Thursday, 20 March 2014
Logo for movie production company
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Questions for survey DRAFT
What do you expect from this kind of genre? (Children's film)
What would you like to see in a production of this genre?
Do good guys always have to win?
What would you like to see in a production of this genre?
Do good guys always have to win?
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Settings
The living room will open the short movie, bright and warm. The two superheroes will bound in to assist a screaming 'damsel in distress', but will quickly grow confused as to why they are there when she is screaming at everything and nothing. 
Following the living room scene, the camera cuts to another scene, one of darkness. A blinding light flashes before the camera and reveals the two superheroes in a trapped predicament with a mysterious figure before them.
Thursday, 30 January 2014
Opening sequence 3- Finding Nemo
This film is also a highly popular film, particularly with those that were children when it first came out on DVD in 2003. One of the main characters- Marlin a clown fish- and his wife are seen inspecting their new home where they hope to raise four hundred children, all of whom are currently in eggs in a crevice below their home. Their new neighbourhood is shown with bright lighting from above the ocean, warm colours and happy laughter of children chasing each other.
The opening sequence of this film is child-friendly and nicely coloured to represent the happiness and security about the sea. I could use a similar affect at the beginning of my production, with the two heroes in their bright colours and in a bright light to signify that help has arrived. By changing the lighting and the shades of the colours, the mood presented is changed, such as when Carol swims out of her new home and comes face to face with a predator of the sea. All their new neighbours have hidden and Carol's main worry is her four hundred children nesting below. Marlin warns her to return the anenome, but she dives, a sudden movement that sparks the antagonist's anger and causes it to attack.
The happiness of the opening scene has gone, replaced by a slow and serious darker mood, exaggerating the obvious danger. Following Carol's dive, the predator goes after her, but Marlin puts a full-force tackle against it, only to be whacked aside by the monstrosity's tail and knocked unconscious.
When he awakes, all is gone, but one egg. Nemo, a name chosen by his unfortunate wife.
The colours in the picture of Marlin finding his one remaining child are all dark shades of blue and shadows. This is perfectly symbolic of his mood when he realises that next to nothing remains of the life he could have had and his immense grief.
The colours in the picture of Marlin resting the last egg on his fin are a bit brighter, his one last shard of something that could have and should have been. We see clearly the crack in the egg, which may be the cause of Nemo's characteristic 'lucky fin'. By Marlin calling his last child Nemo, he is remembering his wife's request and honoring it. He grows into being an over-protective father, much to Nemo's annoyance, but Marlin has lost so much already and couldn't stand to lose what little he has left.
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| Marlin on the left, wife Carol on the right and their four hundred children waiting to hatch |
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| Face to face with danger |
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| Danger |
The happiness of the opening scene has gone, replaced by a slow and serious darker mood, exaggerating the obvious danger. Following Carol's dive, the predator goes after her, but Marlin puts a full-force tackle against it, only to be whacked aside by the monstrosity's tail and knocked unconscious.
When he awakes, all is gone, but one egg. Nemo, a name chosen by his unfortunate wife.
The colours in the picture of Marlin finding his one remaining child are all dark shades of blue and shadows. This is perfectly symbolic of his mood when he realises that next to nothing remains of the life he could have had and his immense grief. The colours in the picture of Marlin resting the last egg on his fin are a bit brighter, his one last shard of something that could have and should have been. We see clearly the crack in the egg, which may be the cause of Nemo's characteristic 'lucky fin'. By Marlin calling his last child Nemo, he is remembering his wife's request and honoring it. He grows into being an over-protective father, much to Nemo's annoyance, but Marlin has lost so much already and couldn't stand to lose what little he has left.
Monday, 27 January 2014
Opening sequence 2- How to train your dragon
The opening sequence begins with the trademark man-in-moon Dreamworks, a night sky behind him with the clouds being cleared by a flick of his fishing line. If you look in the background carefully, a silhouette belonging clearly to a dragon- a Night Fury in particular- can be seen. This is key to the play as it is clearly about dragons and a Night Fury- or Toothless, as the main character, Hiccup, names him- is the first dragon to form a bond with a Viking.
Hiccup describes his home village as 'twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south to freezing to death'. His tone is serious and slightly depressed at describing his home. The village itself has stood for seven generations, 'but every single building is new'. His tone, his description of Berk and the slight lilt in his voice as he claims every house to be recently constructed, shows that there are issues with Berk, but these issues have a sense of interest to them.
