An opening sequence is usually one that introduces the characters that you will be seeing throughout the film. Establishing shots are used to set the scene/location of the film. As you see in the start our location is a school field, giving the audience the knowledge that the film is based around superheros and the school they go to. They opening scenes main objective is to give the audience an idea of what to expect throughout the rest of the film. In our opening scene you see the superheros this shows the audience that they are to expect superheros throughout the rest of the film. I used key framing to move the title of the film along with the characters hands. If we had more time we could have put a green sticker on the characters hand to motion track the text with it, this would have given a better effect but would have taken 10x longer to do.
As our film is intended for children around the age of 5-10, we decided that the best classification would be PG. Although PGs are intended for 8 years+ we feel that the film does not highlight any drugs use or any obvious physical pain to the characters. Also violence is justified if it is fantasy and as superpowers are a fantasy then we can get away with superheros fighting each other. Deaths in childrens films are very rare and usually are over dramatised to the point where they only fall over or you just don't see them again.
Our intended audience was children from the ages of 5-10. As a kid your are not worried about world issues and are more focused on having fun and messing around. We tried to show this in our film by having our characters have superpowers. This gives our audience (children) the chance to imagine what it would be like to have the abilities our characters do. Our childrens film has 3 characters, two of which have the ability to fly and one the ability to shoot a plasma ball on demand. Within the 2 flying superheros one of them is the 'evil' one ( Imanul ) this gives the kids the chance to be happy when the good superhero defeats the evil one.
This is our final complete version of our children's film opening. We are happy with the film as we have managed to get over the technical difficulties we faced. After the few seconds of dark screen at the end we would cut to a school location with the superheros walking in and carry on with the film. The opening went well and we managed to get it all finished in time with the deadlines set.
I started editing parts of the video using Adobe after effects which i have used before, i used it for seen such as where our 'superheros' fly away and where one of them shoots a plasma beam. Movement for the characters when fly off had to masked out then tracked/positioned in time to moved over a few seconds depending on how fast you want them to fly off. The plasma beam is much harder and i had to use a particle plugin to make the actual beam and then for the plasma ball i added a solid layer and drew a circle on the starting position of the characters hand. I then key framed every few frames and changed the circle according to the characters position up until the end of that scene. Once you have the basics of key framing it is a lot easier than when you first start as it seems to be a lot of work.
I like this because of the use of stop motion, and it is done carefully and there are no mistakes or bits of hands in the frames. They've obviously taken care with there video and have thought a lot about how they were going to do it.
U - Film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. ‘U’ films should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.
PG - General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. Unaccompanied children of any age may watch. A ‘PG’ film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. However, parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children.
12A / 12 - These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them. The ‘12A’ category exists only for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult, and films classified ‘12A’ are not recommended for a child below 12. An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. In such circumstances, responsibility for allowing a child under 12 to view lies with the accompanying adult. The ‘12’ category exists only for video works. No one younger than 12 may rent or buy a ‘12’ rated video work.
15 - No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.
18 - No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video work.
To begin this traumatic scene we see a low angle longshot of the toys being thrown into the incinerator. We then see a reaction shot of woody showing his fear while shouting 'noooooooooooo' The camera stays fixed and we see him fall down which shows the size of the furnace in comparison. This shows the children that he is falling into the furnace and it isn't a good thing. We then get a over the shoulder shot from behind woody looking at the flame, This is when the audience realise Woody's life is in danger as you can see the flames of the bottom of the furnace and it looks like the sun. It then goes back to a reaction shot of Woody as he is slowly drifting towards the flames and the end of his life. At 1.18 there is a mid-shot of the characters holding hands in a line looking at the flame this shows their unity and the friendship they have built and is a sad moment for the audience.
At the start of the film there is tracking shot that slowly moves you through the jungle, pushing through the leaves and vegetation in the forest, this helps build up a sense of suspense in the film with a build up of Tarzan style drumming music, there is also lots of lighting used in the sense of the lightening and rain, this also helps build up suspense, then suddenly you see Tarzan carved out in rock, this is the title opening of the film. The film then cuts to the shipwreck where a low angle shot is being used looking up the ship that has caught fire, this gives a sense of how high up the ship as and how small the little raft they are escaping there fate on is. It then cuts to Tarzan's father who is seen swimming to the raft that has his wife and kid on, you then see a close up of the kids face and then music comes in over the top which is quite uplifting music to celebrate him and his family being safe. You then see various long shots of a family of gorillas showing that even animals care about their family just as much as humans do. Then you get mid shots of Tarzan's family looking around the island which then cuts to a long wide angled shot of a massive tree. Then the scene the baby gorilla wondering through the forest chasing after a frog, then a leopard turns up and starts chasing the baby gorilla, this introduces and evil character to the film, aiming to scare kids watching the film and make them worry about what will happen to the gorilla. You then get a long shot of gorillas walking around a mountain, then cuts to a close up of the mother gorilla who hears a crying sound and jumps to the conclusion that it's her missing baby she then treks across the land and arrives at the human tree house. The camera cuts to inside the tree house and the music cuts out as the door slowly opens and the mother gorilla pears in.
In the scene of Mufasa's death the first shot is a close up to show Simba's expression, It shows him looking happy but unaware of what is about to happen this creates more sympathy for Simba. As he hears the the ground trembling we get a reaction shot which shows his expression change dramatically which would show the young audience trouble is on it's way. We then see a low wide-angle longshot of all the wilderbeast. We then get another reaction shot of Simba to show the significance of his fear. At 2.02 there is a shot of Mufasa jumping to save Simba which shows his bravely and the strength of the love for his son which children films refer to a lot and the children could possibly relate to with their own father son relationship. At 2.06 there is a low angle shot of Scar walking along the ledge, The low angle shows his power and the shadows around him signify his evilness. His eyes are also yellow which is unnatural and could scare the audience. At 3.21 the music stops which enforces Simbas desertion, Children wouldn't want to be in his place as losing your parents (even in tesco's) is a traumatic experience when you are young.
A Bug's life starts with sounds of birds singing which is relaxing and calming to the person watching. It then has tracking/panning shots going through trees and the grass and does an extreme close-up of a reed with an ant on it collecting wheat. It then focus out on to the rest of the reeds where you can see even more ants collecting food for their home. It then has a close up of ants marching whilst carry food and then has one ant have a berry dropped on his head which is for comedic effect to the kids watching. Then cuts to a overhead birds eye shot of the home of the Ants. Then has various shots such as medium shots of different ants working then cuts to an overhead of two Ants talking. The film uses soft, happy voices to not scare the kids in the first few minutes of the film.
The task was to involve 6 different camera shots: Establishing shot, close up, match on action, reaction shot, long shot, filming a conversation. We had to cut out the match on action shot as it didn't work and we didn't have time to re film it to complete the task. We managed to stay with the 180 degree rule whilst doing our over the shoulder shots in the conversation.
