Audience Profile

The genre of our opening sequence is romantic drama. There are various different guidelines of this genre, some of them being...

• portraying realistic characters and stories 
• showing a relatable setting 
• real emotions to be shown 
• a clear and precise plot. 

Research tells me that...

Teen drama from stowlson

Our opening sequence - Absence:

• The plot of the story consists of a young teenage relationship which doesn't have a happy ending. This then leaves the girl to be extremely upset and to have aspects of depression. 

• This attempted to make the story as pragmatic as possible for our target audience to understand and to be sympathetic for the female protagonist as the target audience may have first hand experience about how she is feeling.

• We tried to make the setting, costume and make up to be as realistic and relatable to our audience as much as possible.

• As a group we concluded that our target audience for Absence would be female between the ages of 14-20 year old. This is because our film has many codes and conventions of a Romantic Drama film which is mostly attracted by this target audience which we had picked. This was done by the setting, location, camera angles, clothing, make up etc.

Behind the scenes

Institution

Paramount Pictures Corporation (commonly known as Paramount Pictures) is a film and television production/ distribution studio o, consistently ranked as one of the largest (top-grossing) film studios. Research has taught me that there have been a wide range of romantic films that have been distributed and produced and are extremely successful. Here are some examples of this:
Titanic (Paramount Picture) $600,743,440
Runaway Bride (Paramount Picture) $152,149,590
What Women Want (Paramount Picture) $182,805,123

I believe that Paramount Pictures would be most suitable and the concept would be appealing for our opening sequence. Research has taught me that this company has been intrigued and have produced and distributed romance/break up films. This means that due to our opening sequence having a unique selling point this would then make the production company very intrigued and wanting to be a part of the completely different style of a break up film.

Genre Research

This film is all about love and staying single and the struggle of breaking up but learning how to love someone else. This film is relatable to our opening sequence as it is not a typical romance and love story it has some form of difference but still has the strong aspect of  love and romance. Therefore, as this is a recent film this an important and significant example that we could use in order to gain stronger knowledge and gain an understanding about what has been included in a romance film and whether to add anything new to our opening sequence.





This is a more dated film but it still has a stronger influence and correlation between our opening sequence. It has roughly the same story line in the sense that a break up has occurred and we are able to see what the consequences are about the break up an how each and every individual is different in the way that they cope with the break up. We are able to receive a vast amount of ideas from using this clip as it enables us as a group to get in the mind set of a break up which then would enable us to form creative ideas for our opening sequence.


What  break up film would involve...

• relationship between man and women 
• at least 1 friend giving advice 
• how they are both coping with the break up 
• the emotions being very strong 
• maybe 1 person that is moving on

I believe that these are the stereotypical version and aspects of what they include in a break up film. This is exactly the aspects that we want to distance ourselves from so that it can be more unique and not so stereotypical of what is going to happen next in the film. Due to adding features that would make it unique it would target a wider and different audience that are willing to see a different style and attempt to take away the stereotypes of a break up film.

Art Of The Title Research

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/sita-sings-the-blues/

Whilst the opening sequence is starting off and the title of the producers or production companies are occurring, the font and the style is extremely simplistic. The writing consists of plain white text with the font being "arial". As the opening sequence carries on we get a sense of what the style of the film or programme maybe about as it has many Asian connotations eg. the distinctive clothing. There then seems to be some sort of explosion where the title is hidden behind the explosion as we get a slight image of what the title may look like. As the explosion disappears the image of the title appears in very typical Asian style writing eg. with the line connecting all the letters at the top and the swirling of the longer letters. The colour of the writing is white as the background is black which makes it stand out even more. As the title drifts closer to the camera it becomes more clear that the colour of the title changes from white to a bright blue. The title then drifts closer and closer to the camera angle which then leads the title to disappear. After this the same procedure occurs with the cast and the actors on preview. They appear to be initially white but as they come more closer they become bright blue which then leads the title to disappear. By having the title in the bright blue colour it relates to the context of the title "Sita Sings The Blues" which then provides a strong connotation for the audience. By also having the style of the writing in an Asian form assists the audience to understand exactly what the film maybe about and to give some brief knowledge about the background of the film / programme. The music also coincides and reaffirms the Asian style of the film / programme.


