Childrens Film Idea's

After a quick brainstorm we came up with a few potential ideas for our children's film opening sequence. Here are some of our ideas:

Narrative
The main theme of our children's film is mixing live action and animation together which would take place on a piece of paper (only in context not literally). Josh and Fil masterminded an idea to create a film based on a dog in a bin, the initial idea, while simplistic, did not seem to be the adequet storyline for a film. We have not yet decided on the full storyline, but we have the basic idea of a child creating drawings which come to life on the page.

Genre
We discussed many different genres, including: comedy, fantasy and adventure as all of these would be appropriate for children. Although horror may not seem suitable for our target audience and this is why this idea could go one of two ways A) spotting a niche in the market and then filling it with a new genre of kids film or B) the idea could go horribly wrong and scare the children leading to many complaints and the film not being recieved well.

Characters
As a group we breifly talked over this subject, but not in much detail. We have decided that there will definitely be a child, male or female, appearing in our sequence as one of the mian characters. We are just not sure on the animated charcters as yet.

Inspiration
We had thought of having our title seqence as animation and had a few ideas but weren't really sure on how to put them together. So once we had found this clip we could see more clearly in which direction we should go with it.

This video, taken from youtube is also part of our inspiration for our opening credits, however after reviewing it we came to the conclusion that it would be to complex and time consuming to produce to a good quality.



Another idea that was thought up by Lydia was to have pencils rolling acorss the frame and the words could follow after as the film will possibly be based on drawings.

Paths Of Glory, 1957 Staney Kubrick

Paths Of Glory, 1957 Staney Kubrick

Film Langauge;
The language in paths of glory is multi lingual, including speech in English, French and German, although this gives the viewer a few headaches trying to work out what the German army is planning, it adds to the realism of the film and without it the film could also grow confusing trying to work out who was actually English. The old fashioned text used also gives it that bit more of a rustic centruain feeling so close to the war.

Mis En Scene;
There are vast amounts of props used in this film and opening sequence,from the hundreds and thousands of firearms to all the officers diffrent badges right down to the nitty and gritty props like the sandbags used to re-build the trenches. This is important as it alows us to diferinate the diffrent armys by there uniforms or firearms. The setting is fantastic and looks as realistic as can be without actually re-shooting a war, this makes the viewer feel the real effects and at least try and get a glimpse of what the soilders went through.

Special Effects;
As the film was made quite some time ago and with a rather petit budget the film lacks a few blockbuster special effects that would add moe drama and likeness to it. Without these the fighting scenes dont seem as deadly and horrfying as the war films you can see now a days. But the effects that are used make a real diffrence and are still enough for you to wish you were never there. When a shell implodes, we see the real damage they casue as we pan left to see a toy tank and army truck blown to shreds. Ouch!

Sound;
The non-diagetic sound plys a big role in the film becuase if we take that away the film is left bare. The shell explosions are loud and create a vast impact as we jump in our seats due to scare fact it brings to the screen. In comparion to the general gunfire and explosions the speaking from the actors if rather quite but this is actually very clever becuase you cat imagine hearing everything thast being said in a warzone. So the director orders the actors to shout louder to get there point across just like they ould have done in real time.Bombs are not the only non-diagetic sound we hear, we have; screams of agnoy from dying soilders,heavy gun and artillery fire and the sound of water splashing as wounded and batterd soilders try to evade the onslaught falling into craters drownded in water. at the very beginning we also get the beat of the drums so the audeince know the war is on.The attention to detail is fantastic.

Research- Review - Elf

Analysing The Opening Sequence of ‘Elf’

I have chosen the Children’s film ‘Elf’ to analyse as part of my research. This film uses actors and some CGI and animation alongside them. The genre of ‘Elf’ is adventure with a hint of mystery, which makes it very appealing to children as they are able to follow a story and make guesses to what will happen within the narrative. From an audience’s point of view, the opening sequence introduces a large amount of the narrative and it provides us with information. This is that the storyline will include elves and another main character (not an elf) that will join the narrative very soon. The way that the narrative has been introduced is very effective as it engages the audience immediately, especially children because it is filmed in a storytelling fashion. This is created by the character ‘Papa Elf’ who is the narrator.