He compares his home to that of other places. The only problem with Berk is the 'pests'. Most places have rats or mosquitoes, he claims as a shadow swoops over grazing sheep and drags one away. A fellow sheep seems not to be bothered by this sudden disappearance and moves forward to eat the grass his now absent friend had.
We first see Hiccup as he looks at the camera with his back to the door he had just hastily closed as fire billows around it. The constant attack of the dragons explain why every house is new. Hiccup appears to have a lopsided smile, as if the fact that dragons attacking his home village fascinates him.
'Most people would leave,' Hiccup states, but not them. They're Vikings and they have 'stubborness issues'. This proves evident as there are armoured Vikings running around with shields and weapons, seemingly at ease with the disastrous events wrecking havoc on their home. Hiccup is looked at disdainfully and many tell him to return inside or get out of the way. He is a clumsy character, unlike the rest of his Viking tribe. They are all prepped and built to fight dragons and protect their home- Hiccup is not.
Berk appears to be a mysterious island, described with negative words such as 'freezing death', 'misery' and 'hopeless', and this mystery is shrouding the island in a dense fog and icy waters. I believe I would not be using this sort of effect in my story as my production will not be as violent or as disastrous, although there may be a sense of mystery about it, such as the unidentifiable figure standing in front of two captured heroes.
Hiccup describes his home village as 'twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south to freezing to death'. His tone is serious and slightly depressed at describing his home. The village itself has stood for seven generations, 'but every single building is new'. His tone, his description of Berk and the slight lilt in his voice as he claims every house to be recently constructed, shows that there are issues with Berk, but these issues have a sense of interest to them.
He compares his home to that of other places. The only problem with Berk is the 'pests'. Most places have rats or mosquitoes, he claims as a shadow swoops over grazing sheep and drags one away. A fellow sheep seems not to be bothered by this sudden disappearance and moves forward to eat the grass his now absent friend had.
We first see Hiccup as he looks at the camera with his back to the door he had just hastily closed as fire billows around it. The constant attack of the dragons explain why every house is new. Hiccup appears to have a lopsided smile, as if the fact that dragons attacking his home village fascinates him.
'Most people would leave,' Hiccup states, but not them. They're Vikings and they have 'stubborness issues'. This proves evident as there are armoured Vikings running around with shields and weapons, seemingly at ease with the disastrous events wrecking havoc on their home. Hiccup is looked at disdainfully and many tell him to return inside or get out of the way. He is a clumsy character, unlike the rest of his Viking tribe. They are all prepped and built to fight dragons and protect their home- Hiccup is not.
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| Berk |
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| Hiccup |
Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Opening sequence 1- Tangled
Tangled is a popular film directed at young children, particularly girls as it concerns a princess.
The opening sequence starts off on a serious note, with it being dark and in a dense wooded area. There is a voiceover of one of the main characters- Flynn Rider or Eugene- speaking gravely about how this is the story of how he died. He instantly lightens his tone after that, and directs the audience's attention to the sun, a key part of this movie. It's a warm and bright factor in his tale.
He tells the story with a friendly tone, pointing out another key character- Mother Gothel. Whenever this character appears, she is seen in the darkness with shadows playing over her face. Stormy weather or the night sky is often displayed when this character is on screen- a form of pathetic fallacy. We know instantly that she is the 'bad guy' of this film and they use her manipulative characteristics to build suspense in the movie. She was said to have kept the flower a secret- a selfish act symbolic of her greed- but she slipped up and accidently revealed the flower to those that genuinely needed it.
The flower, the one linked to a drop of the sun featured in Eugene's tale, was used for good, its magic powers healing the pregnant queen and gifting her daughter, Rapunzel. The baby is shown in warm and bright lighting with wide, innocent eyes and blonde hair that fell about her childish features. Her looks remind us of who she is and the lighting played over her shows us that she is the protagonist. There are two key things in highlighting that she is the princess- the first one is her father placing a beautiful tiara on her head that doesn't fit and slips slightly over her face, to which she laughs at. The second thing is that, 'each year, on her birthday', the royals release thousands of floating lanterns into the sky in hope of her return.
Gothel kidnapped the child after finding out about the powers she inherited from the magic flower and the last we see of her is a billow of a dark cloak into as she vanishes with the child. She raises Rapunzel as her own, another sign of her deceitfulness and we see her sitting with the child a few years down the line, brushing Rapunzel's hair as Rapunzel sings the song required to activate her healing powers. They sit by a fire, Rapunzel in the homely light while her 'mother' sits further back, in the shadows and using Rapunzel's gift for her own selfish requirements. She does not allow Rapunzel to go outside, we discover following a question by the curious child. Gothel is further contented to see herself younger and this is displayed with the use of match-on-action, cutting from a side-shot of Rapunzel to a close-up of Gothel's hand as it loses the signs of aging. The side shot of Rapunzel could be to hide her identity, as Gothel had done for years by this point and will continue to do so for years to come.
