Peer opening sequence analysis

Directors Cut-Peer Opening Sequence Analysis

This video features two previous AS Media students opening sequences and over the top of their videos is a voice over where I discuss what I liked about the sequences, what I thought could be improved and just the overall strengths and weaknesses:

These are the two original videos of the students work I assessed:

Learning Comment:

Through watching other students previous work and then analysing it, I have learnt a lot of useful techniques and ideas that I can apply to my own opening sequence. This includes the idea of having a 3D font for text which is placed in unique and varying parts of the frame so that it almost blends in with the background. I found this aspect of the opening 'The Edge' really clever and I hope to try and reflect this. I also liked the fast cuts used in 'The Visitor' as it was very effective in building tension. Watching the videos has also opened my eyes to easy mistakes or things easily overlooked that can be used to make an opening sequence just that much better. This includes having the correct mise en scene for the genre you're going with and not giving away too much of the narrative straight away. I can learn from these 'mistakes' or what I feel they could've improved on and keep them in mind when creating my own. Analysing and grading them was also really helpful due to me learning and realising what is needed to really reach the high grades and so that I have an idea in mind of whether my video content is up to the standard required. I've learnt that it is obviously difficult and time consuming to create a good opening sequence but that it is achievable if the hard work is put in.  

Audience Research

Audience Research

We produced a questionnaire/survey on 'survey monkey' and handed it out to our friends and family. It included various questions regarding what people like about coming of age films, their favourite ones they've watched, the sub genre they like etc. We collected this data together, analysed it and surmised what we think will be useful and effective to apply to our own opening sequence. Below are our results:

On the presentation software 'Emaze' we produced a powerpoint containing research, financial information, audience data and audience reviews on four different popular coming of age films in the genre that we are hoping to produce our own in-drama. This crucial information is important as it gives us insight into the popularity of these types of films, their primary target audiences and what people liked about them which we can hopefully take into account when producing our own opening sequence. Below are the results:

To gather information regarding our target audiences likes and dislikes within coming of age film opening sequences we showed a collection of different openings, within the drama genre, to several different people and then recorded their responses on what they found effective and engaging. From this we can try and apply preferred techniques and elements into out own opening sequence. Below are our results:

Learning Comment:

Through doing this task I have found out a lot of extremely important information regarding what people would ideally like to see in a coming of age film and ,more specifically, it's opening sequence. The majority of the research we have carried out was on the age group of 13-19 year olds which does suggest out results could be slightly one-sided however, as we are targeting our coming of age film at this age group (albeit also a little older), we feel this isn't counter-productive. The information gleaned from our audience research has definitely helped inspire ideas and the direction we're heading in in producing our final product. We now know about which previous coming of age films people have enjoyed and also which ones were financially successful so we can study them to see what makes these films popular and effective, we also know what people like about these particular types of films and what they hope to get from them. I have learnt that despite coming of age films reputation for being funny, over-the-top and cheesy, the most popular films were the more serious, drama ones. Also, our survey and interview results show that teenagers prefer a film that they can relate to due to providing insightful life lessons and reflecting their own life, character and age. I will take this forward into our own one and thus we are considering making a more serious and insightful film in the drama genre such as 'The perks of being a wallflower' and 'The fault in our stars'. Due to showing our target audience various opening sequences and interviewing them afterwards, I have also discovered what features they found particularly appealing such as the soft, engaging music and voice over narrative.

Title Research

Se7en opening sequence title analysis:

Learning Comment:

Through analysing the text within this opening sequence I now have a better understanding of the importance of the text within a film and everything it can connote. The font, the size, the positioning, the order it appears in, almost everything about text on the screen can be analysed to see what it's trying to foreshadow or reflect of the rest of the film . This is extremely important as it reveals to the audience some of what they can expect and also whether its something they would want to watch e.g. if the genre is to their liking. The text can effect the whole overall mood of the opening and can also indicate the importance of different people and their job roles in the production of the film. By learning this, I will now put extra emphasis and consideration into the text i'll use in my own opening sequence and think carefully about the choices I make with my text in regards to what I want it to connote.