Our team really liked the idea of a moving picture for our institutional logo as we thought they are unique and would set our opening sequence apart from the others. So we looked and some institutions that use these types of logo for some inspiration:
Then as a team we started to brainstorm some ideas of our own company name: Where we finally came to a conclusion of 'Cracked up productions'
We also started to draw up some designs for our moving picture institutional logo: You can click here to see how we edited both our final products into our opening sequence; and by clicking the 'Production' link and looking at 'Logo Design'.
Pain & Gain is a 2013 American biographical crime comedy-drama film produced by Paramount Pictures in 2013. Directed by Michael Bay and starring Mark Wahlberg as Daniel Lugo, Dwayne Johnson as Paul Doyle, and Anthony Mackie as Adrian Doorbaal. The film is based on a true story Pete Collins published in a 1999 series of Miami New Times articles, which shows the kidnapping, extortion, torture, and murder of several victims by a robbery gone wrong, by an organised group of bodybuilder criminals associated with the Sun Gym. The film's title is a play on the commonly used motivational phrase, frequently used in fitness: "No pain, no gain". The genre would be Action/Drama with some comedy elements to it and based on crime. And the target audience would include Crime Action lovers due to the tense but fast paced as well as people interested in how this story evolves as it is based on a true story.
Firstly we see an establishing shot of Wahlberg doing sit ups halfway up the wall on the roof of the notorious 'Sun Gym'.
This is a close up shot of Wahlberg doing his sit ups, the effect of using a close up of his face at this part is to add reality as you see him straining showing that the routine he's doing is hard and painful. This part could be seen as inspirational as his life was all about getting bigger and stronger so it's showing how hard you have to work to be like him.
This shot is a POV (Point of View) shot of Wahlberg turning his head around from being upside down as he has spotted the police cars and vans pulling up to the side of him. The shot and the turning of the camera is done very realistically.
At this point Wahlberg notices the mess he is in as all these police and SWAT teams are coming for him. This headshot perfectly shows how he is feeling at this point showing his shocked and helpless expression and that he needs to think of something quick to survive.
This shot is a handheld camera shot so it is quite jerky as it shows Wahlberg running erratically away from the police so the camera is mirroring this to show panic.
This is a wide shot that shows the first bit of key detail which is that it's set at in 'JUNE 17, 1995' and shows the police SWAT team jumping out of their truck with their guns and weapons. They are all wearing green/black uniforms almost looking like an army outfit, they are padded and are visibly strong men to show they have power over Wahlberg.
This shot is really zoomed out from the target (Wahlberg) as he jumps from the roof in order to try and escape the police, this is to show the height at which he is jumping from as in the shot his body looks small showing how far away the camera has to be to catch this.
This is another close up of Wahlberg's face showing his anger and panic. He knows that he will probably not come out of this situation well as he is blocked off in all corners but this face is showing that he will not go down without a fight.
This is the last shot of the opening sequence showing Wahlberg running from the police but getting hit by a police car. This part is shown in slow motion therefore we are able to see all his expressions very clear. And this slow motion is a completely opposite of the camera movement from the rest of the opening sequence which was very fast paced and jerky.
This opening sequence would be classed as Non-Linear as although we kind of understand what is happening as we can see someone clearly running from the police, however we do not know any details of who this is or what he has done as this is actually a scene from the end of film as after it shows Wahlberg in the gym therefore it leaves the audience confused and wondering why he is running from the police, and leaves the rest of the film to unravel this.
Transformers 4: Age of Extinction is a 2014 American 3D science fiction action film, produced by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth installment of the live-action Transformers film series. It was directed by Michael Bay and written by Ehren Kruger, with Steven Spielberg and Bay as executive producers. It stars Mark Wahlberg, with Peter Cullen reprising his role as the voice of the famous Optimus Prime, as the lead roles. The film was released on June 27, 2014, in IMAX and 3D and achieved a box office of $1.104 Billion.
The opening sequence starts by zooming out to reveal the vast amounts of space craft and the edge of Earth. The camera moves in one slow, steady motion, revealing each detail bit by bit. There is a quiet piece of background music being played which signifies that something bad is about to happen. The fact it is in space and showing all the spaceships as well as the black and blue colours shows us that this is a sci-fi film.
Now we see the 'Transformers' title appear also in a futuristic, sci-fi like font. The camera is now completely zoomed out and we see the full range of spaceships, this shows the progression they have made. As an audience we don't know yet where these spaceships have come from or where they are going. Although we can suggest that as the only bright light we can see is a glimmer of the sun that the spaceships may be moving towards this light.
The scene then changes to a shot underneath a waterfall which slowly pans downwards. The lighting changes from low key to high key as it is bright and only natural is used which could suggest something positive. However, this is a low angle shot looking upwards at two huge. scary looking spaceships. The way this is shown is that these spaceships clearly have the most power currently as we can hear the roar of their engines over the sound of the waterfall. The audience could now have the idea that perhaps an attack is happening.
As the camera moves down to ground level we see a dinosaur looking creature fighting off some smaller creatures for food. They scuffle around for only a short amount of time before the larger dinosaur shows its domination being the only subject visible. Until the camera cuts and changes to the other side of the animal and zooms into its face. The creature shows almost a shocked and scared facial expression as it looks up into the sky. The use of a close up shows clearly this animals expression but also shows that this creature may be the dominant figure on the ground, but whatever is currently up in the sky even worries it, which shows the force these space ships may be bringing.
