Story Task

In class, we were told to write an opening paragraph about a man names Ross, our stories could take any direction, and as we came to the end of each paragraph, the person sitting next to us had to continue the story. So by the end of the little story it had gone right round half of the class. This is how my story turned out: 

Ross, a 21 year old male woke and looked around him, he was lying in his own bed. He rolled on to his side and saw a small piece of note paper laying strategically placed. Realising he was wearing his clothes from last night - a shirt and jeans, he began to wonder what actually happened the night before. He picked up the note, but before he could read it, he caught his reflection in the mirror. His dark short hair was ruffled and messy. His brown eyes looked heavy and tired. Once Ross' eyes focused he realised the slightly faded lipstick mark on his cheek. As he stood open the curtains, he stumbled slightly, nearly knocking his head on the curtain rail. 

He picks up the note and walks to the bathroom, after washing his face, he sits down and opens the note, he slowly reads the quickly scribbled note over a couple of times, folds the note in half and and puts it in his trouser pocket. 

He moves to the front door. Thinks to himself for a minute, with a solemn expression and walked through the door, closing it gently behind him. 

Outside laid his work colleague Ben, he was face down in the flower bed, with no top on. Ross went over to him to wake him up. Just as he knelt down, Ben wearily tried to lift himself up from the dirt, picking off clumps of soil from his muddy face. 

Ross' phone started to vibrate 'Jenny Calling' appears on the screen; he answers.  He clears his throat. "Hello Jenny" He says, slightly concerned. He knew that she was involved in the last nights antics, and he knows that the note was from her. Ross eagerly listened to Jenny, who was asking him if he was free that day. It was important, things needed to be said. "Erm" he hesitated "Well I guess we could stop for a coffee? Starbucks at 1:00" Jenny was eager about seeing him as she happily agreed. They said they're goodbyes and hung up. He put his phone back into his pocket. 

Running past the passed out Ben in the Garden, Ross sprinted to the Bus Stop. 5 minutes later the bus arrived. As he entered the city centre he thought about what on earth he was going to tell Jenny. Starbucks was crowded and on their usual black sofa, there was Jenny with his coffee and two sugars, waiting. Jenny looked up and smiled. "So, how was last night with my sister? Did you plan the reception for our wedding- I cant believe your making the whole venue a surprise!" Looking in the reflection of the mirror, Ross saw the lipstick stain, he  quickly put his hang against his face to cover it up. "Whats that mark on your face Ross?" Asked Jenny. 

Luckily I was very happy with the way in which the narrative went. This was the theme of the story that I had in mind. I just pictured a 'morning after the night before' scenario is always an interesting one  to explore. The only bit that I wasnt totally sure i was greatly keen on, was his friend lying in hedge in the garden. However I guess the person writing it, just wanted to ensure that the audience or reader really understood that some kind of party occurred previously.

I think that the opening would make a very good start to a film. The ambiguity of what actually happened the night before sets us up for a good story, which can in fact be taken in many different directions. A director could choose to make the film flash back to the night before or events leading up. Or events after Jenny found out about Ross' encounter with her sister. 

After Effects Work.

I looked at some different examples of opposing genres of film and looked at how their titling was and how it created an image for the rest of the film. One of my favourite titling sequences of all time, has to be Monsters Inc. 
Using the software adobe after-affects i began to master how it all works. Its fairly difficult to begin with, because all the icons are small and don't always indicate what they actually mean. 
I was instructed to create a title sequence for a film names 'Anatomy of a Murder'. I decided what audience and genre this film would be, if i was creating it. Then brain stormed a few ideas. Finally I came to the conclusion that i would create something for the middle-aged woman audience. Something quite classy, but vintage. 
Our second task was to create something that mimicked the opening of the Teletubbies. This was slightly harder as there was more layers to deal with. And we had to move the images in more of a precise manner.
Although as a task i now feel very confident with using after effects and i have gained skills  that can definitely be put to use in my film opening. 

Production Companies and Film Distributers

WARP
Warp is one of the foremost and most respected creative independent companies, now composed of Warp Records, Warp Films and Warp Music Videos & Commercials. It is based in London , England and Sheffield, with a further office now in Melbourne, Australia. Since its inception as a shop and record label in 1989, it has been a platform for innovative and boundary-breaking talent. 
Warp was first launched in 2001, they now lead the way to exciting and new film making. The company has been behind several films that have won awards such as BAFTAs. 
VERTIGO 
Vertigo films is a British film production and film distribution company. It was created in 2002 by film producer Allan Niblo. The company was formed for the express purpose of distributing and producing two films, The Football Factory and It's All Gone Pete Tong;  its current stated goal is to produce and distribute four films per year. 
MOMENTUM 
Momentum Pictures (also known as Alliance Films UK), an Alliance Films company, is one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland and releases approximately 20 theatrical films a year. In February 2011, Momentum Pictures won 8 BAFTA awards, more than any other UK distributor. 7 awards went to The King's Speech, including Best Film and Best Actor and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo won Best Film Not in the English Language.

Opening Titles..

In a recent lesson, as a class we looked at the titling of different films and how sometimes this draws the audience in more also the way in which the titling is presented often gives a great indication about what the genre may be. 


MOULIN ROUGE: 
The titling of Moulin Rouge, directed my Baz Luhrmann is done through all animation. There are different animated pictures of things such as a black cat, the Paris landscape, a top hat etc. These things all show certain themes of the film. 


(times) 
00.00- Music Begins 
00.01- Animated black cat appears dragging the titles- Baz Luhrmann 
00.05- Animated Paris city scape with larger black cat - La Traviata 
00.12- Animated Moulin Rouge windmill - MOULIN ROUGE
00.18- Animated diamonds appears- Nicole Kidman 
00.22- Animated top hat appears - Ewan McGregor 
00.28- Animated bearded face appears - Jim Broadbent. 

Cinema City Trip

As a class we took a trip to Cinema City in Norwich. Cinema City is an independent cinema, this means that it is privately owned. It tends to show more left field things, and more recently its begun to show art gallery tour screenings and operas. It attracts the more affluent audiences, giving the cinema more ambience, which is obviously much different to the larger chain cinemas. 


We were given some information and statistics about cinema over the years 
1948- UK box office admissions - £500m
1975- Jaws released- First block buster. 
1980- UK box office admissions - £50m
1982- VHS came along. 
1984- First multiplex opens in Milton Keynes. 
2008- UK box office admissions- £164.2 


In the UK there are 5 major film distributors- 
Warner Bros 
20th Century Fox 
Paramount 
Universe 
Buena. 


After researching and thinking about the major films that those companies churn out, its made me realise that i much prefer looking into the independent, more left field film makers. When i come to creating my film opening, i want it to have that sense of indivuality, and to resemble something that may be shown at Cinema City.