http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/300/

Straight away it starts off with the director in a very simplistic font with the background being black and the writing in the distinctive red colour as there is also a form of splatter of blood. There is then an image change from the black background to a form of a violent war scene with people dying or getting killed. The opening credits of the director, producer, production companies then carry on with this same format, red coloured writing, blood splattered and an image of a war scene between each name. As the opening sequence comes to an end the title "300" appears in a different form of font. The title writing seems to be written via actual blood itself. By having the writing in a red colour it signifies war, death and blood very symbolically. This would then mean that a lot of people were killed and it seemed to be a very gory task for the soldiers to uphold. The way in which the blood splaterring was presented in every image was portrayed gave the sense that all the people that was stated on the opening sequence had been stated to have died or past away in the war. This then informs us as the audience that  a lot of people had died whether it be intentionally or non intentionally. The music strong coincides with the style of the film as the music has many aspects of what war in those times may sound like eg. the swords, horses, men calling for help.


http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/casino/

We straight away see the text of the producers, directors, editors, production companies etc portrayed on a black background with old American style 1980's font. A small section of the film  beings to play whilst having a voiceover giving a few ideas of what the rest of the film may consider. There then seems to be some form on explosion which then captivates the audience and leaving them on a cliff hanger and leaving them to think what might happen next. The name of the actors appear on the screen with the same font as they initially had before they showed a small section of the film. Whilst the names of the actors are on screen there is a man flying in slow motion of just his silhouette to show the continuity from the explosion that had just occurred. Once the silhouette has disappearred the title had appeared and the background had changed to a red colour with the aspect of flashing white lights. By having the font in the old American style it provides the audience some aspect of where this film maybe set in or might have some correlation about it. By having the background change when the title appears it gives the audience a form of contrast and to help them gain more attention about what the film is called and how the background could have a major influence on what the film maybe about. The music has a major sense of juxtaposition as it is clear that an explosion has just happened meaning that someone is either dead or is severely hurt. However, the music has the aspect of opera which is seen to be a tranquil and peaceful style of music which is not the atmosphere of what this opening sequence consists of.

Film Credit Analysis

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/taxi-driver/


1. "Columbia Pictures Presents" Production comapany
2. "Robert DeNiro In" Top actor
3. "Taxi Driver" Title of film
4. "A Bill/Phillips Production of a Martin Scorsese film" Producer and Author 
5. "Starring Jodie Foster" Actress
6. "Albert Brooks as Tom" Actor
7. "Harvey Keitel" Actor
8. "Leonard Harris" Actor
9. "Peter Boyle as Wizard" Actor
10. "Cybill Shepherd as Betsy" Actress

• Correlation between the use of the luminous red text and the title of taxi driver. 
• For example, the colour of breaks being red which could indicate the sign of danger that might occur within the film.
• Credit sequence is very interesting as it only states one well known actor before stating the name of the film. 
• Personally I believe that all the actors, actresses, editor, director etc should be stated all before the name of the film as it leaves the audience remembering what the name of the film is which they can correlate between the images.
• The placement on the screen of the titles variate e.g. maybe centre left or in the right corner. This would then show the irregularity that may correlate with the style or theme of the film.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/quantum-of-solace/ 

1. Production Company

2. "Daniel Craig as James Bond" - Main character

3. "Quantum of Solace" - Title

*Bullet transports showing the rest of the credits whilst the bullet is still moving*

4. "Olga Kurylenko" Actress

5. "Mathieu Amalric" Actor

6. "Giancarlo Giannini" Actor

7. "Gemma Arterton" and "Anatole Taubman" 

