups of our main character (Jack Rundle)to show how stressed and confused he was, therefore this makes the audience feel worried for the main character, as they don't know whats going to happen next.

Shot lists

During our filming, I filmed a variety of shots within the opening sequence. In order to take a variety of shots, I had to have a steady hand, therefore the camera wouldn't shake a lot, which means that we didn't produce any bad quality filming.

Jack Davenport	Luke McKendry	Jack Rundle	Josh Worrall
Over the shoulder shot of Josh.	Long shot of Josh and Jack R.	POV shots at start.	Over the shoulder shot of Luke.
Over the shoulder shot of Josh and Luke.	Long shot of Josh and Jack R.	POV start of Josh.	Low angle mid shot of Luke.
Close up of Luke.	Close up of Jack R’S hands.	Mid shot of Josh Running through the door.	Mid long shot of Jack R and Luke.
Long shot of Jack, Josh, Luke.	Long shot of Josh and Jack R running away.		Extreme Close up of Jack R.
Medium close up shot of Josh and Luke.	Mid shot of Josh running through the door.		Extreme Close up of Jack R.
Long shot of everyone and moves closer to Jack.

Production Schedule

Background Music

We have decided to use a soundtrack, throughout our opening sequence, as this will help us build up tension, and is non copyright, therefore making it acceptable to use throughout. As a group we have chosen this track because it starts off slowly, but then speeds up towards the end, which will suit our opening sequence. The built up tension will link in with Joel Beckford's escape from the bodyguards, and will make it aesthetically pleasing. Overall, the music build up of it becoming more tense allows it to match our opening scene perfectly. 

The Audience

Our Target Audience

Demographics:

We will aim our clip at people around the age of 15-30 years old. Many of the actors used in spy genres are around the age of 30 years olds- which will appeal to aspirers, who are uncertain about what the future may hold.Furthermore, this genre is usually watched by people above the age of 15, as it involves some sort of knowledge to understand what is going on. 
Ethnicity: 

Spy films are watched mainly by white British people, which appeals to our audience we have included white actors as the main characters. This will make the film relatable, and as a result, realistic. 
Class: 

Our audience are mainly middle class and upper class as our storyline is sophisticated which will require an intelligent audience to understand it. Stereotypically, the lower class aren't as intelligent and therefore may not understand it. 

Gender: 

The gender that will watch this film will be mostly Males, however some females will watch due to the dominance of male characters. 

Casting

Casting

In our opening sequence, we have a total of four characters. One Hostage, two body guards and a civilian, which all have an important role in our opening sequence. We have chosen to include few characters, therefore this will make the hostage feel alone and this help create an uncertain and unsettling atmosphere. Furthermore, little speech is used in our opening sequence to help create enigma of the hostage, to build suspense. This also helps the audience wonder why Joel Beckford is in this situation. Here are the three characters:

Jack Rundle - ( Hostage )

Jack will play the main character of our opening sequence, which is a confused and concerned hostage. He is a extremely confident character, therefore making it easy for him to be the centre of attention and make the role his own. We have also chosen for our main character to be male as the majority of our focus group chose they preferred a male main character in the spy genre, as they're mainly the dominant figure.

Josh Worrall - (Bodyguard)

Josh will play the other bodyguard in our opening sequence, and its his job, along with Me, to keep 'Joel Beckford' hostage. Josh has been chosen to play this role as i'm reasonably tall, therefore making Josh appear intimidating to the audience. We will also take a lot of low angle shots to play upon josh's height. Josh will also wear a suit to stick to the Spy conventions of being smartly dressed. 

Storyboard - Joel Beckford On The Run

Location

Photos For Our Location

As a group, we have made our final decision to film our opening sequence at the VUE cinema car park, Altrincham. We have decided to create our opening sequence in this location, as they're many exit routes, therefore keeping the audience on edge. And also because many other films within the genre, have opening sequences in this type of location, which is in a discrete location. Additionally, the car park is fairly dull but has enough lighting order to film, therefore this will make the scene dramatic. Also our location is discrete, meaning that there is very little interuption from the general public, which makes the scene realistic.

Credits - James bond - Skyfall

Here we see the credits of the James Bond film 'Skyfall' at the opening sequence of the film. For our production, we need to look at the style and transitions of the credits which are usually used in a variety of films within the genre. We need to choose a suitable format for our credits in order to match the style of our opening scene and reflect the theme of the spy genre.