The scene then cuts to an alien arm and hand with six claw like fingers and a hole in its hand moving across a blue aura. This is only happens for a few seconds which leaves the audience confused and intrigued. At the end the hand seems to press something or attract something from this blue liquid. The fact the camera is only focused on this hand shows it could be of some sort of power and possibly starting an attack. The colours of black and a swirly blue continues to fit the conventions of a sci-fi film as well as the alien arm. We can hear both a background piece of music which is very slow and at a low pitch suggesting this is something bad or evil and we can also hear the crackling of the alien hand moving around this blue water.
We then move to a shot where we see a long dried up sort of river or valley with lots of these dinosaur creatures running away from the spacecraft's in the sky. We see one dinosaur quite high up at the same height of these spaceships to show the size difference between the two. Also we now see that there are many more spaceships than the original two we saw. This time the camera angle is high and looking down on the animals again showing the dominance the spacecraft's have.
The next part shows a carpet of lava that was shot down by the spaceships which is swarming the whole ditch and chasing after the animals. This shot shows the animals running for their life with the spacecraft's in the background again showing their dominance.
Here we see the lava eventually catching up with the animals and engulfing into flames. As the audience we feel sorry for the animals but also we are on the edge of our seat as its an intense scene and we want to know why this has happened and what will happen next.
These last two picture show firstly the force, power and speed this lava is travelling at as it bounces of the rocks and fills the canyon. The final picture which is the end of the opening sequence shows the complete canyon filled with this red hot lava with the ever-present dominant force of the spaceships looming over the shot. There is a contrast between these dark coloured spaceships and a gloomy sky to a bright red and orange lava on the ground. As the scene ends with this we as the audience continue to wonder what role did the alien creature play in this violent attack and why. And what will happen next...
This would be an example of a linear opening sequence as even though you don't yet know the who, what or why this is happening it is a clear storyline. Some of the binary opposites shown are Good vs Evil, Force vs Nature, Alien vs Animal. Overall this opening sequence does fit the target audience as it has all the action of a typical 'Transformers' film plus the added mysterious sci-fi edge to it.
1.What have you found out from doing this activity?
I have found out how detailed some title sequences are and the order in which most names and roles come up for example: Daniel Craig who's the main actor is one of the first names to a Location Production Manager who is one of the last.
2. Has anything surprised you?
The thing that surprised me was how many names and roles there were involved in this film and this was inly a few of them, and the amount of detail the roles went into.
3. What do you notice about the style/font of the titles? How does this communicate the genre?
The font used in Skyfall made it look smart and upper class which showed how important the font can be in changing the mood of the opening sequence.
4. What are the titles that you will need to include in your opening sequence?
All actors and the characters they played, Producer, Director, Editor, Camera Operator, Props/Costumes
The Dark Knight is a superhero thriller film released in 2008 distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and received a box office of $1.005 Billion. Directed by Christopher Nolan, cast includes Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Heath Ledger as The Joker. The opening scene starts off with a wide establishing shotto show the location and settingof the movie, in this case the shot establishes that the setting is going to be the city of Gotham, due to the 'Gotham style'skyline. As the wide shot starts tozoom into one of the skyscrapers the music changes to a low almost creepy tune to create tension and anticipation and show that a key event is about to occur. Once zoomed in, we see a person with a clown mask, indicating that this is tohidethe persons face and that potentially a robbery or some sort of task is going to take place. The music also changes into a dark tickingtune with drums added that also specify that a robbery or similar task will take place.
The scene then cuts to a low angle shot of the back of a criminal that is holding hisclown mask which can be seen above in the first and second picture (these screenshots used are all in chronological order of the opening sequence); this shows that it is not actually a team robbery like we may have thought and that this particular character is of some leadership and power to the team, this idea is made by the angle of the shot and the intimidating way the character is standing. This also shows that this robbery seems to be well thought out and clearly planned as each team member has a particular role. One of the criminals says‘let’s do this’which initiates the beginning of the robbery in which the camera cuts back and forth between the 2 separate groups within the team. When showing what the criminals are doing, the camera has been strategically positioned to show all the membersof the robbery. Starting with a two shoton the roof and an over the shoulder shotfrom the back seat of the vehicle (seen in the third picture). The criminals, looking almost confused and curious begin to talk about the man operating the robbery called ‘The Joker’. The shots cut from one group to the other whilst continuing the same conversation. Both the groups are finishing off each others sentences which shows that the team does not actually know who ‘The Joker’is yet even though they are carrying out a bank robbery for him which could potentially ruin their lives either by death or life in prison. This shows both the power The Joker has and the fear he has put into Gotham and his own colleges.
During the robbery, most jobs are done in pairs. Once a job is complete The Joker has previously instructed one of the team members to execute their partner and move on. This shows that the team obviously don't know each other well and are just all in it for themselves. An example of this is shown in the second column underneath the video.
This opening sequence is a Linear sequence as it is clear what is happening and the progress being made by the robbery team is easy to understand. Some binary opposites present would be 'Good vs Evil', 'Batman vs The Joker'. The type of lighting being used is mainly low key as this scene is very aggressive and dark so lots of black, dark blue and dark purple colours are used to help portray this. Overall the film definitely does relate to its target audience as even from the opening scene we get both the action and the drama, although due to the amount of killing and distressing outfits such as The Joker and the clown masks parts of the film could have a thrilling element to it.