8. "and Judy Dench as M" Actress

9. "Andrew Noakes" - Associate Producer

10. "David Pope" - Production executive

• The first movement and action is the exact replica of the original James Bond.
• They also add the modern twist of this well known movement as they added more of a motion and actually followed where the bullet lead to.
• My personal favorite moment is where they show the three james bond's with the red flooring whilst he is holding a gun. This portrays the danger and maybe hurting someone as the red can be linked with the blood.
• Title is stated near the beginning of the credits to assist the audience to correlate between the title and what they are seeing in the opening sequence.
• The placement of the titles variate but the title is the only credit that is in the centre of the screen. This would mean that they wanted to emphasis the importance of the title of the film and how the rest of the sequence could link with the title of the film.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/goodfellas/ 

1. "Warner Bros. Present" Production

2. "An Irin Wilker Production" Producer

3. "A Martin Scorsese Picture" Director

4. "Robert DeNiro" Actor

5. "Ray Liotta" Actor

6. "Joe Pesci" Actor

7. "Lorraine Bracco" Actress

8. "And Paul Sorvino" Actor

9. "This film is based on a true story"

*We see a car driving down a road in very dark and dim conditions*

10. "New York, 1970"

*Three men in a car driving down, hear a noise from the boot, stop on side of road, all men stand ready with weapons (spade, gun and knife), open the boot, man covered in blood but nearly dying, man stabs him numorous amount of times then another man shoots him many times, man shuts boots, freezes on him and creates a sound bridge of him saying "As far back as I can remember I've always wanted to be a gangster."

11. "Goodfellas" Title

• The entrance of the credits were zooming past the screen so that we could get a quick glimpse of it as it had then appeared again in the middle of the screen. 
• Clear representative as we can assume that it is full of action, as if they are running from something or trying to protect their property. 
• It could also indicate that there maybe an aspect of something illegal or something very dangerous therefore having the aspect of speed.
• The font is white and is written in capital letters with very simplistic writing.
• The credits are all centre of the screen and all the credits are shown shortly after each other.
• The title of the film "Goodfellas" appears after a short taster of what the film consists of and the title of the film appears in red to signify the blood of what had just been shown to the audience and how this maybe carried out in the film.

Opening Sequence Research

• Gives audience a clear indication of the genre due to the colours and movement from the actors
• My favourite camera shot was when it was rapidly moving backwards between the cars
• It could make the audience feel a build up of what might occur next in a positive manner due to the bright colours of the clothing and the atmosphere created by the actors.
• Cutting between the current scene of the "dance show" and what is occurring elsewhere assists the audience to feel as if a cliff hanger is about to happen and they are unsure of what might happen next.
• This is because the cuts between the scenes are appearing more frequently to build up the tension. 
• The use of slow motion from the larger and more choreographed dance moves gives the audience more of a chance to observe and feel amazed by these curtail and amazing dance moves.
• I learnt about the different camera angles that we could use in our opening and how this would create effect for the audience.

• The intense and simplistic music starts right from the beginning of the opening sequence 
• An extreme close up shot of an old man with very dim lighting, when he carries on his emotional speech the camera zooms out.
• This is my favorite moment as it provides the audience a chance to view only his facial expressions and are not aware of what the surroundings might be.
• It also allows the audience to feel as if there is a build up of tension as the lighting is very dim and the audience is only able to tell what the situation is just from the speech that he is giving which provides the audience with a clear genre via the speech and mystery of this scene.
• This opening taught me how important lighting is and how it can portray the characters mood, feelings, scenario etc at that moment and how it can make the audience feel.

• Start off with a black background with the aspect of middle eastern style music initially starts off quiet then begins to become more intense.
• The writing appears in a middle eastern style which could give the audience the idea of a correlation between the style of writing and where the film maybe set which would correlate with the genre of the film.
• My favorite section of this opening sequences is how you feel a strong sense of culture and story from the music that is being played and the style of the writing which reflects into the background as well.
• I learnt how crucial it is to correlate the music and the font with the style and genre of the film in order for the audience to understand what the film might be about straight away.