Journal: 09/12/2011

In today's lesson we decided to start think about what the title of the film is going to be. To this we had to think hard to come up with a far and easy way of get our target audiences opinion as we are trying to create a film that applies to them and what they would enjoy. After a long thinking process we decided to created a detailed questionnaire to be distributed among our chosen target audience which would supply use with the knowledge to move forward in the film making process. We decided to create a questionnaire on word to be printed off and then handed out in our class (full of 16-18 year olds) which would give use the information that we need. We now need to tally up the results and hope know what the chosen title will be.

Film Title: Questionnaire

This is the questionnaire that we designed as a group to be distributed out amongst our chosen target audience. We used this method of audience feedback to get a far perspective on what the audience would like. This hopefully to be proven successful as we should get a final film title name. After this task is complete we can then focus on the font and typography of the title sequence. In the questionnaire we included the information;

Title Questionnaire:

Gender:

• Male
• Female

Plot Outline:

The film takes place in an ordinary British comprehensive school, where we see ordinary outcast Ronald Bateman attempting to survive his social class. This was about to change as his is turn inside out as he accidentally killing both fellow student and teacher. This creates a massive dilemma, which then sparks an accidental killing spree, which is provoked by revenge, innocence and girls. He has more problems than he needed which means that exams are not the only thing to worry about this year. With a mixture of dark humor and brutal deaths, this will surely be a film that should not be missed.

Possible Names (Please Tick One):

• Books, Babes & Brutal Murders
• Bod, Babes & Brutal Murders
• Books, Babes & Brutal Deaths
• Big Mistake
• Ronald: Grade A Killer
• Secondary Psycho
• Secondary Scoundrel
• Detention
• Student Body
• Late Slip

Journal 08/12/2011

I today lesson we focused on getting a sold idea of what our film is about. We sat down as a group a bullet-pointed ideas (i.e. possible names for film, ideas for typography, title sequence ideas [all listed below]) to get a greater understanding of our idea. We started, also to look a the actual meaning of black comedies as our idea was starting to resemble a comedy horror which is far from what we wanted. Wikipedia says that black comedy 'is the type of humor. that still manages to be funny in the face of, and in response to, a perfectly hopeless situation. It arises from stressful, traumatic, or life-threatening situations, often in circumstances such that death is perceived as impending and unavoidable' this means that black comedy twists the response of something that is concided to be serioius. For example if some is about to stab somebody else, they discuss before hand how clean the knife is (Heathers 1981). From the break though of information we where able to come up with a new idea which worked really well and lead us to write a new plot/narrative (which is featured below). Overall this lesson has enabled us a a group to move forward and develop our ideas which could lead to an amazing title sequence.

Possible Names & Typography

Notes: Film & Title Sequence Ideas

School Comedy

- Puberty

- Social Groups

- Uniform

- Dumb Blonde

- Other Teachers

- Nerds

- Stereotypes

- Class Room

- Restricted Locations

Horror

- Killing

- Weapons

- Blood/Gore

- Final Girl

- Frightening Place

- Misfits of Society

- Villain/Monster

- Social Slaying

- Hero

Idea Notes

- Morally Wrong

- Contrapuntal Sound of boy walking to school with fast cuts to brutal murders with screaming and blood

- Possible name similar to Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls

- Accident killing – Therefore has to kill suspicious teenagers or teachers.

Plot Outline

- Teacher and student role playing murder

- Nerd sees this and believes it’s a real murder and tries to hit the teacher’s. In a result to this he accidently kills the student and kills teacher because she is a witness.

- When people are suspicious he kills them.

