Open sequence project

Rom-com opening scene:

Research:

Notting Hill:

The opening sequence focuses on Julia Roberts who is the female protagonist of the film. The film opens on a black screen and audience can hear a group of inaudible voices and cameras clicking creating the environment of some kind of press event. With the screen remaining black the background noises begin to fade out as the song She begins to play. Then the sequence begins which shows Julia Roberts character at different press events and on set. This instantly tells the audience that the character is a very famous actress which begins her story arch.

Bridget Jones:

The sequence also focuses on the female protagonist alone in her living room. It starts with Bridget laying on her sofa, in her pyjamas, smoking a fag the song All by Myself  begins to play in the background. As the music becomes just instrumental and fades slightly the character then presses the voice mail button to hear she has no message highlighting how lonely she is. Then to add a comical effect the song All by Myself which is originally thought to be a Non-diegetic becomes a diegetic sound as the character Bridget sings along to it. However the purpose is to convey how lonely Bridget is which is the premise of the film.

Love Actually:

This sequence differs from the other two I have chosen because it doesn't focus on the female lead because the film focuses around many different characters. The scene opens with footage at Heathrow airport of couples and families embracing then Hugh Grant does a voice over explaining the relevance of the airport and the premise of the film. As the title of the film appears the screen turns black then the writing and the background fades to reveal Bill Knights character. However for my research I'm focusing more on the first part of the sequence as i want to use the togetherness the Heathrow scene shows.

Target Audience:

Despite all my examples being aged 15 my sequence will be aged 12 as it will have mild themes and no violence. Because of my genre I would target my opening sequence slightly more towards females because typically this gender shows slightly more interest towards the genre.

My idea:
I want to make my title sequence as if the audience is looking through a photo album therefore explaining the relationship's and set's up the characters stories before the film begins. The sequence will flick through the pages of a scrapbook and mainly focus on my female protagonist going through her relationships with friends and her boyfriend. From my research I decided to use the type of typology as used in Bridget Jones to convey the sense of authentic hand writing. Within all my examples there is always a song which portrays what happens in the film and is often used within promotion of the film I've decided to use the song Alright by Supergrass because it's fast paced and has a happy tone. To make my video more interesting to watch I decided to incorporate some stop motion with the photos I used to make them appear as if they're moving across the page.

Pre-Production paperwork:
Cast:
Charlotte Campling, Nicole Drew, Wesley Drew and Bradley Schofield.

Final edit:

Analysis of my work:

For the most part I'm happy with my final piece as a first attempt using the camera on my own and editing. I found it hard to get my desired angle with every shot so in the video the camera shows different framing. Also I couldn't get any good lights they all had a yellow/orange undertone so I had to attempt to fix it in the edit. Overall I'm happy with my edit however if I had more time I'd try and improve the dissolve I added it didn't fade as well as I wanted it to making it appear quite rushed. I thought my cuts were fast paced and looked well executed also my song choice fit well with the fast paced cuts and transitions and added to the closeness of the friendship group.