Title Sequnce Research

'The Truman Show' Title Sequence


Although this is an ending credit sequence, I thought it would be good to look at how a similar film incorporated it's titles. I like how it plays on the fact that Truman's life is extremely ordinary and the simple animated characters. I flows really well and uses the titles to influence the characters (almost as if they are Christof manipulating and controlling his life). However, I don't think this style of title sequence would be right for our film because it would be difficult to find a place to put it without it breaking up the action of our story too much. Also, the length of it would be a problem because it is two minuets long so wouldn't be appropriate for a five minute film.

'The Matrix' Title Sequence


This title sequence incorporates the technological theme by using the computer code effect to establish the genre and style of the film. I also like how the code drops down to make the words of the title as it makes the action run smoothly. The colour green is present throughout the sequence (even on the logos for the production and distribution company), which symbolises its importance as it is the colour of the code on the computer. The code comes forward as the camera tracks through them, which could represent that the audience is going into the matrix. There is a light that appears at the end of the code that turns into the police officers torch. This is an effect way to move from the title sequence to the action and it also allows the audience to join the story in media res, However, like the above title sequence, it would give away the twist of our plot so it wouldn't be appropriate.


'The Stanley Parable' Title

At 4:15 in the video (below)

Stanley, walks through a door to see the name of the game 'The Stanley Parable' on the wall in front of him. I really like this idea for our film as it is a creative and effective way to integrate the titles into the action and it will also highlight that David is unaware that his world is fake. I like the idea of having our titles appear on the wall when David comes out the lift in a similar way to how it is done above. However, this means that we might have to use a green screen to get the effect that the title is actually attached to the wall. If we tried to add this in editing then the titles would overlay all of the action onscreen so David wouldn't be able to walk in front of the wall because the titles would overlay him as well. This would make it look like the titles are floating in mid air and not actually stuck to the wall.

Examples of Posters related to 'A Truncated Parable of Complete Normality'

In the film poster we want to be in a position where it reflects the film and most of its story giving it a sense of intrigue to the film and appeal to it. We therefore decided to pick mainstream and individual films which would make sense for the film as we only have 5 minutes for the film and whilst we feel our film is independent, we feel it may be helpful to learn from various independent films.

The Source Code

The Source Code is a prime example we may use as inspiration for the film and for the film poster as it shows the protagonist Colter Stevens in unlocking a mystery on a train. As part of this, he is stuck in a virtual world and is brought back into a real world to solve the code. This links as part of the poster as the scales which break apart can represent the different worlds being both virtual and real life. This relates to the design of the poster as until the first train explosion the protagonist does not realise he is from a program which is from a virtual world and is controlled by someone. As a result of this we may decide to use elements of this poster for the film as the big twist in the film reveals that our protagonist is a virtual world character and not someone who is real so we may decide to use the protagonist breaking through the barrier to show what was real and what is not.

The Matrix 

The Matrix is another example we may use in terms of posters as contains various things which works as part of our story and for the genre we are doing being a crossover of drama, psychological thriller and also on the borderline of science fiction. One of the big things we may consider the possibility of colour for the film poster as the big reveal explains that our protagonist is a virtual game character and not real. This is something we may decide to maybe hint in the film poster as whilst we want our audience to get an idea about the film and what it does contain we don't want our audience to immediately get the twist that he isn't real. We therefore will be careful when considering the colour of the posters and the possible graphics we might place on the poster.  

List of "Tricky" Effects

Shot Number: 

Effect Type: [Green Screen]
Purpose: So we can use level 3 of Barnsley College to incorporate the colour Yellow into our film.
Problem: That level has a large number 3 on the wall, taking up the space we would like to use for the title sequence.
Solution: Use a green screen to cover up the number, and then make it the same colour as the rest of the wall. We will also be able to use the plain wall to place text.

List of "Tricky" Edits

Shot Number: 
Edits Type: Glitches

Purpose: In order to give a clear indication of the difference between reality and fantasy, random items and people will glitch throughout the film.