Film Name Ideas

- Books, Babes & Brutal Murders

- Bod, Babes & Brutal Murders

- Books, Babes & Brutal Deaths

- Big Mistake

- Name of Character: Grade A Killer

- Secondary Psycho

- Secondary Scoundrel

Location

- Woolwich Poly School

- Welling School

Death Ideas

- Deep fat fryer

- Pen in the eye

- Javelin

- Football goal

- Books fall on top of someone

- Electrocute

- Slip over on wet floor

- Freezer

- Chair

- Photo copier

- Keyboard

- Chemicals

- Bunsen Burner

- Piano

New Plot/Narrative

The film takes place in a ordinary british comprehensive school, where we see ordinary outcast Ronald Bateman attempting to survive his social class. This was about to change as his is turn inside-out as he accidentally killing both fellow student and teacher. This creates a massive dilemma which then sparks a accidental killing spree which is provoked by revenge, innocence and girls. He has more problems than he needed which means that exams are not the only thing to worry about this year. With a mixture of dark humor and brutal deaths, this will surely be a film that should not be missed.

Film Pitch

Black Comedy Film Pitch

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Journal: 06/12/11

In todays lesson we where given the opportunity to get all our research done and posted on the blog. I took this time to finish my groups black comedy film pitch. I was able to take the knowledge learnt from the previous lessons to construct and informational filled pitch that is suitable to be presented to a production/distribution company. I did not get the opportunity to present the presentation in todays lesson but I am now prepared to give the pitch whenever I'm asked. From complete this pitch I was able to uses all the knowledge I have used overall the complete Media AS course, which I have really enjoyed. This stage of development and research is key as it helps give the foundations of a good film ready for an amazing title sequence.

Saul Bass - An Influential Titles Designer

Saul Bass was a 'commercial' artist who was born in 1920 and died in 1996 aged 75. Saul Bass studied at the Arts Student League in New York but soon moved to Los Angeles to escape from creative constraints. There he became a freelance artist and designer. In 1950 Bass opened his own advertising studio. Saul Bass is best known for use of simple, geometric shapes and what they symbolise. Often, he would use a single dominant image which would stand alone to deliver a powerful message. Bass's posters and titles had an uncanny ability to capture the mood of a film with simple shapes and images. This was his preferred method of title design as opposed to using photographs of the films star, which he saw as boring. Saul Bass was influenced by constructivist and Bauhaus propaganda. Between the years of 1970 and 1986 Bass only created a handful of film title sequences.Below is his famous title sequence for The Man With The Golden Arm:

Notes: Distribution Ideas

Journal: 25/11/2011

In todays lesson we where looking at audience and institutions.The aim of the lesson was to be able to indicate how film distribution works and to begin to understand the difference between the US and UK film system. I believe that I have now enhanced my knowledge of the film industry from taking part in this lesson and it abled me to understand in great detail what distributors (i.e. Paramount Pictures) are and how they affect the way the film are presented to use as an audience. I will be able to take this knowledge and apply it to my own film when I make it.

Journal: 24/11/2011

In todays lesson we where given the opportunity to present our pitch powerpoint presentation we made for a new film that responded to different production companies. We where given the task of creating a film that corresponded with the production company 'Working Title' who are famous for there romantic comedies (including Love Actually, Four Weddings & a Funeral and Notting Hill). So we came up with the idea of 'One Last Night', a romantic comedy set in London starring Simon Pegg and Renee Zellweger. When we presented our pitch to the class the feedback was excellent, and the company straight away new that the film pitch was targeted to them. From this activity I learnt how to give a good pitch to a group of people, I now know what production companies actually do and their purpose and I also understand the process of a film before it hits the silver screens.

Distribution: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Distribution Companies

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Black Comedies: Cherry Falls

In the small town of Cherry Falls, Virginia, a black-clad, long-haired killer is offing various high school teenage virgins in various gory ways. Jody Markam, the virginal teenage daughter of the town's sheriff in charge of the investigation, launches her own investigation to figure out the killer's identity and stumbles into a web of long hidden dark secrets spun around the killings involving people of the town she always thought she trusted which makes her one of the killer's primary targets. Written by (IMDB)

This is another black comedy that we have taken some ideas from for our own idea for a film. This has a similar narrative to what we want for our film as its prime story line is a serial killer killing in and around a school environment. We will look carefully about the key conventions of this particular genre of film, so we get the right fill when creating our title sequence. The poster opposite mixes comedy and horror which allows audience to understand that this is not all entirely seriously.

