Credits analysis

film analysis:
I think that the credits should be made like the James Bond films, meaning that we have the opening credits after a short scene, the one were filming. This is because if it were to be made as a real film, it would have the short action scene at the start, then go into the credits, this is so that as the credits are shown the children watching it will, still be thinking of the previous scene, so they will not lose interest however the style of the scene will still be done to impress the children who are watching it. for the style I think that due to the darkness of the setting, it may be wise to contrast it with brighter colours perhaps or maybe show the credits in the "sci-fi" style of the film.
To contrast it, I think it might be good to use: This style
To add to the "sci-fi" theme, a black background could be used with: the "agency FB" font and green coloured lettering.

Filming - Second Sitting

This session we didn't get much more done because we had to re-do some previous frames for continuity. However we did get a portion of the chase scene filmed. Because of using the Lego bionicles it took a lot longer to get each frame because they are hard to balance. We may use Blu-Tack to solve this problem next lesson.

First Filming Lesson

This lesson we managed to film aprox. 30 seconds of our opening using iStopmotion. It took longer because the models kept falling over however we soon learned how to balance or hold them so that it is much easier to capture each pose.

Next Lesson we will get more filmed because we now know how to set it up without help.

Children's Film Opening Analysis

We decided to Analyse the beginning of Chicken Run (2000) becuase, like our opening scene, it contains a chase sequence.

Sound- The sequence starts with the Chicken Run theme which is Orchestral, military and connotes adventure. It also contains the riff which repeats itself in various forms throughout the film. It's military tone is also an intertextual reference which ties in with the fact that most of the film references "The Great Escape". This sets the audience up for and action adventure plot. As the military theme fades out it is replaced with a mysterious and dark piece of music which creates tension and also sets the mood of the initial scene. When the main character, "Ginger", appears on screen the music lightens slightly and signals that she is the main character. The score continues to get tenser and tenser as Babs gets stuck under a fence and must get back to the run without being noticed, the tension increases when the dogs give chase to Ginger and she is cornered. Use of strings such as violins adds to the sense of apprehension.

Camera Movements/ Angles- The first shot is a mid shot of the moon which then focuses on some barbed wire in the foreground. Immediately the audience knows that this setting is not a safe place to be because of the dangerous connotations of the barbed wire and the fact that it is night time. Next the camera pans down to an establishing shot show from behind a wire fence. It shows what looks like a concentration camp however the audience later learns that it is a chicken farm. This enforces the feeling of danger to the setting. After the establishing shot is a long shot of Mr Tweedy and his dogs. He is quite small on the screen which shows that whilst being a danger he is not a major one. Whilst Ginger and the rest of the chickens are attempting escape most of the shots are mid shots so as to show their actions and facial expressions however once they have to work against the clock to get Babs unstuck from under a fence the shots start to vary between close ups , mid shots and long shots showing their actions, how they are panicking and how close Mr Tweedy and his dogs are getting. The most memorable shot of this scene is A close up of Mr Tweedy's face showing his menacing expression which stays on the screen for a little longer than the other camera shots at make him appear scary for younger audiences. The following chase scene is made up of lots of long shots cut together to that the audience can see where Ginger is running and how far away the dogs are from catching her. When Ginger is cornered and the door opens to the Tweedy's house there is a high angled shot of Ginger and the dogs showing that whatever is coming next is more powerful than any of them. The camera then pans up into a low angled shot of Mrs Tweedy which could even be a point of view shot from Ginger and shows how overwhelmingly oppressive she is. Her pink slippers, pajamas and hair net ensemble is a juxtaposition for how evil she appears however this makes her seem comical instead of creepy which makes her appropriate for a children's film.

(Image shows the high angled shot of Ginger and the dogs recoiling from Mrs Tweedy's fearsome shadow)

Mise-en-scene:
Setting- The scene is set at night time in a chicken farm. Night time scares children and so is appropriate for this scene to add tension as it is difficult to see what will come next. The chicken farm also looks like a concentration camp and is muddy and damp so it is clear why the chickens want to escape.

Props- Mr Tweedy's torch is used not only as a prop but also to allow the audience to see clearly what he is looking a. It also shows ,with swift movements, that he is searching for something. Ginger's spoon used as a shovel is used for not only for comedy but also as an intertextual reference to war films in which they must use only the things around them to escape.

Costume- Because this film uses anthropomorphic animals in order to appeal to children many of the chickens have costumes. These costumes are largely made up of bits and pieces that the chickens have stolen from the Tweedys such as Ginger's hanky scarf and Bab's beaded necklace. The stolen bits of costume shows how the chickens are more clever than the Tweedys think. Mr Tweedys heavy duty rain coat and wellington boots introduce him as the chicken farmer and the dark colors show visually how he is a villain. Mrs Tweedy's outfit , as mentioned previously, is a juxtaposition to her vicious an commanding nature however is also used for comedic effect as it is ridiculously pink and over the top.

Storyboard ,Title and Prop List

This is our storyboard for our children's film opening.


We have decided to call our Children's film "Bounty Hunter Blarg". Blarg is the name of our alien and incorporating the main character's name into the title is a common occurrence in children's films e.g "Shrek" and "E.T". Our title also uses aliteration to make it catchy. The main character's name is a bit silly which takes they edge off of the fact that he is a bounty hunter and makes him comical.

Prop List
-Lego alien - Blarg the Bounty Hunter
-Bionicle mistika models: Krika and Bitil - for our robots
-Lab made out of various lego sections
-Red Yarn for security lasers
-Googlie eyes for the robot's surprised face
-Black Paper Xs for the robot's dead eyes
-6 lego land mines
-A lego vial for Blarg to steal
-A sunset painted on a sheet of paper

Soundtrack

While Jennie and Andrew worked on the storyboard, Ben began working on the soundtrack using GarageBand.

Final Ideas

The narrative of our story opening is an alien steals a vial of a mysterious chemical and must escape the traps set up to stop thieves.

Characters
Alien - Is a thief. He will have a cloak!

Robots - These are set up to stop the Alien

Setting

The set will be a cardboard cut-out decorated to represent a stereotypical lab, using paint and lego bricks and whatever else we need. We will also create a door, and an outside environment for the main character to 'run' through as the opening sequence continues. However we have have recently changed it to be made from lego along with the characters, a draft of the room will be shown below:

How our sequence follows convention
Our project will meet the conventions of a children's opening sequence by including humor to keep a younger audience entertained. It will also include action to make it exciting but will not contain any gore to keep it suitable for young children.By not using human characters be more engaging to children and will fit more into the Sci-Fi genre. Because we will use lego children will recognize it and it will also be bright and colorful due to the bricks using lego will also make our film cheaper and allot quicker to make as we will not have to draw out each frame. The narrative contains a theme of good VS evil as the robots hunt down the alien.

Practice Story Board : Back to the Future

Our task was to create a storyboard of the opening scene of "Back to the Future". Andrew made notes on sound, Ben made notes on character placement and camera movement and Jennie made notes on Mise-en-scene.
We pooled our information into 6 key frames from the scene including points from each of our notes.

This helped us practice storyboarding by only showing the key features of the scene.

Children's Film initial ideas

Our group has decided to use stop motion animation to create the opening scene for a children's film. We shall use Lego figures as our cast because it will appeal to children as Lego is aimed at our target audience.
The genre of our film shall be Sci-fi and it will be a PG.
As yet we have no narrative or characters.

Preliminary Task