Problem: Unsure as to how to introduce these effects into the production of the film.
Solution: [Gifs and

List of “Tricky” Shots

Shot Number: 9E

Shot Type: Crane shot
Purpose: In order to enhance the apocalyptic feel about the movie, as the character walks off into the distance, we decided to include a crane shot on an empty street.
Problem: Having access to a crane is obviously a huge problem, as any access we could get will be both costly and difficult.
Solution: The closest we will be able to get to a crane shot is to use a higher leveled ground, possibly either a balcony or even a ladder. As long as we follow every necessary safety procedure, this will be easily achieved. An inability to record 

Shot Number: 3C & D
Shot Type: Walking into the camera shot
Purpose: To change the audience's perspective as David walks out of the lift.
Problem: It is going to have to be precise otherwise it won't cover the camera so the screen goes black, which will make the transition look slow and messy.
Solution: We will use tape on the floor so that the actor playing David will know exactly where they have to stand to make the shot work.

Film Poster Research - Mainstream

The Truman Show

Although this design is extremely relevant to the plot of our film, and is an efficient way to put this across to the audience, it will not be used as our final film poster. The reason being while in this film, the audience have privileged knowledge, and are aware that Truman is living in a virtual world, but we don't want our audience to know that our protagonist is fictional until the very end of the film. Using a film poster like this will most likely give away our biggest plot twist.

Total Recall (2012)

This design would be appropriate for our plot however it would give away the twist as the audience doesn't know that David's world isn't real until the end. I still think that it might be beneficial for us to experiment with some designs that incorporate this technological theme because we might be able to subtly include it into our final poster without making the plot twist too obvious.

Short Circuit

This design is quite simple, which would work for our film, and suggests to a potential viewer that this isn't an average sci-fi film that has robots in it. I also quite like the fact that Number 5 (the robot) is alone on a mountain top because it shows his isolation but also the enormity of his story. The tag line at the top hints to the audience the important part of the plot but it doesn't give it away.

Our Title Sequence

After looking at title sequences individually, we decided that the most appropriate for our film would be the integrated title used in 'The Stanley Parable'.

Below is a sketched storyboard for our film.

Shot List

Key

Blank Cell - Not much happening/Only needed for shot

Highlighted Text - May be changed/removed

Possible Viral ad or Marketing

For the film we may use viral marketing and advertising as part of the promotion and distribution of the film. Due to this we have had had to look at the complications and advantages of viral marketing and advertising for our film. The advantages obviously means that we may be able to spread the message about the film and will get a wider audience to watch it on YouTube as this will be where the film will be screened as a result of this. The disadvantage though of the film is it is very time consuming in order to film and people may not get the message about the film. This therefore is something that in the meantime we are unsure about filming as we have not yet started filming the film. However, hopefully we may be in a position where we can film this viral ad and market the film successfully.

The Possible Idea

Our film takes place in a office space where our protagonist (David Jones) continuously has a bad day which is repeated. The only difference is unlike our possible viral advert the protagonist does not realise that his day is turning from bad to worse. This links a lot to the viral advert as we may decide to do a viral advert which puts normal people in David Jones shoes. The advert will basically put the person in a bad position where they are reminded about scary things that could happen. I.e. If we put a student in a David Jones position then we may pile on about stupid essays they have to do for their UCAS application or for College. This therefore will reflect and contrast as they should hopefully be in a position where they struggle and see their day is turning into hell.

Costume: Unknown Character (Hooded Figure)

These are potential ideas for the Unknown Character's costume. Their identity is supposed to be hidden so they could wear a cloak. The cloak should be a dark colour to show that they are mysterious and it will also make them stand out against the bright and cheerful colours of David's world.
         

Costume: Louise Smith (Teenager)

This character could wear a baggy top with a 'geeky' symbol or picture from a film, TV show, game or book to show that they are interested in these types of things.