Example Film Pitch: One Last Night (Working Title)

One Last Night

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Black Comedies: Cable Guy

Cable Guy (1996)

The Cable Guy is another prime example of a black comedy. Steven Kovak has been kicked out of his apartment by his girlfriend. Steven has a new apartment, and decides to slip the cable guy (Chip) $50 for free cable. Steven then fakes an interest in Chip's line of work. However Chip takes this to heart trying to become Steven's best bud. When Steven no longer wants to be Chips friend the man who can do it all goes on an all out assault to ruin Steven's life. In the backdrop is the delicate sub-plot of the trial of a former kid star for murdering his brother. The Overview is a lonely and disturbed cable guy raised on television just wants a new friend, but his target, a designer, rejects him, with bad consequences.

Plot summary: http://www.imdb.com



Below is the opening sequence for the black comedy "The Cable Guy". It opens with a sinister static television. This is where the titles start to appear. This example is good for stating the key the conventions of a title sequence. The typography is very

Black Comedies: Big Nothing

Big Nothing (2006)

This is my first example of a black comedy. Big Nothing is about a series of murders that go out of hand. Charlie is an ex-teacher turned reluctant call center employee who gets fired on the first day. Distraught on being unable to provide for his daughter Emily and cop wife, Penelope, he is suddenly contacted by Gus, an aspiring scam artist who presents Charlie with a seemingly snag-free plan to make some cash: Blackmail Reverend Smalls a man of the cloth, who's frequently turned up in the company database of visitors to illegal porn-sites. Gus plans on extorting Reverend Smalls, with the intention of publicly exposing his secret shame, should he refuse, with this scandal potentially destroying the man's career. Normally cautious Charlie, is keen on participating in this scam, confident that with this money maker he'll garner from the deal and will finally help turn things around for him and his family. Joined by one-time teenage pageant queen Josie McBroom Gus's ex, the plan goes ahead...but it all goes wrong as Reverend Smalls dies...thanks to this trio, with this only being the start of their troubles.

Plot summary: http://www.imdb.com

From the cover of the film (above) the genre is given to the viewer step-by-step. The gun that Simon Peggs character is holder connotes a murder or death within the plot line and makes the audience thinks its crime drama. The typography used look very nitty-gritty and is erodded. There is also a axe with blood dripping from it which connotes horror. Then the designer has made the background a bright pink which contrasts the the other objects. This then impling the genre is a black comedy.

Journal: 22/11/2011

I today lesson we start to come up with ideas for our new films, in which we will eventually create a opening title sequence for. We started be jotting down ideas of films that we enjoyed watching. This gave us an idea of what sort of genre we would like to make our film. Whilst we where in this process the genres 'Comedy' and 'Horror' kept be mentioned, this sparked the idea of creating a black comedy. Black comedy, a kind of drama in which disturbing or sinister subjects like death, disease or warfare are treated with bitter amusement, usually in a manner purposely to offend and shock. This includes films like; Big Nothing, Cable Guy, 50/50 and Hot Fuzz. This triggered the imagination of the group to come up with this new and crazy idea. The story would be about a crazy teacher who starts to murder students. The comedy aspect of the film is the four leading characters (resembles E4's Imbetweeners) who are the students who find out about the disturbing truth about their teacher. From this lesson I learnt how to work a a team, come up with ideas and create a possible narrative for an upcoming film. This will be a key part of the process as the rest of our work will be dependent on this stage.