Only one of the main characters is introduced in the opening sequence and this is ‘Papa Elf’ who narrates all of the opening sequence. He is filmed sitting in a chair as if he is about to tell a story, this makes him seem a friendly character and this will make children feel comfortable right from the beginning of the film. The other characters that are introduced in the opening sequence are the elf workers who are shown making shoes, baking cookies and making Christmas presents. They all are very jolly and happy, with smiling faces, again creating a comfortable atmosphere for the viewers.

Jolly, happy, light hearted and cheerful, these are the words I would use to describe the atmosphere created by the opening sequence of ‘Elf’. From the very first shot you can tell that the film is going to be a happy one. The atmosphere is mainly created by the music as it uses bells, with a jolly tune. The target audience for this film is children and the atmosphere created would fit into this target very well.

The first scene opens with a dissolve from the title screen to an animated book which will be opened to reveal the story of the film. Continuity editing is definitely used in the first seven to eight shots of the opening sequence and it is very smooth, with sharp, clean cuts. As a viewer it would be difficult to recognise the transitions from shot to shot and they are so quick and well edited. Most of the sequence uses linear editing up until the point where chronology of the clip changes and goes back in time to when the elves are introduced doing their different jobs. This is when non-linear editing is used, however the order of events are still vey clear to the viewer because of the storytelling aspect, which makes it more understandable.

The sound plays a major part in this sequence, as it sets the atmosphere, gives clues towards the narrative, and helps to set the scene. Most of the sound is non-diegetic in the form of music which plays throughout most of this sequence. It is very cheery, with carol singers, bells and a light hearted feel to it; this connotates that the film is set at Christmas. The other sounds heard are all diegetic; laughing elves, toys being made and people talking.

There are many special effects used at the beginning of the opening sequence and these include

• CGI


• Floating snowflakes moving across the shot in the title screen


• The book in the first shot which opens to reveal ‘Papa Elf’ sitting inside the frame of one of the pictures, this then transits from animation to an actor.


• Elves appearing smaller than objects/people around them, e.g. Elves running out from a burning tree trunk.

These special effects contribute so much to the quality of the whole film and make it more enjoyable and much more appealing to the viewer, particularly children.

The establishing shot of the opening sequence is a shot similar to a track forward shot, but as it is animated it is as if the camera is zooming in onto the book and through the pages to the very first scene. This then cuts to a long shot of ‘Papa Elf’ the first character of the scene, who is narrating. The narration continues as the shot changes to a mid shot of him. The scene then changes completely with a 5 shot of elves and this quickly transfers to a long shot. A high angled shot is then used to pan down onto the working elves. It then cuts to a track shot that moves forward along the table to a smooth holt at the end. The transition between the panning and the track shot is incredibly smooth and is barely noticeable from the audience’s perspective. The next shot is a slightly higher angles backwards track shot away from the elves and then table and then it cuts to a completely different scene, where a simple pan is used. All of these shots are extremely complex yet effortless making the sequence flow. The sequence ends with the same mid shot of Papa Elf used at the beginning. By ending the sequence with the same shot it started with, makes the introduction seem very concise and clear to viewer so they now know, what they need to know to be able to understand the film.

If I was to freeze a certain section of the opening sequence, I would be analysing the Mise-en-scene (everything within that frame). I decided to look at one of the busiest frames in the clip (shown below) as there are so many things happening in it.

As you can see there are many actors within this frame, most of them being extras, like the ones pushing the wheelbarrows on either side. They are all elves and dressed in appropriate costume for this role which also makes them stand out from the colour of the scenery in the background. This focuses the viewers’ attention on them rather than their surroundings. This frame is set in the workhouse and you can tell because of the long table in the centre and the stacked boxes to the upper left of the frame. The elves are working on making presents and from their body language you can see that they are hard at work but enjoying it. This frame is positioned from a high angle.

The opening sequence to the film ‘Elf’ is an excellent one as it clearly introduces the narrative and sets the scene for the film. The way in which so many shots have been included in such a short space of time has been very cleverly edited which creates a fast pace and makes the clip flow very well. The music used connnotates christmas and this sets the atmosphere for the film excellently. I believe that from the clip I have analysed, this film would appeal to all children and seems to be a typical children’s film with a happy beginning, a troublesome middle and then a happy ending which most children love.

Blade opening scene.