From looking at this opening sequence, we can see how the credits are positioned in different places around the frame, this could suggest that the position of the producers names are determined of how important they are to the creation of the film. For example, when 'M' is shown as a credit, it is positioned in the centre of the frame, as she's one of the main characters in the film. On the other hand, when the Post Production Supervisor is being named, its positioned on the right-hand side of the frame, which suggests that the name is less important of the creation of the film.

Furthermore, we can see how the credits vary in size in this opening sequence, this could also suggest the importance of some people to the creation of the film. For example, the first credit was Daniel Craig and his name was a lot larger than many other credits within the sequence, this is due to the fact that 'James Bond' which is played by Daniel Craig, is the main character of the film.

Furthermore, as well as positioning we have to look at the font style, size and transitions. The spy genre tends to stay well away from traditional styles, and instead uses modern and futuristic fonts.
In this case, the producers have used a bold font for all credits, which help suggests that the credits are important and need to be acknowledged.

Preliminary Task

As a group we decided to practice a variety of shot types and camera angles by putting a short clip together. Also in our short clip we included enigma which can be used as a teaser for our film's opening sequence, therefore this will help engage our audience to watch our film. By doing this task, we were able to practice using the camera, doing variety of shot types and camera angles, this helped us feel more confident using the camera. Also we were able to learn from our mistakes to find out how to produce our opening sequence to the best of our ability. For example, one mistake that we found out as a group is that we should of filmed our task in landscape, but as you can see we filmed our practice portrait, therefore next time as a group we'll know that we need to film our film in landscape.

Research In A Existing Sequence - Spectre

Spectre Opening Scene

The director engages the audience in the opening scene of Spectre by using all the technical elements very well: camera angles, editing, sound. Spectre comes under the actor thriller genre. So the director uses the technical elements to suit the genre. Two genre theories are used in this film, Neale's and Altman's. Neale's genre theory's that the films within a genre are all very similar. However, they all have little differences in which attract the audience. Altman's genre theory is that a genre film can be depicted by its props, clothing, sound and setting.

At the start of the scene, the audience is given a normal paced, quite authentic (to the setting) music. This music is non-diegetic to the viewer meaning that it is sound that is not seen.We follow Bond using a tracking shot, but it wasn't the only shot used. The tracking shot shows us a display of what the setting is and whom the main characters are. Throughout this tracking shot, it pans down on to a random person, then when the person walks past James Bond, the shot stays on Bond. Then the tracking shot goes below him, then above him, and then finally to eye level. Also during the tracking shot, the shot type varied from long to medium close. The next bit of sound in which can be heard is the diegetic sound of the women whispering in Bond's ear. This leaves the crowd wondering what she said and if it was significant to the plot or not. These different angles show what Bond's body language is like and that the audience can recognise him.

 Moving on, when the women and Bond enter the room, the sound of music turns a little romantic as the women gets on the bed. However, the music suddenly goes silent as she looks up at Bond and asks "Where you going?" As the audience can't see Bond they are left wondering what does she mean. But when the camera turns onto Bond, the music paces up a bit and excitement starts to build up within the audience as they know something was going to happen.

James Bond finally reaches checkpoint and gets a gun out. The camera angles used switch from close to long. The close ups showed James Bond's facial expression and the long shot showed what he was looking at. This the eye line match of that shot. This gives the audience a sense of understanding in what is going on. This is used a lot in action films and this relates to many of them. Once bond has done all his shooting and the explosion goes off, the camera shot went out to an extreme long shot to show how much damage Bond had caused. Then the camera angles go back to being up and down. However, when Bond lands on the sofa the camera angles go back to eye line level and follows Bond as he follows his victim.

When we reach the helicopter scene, Bond and his victim are lead to fight and the camera angles keep altering between showing his victim on top of Bond, to Bond being on top of the victim. This gave a sense of confusion within the viewer as they didn't know who was stronger and who was going to win the intense fight. So it builds tension inside the viewer as well as excitement from the action. The final shot of the opening scene is an extreme close up of the ring Bond caught off the victim. It made the audience question what the symbol on the ring was.

Focus Group

Research In A Existing Sequence - Bourne Identity

The opening scene starts by cutting straight to a storm, this connotes a sense of danger in the film. There's diegetic sounds of the bad storm, which makes the audience feel uncomfortable. Also the scene keeps on flashing, this connotes to the audience that something dramatic is going to happen. The camera zooms to the boat as the tension increases throughout the scene.

