Research Into Opening Sequence Design

Kyle Cooper Interview Part 1
Kyle Cooper Interview Part 2

From watching this interview with Kyle Cooper i have learnt that a great title sequence sets the adaptation for the rest of the film, it makes the audience engaged to the screen and endears them to want to watch the rest of the film with great concentration. The hand written font in se73n is used to create effect for the rest of the film, the specific font is used to create a clever pun for the audience as it links to what happens in the film, the hand written titles are linked to the way that the main character in the film keeps a journal in which is a huge symbol in the film. From this I have learnt that it is essential to link the opening sequence to what happens in the actual film, I have also learnt that trying new ideas on camera is always good because if it does not work then you can re-shoot by Cooper believes that if trying new things usually creates the best shoot. The way that Kyle Cooper tries new ideas such as glass in front of the camera to create an effect has given my group a few ideas in which we could try to use in our opening sequence. Another thing from what I have learnt from this is that you can mix digital production with film production to create the best effects.

The simple typography can be seen as the most effective, an example of this is the dead zone, the dark music in it makes it very mysterious, Cooper says that his three most favourite which are graphic design, film and typography can come together to create the best ever opening sequence. Some of his favourite opening sequences encapsulate the main characters obsessions; this is done in ‘to kill a mockingbird’. From this I have learnt that the main characters feelings and possessions should be shown in the opening sequence to make it as effective as possible. Another thing in which i have learnt from this i that if there is a clip that can’t be used because the audience do not understand it then it can be used as short clips elsewhere in the film, this is to save the wasted budget of the producers of the film. I also learnt from this that the audience prefer the dark deathly ending compared to the happy ending for a horror genre film, this has emphasized our opinion to create a dark opening sequence to kick start the horror genre film.

Further Look At Opening Sequence

Another opening sequence in which we looked at as a group was Se7en, this helped us a great amount as it gave us a great idea on how to present our credits and also the sort of music theme we was thinking of using in our opening sequence.Se7en opening sequence.
Here are my detailed notes on the Opening Sequence, these are why i feel the techniques in the sequence are used.
From Start to End.

• Blurry credits to create tension for the reader.
• Extreme close up of a book in flickering motion - dark image, the pages moved by a blurred hand very slowly, this is to create fear for the reader.
• The 'new line cinema' is in a hand written, scratchy and juttery font like the majority of the credits throughout.
• The Cuts of the credits are fast and hard throughout to increase the pace of the opening.
• The drawing of the old greyscale hands bring back history for the audience as they are so realistic. This alsoemphasizes darkness, the shadows flickering over the hands link to the juttering credits, create fear.
• The main actors in the film have a much clearer credit font, this is emphasize their power in the film, the horror is still kept with the dark background.

From looking at this opening sequence we found that the gothic genre is huge, this is because if done correctly and successfully it can bring great fear upon the audience, another example of a horror genre opening sequence is Wrong Turn, the opening sequence of this film has some characteristics in which our group found highly effective and looked really good on screen, one of these is the way that they have set the film in a forest, we feel that this is the most effective setting for our opening sequence as it brings the greatest amount of fear upon the audience. Wrong Turn Opening Sequence. Below is a timeline of the films opening sequence. Although this opening sequence had no sound/music inserted into it, it still allowed our group to look at the sequence and get a rough idea on how horror genered films presented their credits through their opening sequences.

Independant Work Towards Targets

For improving our team organisation we have been have regular meetings in which we discuss what we are going to base our opening sequence on, the topics we have been reseacrching and talking about are ;

1. The genre of the opening sequence. 
2. Will there be dialogue in the film?
3. How many characters will be involved?
4. Why we have chosen that genre?

This has helped our team organisation a great amount as we are organised now that we know what our producion is based on and that we have a brief plot.

Choosing Your Genre

All-Time Worldwide Box Office

Rank	Title	Worldwide Box Office
1.	Avatar (2009) -	$2,781,505,847
2.	Titanic (1997)	$1,835,300,000
3.	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)	$1,129,219,252
4.	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)	$1,065,896,541
5.	Toy Story 3 (2010)	$1,062,984,497
6.	Alice in Wonderland (2010)	$1,023,285,206
7.	The Dark Knight (2008)	$1,001,921,825
8.	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)	$968,657,891
9.	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)	$958,404,152
10.	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)	$937,000,866

From this table it is evident that top genres for a box office hit are Adventure and Action. It can be seen that it is not the genre in which makes the film a box-office hit but its down to how well the film is created and produced.

Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2010

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Comedy	1,612	$42,813,948,427	$26,559,521	24.15%
2	Adventure	454	$34,688,763,042	$76,406,967	19.57%
3	Drama	2,795	$31,890,090,423	$11,409,692	17.99%
4	Action	508	$30,052,075,103	$59,157,628	16.95%
5	Thriller/Suspense	475	$13,201,944,104	$27,793,567	7.45%
6	Romantic Comedy	359	$10,469,385,103	$29,162,633	5.91%
7	Horror	292	$8,566,863,507	$29,338,574	4.83%
8	Documentary	879	$1,957,283,447	$2,226,716	1.10%
9	Musical	104	$1,692,747,789	$16,276,421	0.95%
10	Black Comedy	72	$741,364,700	$10,296,732	0.42%

Whereas in this table it shows that comedy has the greatest market share by a significant amount, with adventure in second place and action down the ranks in 4th. This research shows that even though the top films of all time are Action/Adventure, Comedy still has the biggest reaction to the past and current audience, this is backed up by the amount of movies in which are catergorised as comedy and also the market share in which it holds. Other information that can retained from this research is what genres to stay away from because of their week attraction to recent audiences, these are genres such as Thriller, Documentary and Musical.

