Test Footage Fire

This is the first test footage of me setting my house on fire. I only spent 5 minutes on this, using after effects. I think the fire looks really good but, it does not fit quite so good with the rest of the scene. So I will attempt this again tonight and spend more time on this, making the scene look more realistic including more fire and smoke.

3 Film Stills

9 Key Frames Of My Opening Sequence Movie

After creating a time line to my Film Opening Sequence, I then created these 9 frames that are the key elements to my opening sequence. These don't have to be as detailed as a storyboard but they show importance of each shot.

Doing this has helped me to break down my opening sequence, to help me understand what will be going on in my sequence. And help me when it comes to doing my storyboard as I can then see all the possible shots between each 9 frames

Moodboard To The Fireman

Here is the moodboard that I created to reflect the emotion and characteristics of the movie that I am going to create an opening sequence to.

I gathered a selection of images and imported them to final cut express and "animated" the images to create a feel of the basic story of the movie. That was not the general idea of the moodboard, but I thought I would add some more character to it. I then created a soundtrack in garage band to go with my moodboard.

I also gathered some fonts from www.dafont.com. I placed these in my moodboard to give a feel for the texts that I might use in my opening sequence.

My Personal Production Logo

Aswell as animating the Long Road logo, I have created and animated my own personal logo using adobe after effects, photoshop and 3ds max.

After compiling all of my components from each program into after effects I then animated and came up with this.



This will be displayed at the front of every project I make.

The timing of the sound and the bubble getting bigger and popping may sound a little out of sync, but full quality on my desktop it is fine.

Long Road Animated Logo

This is my version of the long road logo that I had animated. This will be put at the front of every project I make.

Essential Elements for an opening sequence

Here are five essential elements that make an opening sequence successful:

- Eye-catching imagery that makes it look very effective.

- Don't let it drag out too long as this can make it boring and people will lose interest.

- Show off your production values, show people what you can do.

- It has to make people want to watch the rest of the film.

- The storyline has to be unique.

Research - Comparitive Analysis

For this piece of research I shall be looking into the briefs that we were given and then to come up with two films that fit in those briefs. One of them has to be a US production and the other a non-us production.

We then have to break down the structure of it down and here is what I have come across.

Brief 1:

X-Men : The Last Stand (Brett Ratner, US, 2006)
Oldboy (Park chan-wook, south korea, 2003)

Brief 2:

The Others (Alejandro Amenebar, US, 2001)
Ring (Hideo Nakata, Japan, 1998)

Brief 3:

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson, US, 2004)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Garth Jennings, UK, 2005)

Feedback for my idea on brief two - Supernatural thriller

Generally people liked both ideas some preferred by second idea opposed to the first. One person even suggested mixing the first and the second idea together. Was told that the first idea could be complicated to shoot but if done it would be very good. Second idea would be easy to shoot but also would be good if well done.

Feedback for my ideas on brief one - Action Movie

From the feedback on my first idea, i've gotten the impression that people think that it sounds like a comic book. People liked the idea with some improvements on the storyline and for it to be more in depth. One person said that it is a bit complicated, they suggested that i should limit the storyline a bit. Someone else said that the effects could be difficult.

Film Opening ; Brief Two - A supernatural thriller that will appeal to female audiences

Idea 1: A librarian stumbles upon the bible of hell, reads an enscription in Latin and portal between hell and earth has opened. Evil rises again.

Idea 2: A young couple are low on money and decided to rent out their spare room, the new lodger is warming and welcoming but then the walls start shaking and odd occurances are happening.

Film Opening ; Brief One - A mainstream action film that will appeal to 15-25yr old males

Idea 1:

We have our hero, Searing Blade, he used to be a fireman, and was thought to have died in a fire.
His past forgotten he arises from the ashes to a city screened by darkness.

Idea 2:

Our hero, Twilight, born as a monster, mother died at birth. Father died in car accident, Twilight took up the position as a maruader of evil.


Searing Blade Powers: Flight, Fire Control, Enchanced Strentgth.

Twilight Powers: Teleportation, Great acrobat, immortal and vampirism. He regenerates his powers in the moon light.

My Production Logo Rough Cut

This is the rough cut of my production logo, my production logo will be displayed at the front of every project I do. I am hoping to make the bubble actually look like it blows up and then after the splat folds over the word productions will be revealed, also I will make the splat look more realistic.
It also needs cutting down by a second or two. Oh and to make the fold over actually look like its going over the word Squidgy.

Another Student thriller opening sequence

This opening sequence was a piece of AS level media coursework, to a movie they called Vengeance.

I like this project because it looks really professional, the shots are all well taken it is professionaly edited and the screenplay just looks great. They have a great sense of Mise-En-Scene, the right props the right camera work and lighting to fit their style.

It's not just the camer work and the effects that make it good, it's actually really interesting to watch. Within the first minute it is really intense and after watching this intro I was quite dissapointed I wanted to watch the rest!

