Day six of editing

 Today was the final day of editing. we started out colour grading our sequence luckily we could use the same grading for all of the external shots and then adjusted it for the church scene.    

There were still some ruff patches. For example after listening to the sequence with headphones we noticed that we still needed to adjust the audio in some parts which turned out to be a bit of a hustle because we didn’t record atmosphere sound on the day which led to the some transitions of audio clips just not sounding great. Especially because we had to boost up some dialogue audios but after trying a view different things we found a way to create a good sound design using some normal fades and the constant power effect. Because we shortened the length of the church bells I then suggested to adjust the duration of the establishing shot of the church otherwise the paste would have shifted in a wired way. 

 

We then focused on the titles in order to make them more stylized we used the font that we had used for the gothic title card now for all of the credits. This lead to some problems as premier for some reason mixed up some sizes so we had go through each one of them and adjust the size. Bert suggested to let the titles fade in and out which looked great. We then moved on to fade every first letter of a first and second name red after James killed the victim suggesting that the red text in the way is blood spilling on the credit. We then also changed the colour of the title credit from white to red this fitted the style of our scene and made the title more readable. We then decided to add a few blood drops to one letter at the end again adding to the hot fuzz over stylized vibe we were going for and suddenly we were done!

How are titles presented?

 The way and order titles are presented in opening title sequences can vastly change depending on genre and production size according to studiobinder.com the most common way of listing opening titles is in the folowing order:  

1. PRODUCTION COMPANY presents (distributor)
2. a PRODUCTION COMPANY production (producer)
3. a FILMMAKER film
4. Film Title
5. Lead Cast
6. Supporting Cast
7. Casting Director
8. Music Composer
9. Costume Designer
10. Associate Producers
11. Editors
12. Production Designer
13. Director of Photography
14. Executive Producer
15. Producer
16. Writers
17. Director

 

As success in the film industry often depends not only on knowing people but also to be known, all creatives would like to see their name first and most importantly clearly readable. This leads to discussions about placement of the credits being made even before the movie has been shot. Making movies is expensive, the people who finance movies or organise the financing tend to appear first.  

As previously mentioned, the way credits are being presented depends on the kind of film. For example in order to not disturb from the very emotionally charged opening of Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino presents the titles not during the opening scene but in an additional sequence. 

 

 Tarnation’s film are stylized. Inglorious Basterds is set in the second world war.  Therefore, the titles seem to be a heightened version of the popular typography of the time mixed with extreme colours like the Yellow which doesn’t makes sense in a historical context but hligthes Tarnation’s bowled style. This goes to show how titles alone can transport a lot of meaning even if they’re on their own.

A product more similar to ours ‘Zombieland’ demonstrates its titles in bold attention grabbing colours during the opening scene, they’re integrated. This seems to be happening quit often in the action/horror  comedy genre we are going for. For example ‘The suicided squad’ directed by James Gun presents its titles in a bright orange colour with small cuts within the typography. These suite the mood and feeling James Gun is famous for (,80s nostalgia). The titles are carefully placed to fit and enhance the framing and look of the sequence and partly present opposition to the dark lighting. 

Day five of editing

 We began the day looking at Bert’s idea for the credit’s placement when James walks down the street. He placed the credits on the ground and James would walk over them. While the effect was good, we all agreed that it wouldn’t suit the style of the video. Bert also did another effect the shot that reveals our title card starts out on a statue of Maria and Jesus and then tilts to a church window. Bert tracked the title on the window. Meaning that the text stays in one position no matter how the camera moves. This looked amazing we added a still frame as the camera started to shake and then a fade to black while the text would still be visible. Because the tile card is placed Infront of a church. window and the font is really stylized we added strong contour.  
 