We do see Rapunzel's face towards the end of the opening scene. She creeps down the stairs while her 'mother' sleeps- we see Gothel lying in her bed through a door past Rapunzel. We know that if Rapunzel's hair was to be cut, it would lose it's power, and this point is emphasised by how long her hair is as she sneaks downstairs to a window where she gets a perfect view of a sky full of floating lanterns. She does not know they are for her, but feels as if they are special and you can tell this by the wonder on her face as the scene ends on a close-up of her expression.
I could use similar lighting techinques within my own production. The heroes in my short film could be established in a warm, bright light- maybe sunlight through the window, depending on the weather. This will show them to be the heroes that they are and to further that point, I could use a low angle shot to highlight their super hero quality.
For my own villian, I could have a darker light about her, such as shadows across her face. This would be ideal alongside a high angle shot- looking down on her- to signify that, although she is screaming for help, there is something about her that is not quite right.
Mother Gothel seen as old, angry and hooded dark figure
King and Queen releasing the first lantern of thousands to celebrate their daughter's birth
The opening sequence starts off on a serious note, with it being dark and in a dense wooded area. There is a voiceover of one of the main characters- Flynn Rider or Eugene- speaking gravely about how this is the story of how he died. He instantly lightens his tone after that, and directs the audience's attention to the sun, a key part of this movie. It's a warm and bright factor in his tale.
He tells the story with a friendly tone, pointing out another key character- Mother Gothel. Whenever this character appears, she is seen in the darkness with shadows playing over her face. Stormy weather or the night sky is often displayed when this character is on screen- a form of pathetic fallacy. We know instantly that she is the 'bad guy' of this film and they use her manipulative characteristics to build suspense in the movie. She was said to have kept the flower a secret- a selfish act symbolic of her greed- but she slipped up and accidently revealed the flower to those that genuinely needed it.
The flower, the one linked to a drop of the sun featured in Eugene's tale, was used for good, its magic powers healing the pregnant queen and gifting her daughter, Rapunzel. The baby is shown in warm and bright lighting with wide, innocent eyes and blonde hair that fell about her childish features. Her looks remind us of who she is and the lighting played over her shows us that she is the protagonist. There are two key things in highlighting that she is the princess- the first one is her father placing a beautiful tiara on her head that doesn't fit and slips slightly over her face, to which she laughs at. The second thing is that, 'each year, on her birthday', the royals release thousands of floating lanterns into the sky in hope of her return.
Gothel kidnapped the child after finding out about the powers she inherited from the magic flower and the last we see of her is a billow of a dark cloak into as she vanishes with the child. She raises Rapunzel as her own, another sign of her deceitfulness and we see her sitting with the child a few years down the line, brushing Rapunzel's hair as Rapunzel sings the song required to activate her healing powers. They sit by a fire, Rapunzel in the homely light while her 'mother' sits further back, in the shadows and using Rapunzel's gift for her own selfish requirements. She does not allow Rapunzel to go outside, we discover following a question by the curious child. Gothel is further contented to see herself younger and this is displayed with the use of match-on-action, cutting from a side-shot of Rapunzel to a close-up of Gothel's hand as it loses the signs of aging. The side shot of Rapunzel could be to hide her identity, as Gothel had done for years by this point and will continue to do so for years to come.
We do see Rapunzel's face towards the end of the opening scene. She creeps down the stairs while her 'mother' sleeps- we see Gothel lying in her bed through a door past Rapunzel. We know that if Rapunzel's hair was to be cut, it would lose it's power, and this point is emphasised by how long her hair is as she sneaks downstairs to a window where she gets a perfect view of a sky full of floating lanterns. She does not know they are for her, but feels as if they are special and you can tell this by the wonder on her face as the scene ends on a close-up of her expression.
I could use similar lighting techinques within my own production. The heroes in my short film could be established in a warm, bright light- maybe sunlight through the window, depending on the weather. This will show them to be the heroes that they are and to further that point, I could use a low angle shot to highlight their super hero quality.
For my own villian, I could have a darker light about her, such as shadows across her face. This would be ideal alongside a high angle shot- looking down on her- to signify that, although she is screaming for help, there is something about her that is not quite right.
Mother Gothel seen as old, angry and hooded dark figure |
| Baby Rapunzel with tiara |
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