Opening Credits Analysis

Here is the common order in which opening credits will appear on screen.

Firstly, the name of the studio that is distributing the film will appear. this may or may not be the same company that produced the film. Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia, Lions Gate, Universal, Marvel Studios, Dimension, Miramax are all examples of well known and successful distribution companies.
The next peice of information that generally appears on screen is the name of the production company. This is the name of the company that actually made the film or name of the investment groups or companies that financed a substantial part of the film, usually in the form of "in association with" or "A 20th Century Fox production" for example.
Then we have the name of the producer and the director. for example, "a film by Quentin Tarantino" or "a Quentin Tarantino film".   
Now we move on to principal actors. Sometimes the stars' and director's credits will be reversed, depending on the star's deal with the studio.
then comes the name of the film, and then some other, less important credits. things such as featured actors, casting director, composer of music, production designer etc.

Below is the title sequence from the film "Catch me if you can" by steven speilberg, whic i have used as a focalpoint for this analysis.
 
 

Short Film Analysis Task: Coming Of Age

Coming of Age.     Rated *****

What is the story about?

A boy suddenly finds himself facing huge responsibilities in a dangerous, dystopian world. He must overcome his fears and face his enemies to save the people he loves.

Who is the main character?

A young boy in a brutal, post-apocalyptic world.

What is their objective - what do they want?

To overcome his fears and face his enemies to save the people he loves.

What is the conflict in the narrative?

the young boy must decide whether he should stay with his ill sister in their hideout, or to go out

in search of help, weapons, medicine and supplies, and the decision he makes has him taking

his life into his own hands, and has some dire consequences.

Describe the opening 2 minutes - what happens, any interesting shots and edits.

Really fast fade in to a scene of the main character running away from something, then quickly

fades to black.

Fades back in again, and includes some really cool flashes, similar to that of lightning, which

creates a sense of unrest in my mind, i saw these flashes, and wanted to see what the source of

them was, or to see what they represented.

The camera is fairly out of focus, and extremely shaky. from this fact, and also that it is following

the main character (from a side on position), i can safely say that the camera is being operated

by a single person, with no aids like Steadicam, just plain old handheld, to give a sense of

realism to the shot, making it seem like a real life event that actually happened, rather than a

short film.

It then fades from a black and white scene of the main character running to a block of black, at

which point the title, “Coming of Age”, appears.

We are then thrust back into a running scene, but this time the camera is positioned to the rear

right of the main character, in a medium shot position, and at a extremely canted angle, which

is very disorienting, and it took my eyes a little time to adjust to the angle. I think the shot is

excellent, as it is tough to watch initially, but is also very visually interesting because of that fact.

then the scene fades out to white for a fraction of a second, then immediately fades into the next scene, another running scene, but back to the long shot, side on position.

It then proceeds to cut through several various shots, including a close up of the characters feet

as he is running. This super fast sequence of shots is very interesting to watch, as you only get

to see each individual shot of the sequence for a split second before it changes to the next one,

and so could be compared to a montage, as it shows the character is covering a lot of distance, as the scenery is different for each shot in the scene, even though they are all shot in some sort of Common or Heath area.Fade out to black, then we fade into an extremely pale shade of blue, which subtly changes to the sky of the next sequence, in which feathers begin to fall from the sky. Fade to black, and the words “SUMMER 2035” appear on the screen,showing that some time has passed between the first sequence, and the next sequence. Close up of boys face, he appears to be upset about something, then we move to an extreme

close up of his face from the right side of his face, as he wipes a tear. We then move to a

medium long shot of the boy, standing next to a shovel.

We then move on to a medium shot of the boy unzipping his jacket and retrieving a feather,

the same kind that was previously falling from the sky, and placing it on a makeshift grave, in a

close up of his right arm and his legs, as he bends to place the feather.

Then we revert to the long shot, and the boy proceeds to walk away from the makeshift grave,

toward the left of the shot, until he exits the cameras view.

We then cut to a very dingy looking, run down old country house, which appears to be in the

middle of nowhere, as the camera zooms toward the main building, at which point the boy

enters the shot from behind the cameras position, as the camera continues to zoom.

On the 2 minute mark, we cut to some excellent match on action, as we just saw the boy

walking slightly toward the right, to turn the corner, then we cut to a position around the corner,

and we can see him about to make said turn.

