Wednesday, 9 December 2009
U or PG?
Our film is probably for a PG audience (I.E 7-11) because it's dealing with issues that wouldn't necessarily be aimed at a U audience (I.E 3-7), as the film looks at issues involving friendship, growing up, relationships and all that jazz
max T.
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Toy Story Evaluation
The opening sequence of story contains a stereotypical hero and villain storyline in which
the child is acting out a roll play with his toys. This will immediately appeal to young
as they can see them selfs doing similar activities at home. As the storyline is based
mainly around Woody the detective/cowboy, he is used as the hero in the sequence showing
that he'll be the character that all the children follow. simple comedy is used such as
the threatening of the toy sheep to be ran over or when the Evil Potato Head's eye gets
popped off as part of the roll play, or when the dinosaur eats the slinky dog. This
is used to appeal more to younger children and possibly to adults in an ironic way.
It then moves onto further play with Woody throughout the house which further expresses
he's the main character with only one other character appearing in each shot, the child.
Throughout the sequence the toys are being looked after and abused how a child of that
age would whilst continuing play with them, this involves sliding Woody down the banister
on stairs and launching him across the room using a chair.
You then continue on to see it's the child's birthday and he's ecstatic to see all the
presents he'll be receiving similarly to a modern day child.
Titles appear on screen with no real effect or special font, a bold font has been used
with a drop shadow and there is no use of capitals which may be to the aid of children
who enjoy reading. The sequence generally consists of long/mid shots on the toys
which in reality are close ups and extreme close ups which puts the scale into
perspective.
The scene starts with very uplifting, orchestral music which really grabs your attention
and keeps you focused on the screen. It soon changes to a quiet, eerie style of music
to create tension which sharp, sudden, low notes on brass instruments and significant
points in the sequence. High pitch music is used when one of the innocent characters talks
to show weakness in them whereas a lower tone is used when the Evil Potato Head is
talking. When Woody appears the music changes to an old, western style of music to show
the characters cowboy theme. When Woody has saved the day the music changes to a slow paced, relaxing song to go along with the theme of what's going on in the scene which continues throughout the rest of the opening sequence.
the child is acting out a roll play with his toys. This will immediately appeal to young
as they can see them selfs doing similar activities at home. As the storyline is based
mainly around Woody the detective/cowboy, he is used as the hero in the sequence showing
that he'll be the character that all the children follow. simple comedy is used such as
the threatening of the toy sheep to be ran over or when the Evil Potato Head's eye gets
popped off as part of the roll play, or when the dinosaur eats the slinky dog. This
is used to appeal more to younger children and possibly to adults in an ironic way.
It then moves onto further play with Woody throughout the house which further expresses
he's the main character with only one other character appearing in each shot, the child.
Throughout the sequence the toys are being looked after and abused how a child of that
age would whilst continuing play with them, this involves sliding Woody down the banister
on stairs and launching him across the room using a chair.
You then continue on to see it's the child's birthday and he's ecstatic to see all the
presents he'll be receiving similarly to a modern day child.
Titles appear on screen with no real effect or special font, a bold font has been used
with a drop shadow and there is no use of capitals which may be to the aid of children
who enjoy reading. The sequence generally consists of long/mid shots on the toys
which in reality are close ups and extreme close ups which puts the scale into
perspective.
The scene starts with very uplifting, orchestral music which really grabs your attention
and keeps you focused on the screen. It soon changes to a quiet, eerie style of music
to create tension which sharp, sudden, low notes on brass instruments and significant
points in the sequence. High pitch music is used when one of the innocent characters talks
to show weakness in them whereas a lower tone is used when the Evil Potato Head is
talking. When Woody appears the music changes to an old, western style of music to show
the characters cowboy theme. When Woody has saved the day the music changes to a slow paced, relaxing song to go along with the theme of what's going on in the scene which continues throughout the rest of the opening sequence.
Max Macauley - Leak.
Monday, 7 December 2009
children's opening analysis - Star Wars: A New Hope
the scene starts with very dramatic music, the title in big letters which track out from the camera followed by a prologue, this gets information which will develop as the story goes along out of the way so you can get straight into the action, this is a strange way to open a children's film as normally there would be a narrator to begin the story and telling you all the information you need to know rather than you having to read the information. Once the information is out of the way and out of sight (literally), the camera tilts down to reveal an alien planet, since it's a science fiction movie, there would be a good chance it would be set in space or involve an alien planet. But just as we see the alien planet, a small spaceship appears, followed closely by by a Star destroyers (a mahousive ship), this gives us an idea of the grand scale of things, common in a children's film to show how big the setting for the story will be early on in the film, the orchestra adds to the grand scale, as the music keeps being dramatically old fashioned. The bigger of the two ships then shoots at the smaller one, telling us there is a battle going on, if not a war. The beginning is strange for a children's film because it gets all the detail out of the way fast so it can get straight to the action, rather than letting the story develop and lead gradually to the action
Max. T
Friday, 4 December 2009
This is an example of credits being used within shot, something we will be using in our opening sequence.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Planning for Production
We are starting planning for our own childrens film opening.