The scene begins with people in a club dancing to the music, and much of the beginning is tracking shots over and within the crowed of dancers. The shot type mostly consists of closeups and medium close ups of various dancers, tracking within the crowed and use of slow-motion to show details in the crowed. Over all of this , the main credits of cast and crew flashes on screen and fades out regulerly.
After this has established the setting etc, two characters enter into the scene from diffrent points, and while the shots keep cutting to slow-motion shots of dancers, the shot will also more regulerly cut to medium closeups of the chracter, showing them wade through the crowed. After all of this the scene cuts to a shot of the hoses on the ceiling of the club, and then blood begins to pour from them, drenching the crowed of dancers. As the blood pours slow motiong is again used, and the shots cut rapidly from long shot to closeup, showing the entire crowed being drenched, and then individual people, and back again. Also during this interlude the shot will cut to the male character, showing his shock and horror at blood raining down, these reaction shots are compleltly closeups, and are all in slow-motion. after a few seconds of this, the camera begins to show close-ups of other people in the crowed, and they are enjoying the blood and are dancing more vigourasly than ever, but one by one they notice that the male is scared, and so begin to turn on him, the camera then begins to show extreme closeups of the peoples mouths and teeth, showing us that they are razor sharp and reveals that the dancers are in fact vampires. there are then several reaction shots from the male being even more terrifie, and suddenly the slow-motion stops and the male is trying very hard to free himself from the crowed. The initial struggle is a long shot but the camera suddenly cuts to a closeup of a vampire and his fist. Once the vampire has punched the man, the shot cuts to a long shot showing all the vampires beating him. the shot cuts again to a medium close-up of the man crawling on his hands and knees away from the crowed, untill he comes upon a man towering over him. We dont see this man, only his legs, and as this happend the music abruptly cuts out. the sequence ends there.

Fil.

Back To The Future - Storyboard

12/10/09

We watched the opening sequence of "Back to the future". We split our into 4 catagories, these were ; Camera movement, sound, character movement and significant images. We each noted what we saw in the film of our category.

Once we had sufficient notes we discussed various significant images in the sequence. Once that had been done, we able to transfer our information into a story board. In our storyboard we included each significant image, as well as camera movement, shot types and what sound was included in that clip. We also noted down the camera movement, using arrows to make it clear.

Our storyboard was then passed onto a diffrent group, for them to analyse and give constructive cristisism and feedback. We now know how to construct a succsesful storyboard for our coursework.

This is an image of our storyboard:

Chlidens Film Information

What is a childrens film?
A childrens film is simply a film amied at children. Children are the target audience and there is no effort to appeal to broader audiences. The age range for children in anyone under 12 years of age. These films must have appropriate themes and valuse, one to appeal to the younger aduience and two, to be suitable for this younger audience.

Define a PG Certificate (film Content)
A PG certificate is a film that is suitbale for children of any age that are accopmpanied by a parent. However the film may contain scenes that could be considrered unsuitable. Parents are advised to consider the conent before taking their child to the film. PG stands for Parental Guidance.


Define a U certificate (film Content)
A U Certificate is a film that is suitable for anyone of any age. However there is a restriction on the age children, they must be 4 years plus. Violence is acceptable in these films but it must be counterbalanced by a reassuring response. U stands for Universal.


Who are the BBFC?
BBFC stands for the British Board of Film Classification. This is a non-governmental, non funding organisation which had been classifiying films show in cinemas for nearly 100 years and also videos from 1984. The BBFC was originally known as the British Board of Film sensors and its aim was to ' bring a degree of uniformity to the classification of film nationally.' (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/about/index.php)

Preliminary task

Josh's Prelim task:




PRELIM TASK (JAMES,LYDIA,FIL)

We reviewed a Lemony Snicket film , A series of unfortunate events:
Narrative

• Look as if it may be a happy film to start with
• Changes to unpleasant and eery
• The narrator prepares the viewer for the worst
• It portrays a mysterious storyline
• Revelations
• Characters each have a skill and you can predict that they will each have to use a skill in the film
  
• All inter connected
• Narrator introducting narrative/storyline

Characters

• You can tell that each character is eaqually importnt.
• The characters are violet, sonny and Claus.
• All introduced in beginning sequence
  
• Film will be about their lives\
• Seem interesting, unusual

Themes

• Family love
• The children have love for each other and there dead parents
• Adventure/investigation to search for the truth

Atmosphere

• Happy to start with makes viewer feel good about the film
• Turns to unpleasant story may make the viewer feel uneasy
  
• Atmosphere suddenly changes and may be a shock to the viewer
• Atmosphere for the whole film will be sad, eery and evil

This is what we thought of the film and our views on the opening sequence.