In my opinion, this is an excellent piece of film. it engaged almost all of my emotions. it was

a tough piece to watch, but it was well worth it. especially the scene in the abandoned house

where the young boy is inches away from his one of the men who is trying to kill him, and when

he finally stabs the man, my heart was pounding like a drum. This piece of film is intense,

better than most mainstream film i have seen throughout my lifetime.

also, when the second attacker picks up the boys satchel and stares at him, contemplating

whether or not to attack him, the camera focuses on the teddy bear which the boy picked up,

and then we see a close up of the attackers face, and you can see the guilt on his face as he

takes the boys supplies, but leaves without killing him. that is a big emotionally touching part of

the film, toward the end.

Opening Seaquence Analysis: Superhero Movie

Editing style & features:

Credits & text:

Camera movement & framing: there is a variety of Mise-en-scene in this opening sequence.things such as a schoolbus, a variety of other vehicles, people, things such as shops etc. one of the characters is holding a drinks container in the shape of an Ipod, and he has two bluetooth headsets in his ears. also, he is using a laptop and a video recording device, aswell as a none hair trimmer. the jocks are playing with an american football, the nerds are shown playing with some form of handheld video gameing device, the comically named "Frodos" are holding some form of stick or staff, and the "Scarface society" are holding assault rifles.

Mise-en-scene: the music suits the film very well. it is similar to what you would expect from a science-fiction, superhero or action-adventure film, but it takes a more exaggerated form, which lends itself to the comical nature of this superhero spoof.

Sound, dialogue & music:

Introduce characters:

Indicate genre:

Enigma:

Props & sets:

Opening Sequence Analysis: Boardwalk Empire

Editing style & features: there are some occasional slow motion shots, which help to emphasise the power of the waves when they wash onto the shore, and also when they crash into some large rocks just off-shore. there is a fairly short montage/ time lapse involving the clouds passing overhead faster than usual, which makes me feel as if some time is passing between the scene before the time lapse, and the scene after. this time lapse also helps to fill some time in the title sequence, and gives the audience a short moment to conjure up some ideas as to what will happen next. there is a close up on the characters eyes (who I presume is the main character  protagonist of this series), and then a cut to a large number of bottles of what I presume to be bootleg alcohol (given that the series is based around prohibition era America) . these two shots placed on after the other show that the character has acknowledged the bottles, and either one of two things: either he caused this to happen and then proceeds to leave the scene to inform his peers of his success, or that an enemy of his caused this act, which resulted in a large shipment of bootleg alcohol being lost, at which point he proceeds to leave the scene, locate the culprit, and eventually exact his revenge for this attack on his trade.

Credits & text: the credits are placed either on the opposite side of the screen to the main feature of the scene, or they are centre screen, and the action of the scene passes over or by them. a good example of this is first at 0:06, where the waves recede back from the shore revealing the name of the actor who portrays the main character of the series, "Steve Buscemi", an then at 0:32, where the name "Vincent Piazza" is displayed on the left portion of the screen, opposite Steve Buscemi's face.

Camera movement & framing: the framing of the shots in this title sequence up until 0:52 give it an air of mystery, as up until this time, we don't get to see the full face of the man in the sequence, but rather just a section of his face, or his eyes, or the rear of his head, which is one of the things that drew me into wanting to watch the whole title sequence, I wanted to see who this guy was, to identify him, and to see if i had seen him in other films. at the 0:52 mark, we as the audience can finally identify the man in the sequence (Steve Buscemi) and the way in which the camera manoeuvres around him almost glorifies him, and helps to present him as someone to be both respected and feared. the camera is placed at a slightly lower level than that of Buscemi's face, and it orbits him from his left cheek to his right cheek, at the same time the time lapse is in full swing, complete with changes in lighting and weather, making for a really powerful scene.

Mise-en-scene: there are three main focuses of the Mise-en-scene in this title sequence: The main character  the crashing waves, and the bottles of bootleg alcohol.

Sound, dialogue & music: the music in this title sequence seems to be of the Country & Western genre. to me, it suits the scenery of this sequence almost perfectly. it is fairly calm (which suits the scenery - a beach on a bright, sunny day), and is very light and open. it bring images of the good times into my mind, days when life was good, everything was going well, family and friends, having fun, being together, that happy feeling when everything is in one's favour, and there are no worries. but it also has a stronger tone to it, which allows this piece of music to be applied throughout the entire sequence, even the scenes in which the lighting is dull and the clouds are bleak, therefore making it an excellent, well rounded piece of music.

Introduce characters: there is a man in a suit, and given the genre and time in which the film is set, I can safely presume that the man is involved in organised crime, and the scenes in which what seems to be bottles of bootleg alcohol floating in the sea reinforce this presumption. The character's stature and gait suggest he is a top ranking Mafioso. this man is portrayed by Steve Buscemi.