Viral Advertising for films

Unlock the 007 in You! You have 70 seconds! (Skyfall and Coke advertisement)

This viral advertisement was used in promotion for the latest James Bond film 'Skyfall' and entitled normal people to take part in an activity. As part of this they would enter their name and would have 70 seconds to get to a certain platform (In this case being platform 6). However, they have many obstacles to face including people saying "Do I know you?" and also people having various incidents that would occur. As part of this members of the viral advertisement would participate in playing the James Bond theme tune. When the contestant reached the platform, they would press a board and a man with a sign would come up. The sign would say either "Sorry! Time is up. Game Over!" if they failed to get to the destination in a certain period of time or "Unlock the 007 in you. Sing the Bond tune to get your exclusive tickets." This would entitle them to sing the tune and if they did then they would win premiere tickets to see the latest Bond film.


Why So Serious? Bring Back Gotham Viral marketing (Dark Knight Game)

For this viral marketing, the producers of 'The Dark Knight' decided to create an idea which would benefit the viewers in preparation for the film. This idea was to create a online game that was supposedly set up by the Joker himself and ordered various into joining him. Through this, the game players would be able to supposedly hack into Gotham's security and find out about what the film may contain within the film. This therefore lead clues into the film until finally you were supposedly a members of the Joker's gang and would invade Gotham for good.

Dracula Untold: Reign Of Blood (Dracula Untold Scare Maze Advertising)

This other way of viral advertising was told through the idea of a Halloween maze in order to spread the word of Universal's latest film. The scare maze, which took place at Universal's Halloween event 'Halloween Horror Nights" lead people through several scenes from the film giving scares which to the audience making them rave on about the film and make them want to see the film instead of them of not being able to market the film and not get a big demographic for the audience.

Costume: David Jones

David is also going to be wearing business-like clothing but he is also going to be wearing a brightly coloured tie to make him stand out.                                                                                                                  
The tie is going to be yellow because when I did some research into what certain colours mean yellow was the most appropriate for our film.

Costume: Office Employees

I decided to look at potential costumes for the characters Elizabeth DeWitt and Catherine Baker. They are office workers so they would need to professional but not stand out too much because they need to fit in with generic office feel.

I think that the costumes should be black, white and grey as they are quite dull colours that suit the business roles of the characters.

Risk Assessment

Production Company Logo - Final Design Options

After mulling over many design ideas, we chose to narrow it down to one simple logo, and one that could have some animation potential. By having these two to decide from, we can easily develop our production company's logo, but still have the option to keep it simple. We will decide on which logo we what to use once out film has been produced, and we can decide which one is more suited.

Here are some of the designs we were able to create through hand drawings and then develop on the computer:

Simplicity

Detailed

Film Poster Research - Genre

Psychological Thriller

When comparing different mainstream Psychological Thrillers, the similarities stood out rather than the differences. All of the above posters, and the majority of any other posters, included a poorly lighted image of the films protagonist. Having only half of their face light, or having their whole face poorly light/partially covered, gives the audience a sense of fear and confusion, for both them and the protagonist.

Dark backgrounds also add to the fear aspect of the poster, its plain colour representing the feeling of the unknown the audience goes through when watching a new thriller, and when advertising a brand new film, the audience will not have seen the film yet, making this dark colour very effective. Here are the main conventions of a Psychological Thriller film poster:

Font

The text is almost always written in simple, clear font, making it easy to read from afar, with the title larger then the rest. Small text runs across the bottom with either credits or a slogan chosen by the film producers. Some posters include unusual fonts with scratchy elements to relate to the films genre.

Colour

The text is generally a simple white on the top of a dark background, however depending on the films plot and intentions, a sense of danger and fear is injected through the use of Red. As well as blood and gore, the colour red is regularly used in order to identify the main theme running through the film - danger - and attract the correct audience. Black backgrounds make the protagonist's image stand out more to the public.

Hierarchy 

When looking at the posters, the first thing the public will see is the photo. Having the face of the protagonist take up the majority of the poster makes it obvious who the film is based around, as well as their emotions. Facial expressions will give away a clear idea of what the character is thinking and even why. As well as the photo, the film Title grabs attention, this reason is self explanatory.