An high angle shot is used to help suggest that the characters are in danger ,as the camera is looking down on them, which connotes that the characters aren't dominant at this moment of time. Non diegetic music begins as the group of mystery characters are shown aboard the nearby boat. The sailors communicate in a foreign language making it difficult for the audience to figure out if these characters are good or bad, therefore this creates enigma for the audience and also creates a curious atmosphere. Also an establishing shot is used to identify all the characters in the shot, this makes the audience feel worried and uncertified. Low key lighting is used in this shot to make the audience feel that the sailors are in danger.

Parallel editing is used to show the two scenes, the sailors on the boat and the floating body in the ocean, which are both happening at the same time. This helps build tension as the audience watch the characters eventually meet. They will wait in anticipation to see who will reach the other first. Non diegetic music begins when you can see the unknown body in the sea, this helps make the scene more dramatic. Also low key lighting is used in this scene to create a sense of danger to the audience.

The floating body shown in the ocean, reveals to the audience that a murder has been committed, this creates enigma with the audience as they want to know why and how this is shown in a thriller opening as it creates enigma that needs to be unfold. Non diegetic music is also used in this scene to help create a dramatic atmosphere to the audience. Also in this shot back lighting is used to help identify the body in the sea. A low angle shot is used to suggest that the unknown body is the dominant characteristic in the shot.

A point of view shot is used so the audience can see what the sailor is currently seeing in the distance. This also reveals tot the viewer that the sailor has spotted the body as we wait to see his reaction and what he's going to do next. This will make the audience feel confused and make them want to ask questions, so therefore it also creates enigma. Back lighting is used in this shot again to help identify the unknown body to the audience.

As the flash of the lighting turns the screen completely black, the title emerges using an establishing shot. By using the colour black, it connotes a sense of danger and uncertainty. Random letters appear in a coding effect that forms into the title. This can foreshadow that the character has to figure out something complicated later on in the film. Also it could connote that the genre of the film is a spy thriller as they've used a coding effect.

After the sailor has first spotted the body, the non diegetic music becomes louder as the audience can see what they assume can be the main character of the film for the first time, by the non diegetic music increasing it makes the scene sound even more dramatic. The theme of enigma continues as we still have no idea who the man is. Key lighting is used in this shot to help identify the unknown body from the sea.

The diegetic sound increases as well as the pace of the music as the sailors realise that the man is still alive. The sailors start to shout to one another as they panic to save his life. Also the film uses an extreme close up to try and identify who the character is. Low key lighting is used in this shot to connote that the unknown body is in danger and also it helps create enigma as the audience don't know whether or not the person is dead.

The music starts to fade out as an extreme close up is used to attract attention to the scalpel about to cut open the main character. This makes the audience feel uncomfortable and worried as the unknown body id in danger. The silent non diegetic music is used to emphasis the focus needed when operating the body. The semiotic significance of the text and danger throughout :violence.

Research In A Existing Sequence

At the start of the sequence, the film uses non diegetic background music, to help create a sense of enigma to the audience, as they want to know what's the problem. Also the film uses a couple of medium close up shots of the three main characters in the scene, which helps identify the 3 different characters to the audience.

The two male characters are wearing smart casual clothes during the action, which helps apply to the audience that the film is a spy genre film. Furthermore the female in the car shouts to the general public ' Just get clear!' By the female shouting this it creates a sense of danger and uncertainty to the audience.

As the scene moves on, the film uses fast paced cuts of all three characters, which helps make the audience feel apart of the chase, also it creates a dramatic and uncertain atmosphere to the audience, as they're unsure why James Bond and the female character are chasing after enemy. Diegetic sounds of the motorbike braking is used a numerous of times in this scene, this helps remind the audience of how dangerous the chase is.

A point of view shot is used when James Bond is chasing the enemy on the bike, this helps the audience feel part of the action, therefore this will also attract the audience to watch more.

A birds eye view shot is used in this scene to set the location to the audience, by showing this shot to the audience, it helps the audience feel worried and uncertain as its extremely dangerous driving on rooftops, therefore this will engage the audience to watch on. Also it suggests the sense of individualism, as bond has no help in catching the enemy.

Additionally, the majority of the colours used in the scene are sandy colours, which connotes that the location is set in a deserted country, as countries which have deserts surrounding them are normally deserted, therefore this makes the audience feel that the James bond is in a dangerous area, as many other spy films are usually based in deserts.