Indicate genre: the suit, combined with the hat, the fancy Italian brogues, the rose, and the bootleg alcohol are all common conventions of crime dramas set in prohibition era America. records suggest that contrary to the violent nature of the Mafia, the men involved were well respected  and enjoyed the finer things in life, which ties in with the backing track of this title sequence. the music seems typical of america in the 1920's as it is fairly refined and well constructed, much like the Mafioso themselves.

Iconography: the man in the suit can be seen to represent many things, typical to this genre, the time in which it is set, an to the idea of a man dressed in a suit: Mafioso typically dressed in suits and were well respected among the corrupt upper classes in several american states during the prohibition, they were very formal, even in the way they dealt with those foolish enough to stand in their way, they were honourable - only killing someone of they felt they deserved it, but they would tend not to take someone's life if said person had done nothing to prevent them from carrying out their operations. they ha access to vast amounts of money,and were constantly in the process of generating more through various types of protection rackets, rug smuggling operations, phone tapping among other things, and with this unrivalled money generating capability and the classically refined yet ruthless nature of the Mafioso  they were both feared and respected by many, and with that respect came huge amounts of  power.
                                       
                                  

Coursework: Group Project.

Today I managed to complete the storyboard for our opening sequence  and am in the process of creating the costume list, location list and props list, as well as a list of potential cast and crew, and I am also devising the risk assessment for our group. I hope to create a focus group and some questionnaires as soon as possible, of which the focus group shall be videoed (with their permission), and then uploaded to this blog and my group blog, as well as our production meeting footage.

Group Project: Rough Cut Of Final Idea

Roles

-Leader of the organisation
-Driver
-Henchmen Boss
-Henchman 1
-Henchman 2
-Guy watching the scientists
-Scientist 1
-Scientist 2


[Storyline]

-inside a science laboratory, three scientists are working on a special formula
{wearing lab coats and lab goggles}

-scientist 1 writes up some calculations before saying  "I think I've cracked it" 

-retrieves a vial of black liquid from a the store room and adds a drop to the main formula vial.

-formula is finished. 

-sound of a car pulling up outside the laboratory causes the scientists to get into a panic

-scientists carefully put it into 3 vials and put those into a foam lined briefcase.

-close up of man getting out of car outside lab [close up of door opening, and feet hitting the floor]

-scientist 1 hands the guy the briefcase.

-exits via the rear of the building with the briefcase, leaving the scientists in the lab.

-shots of the guy walking calmly away from the building.

-cut away to the lab where two men proceed to detain the two scientists.
 a third man enters the building and says to the scientists  "where is it" 

-one of the scientists replies  "its gone" 

-third man whips out his mobile phone [with credits on screen]

-calls a number and says  "its not here" 

-cut away to guy on other end of phone (boss)  "well...you had better find it"  [shot of only the lower quarter of face and mobile phone]

-cut back to the lab. third man says "lets go. bring one with you, deal with the other" put potato sack on the first scientist head, 
 take him outside, and put him in the back of the car, then go back into the lab, shoot the other scientist
 then return to the car, and proceed to drive away.

-camera behind car as it turns the corner

-match on action of the briefcase guy coming round the corner [front view]

-fade back into the scientist walking down a street, mid-afternoon/ evening, with the briefcase in hand

-proceeds to turn down an alleyway and walks a few meters,
 at which point he looks behind him and sees the silhouette of a man in a hat behind him.

-he turns his head back and sees the silhouette of another man in a hat  {so he is effectively trapped}.

-he stops and begins to asses his options, at which point the two men begin to walk towards him.

-the scientist begins to panic, and drops the briefcase onto the floor, revealing the three vials.

-the men in suits and hats increase their pace towards the scientist as he desperately tries to pick up the vials 
 and place them back into the briefcase.

-final shot. an Ariel view of the two men in suits on either side of the scientist [one in front, one behind].

Audience: Research Into Potential Target Audience.

From my research (both online and through asking people), I have found that the target audience of my chosen genre (action/ thriller) depends on what type of action film it is, and how much of a role the thriller component plays. action films like Mission Impossible III and The Matrix are aimed at a slightly older audience, from the ages of about 22 and up, and more towards the male population -- with the extensive action sequences, male protagonists, scenes of mild and intense violence etc… Generally, most other action films are geared towards the young male adolescent age group, because, younger males tend to like action films more than their female counterparts. Just like Romance films are geared towards women because they react to romance better than men do. many hybrid thriller films target an age group of between 16 and 25 years old. Thriller audiences consist more of a male skew, but this differs with hybrid genres. Horror thrillers, action thrillers and political thrillers such as 'Enemy of the state and Deja Vu (2006)' have a male skew. this is because men are drawn into films with more action, more-so than women. Horror and action thrillers have a younger audience of 16-25 as they are more exciting for this age group.