Our teacher noted that the shoot where James walks down the street takes up to much time. So, we tried a very stylized of editing and only displayed the moments when he enters the frame, when he is at the middle of the road and when he is shortly Infront of the camera. This not only made the sequence quicker but also gave us a lot of extra time. I therefore suggested to add the bit with the dog in the same style. We only used a wide shot and show how James and the dogwalker entre the farm, how they meet and how they basically leave the frame again. This worked out great! The stylized way of editing we used for these scenes really highlighted the style we were going for. The bit of James walking down the street would make him seem scary while the dog bit would offer some comic relive. Later on I then had to adjust the tiles again as they were completely misplaced because of our reedit.

I wrapped up the day working a bit on the sound design. I added a scream when the victim first sees the killer. Earlier we discussed to use the techno beat first as a diegetic soundtrack wich would then switch to a non diegetic soundtrack. This worked great especially with this more stylized edit. But the soundtrack still needed to end once we got to the church so i tried a few different thing, then after looking at the scene with my teacher I decided to let the music fade out quickly during the esthablishing shot of the church. 

Day four of editing

 We started the session by finishing up the sound design. Our sound design features an additionally to the diegetic sounds and dialogue we recorded on the day, a diegetic techno beat which is muffled before he opens the door in order to make it seem as if the door is blocking the sound making the effect more realistic. Bert also added some stabbing sounds. We now had to find out how we wanted to score the end of our sequence. We tried multiple soundtracks for example a dramatic orchestral beat which would slowly become louder in through the entire scene and climax’s when the title card appears. We also found some single choir voices which we combined and tested if they would suit the scene. We ended up searching for some organ music like we planned. Bert and I found the same peace, Bach’s Toccata played on an organ, but we both agreed that the start of the peace would be to cliché. But while listing through the hole peace  I found a moment which would fit perfectly for our project. I screen-recorded it and we added it to our project at the end. I changed the timing so approximately two seconds before we cut to the title card the music would quickly fade in, making the sequence smoother. 

 

Pablo and I then came up with completely fake names and the timing for the credits. We had a list of different credits our sequence should included. I then tried to place the titles in a more creative and in the needed to find a way between practicability and aesthetic. Like we previously discussed I placed the first titles between James’s legs, Bert is going to work on the next titles in aftereffects as he wants to make it seem as if they were written on the street. In the church scene I looked at the framing and tried to find aesthetic way to incorporate the titles in the shot. In premier you can turn on a grid which will not only show you were the middle of each side of the frame is but also in which part of the frame you should place you credits. When timing the duration of each credit on screen it is helpful to adjust the duration to however long it takes you to read the credit three times.
 

Day three of editing

 Today we cut the dog scene simply because we were overtime. We diceded to only use the hand healed shot at the start as it was more intense after we finished the picture cut there was still one shot that bugged us. It was a wide shit of James walking down a street That just took to long. So Bert had an idea he proposed to rotoscope James and we would then be able to place him on multiplae places of the frame at the same time. This would speed up the shot. Rotoscoping is like a masking but it’s partly automatic. In after effects you can highlight what part you want to be affected in our case James. After effects then analysis the fottage gram by frame and adapts the mask. With key frames you can adjust the mask. The good thing about doing this rotoscope is that even if we end up not using it to multiply him we can still use it to place text on the road on wich he can walk. This is likely to look really cool as a credit. 

Research on Saul and Elaine Bass

 

Saul and Elaine Bass are two highly influential Filmmakers who vastly changed the way titles are presented in films. Saul Bass born in 1920 who was awarded the Oscar for the best short film for his documentary ‘Why Man Creates’ in 1968. Born in the Bronx as the son of eastern European Jewish immigrants Bass attended Brooklyn Collage. Like many influenceial visionaries of the film Industry he started out doing advertisement, designed logos and a lot of different freelancer work. His career in Hollywood began when he moved to Los Angeles in 1946. Eight years later director Otto Preminger recognized his talent after Bass had designed a poster for Preminger’s 1954 musical romance Carmen Jones. Preminger asked Bass to create the opening title sequence for his movie. Bass´s goal was to not only present the titles but demonstrate the atmosphere of the movie to the audience. He aimed to turn the previously unobtrusively opening credits into an event themselves. His opening sequences are often beautiful short films themselves. Him and his wife Elaine Bass, who often is overlooked partly due to the stigma surrounding female filmmakers especially during the 20^th