Drama

In parallel to Psychological Thrillers, popular Drama film posters have barely any similarities in them, apart from including their main characters. What happens on the poster is highly depending on the sub genres of the film, as well as the plot, for example, 'Dear John' and 'The Fault in Our Stars' are both romantic drama films, and both include the couple who inevitably end up together. On Dear John, the couple are sat on a beach, a romantic location for any date, and Hazel and Augustus on TFIOS's poster are laid on the grass, assumedly a park, which is also a stereotypical spot for a date. The way both couples embrace the other also gives away the sub-genre.

With War Horse, a dramatic stance from the main characters instantly tell the audience to expect a plot revolved around the two. Albert's uniform and the name of the film instantly give hits of war, and having an animal on the poster may cause people to become optimistic, as it is unusual and very difficult for a big drama to include the use of an animal as a main character.

Font

The fonts on these posters are quite simple. Capital letters is very common amongst most film posters in general, and the font type tends to match the character's in the film. For example, the "Fault in out Stars" font is chalk, representing youth through the use of blackboards in schools. Small text runs across the bottom with either credits or a slogan chosen by the film producers.
 

Colour

The poster's general filters and photo edits again depends on the sub genres and plot of the film it's self, however this allows more freedom in where to take the designs. Photography is almost the only kind of image on the posted, with very few exceptions. The photo includes the main character(s) and anything relevant to the film's plot. "Titanic" has the main couple and the boat, "TFIOS" has the main couple and Hazel's oxygen machine, and "War Horse" has the main character and his owner. Distinctive colours can be taken from these images, the blue of the sea, green grass, ect.

Hierarchy

Because a photo takes up the whole poster, if any well known actors are staring in the movie, this would be their selling point, as well as with any attractive members of the cast. The public will notice the characters included in the image first, followed by the name of the film, and possibly any names of actors starring in the movie. The mood shown by how light or dark the film poster is can influence the public's choice to see it out of genre preference.

If we were to design a poster that was mainly based on the Drama our film contains, rather than its Psychological elements, it would give us more freedom, how ever to attract the right audience, we would need to advertise the psychologically thrilling elements to our film.

Mainstream Or Independent?

When we were deciding on the film one of the big things we were considering was whether our film should be mainstream or independent and this was something important we had to consider.

One of the big things we considered was what mainstream movies contain and also what independent films had. We realised that mainstream films, when conducting our research, contained various things our film does not contain. One of which is a simple and easy story to follow or based on something pop culture related which people are very aware about in the media. As well as this, the film normally bases itself more on the celebrities that have been cast in the film and not on the storyline. Finally as well as this a lot films are expected to give a spectacle and whether its based on  Examples like this include the films 'The Matrix' as the film bases itself more on the spectacle and action than on the story which is why the story is very simple and one that is very easy to follow.


 

 Another thing we were considering was what independent films contain and whilst mainstream rely more on the action than on the story in the film, independent films will expect a much more complex story than mainstream which can hook the audience as the audience is unaware about what will happen in the film and how it will end. This therefore should help the audience keep interested as they want to see how this story will conclude and most of all find out whether the characters can or will survive or fix the problem or end up dying as a result of it. An example of a low budget independent film is 'Attack The Block' as whilst the story is very simple about a gang having to defeat a alien race that is going to kill them, the story is much more complex and the action is limited in the film keeping the audience hooked about what was going to happen in the end. Would they survive in the end or get killed by this alien race? Whatever happens, the use of it being independent helps the film hook the audience as the film is very low budget and as a result of this then keeps the audience very interested in the film.