Mise-en-scene -
Props - Toast, cereal, tea, orange juice, clothes, shoes, bags, books, alarm clock, make up.
All of the props we are using are part of the morning routine of our characters and will create a contrast between stereotypes.
Costumes- the two characters are stereotypical to enforce the morals of the film. The girl will be wearing feminine clothing featuring a dress, heeled shoes and make up. The guy will represent a stereotypical "nerd" wearing glasses, high trousers, tie etc.
Setting- We are limited to filming on college grounds and so filming the morning routine, including getting out of bed and breakfast will be harder. Therefore we will be filming the breakfast parts in the canteen and will be improvising with a blanket for the bed etc.
Camerawork -
We have decided to use stop motion throughout the entire scene. This will give a fun appeal to a young audience. Therefore we will not be doing continuous filming and just taking still shots for the whole piece.
Our idea is based on other stop motion pieces such as Oren Lavie's music video, Her Morning Elegance
Editing -
The pace will relate to the song used in the sequence and will be changing shots to the beat of the music. This will help the piece to flow.
The sequence will follow a linear narrative as the characters are going through their morning routines.
We will use continuity editing to show a change between space and setting as the two characters are not together.
These are our basic ideas for our opening and will be developed further with our storyboards, prop lists and shot lists etc.
Mise-en-scene -
Props - Toast, cereal, tea, orange juice, clothes, shoes, bags, books, alarm clock, make up.
All of the props we are using are part of the morning routine of our characters and will create a contrast between stereotypes.
Costumes- the two characters are stereotypical to enforce the morals of the film. The girl will be wearing feminine clothing featuring a dress, heeled shoes and make up. The guy will represent a stereotypical "nerd" wearing glasses, high trousers, tie etc.
Setting- We are limited to filming on college grounds and so filming the morning routine, including getting out of bed and breakfast will be harder. Therefore we will be filming the breakfast parts in the canteen and will be improvising with a blanket for the bed etc.
Camerawork -
We have decided to use stop motion throughout the entire scene. This will give a fun appeal to a young audience. Therefore we will not be doing continuous filming and just taking still shots for the whole piece.
Our idea is based on other stop motion pieces such as Oren Lavie's music video, Her Morning Elegance
Editing -
The pace will relate to the song used in the sequence and will be changing shots to the beat of the music. This will help the piece to flow.
The sequence will follow a linear narrative as the characters are going through their morning routines.
We will use continuity editing to show a change between space and setting as the two characters are not together.
These are our basic ideas for our opening and will be developed further with our storyboards, prop lists and shot lists etc.
Shrek Evaluation
The opening scene to any film is key. Within this scene the introduction to the characters, clues to the rest of the narrative and the establishment of the setting and story is included.
Traditionally in children’s films the main character(s) are introduced and will dominate screen time. We are shown a lot about their personality, habits and routines which may differ to other films as this may be more complex.
Shrek follows the conventional structure of setting up the story and introducing the main character within the opening scene.
Although Shrek falls within the fantasy genre, this theme is played upon as traditionally in fairytale films/stories the main character is a “prince” or “princess” however here we are following the ogre, breaking the stereotype involved with these stories.
The character is established by showing the viewers his everyday routine, something that is common within childrens films.
Traditionally in children’s films the main character(s) are introduced and will dominate screen time. We are shown a lot about their personality, habits and routines which may differ to other films as this may be more complex.
Shrek follows the conventional structure of setting up the story and introducing the main character within the opening scene.
Although Shrek falls within the fantasy genre, this theme is played upon as traditionally in fairytale films/stories the main character is a “prince” or “princess” however here we are following the ogre, breaking the stereotype involved with these stories.
The character is established by showing the viewers his everyday routine, something that is common within childrens films.
Credits are also regularly used in the beginning of films. This is usually done by using text, added in during the editing process however it is more frequently being done within the scene as part of the setting. Shrek is a good example of this as the actors names are blended into the routine e.g. Mike Myres is shown as Shrek spits the mud onto the ground and Cameron Diaz is shown in the algae floating in the pond. Within our own opening sequence we are going to try and incorporate this by using items in the everyday routine of our characters, e.g. written in school book or written on a rubix cube.
Our opening sequence is going to feature two contrasting characters that hopefully children would be able to identify with. The following story would involve the meeting of these two characters and how their friendship would develop.
To establish these characters we are going to show them both going through their daily routine from waking up to going to school. To enforce the contrast of the pair, all shots will be mirrored by each other. E.g. a shot of the first character having breakfast will be followed by the second character doing the same.