Film Ideas

Groundhog Day Title Sequence

This is my idea for a title sequence for a new up-coming british film called 'Groundhog Day'( which is a remake of the 1993 movie with Bill Murray). I worked with Luke Hewitt to create this idea. The reason we have chosen to use sign stick men as it represents common meanings, and the fact that signs are always the same which is a key theme in the film. I have chosen the colours red, white and blue to connoter the British flag, which signifies to the audience where the film is going to be set (i.e. London, England). The font used is very contrasting as two different styles are used. A curly handwriting style font is used thbough my sequence which represents the romance and love theme that are featured in the film. The other font used is a mixture of blocks and circles. In my sequence I have replaced some of the rounded letter with clock faces to signify the importance of time thoughout the film. Overal I really like this idea that we have created as it does the job of introducing the film before it started to the audience.

Homework: Zombieland Title Seqeunce

The first sound we hear before the title sequence has begun is a church bell which could connote death but as soon as the titles start a epic drum beat begins and what you though about death has changed. This beat connotes a sense of violence as you typically associate rock music with rough bikers. Though the sequence the music is the only noise to be heard and the images we are shown are presented so they match it. This could show that the film is not serious as the typic use of sound in horror movies is key for the fright and without it make it very humorous.

The typography used through the title sequence is a mixture of reds and browns which represents the blood and violence that will be featured in the film. The font used is block capitals and is fairly bold. This shows that the film the film is what it is and there what you see is what you get. The reason I think this is because I associate the bold block capitals with signs that only have one meaning and that the title designer purposely chose to use this to tell audiences that this film is 'what it says on the tin'. The text transitions are clever thought the sequence as the move with whats happening in the background. This is to maybe show that the normal world is crumbling and what we know is different. It also, to me, make the audience feel a little uncomfortable as the text that has been add after the back image is being affect which make the film look like it bursting of the screen.

The images used in the background are mostly stereotypical to this sort of film, zombies, blood and weapons, but the title designer has cleverly mixing the comical images that we don't normally see in serious horror flicks, which helps the audience to realise that the overall tone of the film is comical and funny. The images pick are used as some of them can be related to the audience members which makes it more realistic.

Homework: The History Of Title Sequences

Words and lettering played an enormous role in films of the silent era. Film titles made their appearance in the earliest silent films, along with letter cards (or inter-titles), which provided context. These cards were the responsibility of the lettering artist, who collaborated with the scriptwriter and director to create narrative continuity so that audiences could follow what they were seeing. Distinct from these inter-titles was the film’s main title, a vehicle of particular concern to film producers because of the legal, copyright and marketing information this footage had to bear.

This is a key part of title sequence history because this tells us that this part of the film is just information rather than to introduce any meaning about the film. They where also for he benefit of the film makes as they needed this to copyright there own work. What I find interesting is that this was birth of one of the most important parts of the film and we see nearly everyday.

As movies grew more popular, their titles evolved. Movie producers invested considerable sums in film production and sometimes resorted to fixing a dog of a film by rewriting the inter-titles. For a time, “film doctor” Ralph Spence (1890–1949) was the highest-paid title writer in the industry, earning $10,000 a picture for his one-liners. During the 1920s and ’30s, European cinema was deeply influenced by modernism, and aspects of this visual sensibility were brought to the US by filmmakers who were fleeing the Nazis. Meanwhile, the studio systems operating in Europe and Hollywood also delighted in creating titles that featured vernacular graphic novelties. As much as possible, they liked to convey the tone of a movie through the “dressage” of its main title. Thus, blackletter fonts in the opening credits were used to evoke horror, ribbons and flowery lettering suggested love, and typography that would have been used on “Wanted” posters connoted a western flick.

This is very interesting, this is where all the famous stereotypical typefaces of certain genres where presented to audience which help develop the typefaces we see today. These are all stilled used in today's modern film making which gives me background information when deciding on the font that I use for my title sequence.

The incorporation of audio into movies — making them “talkies” — didn’t revolutionize how film titles were handled, at least not immediately. However, we do see one avant-garde animator and painter of German origin, Oskar Fischinger, give serious thought to the relationship between visual effects and music. Fischinger’s practice of subordinating the visual rhythm to the audio was repeated often in motion graphics and title design.
The concept of score visualization first conceived by Oskar Fischinger in his film “Studies” anticipates the effects created by Saul Bass in “The Man With the Golden Arm” (1955) and later by Susan Bradley in “Monsters, Inc” (2001).

