Ideas for childrens opening sequence

Title: The quest for the magical M&M's

The storyline is the opening of a blind wizard eating different colour M&M's and he realises that there are no blue M&M's. He tells the children to work together as a team to search for the missing blue M&M's, therefore teamwork is the theme and the moral of this story. The children hear a suspicious movement in the distance and decide to investigate, this wizard is the evil wizard and is the binary opposite of the nice wizard. The genre is a hybrid of fantasy/comedy. The opening shows the introduction of the characters, sets the scene and shows how the problem arises.

We have created a story board and timeline for the opening sequence as a guideline for our filming to make it easier and more structured. By doing this it has allowed us to think carefully about the different convention and micro elements that should be included in each shot. It has also allowed us to work out how everything is going to work together in order to form the opening sequence.





















Location: We have chosen to set our film in an outside location near the woods and grass area as we felt this would enhance the fantasy theme that we would like to create. However, if the weather is not suitable for filming, we will film inside.

Props: Props that we will include is a packet of peanut M&M's as this is the focus of the storyline.

Costume: For the two wizard characters, we will need a wizard hat and/or a fake beard to show to the audience who are the wizards straightaway.

Character names:
Tom - Todd
Bronte - Dorothy
Jess - Holly
Tom - Gwenofyn the wizard (evil wizard)
Lewis - Zeddicus the wizard (good wizard)

Narration:
We have used 'Matilda' as inspiration to include a narrator in the background in the opening few seconds. We thought this would be a good idea as it will help the audience understand more straightforwardly.

Script:
A long time ago in a land far, far, far away there lived a wizard called Zeddicus, which is me. It began here where he began his quest for the magical M&M's...

The last line is to be said slowly to added effect and emphasise the title of the film. While this is being said an image of a packet of M&M's will be shown.

Practise storyboard

To practice making a story board, our group looked at the opening of 'Back to the Future'. Each person in our group focused on a different convention, either: sound, mise-en-scene, character position or camera movement.
Bronte - mise-en-scene
Lewis - camera movement
Jess - sound
Tom - character position

We watched the the opening sequence twice and picked out the main details of each convention. We then showed the opening scene through 6 stages, documenting how the sound, camera movement etc worked together to form the opening. This helped us to understand how to document and display the storyboards so that we could do this ourselves for our work efficiently.

Intial ideas for children's opening sequence

Our group has chosen to use a U classification. This means that there are no special effects made to cater for adults. The target audience is children between the age 5 - 12 as the BBFC believes that at teen years tastes begin to change. The beginning has to include a positive, moral framework and offers reassuring counter balancing to any fear, that is suitable for children to view alone without needing parents to explain the storyline. There should be no strong lanuguage or discrimatory behaviour, drug use, violence or sexual content. In addition, there should be no portrayal of realistic or accessible weapons.

So far, we have decided that we will use live action and the genre will be fantasy/comedy. The characters will include binary opposites which will portray the moral of the story to the audience. We will also use a narrator to give introductory comments to guide the audience.

Analysis of the opening sequence of Finding Nemo

The opening sequence of Finding Nemo starts with no credits or even the title of the film, just the establishing shot of the setting. An establishing shot is used to show the location of where it is set, the ocean/reef, the 'neighbourhood' as it is desribed.

Soon after it shows a binary opposite which is the evil barracuda and Nemos parents. The barracuda is shown to be threatening with lots of long sharp teeth, as is darkly colorured in comparison to Marlins bright orange.

Later the two main characters are shown bonding, His dad and himself, children can relate to this because it shows his dad being overprotective for example when he makes Nemo hold his hand crossing the road even though there is no road and embarrasses him by talking to his teacher about his disability and not letting him go off and play with the other kids. Children should be able to relate to this because their parents are naturally over protective.

This film is an animated adventure movie, the titles and the credits start after the disaster of a main character - Marlin losing his wife and only finding one egg left, the titles shimmer to represent the waters reflection and mood of the film. The mood is also shown by the use of bright colors in the reef plants and fish. There is a father and son theme to the film. when theyre on their way to school Nemo gets really excited and starts becoming inquisitive asking various questions. This is typical of a son to look up to his dad, and expecting him to know everything, especially as a single parent.

The 'Finding Nemo' title is in bold lettering and is underlinded with a wavey line which could refer to a wave. Theres a small fish cut out of the O in Nemo to relate to the fish theme. The soundtrack that plays through the credits is slow and suggests sadness and a sense of well being. This contradicts Nemos excitment that cuts in.

Analysis of the opening scene of Maltilda

The opening scene begins with the credits and title of the film (Matilda). These are shown with coloured background, changing colour for different credits. Also despite the name, Matilda being female, the film is immediately portrayed as being suitable for a unisex audience as there are different colours used, instead of female-stereotypical colours such as pink. Consequently there is a very childlike, cheerful feel to the movie, which relates to the theme of childhood, and the challenges that everyone faces, this gives us an idea of the theme the film. The font of the title 'Matilda' looks as though it is handwritten making it look child-friendly, so it appeals the audience. The soundtrack that is on at the same time is very soft and cheerful which creates happy notions to the audience.

The first camera shot is a close-up of a baby's face - the main character, this shows the significance of the character to the audience. Secondly, an aerial shot is used to show all the babies in the room, this highlights to the audience the idea that the the babies are all the same, which is in contrast to what is going to be revealed in the film. The fact that the main character is in the centre of the screen indicates her significance. The genre (fantasy) is unknown at this point, giving a mysterious approach to the movie.