Thoughts of student work : Blog and Video

In class today we were put in twos and had to look at previous work by As media students. We had to look at their blog and watch the final video they made. After doing so we had to grade them, 20 marks in total for planning and research and 60 marks in total for construction. I had examined this project T2-61.

After reading through their blog it was clear that they have gone into deep research and planning. They analysed to film opening sequences these being; Panic Room & Enemy Of The State.
This showed that they are looking at other thrillers to give a feel of how to introduce or open their movie, and also shows that they are planning ahead to keep giving themselves some ideas.

They also had team meetings at certain dates, this is useful for planning as they can check things of a list that have been done and talk about what needs to be done in order for completion, or what might need changing. At one of their team meetings they had watched the first 25 minutes of a horror called Switchblade romance, this gave them an idea of mise-en-scene and camerawork used.

They also looked at the sound used in the Panic Room opening sequence this helped give them an idea what to produce for theirs.

They had created a storyboard and then imported it into final cut and did some tweaking to turn it into an animatic they also applied their sound track into it. This gave them an idea of time allowances for both the sound track and the video on completion. The storyboard itself was well done it highlighted the key points and wasn't too long and going off point.

They also did some research on a font for them to use in their titles.

They had done a lot of research into the location and the costumed that they should use. They also researched and gathered up some prop images to use eg the phone title sequence.

They had tested out the CCTV style footage, this means that they are learning to do something new, and figuring out how it should be done. This makes them seem more professional.

Overall I gave this a 15/20, they did well but in my opinion they didn't do enough to scrape that A grade. There was 3 of them and they only managed to do 21 posts. This is a really small amount for the number of people in the team and the time they have been allocated.

For their construction (video), I think that some of the effects and camera work they used worked well with the style of film. The CCTV effect where it then went to real life worked well, although I think they should have kept it as CCTV footage instead of reverting back to real life. This would have built more of a feel that the stalker is watching him through cameras and technology rather than literally stalking him.

At the start when we are looking at the computer I think that the fact that it doesn't look like a computer they are looking at but a floating screen makes them look unprofessional. I think they should have included another light just so we can see the outline of the computer itself and maybe not see the man sitting at the computer screen. In my opinion this gives away too much at the start.

Their idea with the titles that they had some written on the phone and some written on the ipod, I think that this is a good idea. But they should have one or the other, having both makes it seem messy and again unprofessional.

The soundtrack in my opinion doesn't work so well and the eerie noise at the start when the guy is walking past the locker just seems random.

I think overall this was a good student made opening sequence, and I would have given this 40/60. The mise-en-scene could have been improved with a few more props and the camera work at the start was a bit jolty.

Analysis Of The Columbia Pictures Logo

This logo is extremly simple in how it's animated and pieced together. In the image of the logo we see a lady standing on a platform of steps holding a torch or a star. With a dense background of clouds behind her, almost like a mushroom cloud. The clouds seem to congregate to the point of the star/torch.

I believe that there maybe 4 or 5 layers in this image.
The first being the sky in the background, the second being the clouds the third being the lady standing on the platform the fourth being the star or torch that she is holding in her hand. And the possible fifth layer would be that the lady and her platform are two seperate layers. I don't fully believe this to be so, as the detail of the bottom of her skirt looks as though it actually is flowing over the platform.

Studios & Production Companies In relation to the Spiderman 3 titles

I was asked to watch the opening title sequence of a movie which was of my choice again and list the studios and production companies mentioned, and provide their logos and what other media productions they have been involved in.

Columbia Pictures:



This company had started out in 1919. It has only recently become one of the leading film companies in the world, being one of the "Big Six".
Some other media products it has been involved with are;
Hancock, Seven Pounds, 50 First Dates, The Grudge 2, White Chicks, Casino Royale.
Some future products are; Spiderman 4 and Metal Gear Solid.

Marvel Studios:



Marvel studios is relativly new to the film industry buisness, having been formed in the 1990's.
Movies Marvel Studios has been involved with include: Blade, Daredevil, Spiderman, Fantastic Four.
Futre invovlements include: Spiderman 4 & 5, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Laura Ziskin:


Is a films producer and she has been involved with productions such as: Spiderman 3, Murphy's Romance and D.O.A.
Future involvments include Spiderman 4.

Interesting Film Opening Sequence

The reason I have chosen this, is because i like the use of effects to create a dramatic intro to the movie. Clips from the previous movies are used in the effects in a spiderweb sort of effect. Also displaying the titles of producers, director, actors etc. There isn't any camera work, the only camera work is from the prevous movies, which are then pieced together to create a small non verbal back story for any viewer or hasn't seen the prequels.

Moo Moo Lollage - Practice Footage Opening Titles

This is a practice of making an opening title sequence to a movie.
The effects i used where overlay fading. Blur and fisheye.

I also made sure the timeing of the visual went with the audio