As a group we put together a questionnaire in which we handed out to find out what genre audiences wanted and why they wanted them, the questions asked were;
1. What is your favourite film genre and why?
2. What is your favourite film and what genre what you catergorise it under?
3. What do you expect to see in an opening sequence?
4. Is there a genre you would like to see more of?
5. What makes you interested in a film?

Conventions of an Opening Sequence

The two opening sequences that I have chose to summarise are Halloween by John Carpenter and This is England by Shane Meadows. Two films in which are of completely different genres.

Halloween
The main conventions that are used in the opening sequence of this film are all related to Gothic in one way or another. The dark background with an eery orange font stands out to the audience to create a sense of fear, this also lets the audience know what genre the movie is going to be. The intense high pitched piano in the background builds the tension for the audience as it is continuously building, getting louder and faster tempo. the zooming in of the pumpkin also builds tension for the audience as at the beginning it is zoomed out but as the credits role the pumpkin gets closer and closer building fear for the audience as they are waiting for something to happen. The flickering of the candle inside the grinning pumpkin gives him human characteristics, the audience want to get away from the frightful look but as it gets closer and closer more fear is created, this emphasizes the overall Gothic genre of the film.

This is England
The main conventions in this opening sequence are for the audience to understand how united kingdom used to be, how it was ruled and what was happening. With the majority of the opening sequence being of old clips its shows the audience how England used to be with the women of Greenham Common, the Iranian Embassy Siege, the nationwide miner’s strike, a bolstered Thatcher and Reagan and of course, Roland Rat all being included to represent this. The font of the credits is the font used on the dog tags of all British soldiers, the rolling numbers are the id's of all soldiers that passed away because of everything that was happening in and around the 80's era. The music that is played in the background is a famous 80's song in which can be seen as making the audience happy but at the same time, because of all the disturbing images it can lead the audience into distress.

Targets

Most of us are aware that the SMART target setting system is the most congressive technique when wanting to improve in a specific area. The target areas in which i am going to improve my knowledge in are;

• Lighting - To improve lighting i will practice filming in dark and light rooms and adjust lighting to see how effective light can be. From doing this i will be able to create more effective light in our opening sequence giving it a better overall look and hopefully improving the quality of the film. This target is very important as poor lighting whilst filming can lead to a dull and bleak look in the poverall film, if done correctly this can improve the quality of the shoot dramatically.

• Team Organisation - To improve team organisation it will help our group to be motivated and also hopefully we will be able to complete the process in the given time. as a group we were not as organised as we could be in the pre-liminary filming, this could be improved by meeting at least once a week to asses the work we have completed and also complete work that we need the whole group there to do.

• Setting - To improve setting we will have to spend more time seacrhing for the best possible location, this will help us as a group improve the quality of the film as setting it crucial in any film. With setting i am including the props that are going to be used, have to be of a good quality to make the film look as dramatic as possible. This will mainly be achieved with patients of finding the best possible setting available for us to use.

• Editing - To improve editing i will have to get used to the editing suite, i can do this by editing small films as part of my independant study, this will help me progree in editing and also it will help the group complete the process further.

• Blogging - To improve my blog i will have to spend more time on each post, this is to ensure that everything in the blog is understandable and also of a high standard. Another blogging point i need to improve is the structure of the post, to make it look presentable i can make as many changes as needed until it looks of a high quality. This can be done by previewing the post regularly to make sure that the images and texts are positioned correctly.

The way that i am going to improve my knowledge in these area's is going to help me a great amount further along in the course as i will be able to relate back to my independant study for revision and help on the specific area.

Evaluation of Skills Developed

Overall i feel that the first and second attempt of filiming i have learnt a great amount in which i will use to continue to progress my knowldge in the subject. I feel that as a group we worked incredibly well and we were very organised in our filming and set design.

Throughout the preliminary task i have progressed skills that i already have and have also found new skills in which i have learnt from the task so far. The key areas in which i have developed are;

Technical Skills - I have developed a vast amount in this area, as i have had no experience in filming i was able to learn a lot from my first pre liminary task. I learnt how to position the camera for the most effective angle for our shots throughout our filming.

Creative Skills - I also developed my Creative skills a substantial amount, i was able to create the scene and setting so that the viewer can see clearly what enviroment we are trying to create. Another way in which i improved my creative skills is the editing of the film, as a group we was able to choose what we wanted to be in our production and what we did not want. The music we added gave the intetnsity to the overall production which makes the filim a great deal more dramatic.

Personal Skills - Just from completing the preliminary task i have improved my media and technological knowledge a huge amount. I have learnt how to use the handheld camera and also i have lernt how to edit a shot on a computer. Other things i have learnt from the pre-lim task are how to stick to the role of thirds and continuity. The main problem we occured was that in our first attempt we did not enforce the usage of shot-reverse-shot, we was able to correct this with a second shooting and we learnt from our mistakes very well.