A Truncated Parable Of Complete Normality

After looking a various films we took into account and films which have similar conventions and story lines to our film, we feel as a group that the film should be independent instead of being mainstream and this is down to numerous reasons. The first reason is that the film has a storyline which is very complex to follow and something a mainstream film would not contain as mainstream films would normally simplify the storyline and make it very easy and universal for people to watch and understand around the world. Another reason on why the film should be independent is because mainstream films would expect a lot of action so therefore, because they are funded by well known conglomerates such as NBCUniversal and Warner Bros., they would expect the film to be done on a big scale. Because our film will be set in a office space and at a small town, the film we are making would be looked down upon if we tried to sell it to a mainstream company. We therefore we would consider selling it as a independent film and therefore because the film will be done on a low budget, people would be in a position where the film could have a much more positive review. We therefore would consider distributing and exhibiting on sites and channels such as Metrodome Distribution and Film4 as the film would be able to be easy to access and be something that could be screened, played on demand and also streamed on places such as the websites and on YouTube.

Audience Video Questionnaire

If the video doesn't work then please use this link to watch our video questionnaire:

Locations

For this film there are many things we need to consider in order for the film to seamlessly work and look right. One of which for this is locations as we want the verisimilitude and suspension of disbelief to work in the film and make the places as if they were real in the film. Because of this, we are likely to use various locations but we want to limit them and make it very easy and ideal for it as one of the big things is that the film takes place over 2 days so we want to be in a position where it will be easy to film. The other problem is that we have a limitation of five minutes for the film including titles of the film and also a credit sequence to end the film. These are the possible locations we may use in the film.

An Office Space

In the film one of the most important things to include is a type of office space as in the film the treatment states that the film uses a  office space and that the protagonist in the film is stuck in a dead end job. Whilst the audience is never aware about what specific job the protagonist, we are left to suggest that the job is very boring and something based in accountancy so by having a office space the use of this will hopefully suggest that the job he has is one he wishes not to have and therefore would want to leave and do something else he enjoys. We will hopefully show through the emotion of his job through the use of colour by making the place look plain, boring and something he wishes to leave.

Office Elevator

In this film, we also are intending on using a office elevator as part of the film to show his life is one he pity's himself and not one we would as people which should hopefully give him sympathy. The use of the elevator will be used as a match-on-action from the bus he catches with him leaning on the side or a bar on the lift to suggest he would rather something else with his life.

Office Building

 

In this film we are intending to use a office building and whilst we are intending to use a interior shot instead of a exterior shot, we are intending to show it to represent the normality of life. We will use this by using midshots, medium shots and also close ups to show the normality of life and  that he doesn't appreciate life as much as he should which links into the twist as he doesn't realise he's a virtual game character and therefore never realises things such as glitches and things that go wrong. 

Street

In the film, we are intending to use a street as part of our location for the film. This will be used in terms of a crane shot to indicate that David Jones life is not good and he never has, had and never will be able to appreciate life. We are hoping when filming that the street will be quiet to indicate isolation to David Jones. This crane shot will also be elevated upwards to indicate as if the audience is trying to distance away from the character and will also form as part of the big reveal that he is a virtual game character.

 

 

 

Teenagers Bedroom

 

As part of the final scene, we will use a teenagers bedroom as the big reveal and twist for the story. This will follow from the crane shot where there will be a pause sign which will suddenly appear to indicate as if the game isn't working properly, this will then turn into a tracking shot where we see the player and give the big reveal that, after the audience has given a lot of sympathy to him, he isn't real and is just a virtual game character which will explain important points to the plot like why things have glitched.  



Bus Stop

In the film one of the Locations we are intending to use is a bus stop as part of the story and a match-on-action which will switch from the bus stop to him leaning onto the side of a elevator from the bar on a bus stop again to show pity and that he resents his job and life. We will show this through the use of match-on-action in the film to indicate the repetitive life the protagonist has and that he wishes to have to a better life doing something else and not something he wishes to have.

A House

In the film, we will also be using a house as the protagonists home which we are hoping to use to represent that his life is very boring and there is nothing special to him as a person. We are hoping to use this as a location which will be filmed in the interior of the house where we will use rooms such as the kitchen, bedroom and other various places. This will be used for various short takes and jump cuts to show snapshots of his daily routine and that he has nothing interesting to show.