Oskar Fischinger looks to be the inventor of the modern-day title sequence. Almost all of the graphic designers who take on the task of creating a title sequence will always, in some way, use an aspect of in their sequences. What I find interesting is that the style that was made by Saul Bass are still being made and are still popular in the 21st Century and will carry on.
Every sphere of contemporary life — and especially the film business — has been affected by computers. For designers, creating film titles meant participating in the apprenticeship tradition — learning by doing, on the job; that continued unabated into the mid-1990s. At that time, dynamic openers by Kyle Cooper and others showed what the next generation of design-educated, film-literate, tech-savvy creatives could do. That apprenticeship tradition has largely been overshadowed by the rise of popular technology, the Internet-enabled archiving of everything and the plethora of schools that propagate countless design disciplines. Most significantly, we see designers working like filmmakers and filmmakers working like designers.

This is where titles and the typography used becomes the art form that it is today. From the mind of Kyle Cooper, many graphic and title designers are able to refer back to his work to get ideas of new ways to present the first five minutes of a film. This is what I personally find extremely interesting about this part of film history and shows that these first impression don't have to be boring but can be key to the film narrative.

The potential of digital graphics and typography has attracted some of the most creative minds to motion design. Pixar and Disney have reserved crucial parts in the branding of their films for the title sequences. Using animated characters to introduce viewers to the story became a popular trend. Such talented graphic designers as Susan Bradley (Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., WALL-E, Ratatouille), Jaimi Caliri (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events), Dave Nalle (Corpse Bride), Michael Riley (The Back-Up Plan, Kung Fu Panda) and Michael Curtis (Brother Bear) use all manner of tools to test different approaches to designing titles. One thing these individuals have in common is a drive to find a strong metaphor and tell an exciting story with their sequences.

These are some of the many new designers that have contributed to the film title world which all have roots of Saul Bass or even Kyle Cooper in their work which help their great work shine in the industry that they work in. I really finds this interesting and will different show some reference to either Bass or Cooper when it comes to creating my own sequence.

Danny Yount Case Study

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Notes: Typography & Design Within Titles

Order Of Titles (rule of thumb...)

• Studio
• (Director)
• Stars (in order/reverse order of fame/status)
• Film Title
• Crew
• Editor
• Writer (Screenplay)
• Producer
• Director

Catch Me If You Can - Title Sequence

• Fluid
• Sharp
• Slick
• Connection
• Classy
• Bold
• Retro/Modern
• Spy/Crime Related
• Contrast - colours i.e. black, white & one bright colour
• Typewriter font to indicate period of the film (1960's)

Se7en - Title Sequence

• Dark/Menacing
• Old film related
• Hand made looking overall indicates the character personality of be very old fashioned or maybe religious.
• The colour scheme connotes death, blood & revenge
• Irregular theme (normal title sequences)

Notes: Codes & Conventions Of A Title Sequences

• Detail of cast and crew
• The film's title
• An introduction to the character or character type
• Indication of place
• Indication of historical period
• Information regarding mood and tone
• Introduction to signature theme tune
• Information about genre
• Question that the viewer finds intriguing (sets up enigma/mystery)
• Patterns and types of editing that will be echoed in the remainder of the film
• The mise-en-scene and cinematography used

Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing: Luke S, Billy H & Luke S by ohboi1

This is my piece of continuity edit in which I did with my group. Our task was to create a short sequence where we had to follow the rules of editing and shooting (180 Degree rule, continuity and pace). My involvement within my group was to participate in the acting side of the production and also in the post-production I had to edit the seqence. I feel my role within the group was helpful as I was determined to work as a team. I feel that the sequence was successful as we considered all the aspects of filming and editing.