Alien³ Title Sequence Analysis

‘Alien³’ a 20^th century horror film about aliens uses many conventions to portray the film in various ways in order to indulge viewers into watching it. The title itself gives away the idea that the film is in fact about aliens and the numerous images of aliens during the sequence shown in frames 3, 4 and 7 helps to encourage the audience to develop ideas about the film, the images of aliens and people gives the idea that the film is about abduction of the earth and people. The clips of aliens and their fingers wrapping over the bodies of humans such as the young girl, woman and man shown in frames 2, 5 and 9 suggests that there are a range of aliens in the film, and the people may be a family as there is a young girl and two adults so the young girl could be the daughter of the husband and wife who have all been captured/abducted. In the sequence the people look to be in some sort of tube like container shown in frame 8, this gives the thought that the film is shot in a laboratory environment , however towards the middle of the sequence a woman begins to talk in a robotic tone, this suggests that maybe the film is partly shot in a spaceship, also towards the end of the clip part of the ‘spaceship’ hit earth and landed in the sea, this suggests that aliens are entering earth and possibly trying to take it over. The quick short clips and swift shots of aliens along with the loud ‘bang’, fire and the blood stain portrays the idea that the film is a horror or thriller engaging the interest of those who have like to have high adrenaline rushes. Very slow, shaky music throughout the sequence along with the occasional opera creates an uncomfortable atmosphere and the clips of aliens constructs a mysterious and somewhat strange mood. The long slimy alien fingers wrapping around the young girl produces the theme of death and abduction as well as creating threatening issues which intrigues audiences into watching the film to find out more. The title sequence of ‘Alien³’ creates many enigmas due to the people being captured in tube containers; one enigma created is why there are people in tube like containers? This goes on to producing more enigmas; are they dead? Who are they? Why are they being captured? What have they done? All of these enigmas help to make the film more interesting and mysterious therefore drawing the audience in and making them want to watch the rest of the film to gain answers from them.

 True Blood Title Sequence

‘True Blood’, a very explicit raunchy programme about vampires and humans has a very interesting, moving title sequence. From the title sequence we see a little boy with red berry juice all around his mouth, this is the 4 frame of the 9-frames and gives away hints that the programme is about vampires as the red berry juice imitates the colour of blood. Further into the sequence we see a sign that says ‘God Hates Fangs’ this also gives the audience an idea that the programme is about vampires and religion hating them. The 5^th frame shows moonlight, this also gives the idea that the programme is about vampires as vampires like the dark and come out during the moonlight. We also see scenes of church services and gospel choirs as well as people dancing in church this conveys the information that they are very deeply religious people, we see images of people praying and being baptised which are seen in frames 6 and 9. Further on in the sequence we see girls dancing with rednecks and their writhing bodies which shows that they may be poor and they are not glamorous, it also shows their loose sexual morals and that the women and rednecks are sexually active. The first and third frames show images of swamps and during the full sequence we see bars and clubs as well as churches, this shows the audience that the location is in the USA and the swamps show that the location is in the ‘deep south’.  The actors shown in the opening sequence are wearing vests, baseball caps and have beards; this is a typical redneck stereotype and encourages the audience to believe they are in a poor community. The 2^nd and 7^th frames show a snake looking like it’s about to pounce on its prey as well as a venus fly trap swallowing up an insect, also the 8^th frame shows the title ‘True Blood’ in a red liquid symbolising blood, this conveys the idea that the programme is a horror, drama or soap, or possibly all of them. It draws in the audience who like thrilling programmes which give that sense of mystery and terror. Throughout the title sequence there are some very muted colours, several images of death and decaying animals along with naked bodies and women in underwear, this creates a juxtaposition and leaves it up to the reader to establish connections and impose a meaning of these figures. These images create a sense of discomfort and a chilling mood, it also creates a mysterious atmosphere along with the tension of sexiness and sinister. As previously stated the woman dancing seductively with a man which generates the theme of sex, also the Baptist church service shows religion and sacrifice, the rotting rat and dog produces the theme of death and decay which is shown several times in the sequence, and the civil rights protest from the 60’s as well as the ‘ku Klux klan’ child creates the issue of civil rights as the clip shows images of protestants. An enigma created by the sign outside the church is ‘what does the phrase ‘god hates fangs’ mean? Why are there several images of death and decaying animal bodies? And why are the women openly letting themselves be open to anyone? These enigmas encourage the audience to want to find out the answers to them, therefore drawing them in to watching the programme and really engaging in the issues created throughout the series. 

The ‘Children of Men title’ sequence offers plenty of interest as well as really engaging the audience into wanting to watch the whole film. From the title sequence the audience gains an insight to what the film will be about, however it does this in a way which won’t give the whole film away, but just enough to draw people in. During the title sequence we see a group of people in shock in a café watching the news; the shock came from the news that the ‘youngest person in the world’ had been stabbed, ‘baby Diego’ was 18 years old and the disbelief from his death left everyone anxious. From this we can gain hints of the plot, no child has been born for 18 years which means that its coming towards the end of the world, also there were smoke and pollution from all the cars and red buses which also shows a deteriorated world and that no one really cares about anything seeing as they are all going to die soon. We can tell from the sequence that the location is Central London due to familiar London sights such as the big red buses, the English accents, St Paul’s cathedral and the metropolitan police in their uniform. Due to the big bomb blast and the quick view of the female holding her severed arm encourages the audience to believe that this film is a horror or drama which is a genre which interests many people. Also the screams towards the end of the sequence and the dull lighting creates a sad and gloomy mood, the scream really surprises the audience and jolts the mood and atmosphere. An enigma gained from this is why was the 18 year old boy the youngest person in the world? Also why was there a bomb blast, what does this suggest? These enigmas encourage the audience to want to watch the film in order to find out the answers to these questions and to satisfy their thoughts and issues.