century, joined in marriage in 1961. Together they collaborated with legendary directors like Alfred Hickock and Martin Scorsese. Saul Bass died in 1996, Elaine Bass who is now 95 years old and seems to be retired after she worked one last time on the remake opening title sequence of Psycho in 1998. But their legacy lasts, nearly all modern title sequences take inspiration from their work as they demonstrated how meaning can be conveyed within the opening credits how these previously bland titles can be a creative outlet creating mood and highlighting themes of the movie. 

 

From the start the Basses opening title sequence for the 1960 movie opening highlighted the movies setting in the Las Vegas. This is not only due to the music but especially because of the typography which looks like the dots on a screen the sequence is also fast pasted, contently changing the layout and thereby hinting the vibrancy of the casinos which is supported by the different colours pooing up on the screen. 

The movies comedic nature is displayed e.g. when a character on the a slot machine breaks the 4^th wall when he gets flustered  as he notices the audience watching him as he is about to kiss a woman,  this is. completely unexcepted, surprises the audience resulting in comedy. When a man floats across the slot machine because of  what seems to be a flying olive the Basses tie the films setting to its situational style of comedy. 

 

Elaine and Saul Bass highlight the movies class with symbols of wealth like the Eagle. But also with elegant shapes, these simulate ornaments often found in interior architecture of historical upper class establishments. 

More information about them:

 

Day two of editing

Today started out finishing up the church scene which took longer as expected. We had a lot of different material that we would be able to choose from. We experimented with the start of the sequence and instead of using the take shot on a tripod we used a hand healed on which looked great but now we had to redo the beginning. We then checked the time and our clip was 30seconds to long. Even without any titelcards.  We tried shorten the runtime by cutting down the start to a shorter runtime with stylized time jumps in time. Our challenge now is to get the runtime down which could be done by shortening a take where James walks down a road which durats for 30 seconds right now but we might sadly end up cutting the encounter with the dog.

 

First day of Editing

 Today was the first time we saw the footage we shoot during our shoot day! We started editing. We first watch back the footage we shoot and sorted out the takes which we want to use. We found out that all the takes where the murderer and the dog were shoot for some reason in slow-motion, but this is only a minor set back we just sped the scene up and we are going to ask James the actor of the. Murderer to rerecord his line which we will then add. Afterword’s we started editing the takes together. We got a bit carried away by details during this meeting so next time we got to ensure to stay focused and finish the first ruff cut. On the bright sight we stayed a bit behind and Bert taught me how to use masks in premiere pro. We all agreed to find music over the weekend which we would like to use in the sequence. 

History of opening titles and credits

 The first opening credits that would classifie as a opening title sequence were at the start of the 1932 paramount pictures film ‘A Farwell to arms’. Opening credits used to be simple cards with typography on them. These cards are a relic from silent films. A sheet with the credit (or title) used to be rolled Infront of the camara to create the title card. Later on transparent sheets were used for title sequences. The one minute sequence from ‘A Farwell to arms’ introduced a new trend of making these credits more exciting. Eight years later ‘Walt Disney’s fantasia’ was the first sound film to not use any form of opening credits. Todays opening title sequences have become their own art form. Studios often hire different creatives like Kyle Cooper who specialise in this filed. 

If we look at logos especially from big studios that have been around for decades we notice that they really haven’t changed much. Off course these logos have evolved due to technological advancement in computer generated images (CGI) but the logos stay the same this is done not only to be easily recognised but also nostalgia. 