Through the use of camera angles and diegetic music, the audience is shown the binary opposites, with Matilda's family members being the 'villains' and Malitda being the 'hero'. The binary opposites demonstrate the moral to the story for children to idenitfy with. This indicates the role of Maltilda's character being the focus in the movie. Everything the audience is being told revolves around her, this is shown through the mise-en-scene, such as the close-up camera shot of Matilda dressing herself, indicating her intelligence from an early age. The audience has begun to get an understanding of the storyline, the fantasy genre and can identifty with the main character.

The location of the opening is set at a hospital and a family home. This would be relatable to the audience as it would be something that the majority of children have experienced. However, the fantasy element of the movie is made aware because the narrator gives comments throughout the opening to guide the audience as to what is happening. This is very useful as it is a straightforward way of engaging the audience, to allow easy understanding and to keep the audience interested. Also, the use of a narrator is relevant to the target young audience as it reinforces and makes the elements of the story line easy to follow.

Evaluation Of Preliminary Task

Having done this task it has allowed me to understand to use the camera efficiently and appropriately. It has provided me with understanding to familiarize myself with how the cameras work, to allow the use of the cameras in our children's film be straightforward. When editing our work this task ensured that we were capable of editing out clip to ensure that each shot made sense and cooperated together. This was evident with the 180 degree rule, as we filmed the conversation twice each time focusing on either character and then editing the conversation together and cutting the conversation from character to character in order for it to make sense to the audience. Furthermore, I have learnt a lot about the different camera angles and shots and how simple/complicated it is to achieve each shot with the camera.

An aspect that we focused on was match on action and learning how to cut from one action to the same action from another angle, in the same point in time. Having understood how to do this, it will mean I will be able to use this shot in our children's film efficiently. As this shot isn't as straightforward it was important to use to continue the flow of the scene. This task has been good preparation for the children's film as it has looked at all aspects of using the cameras and making sure that it is more straightforward when we film our children's film

In this task I have learned to work with equipment such as the cameras, also i believe that this task helped me and the rest of the group work as a team to finish the task. I learned how to behave and respect the way the camera is used, and helped to put methods such as PAN into practise. Also, in the classroom, I added to my knowledge and experience with the software (final cut) and quick time conversion. I was also introduced to the blogger (www.blogger.com)

The 180 degree rule is a very important concept in video and film production. The effect of using the 180 degree rule was to film a conversation, the concept of this is using an imaginary line between the actor(s) and the camera crew (the line must not be crossed), crossing the line changes the viewer's perspective in such a way that it may cause disorientation and confusion. for this reason, crossing the line is usually avoided.

We used a match on action shot to feature the opening of the door. 'match on action' is when you cut during an action to another camera angle but showing the action from the same point in time that you left it from the previous shot. This is important to continue the flow of the scene. In our short film we featured the opening of a door using the match on action method, we used a close-up camera angle on Bronte's face hand pushing down on the door handle. Match on action was used when we cut filming, and changed the camera angle and position to inside the room where Bronte is shot walking through the door we have just seen her open. As a result this created a continuous flow-feel to the scene.

I believe that this task has helped me prepare for future tasks and assignments in which we will be using the same or similar hardware and software.
On the other hand, this preliminary task has strengthened my team skills and my ability to work well.

Thank you for reading my post

evaluation of preliminary task

I have learnt a lot more about camera shots and that it is very difficult shooting just one scene. However we only had one camera when we were shooting our preliminary task so it was quite difficult to film. When we filmed the conversation between Bronte and Tom we stuck to using the 180 degree rule so it wasn't confusing for the viewer.

when we filmed Bronte going through the door we used the match on action camera shot, this is used so that the filming is not too predictable and that it changes without being jumpy, plus it also introduces the new setting to the viewer.

Working on this preliminary task has certainly improved my teamwork skills especially in media.

This preliminary task has prepared me future shoots and I now have a better idea of what i will do and how i will set my different camera shots up. I also now know how to use a story board and that when I film the childrens film then I will be able to use a story board effectively which will aid the quality of my childrens film.

This is our finished preliminary task, with editing, it includes all the shots that we were required to do. Our script was about Rosie and Jim (Tom's idea). Overall, the group thinks that it is a good first attempt and it was a good way of starting because we learnt how to use all the equipment, it gave us experience so that we weren't worried about starting the childrens film. The hardest to edit was the 180 degree rule and the match on action, this is because we only had one camera, so we had to film each bit separately with one camera instead of at the same time with 2 or more camera's. We learnt about what looks good and what doesn't look good. we also learnt more about editing and what the easier ways of editing are.

Our preliminary task

continuity task - storyboard

These our our photos of the story board we made for our preliminary task. The aim was to construct this story board as a guideline for when we film. It ensured that we had all the camera angles needed in, so we know when and how we are going to do each shot, so it makes the filming more straightforward to do.

Today we started our work by working on the storyboard.
we changed the initial idea of close-up on the door, and then walking through it, to a close-up of someone looking through the door, giving the impression of that person just about to walk through the door :)

The roles of the group:

• Tom - actor
  
• Bronte - actor
  
• Mark - camera man
• Chris - director

Camera techniques that we will use:

• establishing shot
  
• close-up shot
• match on action shot
  
• reaction shot
  
• long shot
• filming a conversation
  
• the 180 degree rule
  

the purpose of the task is to familiarise everyone in the group with the equipment which we will use, and prove that we are reliable and sensible, so we can be trusted to use the equipment in the future. It will also give use more understanding of how the equipment works so that when it comes to making our children's film, we will be more aware of how to use the camera.

THE SCRIPT:

Bronte: Hi Tom, how are you??
Tom: Not bad,did you hear about Rosie and Jim?
Bronte: No, what about them?
Tom: They live in a boat?!
Bronte:Oh my God, a boat? Really...?
Tom: I know, it's so weird!

END

evaluation of the lesson:

• we have finished the storyboard
• completed the script
  
• decided who is playing specific roles i.e Mark-camera man

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