The Opening Title sequence

This is my groups opening title sequence.

Atmosphere is present throughout our opening title sequence through the use of sound. Throuhgout the sequence we have music playing that creates a sense of tension which is key sequence as it is a thriller, and tension is a convention of thriller films. We have also created tension through the pace of the cuts. The cuts in our title sequence are fast paced, which puts the audience into the frame of mind that the characters are desperately looking for something or some one, and feel this sense of urgency through the fast pace of the cuts.

Enigma is the biggest aspect of our title sequence. Enigma is created through the introduction of an assassin towards the end of the sequence. No one knows about him until the agent walks outside, which creates an enigma into the audiences mind of what is he doing there? why is he trying to kill the agents? and who is he working for? Another way that we have created enigma is by calling our title sequence 'Vindicate'. This is not a common  term among most people, thereby creating an enigma as the audience will be thinking, what does this word mean? and why is it the title of the film?

Our films genre is quite clearly a thriller. This is because of the characters involved in the film, two agents and an assassin. police agents or detectives are common conventions of thriller films, and by including them in our opening sequence, it ensures that our film is a thriller. Furthermore, our title sequence consists of a range of camera shots that are associated with thriller films, like over the point of view shots, and panning shots.

Our title sequence is located in the suburbs of a major city. This is a common convention of thriller films as they are usually set in these kind of locations in order appeal to a wide audience. So by us doing the same, our film follows the conventions of thriller films. We have also included a long shot within our opening title sequence, to give an overview to the audience of what the area is like.

The characters involved in our title sequence are two police agents. The lead character is responsible for his younger counterpart, but does allow his colleague to make suggestions as to what should be done (arguably resulting in his death at the end of the sequence). It is a common convention of thriller films to have a lead character accompanied by a 'side kick', such as in the James Bond films.  Furthermore, the lead agent enters the house first, to show that he is braver of the two agents, as he is willing to put his life at risk, before that of his colleague. This is demonstrated through a low shot of him as he enters the property. Another character in our opening title sequence is the assassin. He is represented as very stealthy, and not hesitant about killing the agent. This is common among thriller films as the antagonist is usually very powerful and unforgiving. This is represented through a low shot of him.

My Preliminary Task

Rough cut of our opening title sequence

This is the first rough cut of our opening title sequence. From this we have made many improvements, but without this rough cut, we would not of been able to structure our final opening title sequence as quickly as we did. This is because this draft version, acted as a base of which we could build on to come to our final opening title sequence.

One of the major improvements we made was through the lack of editing transitions. The rough cut consisted of simple cuts, with no fade transitions or dissolves. Therefore for the final opening title sequence we implemented a few editing fades to make the sequence look of a better quality.

We also reduced the length of some of the clips as they were quite long, and they made the audience loose a sense of atmosphere and tension, as they simply watched one of the characters looking through a draw for almost 10 seconds, which in a sequence that is only 2 minutes, that is a long time. Therefore we reduced the length of this scene to only 5 seconds, to keep the audience interested and not loose any atmosphere or tension.

We also added titles to our opening title sequence. The draft version did not include any titles, so thereby we added lots of them in order to for fill another convention of thriller opening title sequences. Without them, our sequence would not follow the conventions of thriller opening title sequences, an thereby be marked down by the examiner.

This is the final version of our opening title sequence, to demonstrate a clear comparisen of how the quality of our sequence has improved from the first draft to the final version.

My contribution to pre production and Construction of the opening title sequence

When planning the pre production of my groups opening title sequence, we decided to divide the work up into improve the overall quality of our pre production work. I was responsible for the treatment of our film. i was assigned this section of the pre production work as it was the one that required the most amount of information,  it described the entire story that our opening title sequence would be part of. As well as doing this, I also went to the effort of heading into Hemel Hempstead town centre, to film a possible location to film our opening title sequence, as the member who was assigned this role, was having difficulties finding a suitable location. In the end we decided not to use this location due to the fact that it would be illegal to point weaponry at the public without informing them. However it still remains as a useful comparison to the actual location that we used to film our opening title sequence.

In the opening title sequence its self, I acted as an assassin, providing an unexpected twist to the sequence. However, I was responsible for all of the camerawork. This meant that I was responsible for deciding on how a particular scene should be shot, and weather it should consist of high shots, low shots, close ups, long shots, and pans, along with many other types of shots. This meant that I had a crucial role in how certain characters are portrayed in a strong, powerful way or a weak, vulnerable way.

In the sequence, I am listed as: 'Starring',  'Filed By', and 'Executive Porducer'. I was chosen to be the executive producer because i was involved on the entire production of the sequence. This meant that I was in charge of how the overall production of the film from how the weapons looked, to how the characters should look in close ups.

I was also helped edit the title sequence. I definitely can not take all the credit for this as the orignal base sequence was made by Fateh Khaled, and a lot of the editing transitions like fades and dissolves were done by Jeremy Cannock. However, i did edit all the Foley and lip syncing into the title sequence.

Pre Production - Risk Assessment for my opening title sequence

This is my risk assessment, the purpose of the risk assessment is to outline all the possible potential risks and how to solve them if we do ever come across them. Within our risk assessment one of the main outlined risk was the fact that as our project consists of the use of weaponry, this was a huge concern especially to the neighbourhood because if we were spotted with weapons (even though they were model guns) the neighbours wouldn't be able to distinguish the difference between the two, furthermore this could have resulted into police matters; which is why we informed the neighbours in advance prior to the production day in the next couple of weeks. When creating the risk assessment, I thought of all possible hazardous risks and put them together with a solution, so when it comes to filming we make minimal mistakes and are extra precautious. - Fateh Khaled

Pre Production: Equipment

Pre-Production: Props

This is the preproduction on the equipment used for filming the opening title sequence, created by Jeremy Cannock.

 

My first priority was to secure weapons for the two police officers, I though that hand guns would be preferable and fortunately I owned two BB guns that we could use. However the hand guns where originally blue so I had to spray paint them black in order to make them look realistic and not ruin the illusion of the film. Once painted the guns looked good but I added a silver finish to a small section on the barrel where the firing chamber would be exposed when fired, making the guns as realistic as possible. 

 The other gun that I needed was a sniper rifle for the assassin to use when shooting, I was firstly unsure how I was going to get hold of this and if we would then be able to film it in a public space. Fortunately I persuaded a friend to let use his air rifle for the filming although he had to be present while we had it in the open and we changed the location to my house which is a more secluded to avoid any scares where people called the police about young adult brandishing weapons.

I also needed a shell casing from a round that had already been fired from a weapon but unfortunately I couldn't get hold of one so had to use an empty shotgun casing that I had at home.

We also needed a rifle for the assassin to use, fortunately I knew someone who owned and was licensed to use an air rifle and I managed to persuade him to let us use his rifle for filming but he had to be present during the time we had it in public view.

Pre Production - Storyboard for my opening title sequnece

Pre-Production: Storyboard

This will give our group a brief outline of the main scenes to take place during the Opening Title Sequence in the form of a storyboard created by Jacob Osman.

It outlines the order in which the opening sequence will made constructed and it also outlines