Tyrell, Jacob and I managed to get the help of some eager sixth form students to start filming the essential parts of our title sequence, the scene that includes the government conference. I was in charge of cinematography today , so I really wanted to make sure this scene was perfect and symmetrical because I felt that this would give it a professional feel to it and would add to the seriousness of this scene for our sequence. I mainly excuted shots like mid shots and establishing shots but I also included some tracking as well as match on action - which was executed via final cut editing. I also never broke the 180 degree rule when changing angles and shots. 

We managed to a few vital scenes done , however we need a high angle shot of two sixth form students who play lead roles in this sequence to enter the building so this sequence makes sense, as of right now it's a little jumpy. We gathered the students round the table and projected our map onto the board and made out that this was a meeting about the other groups. This was clear , but it was unclear that this was the government so we are trying new ways to make this clear for the audience to see. 

Rebel scene re-shoot

Today Tyrell , Jacob and I managed to have the hell of a few other sixth former students to help re-shoot our rebels scene in our title sequence as we weren't happy using the same cast for the rebels and the scavengers. We also was unhappy with mise-en-Scene and cinematography, so this was a needed reshoot to make our title sequence better. The current state of our title sequence made it unclear who the rebels were , so we added a high angle shot and are going to add a CCTV footage effect and label the security camera with "rebels" to make it clear for the audience. With mise-en-scene , I drew some "tattoos" on our cast including Jacob and I to make the part seem more convincing. We had "the rebels" tattooed onto our forearms and had some close up shots to help establish to the audience that we were in fact the rebels. We really wanted to make it clear as it was unclear before.

We took this opportunity to experiment further with more complicated and interesting cinematography, for example:
Focus pulls
High angle shots
Panning
Found footage / hand held
And so on , although in our scavenger scenes as well as our other scenes, we have used similar shots but this was the perfect time to perfect these cinematography shots.

Today i was unable to attend my group with their work, but my group members Tyrell and Jacob decided to start working on a map for our title sequence. This map is to show the locations of each 'colt' in the city. Due to being in some form of future, as a group we decided to go for a hologram, 'furturistic' look to make the audience notice there's a clear time diffrence. Tyrell and Jacob then proceeded to get an image off google and then process it through photoshop on an iMac at school. They got the font from a website 'dafont' that would fit the genre of our film.

My group and I are getting closer to filming and creating our production of our title sequence, a dystpian-action set in the very near future called 'Genysis: The Uprising'. I'll be documenting what my group and I do and what progress we make. Any changes, new decisions or ideas, i will be updating my blog.

Catch Me If You Can : Title Sequence Analysis.
‘Catch Me If You Can’ portrays a mysterious style title sequence, which both gives the viewer a small insight to the basic plot of the film, but also keeps them in suspense and maybe keeps them guessing before it has even started. This animated title sequence establishes the main character, narrative and a brief understanding of the setting. As soon as the title sequence starts, the viewer hears the soundtrack (diegetic sound) which sounds mysterious, which reflects the genre of the film and This mystery is kept up throughout the sequence as the animated man, who appears to be representing the main character, spends the whole duration of the title sequence trying to hide or disguise himself, and looks as if he is trying to stay away from another character.

The ‘main character’ moves very smoothly throughout the whole thing, which makes him look as if he can keep his ‘cool’ in the sense he seems to keep calm, even when it seems like he is in danger. When he is put into a new situation, he seems to stand around for a short amount of time and looks like he is watching the people around him, and then changes his outfit and therefore blends in with the surroundings. This puts across the idea of disguises, which could then lead to the idea of him trying to fool people, which could suggest the film is based around a con artist of some sort.

There are lots of indications of transport, which suggests he moves around a lot, perhaps linking in with the title and trying to keep away from someone who is chasing him. When it seems like he is going to be caught, a new character comes on screen and the soundtrack becomes quite dramatic. This causes suspense and tension among the viewers, and makes them expect something. However, when he isn’t caught it calms down, again suggesting ideas to do with the title “Catch Me If You Can” suggesting he is going to make it difficult. This difficulty is definitely portrayed in the title sequence. It holds quite a lot of tension as well, which perhaps sets up the audience to expect a lot of tension and drama in the film. The actual titles are in-cooperated in the animation, and are smooth transitions. They run nicely with the story and the events occurring in the sequence; this is an effective title sequence as it sets up the film for the viewer and gives them a small idea of what the film is about. It is a quirky and an interesting piece to watch, so the audience straight away can determine if this is a film genre they’d be interested in. Spielberg portrays a dramatic and tense title sequence, reflecting the story of the main character successfully.

Forrest Gump : Title Sequence Analysis.
Forrest Gump title sequence conveys deep relaxing and peaceful feelings:  during the opening title sequence, the viewers follow the journey of the feather throughout the sky and the city, wondering where will it land, because the route of the feather gains a meaning of fate and destiny. In fact, it is where the feather will land that the story will begin. It’s exactly when it lands on Forrest Gump’s foot that the audience is taken off from this feeling of endless peace, because the feather is no longer wondering freely with only the chance of wind direction to guide its path, like a destiny. The feather went wherever the wind took it and by chance it landed at forests feet. This suggests that metaphorically Forrest is the feather and he never tried to control his destiny just like the feather and he went wherever life took him.

The feather appears to be the most significant thing in this film already and it’s only a few seconds in. There’s celestial imagery with the feather as it is a white feather suggesting its untainted and pure, almost as if it’s been plucked from the wing of an angel and since the feather itself has come from above floating downwards towards Forrest Gump the idea that perhaps Forrest Gump is being watch by a higher power or a Guardian Angel. I believe this could be the case because as I’ve seen the film, I know that Forrest becomes extremely well off, avoids major tragedies and survives the Vietnam war as well as other life threatening events.

Generically, the font used throughout the title sequence is very slim and elegant; mostly used in dramas to be subtle with the fonts so the audience ca focus on the film itself. The colour of the font is white, again to avoid much attention being taken from the main narrative but to also have some relevance to the feather being presented on the screen.

Watchmen Title Sequence Analysis.
The first thing that strikes you when you see the Watchmen title sequence is the choice of soundtrack. The last thing you expect to hear when watching a thriller is the non-diegetic tune of Bob Dylan’s “Times they are a changing”. The use of folk music in a title sequence of a thriller challenges the normal conventions of using dark and gritty sounds and music to set the tone. The use of this song is almost as if its contrapuntal sound as it doesn’t match the scenes that are happening but being mixed with the 1960’s nostalgia going on in the rest of the sequence really sets the tone of the film and explains it’s setting well.

We see that a large majority of the characters are in rather extravagant costumes. This gives a key insight into what role they may play in the movie. The costumes are similar to ones you may find in a comic book or graphic novel suggesting they may be “Super heroes” or “Super villains”. However, we also see them grappling and fighting with men that appear to be armed, suggesting that they might actually be the good guys, making the idea of “Super Villains” less likely. The use of lighting in these sequences are also quite interesting and appears to challenge thriller convention. The fact that each character starts of in shadow is normal for a thriller however each character is then light up brightly giving the impression of a camera flash. This places the character in what appears to be a position of respect and authority because they are lit up more than the surrounding people and environment. The camera flash also ties in well with the song, with the photos recording the characters into history, recording how the times “are a changing”.

The font in the title sequence does not break thriller convention really, however it is unconventional. The font used is large, bold and yellow. Not something you would expect to find in a serious thriller film. This font would be better suited to a comic book, showing us that this may not be an altogether realistic film. This does not necessarily show that this film is not serious however it shows that the concepts may not be realistic, e.g. Superheroes.