Evolution of the Universal logo from 1912 to now:

 

Evolution of the Disney logo: 

The lion in MGMs icons logo used to be an actual lion:

But since 2021 the new logo is completly CGI:

 

The opening title sequence in Shaun of the dead a comedy horror film from 2004 by Edgar Wright is slow pasted the titles do not move with the camera but they are stuck in the scene adding to the unrushed feeling of the sequence these things in connection to the already slow moving humans foreshadow the zombies. The bowled ruff typography demonstrates danger. 

Zombieland’s (Zombie land from 2009 is a action horror comedy,) titles are destroyed by the violence on screen. In a way breaking the fourth wall which demonstrates on one hand the absurdity of what’s happening on screen but also intensifies the situation. 

The Suicided Squad a action comedy from 2021 features retro looking opening titles in warm colours creating humour through the juxtaposition of warm light heartedness to the brutal events on screen a theme that takes place throughout the film. 

When it comes to our opening titles I believe that we should take inspiration from these films and use bold typography using light colours and stylized text that is influenced by what is happening in the scene in order to highlight the light heartedness and comedy of the movie and the juxtaposition to its topic.

Preperation for evaluation questions

 From the company that presented you...

 

Pause. What studio would distribute (sell) our sequence if it was a feature film. If you search on the internet for distributing company’s it lists thousands of options. We need to first narrow down, what we are looking for? Our Media product is a Film. Most of the big Film studios have their own distributing company’s. The Walt Disney company for example distributes most of their products through a company called ‘Disney Media distribution’ (DMD).  Sony releases their productions through Sony Picture releasing. But there are also companies that distribute media products produced by different Studios.  Netflix has distributed a vast variety of media products. Netflix not only licences media products in order to present them on their website but they also produce in house and acquire exclusive streaming rights to content.

 

I started looking at similar media products mood and genre wise like e.g. Hot fuzz and Scary movie as our Film would likely be categorized as a horror action comedy. Scary movie a horror comedy movie from 2000 was distributed (to theatres in the us) by Dimension Films, who amongst other things released the Scream films. But they are focused on American markets and products and our film is set in a little British village and is likely to be more appealing to a UK audience. Hot fuzz a British action comedy from 2007 was distributed in the UK by Universal Pictures International (UPI) who have amongst other things released Inglorious Basterds. While UPI certainly are experts in their field they might be to big of a company and are likely to focus on products with large names attached to them. Therefore, looking at company’s who also publish Indi films is probably smarter. Kaleidoscope have distributed a wide variety of feature films of all genres and branded documentary’s world wide and in the UK and seem to be a suitable distribution company. Bulldog Film Distribution is a completely independent company that focuses on releasing films in the UK and Ireland they seem to mostly be releasing low to mid budget films. In comparison Bulldog Film Distribution (BFD) to Kaleidoscope BFD is likely to be the more effective in the UK due to their focus on the area but this might lead to more complications if we wanted to release our film world wide because we would need to find another company. Another note worthy distributing opportunity would be brit box, a video subscription service created by BBC and itv, as a local British feature would suit their niece programming. 

 

In the end BFD would most likely be most appropriate for a traditional distribution due to their experience in the UK and with Indi productions of all genres. But being acquired by Netflix for the exclusive rights would offer a lot of exposure for our picture to a large diverse audience in the UK and world-wide. Netflix is famous for their wide variety of original content form reality shows like the kissing booth to the critically acclaimed and Oscar front runner The power of the dog, and how they are able to find a audience for their products. A niche product in the great sceam of content like ours with no pre soled elements could profit from Netflix.  

Videos about the shoot day!

First video about the shoot day:

Credits: We as a group sat down and thought of the answers together. I then suggested to make the video seem as if were at a pressconfrence. Pablo and I set infront of the camera and answered the questions and Bert keyed the background and added a come-on backdrop and banner for the table. I then added subtitles. and music.  

Second video:

Credits: We as a group came up with the answers then looked for a room to film in and. We ended up filming the video in one of the media classrooms . Pablo and I answered the questions while Bert edited the video.