Evaluation Questions

Poster for Luna opening sequence

 

Props

 

The props we will use in our opening sequence are as follows:

1. Books. There are several scenes which involve the characters reading books. These are staple icons in the movie as our characters are being portrayed as intellectual and avid readers. The books we will use are those such as The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, Lolita, 1984, Pride and Prejudice etc.
2. Gaming console. The most easily accessible games console is the Xbox 360 so this will be included in the montage during the scene where the two protagonists are playing video games.
3. Television. During the montage there is a scene where the two protagonists are watching a scary movie whilst huddled under a duvet. A TV has to be present in this scene.
4. Sofa. There are several scenes in the montage where the two protagonists are together on the sofa.
5. Bed. There is one scene in the montage where the characters are sitting facing each other on a bed.

Titles research

The following is the typical order for opening credits in the beginning of a movie:

Name of the studio

Name of the studio that is distributing the film and may or may not have produced it (Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia, Lions Gate, Universal, Marvel Studios, Dimension, Miramax etc.). Ours will show Fox Searchlight.

• Name of production company

Name of the production company that actually made the film or name of the investment groups or companies that financed a substantial part of the film (usually credited as "in association with" or "A (studio name) production."). Ours will say An Iridescent Innovations production in association with Cool Cat Studios and Phoenix Rising Studios, with Forbidden Fruit Entertainment.

• Director's first credit

A film by (director's name). Ours will say A film by Dominic Freedman.

• Principal actors

Showing the principal actors in a list or with a single credit each, either in order of importance, order of appearance or alphabetical order. Our movie will say Jonathan Foulston and Ellie Robson, each with a single credit.

• Film's title

Name of the film. Ours will not go in the sequence this early on but rather at the end of the opening scene. Luna.

• Featuring

Featured/supporting actors. As we have no supporting actors there will not be a section for these in our opening sequence.

• Casting

Casting director. This will say Casting, Casting Director or Casting By. Casting by Zahra Mukadam.

• MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY

Composer of music. This will say Music; Music Composed By; Original Score By; Musical Director. Our opening credits will say Musical Director, Jonathan Foulston.

• Production Design

Production design or production designer. Whilst she never actually participated in the opening scene, this credit will say Production Design: Lauren Hunt as we are aiming to not repeat each of our names.

As a variation some of the below may be noted:

• SET DESIGN
• COSTUMES or COSTUMES BY or GOWNS (older movies)
• HAIRDRESSER
• MAKE-UP ARTIST
• SOUND RECORDING (older movies)
• VISUAL EFFECTS DIRECTOR or VISUAL EFFECTS BY

(but we aren't putting these in our opening sequence)

• Editor or edited by

The editor of the movie. Ours will say Edited by Jonathan Foulston, although we will all participate in the editing.

• Director of photography

Director of photography - Director of photography, Zahra Mukadam.

• Producer

Producers, co-producers, executive producers, 'also produced by'. Often, though, the name of the producer will be the next-to-last opening credit, just before the director's name is shown. Executive producer, Ellie Robson.

• Based on the book/play/graphic novel by...

If based on a book or other literary work. Ours isn't based on other literary work so we will skip this title.

• Based on the characters by/based on the characters created by...

If based on characters from a book or other media. We have been inspired by the characters from (500) Days of Summer and Perks of Being a Wallflower so our credit will say Based on the characters created by Scott Neustadter.

• Story

Person who wrote the story on which the script is based, gets "story by" credit, and the first screenplay credit, unless the script made substantial changes to the story. Ours will say Story by Ellie Robson.

• Writer(s)

The screenplay writers. Ours will say Written by Ellie Robson and Jonathan Foulston.

• Director or Directed By

The director is the final credit in the opening sequence. This will say Directed by Dominic Freedman.

Genre codes and conventions audience

Our planned opening is a compilation of many different romantic shots in the form of a montage. It will all be handheld footage to look considerably more personal than static shots.

These typical Rom-Com conventions will occur during the opening scene:
A typical ‘Boy meets Girl’ scenario.
Often starts with a voiceover explaining characters.
Two protagonists, normally male and female.
A chance encounter.

However, as opposed to the movie being centred around a female protagonist, the main character will be a male. The movie will be aimed at the female gender predominantly however it can be aimed at the male audience too due to the relation with the main character. The age of the preferred audience will be of 15 years of age and up.

Examples of Romantic Comedy conventions:
We were inspired by the movies '(500) Days of Summer', 'Submarine', 'About Time' and 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'. We were also inspired by my friends' student film 'Bottlebank' which includes a montage scene too.


Not officially from the movie but it shows what we are aiming to do with the aspect of cute/romantic scenes compiled together to create a montage.


The montage scene at 24:35 perfectly displays what we are intending to do with our opening sequence. A personal old-fashioned looking compilation of many romantic handheld pieces of footage.

Storyboard

Opening sequence of rom-com 'Luna' shot list

Here is a list of the shots on the storyboard for our opening scene:

1. Wide shot of the beach. Jonathan on left hand side facing away from camera towards ocean.
2. Wide shot of the beach. Shot fades evenly into Jonathan and Ellie on left hand side facing away from camera towards ocean.
3. Medium shot of Jonathan and Ellie sitting on the beach. 3 seconds.
4. Medium over-the-shoulder shot of Jonathan and Ellie sitting on the beach. 3 seconds.
5. Beginning of montage. Long shot of Jonathan and Ellie walking on the beach. 4-5 seconds.
6. Medium shot of Jonathan and Ellie sitting playing video games. 4-5 seconds.
7. Dutch shot of Jonathan and Ellie facing each other on bed. 7-8 seconds.
8. Middle shot of Jonathan and Ellie on sofa studying/reading together. 3-5 seconds.
9. Middle shot of Jonathan and Ellie watching a scary movie on the sofa. 5-6 seconds.
10. Over-the-shoulder middle long shot of Jonathan and Ellie skimming stones on beach at night. 10 seconds.
11. Rewind entire montage. 4 seconds.
12. Wide shot of coffee shop. Jonathan on one side of the room, Ellie at a table on another. Music stops. Silence before he walks towards her. 6 seconds.

Film pitch: romantic comedy

We decided to choose Ellie's Film pitch out of all of ours in the group. Above is a prezzi about conventions in the rom-com genre.

Film pitch

This is my prezzi for my chosen film pitch, 'Bodies of the Pier'. The genre was zombie-comedy, however, we decided to go along with Ellie Robson's film pitch.