Open Title Sequence

An Opening Title Sequence is the beginning of the film, including credits and/or a piece of film to introduce. It has to have credits and the introduction of main character(s). It introduces the film, the plot, the characters and it is to set the scene and style and hook you into the film. It benefits the audience to help them understand what the film is about and give them first impressions about what they think of the film/characters.

I watched the opening five minutes of four different films, these were 'Saw', 'Number 23', 'Donnie Darko' and 'Son of Rambow'. For each film I have written a few sentences about first impressions I recieved.

Saw (18): Very dark, after two minutes the lights come on. Whilst it is dark you can hear screaming and other noises, this makes the audience scared and want the lights to come on so they can see what is happening. The OTS introduces the first few characters, and sets up anticipation because you want to know why the characters are there.

Here is a hyperlink to view the opening title sequence of 'Saw (18)'
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Saw+1+opening&docid=1122287419983&mid=C622A449C4C88ACFA902C622A449C4C88ACFA902&FORM=VIVR2#

Number 23 (15): It has very long credits which take up about two in a half minutes. The credits, have the number '23' in it alot, like typewrited and lots of blood splats everywhere, this makes it ghory. The film starts in a town which looks dull and quite dead. It shows a man at work, however this man is Jim Carey. I think this is the wrong actor for this type of film because most people can't take him seriously for all the films he has done in the past.

Here is a hyperlink to view the opening title sequence of 'Number 23 (15)'
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Number+23+opening&docid=1213564387581&mid=2431B8CFCC9A5AFBF1922431B8CFCC9A5AFBF192&FORM=VIVR2#

Donnie Darko (15): Whilst the credits are on you can hear the sound of thunder, dark night. The camera zooms in to somebody laying in the road with a bike next to them, maybe they had fallen off their bike? There then is music whilst the boy is riding his bike, we then visit his house with him and see his family.

Here is a hyperlink to view the opening title sequence of 'Donnie Darko (15)'
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Donnie+Darko+beginning&docid=1101785989582&mid=7781595958ECFE3C95CC7781595958ECFE3C95CC&FORM=VIVR1#

Son of Rambow (12): There are no credits at the beginning, first there is a bit of film and then the credits come. We are intorduced into a boy's life, he is reading from a bible, he is a good boy? We then meet another boy, who has been smoking in the back of the cinema, he is a naughty boy? The music played adds to the atmosphere and we want to know why he is smoking and being rebelious.

Here is a hyperlink to view the opening title sequence of 'Son of Rambow (12)'

bbfc

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has notified the BBFC of a serious issue which has come to light in relation to the Video Recordings Act 1984 (VRA). Because the then British Government failed to notify the European Commission under the Technical Standards and Regulations Directive (83/189/EEC) of the Act, the VRA is no longer enforceable against individuals in the United Kingdom.

In these circumstances and for the time being, the information on the BBFC's website should be read in the light of the DCMS's notification.

The Government has set in train the actions necessary to remedy this situation as soon as possible and, as part of that process, have notified the Commission of the new draft Act and the Labelling Regulations deriving from it.

The Government has made clear to the BBFC that, once the process of re-enacting the VRA is complete, all video classification certificates issued by the BBFC since 1984 will be valid, and the legal consequences of non-compliance with the classification regime will be re-instated and enforced as vigorously as previously. Any video recording containing an unclassified video work which has been released in the interim period will need to be withdrawn from sale once the new Act is in force, unless the work can claim exemption.

The Government has therefore urged the industry in the interim to comply with the provisions of the VRA on a voluntary and best practice basis. The BBFC will continue to classify video works submitted by distributors on a voluntary basis for this period.

I got this information from www.bbfc.org.uk

How does the opening sequence of ‘James Bond; Casino Royale 007’ demonstrate the conventions of film noire?

Here is a link, to the opening title sequence of 'James Bond, Casino Royale:'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj2MBLsAVbY

Film noire is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation. The film noire period was from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. The word ‘noire’ is French for ‘black’, the term ‘film noire’ describes a type of film that is very dark in it’s outlook and is associated with a low-key black and white visual style.

The aim of old film noire was to leave the audience with a distinctively down-beat conclusion and bitter taste. Old film noir at the time it was featured was a new cinematic technique that made a use of different lighting effects, filtered light, dreary settings and generally dark themes and characterizations. The main camera angles used in film noire are dramatic close-ups and shadowed lighting. The main types of films that were shown in film noire were ones that had a good guy and a bad guy. This was so they could show the good guy in bright lighting and the bad guy in dark lighting. James Bond is shown in dark lighting in the opening sequence so this represents that he is bad. To continue with this it shows us him killing somebody; therefore it confirms to us that he is bad. Yet it makes you wonder why they want us to think of him as bad, because he is a hero in other consequences. Film noire now seems to be used in flashbacks and memories of characters.

When Casino Royale used film noire in their opening scene, it was for us to meet James Bond and to see what type of character he is. For example, we get the impression that James Bond is a bad guy in this opening scene. This is because the lighting is dark when we see him killing another person. The opening sequence of Casino Royale seems to be like a gangster film, so it gives us a different impression to what the other James Bond films do. For example, it is hard to understand why the writers and directors used film noire in the opening sequence. This is because James Bond isn’t all bad guy and they make out that he is.

Flashbacks are used in a lot of noire films. The flashbacks are often narrated of have voiceovers. A film called ‘Sunset Boulevard’ is a good example of this as the whole story is narrated in flashbacks and what occurred of his death. This connects to Casino Royale because the opening sequence of it is a flashback of something that has already happened. For example, James Bond is talking to somebody about something that has happened and to show us what did happen, there are flashbacks.

In conclusion, the conventions of film noire that James Bond Casino Royale uses are dark and bright lighting and the idea of flashbacks.

Distrubution and Exchange

Distrubution is how it is consumed by the audience. There are many examples, e.g. cinema, TV, DVD/Video, downloads, books/magazines/papers, audio books, viedogames, youtube, online/stream, theatre, purchase, view a screening, presentation, movie premiere, posters, billboards, trailers, internet pop-ups, reviews/previews/interviews/specialist features/word of mouth-twitter/facebook/radio.

Target Audience

Target audience is the group (the consumers) the product is directed at. It is normally to do with the age/gender/class.etc. Each production has a specific audience and target audiences are normally from the Acorn System. The Acorn System is based on somebody's income/education/work.

I am now going to go over the different qualitative measurements and define what they are.

- Active- they choose to see the movie.

- Passive- they non-deliberately experience it, for example, they could just be dragged by a friend but not actually want to be there.

- Preferred- the audience that the film is targeted at.

For the next three, I am going to give a few examples of films.

- Hedonist- purely devoted to their audience, they take risks and like to try out different things. For example, 'Saw' films, 'Scary Movie' films, '3D films'.etc

- Traditionalist- stick to what they know, they have always liked them. For example, Bambi, Peter Pan, 101 Dalmations, Toy Story, Finding Nemo.etc

-Post-Modernist- A film that was modern years back, and does a remake of it to make it modern for nowadays. The target audience would tend to be older people because when the originals were about they would have seen them. For example, Scream, Buffy, Kill Bill, Star Trek.

My Journey Through My AS Media Course

Hello, I am Lydia. I have just started a AS Media course. For the last two years, I did a BTEC Media Course and passed with a distinction. Throughout this course I will be studying film noire and film construction. On this blog I will be uploading photos and videos of my work during this Media course.