Teacher Feedback Of Plot Development

‘Thor’ film concept analysis

The concept of Thor is about a Viking god who gets his powers taken away from his father, however he then goes back to real life and manages to save people’s lives and becomes a hero of the real world. The inspirations for ‘Thor’ come from the film ‘300’ as they are both similar in terms of costumes and colours as well as characters behaviours. The film ‘300’ also involves Viking characters and behaviours which influenced ‘Thor’. The Narratemes of this film is that a hero is tested for his power and he leaves home and a superhero is born. These narratemes help to establish the whole film as well as engage the interest of the audience as they may link to real life. The unique selling point of ‘Thor’ is the ancient setting and as the film is about Viking superpowers and a superhero who manages to save everyone it interests the audience into wanting to find out what happens to him and whether he does actually get his powers back or if they were permanently taken away from him. The film could really be of great interest to those who enjoy past life and Vikings as well as superheros and villains.  Also the film could engage those who have a love interest and like films which involve a relationship, 'Thor' has this as the hero falls in love with a woman.

'Shutter Island' film concept analysis

The film Shutter Island has a complex yet interesting concept, a prisoner is missing from a mental hospital/rehabilitation place and an investigator is trying to find her. The film also looks into actions and presents characters as they are confused and wanting answers. The inspirations of Shutter Island came from other films, especially one, Inception. Leonardo DiCaprio who plays a character who is confused and unsure on reality, similar to the character he plays in Inception and he also engages in similar behaviour for both. Narratemes used for this film are that a ‘villain’ tries to escape as she has special powers to make herself vanish. This reinforces real life situations of prisoners escaping from prison or people in mental hospitals escaping and when police have to search for them and find out the reasons behind all their actions. The unique selling point for this film is the use of psychological background and the area/location in which the film was filmed in. The location and set was very unique and also resembled the likes of a mental hospital and the other mental patients drew in attention to how bad this place really was. This really brings in the interest of the audience to want to know more and therefore want to watch the film.

This film concept is about a brain surgeon who kills a protagonist (hero) but fails to actually kill him. Once the protagonist is so called 'dead' the surgeon takes him and places him in a morgue to come back later and bury him. As the protagonist is not dead he becomes concious again and reads his own obituary in the newspaper. The protagonist can not remember a thing until the obituary brings back flash backs of the event and how it occured. The evil brain surgeon is still after the protagonist as he realises that he has escaped, the protagonist on the other hand tries to find the person who had done this to him and the reasons for it. 

Audience Feedback of Preliminary Task ('ROPE')

After we finished our preliminary task we presented our own individual pieces to the class and recieved feedback so that we could act on it and produce better quality media for our next main task. The feedback consisted of good points and bad which could be seen as improvements to be made for the main task. The good feedback was that there was a wide range of shots featured in the short clip, this consisted of close ups, medium shots, wide angled shots and master shots. Also there was a point made about good use of appropriate lighting, so there was a contrast from dark to light when one of the characters opens the blinds to reveal light into the room. Also the use of sound (male screaming) at the beginning was another good point made. However there were also some areas which needed improvements, there was no/faulty sound for the rest of the clip and the shots did not flow very smoothly, for this reason my improvements are to ensure that there is sound and produce continuity in editing my work so that it doesn't look like the shots are just fitted together but that they flow in a continuous sequence.
Below is my edited version of the film 'Rope':

Research and Planning of film (‘ROPE’)

During the research and planning of our film we had to create a block plan, storyboard and create a script for our filming. The block plan helped us in being organised and knowing exactly what point we were at in terms of filming. Our points consisted of 10 aims in which we intended to carry out step by step and the storyboard put these points into extra detail.

The storyboard consisted of drawn pictures and captions to explain what is happening in that frame. Both helped in showing us what we had to accomplish for each shot and how we had to position and move our characters. The script we used was made up and based in the original script which was used in the film.

The Film Industry and Production Process

The Film Industry & Production Process on Prezi

Preliminary Task Filming ('ROPE')

During the production process of our preliminary task we encountered some problems which made it challenging to smoothly complete the task. We had the problem of our film set, making it unique and interesting in order to draw attention to the most important parts of the film part. We solved this by using our creativity and imagination to produce a room out of cardboard, paint it and add small props and materials in order to bring out the characteristics of the scene. This also allowed us to put our own twist and ideas into creating the whole scene setting from scratch in order to enhance originality.

 Another problem which we came across was timing, as we had very little timing to complete filming and producing we had to use our free time to the best of our advantage in order to complete the filming in time to be able to edit. We managed to use free periods and lesson time to produce the scene settings and costumes for our characters as well as film our own version of the opening scene from ‘Rope’. Although we only had a short while to complete filming we managed to film the most important parts of the scene which capture the most detail.

 A third problem which we discovered was problems with lighting and sound. The lighting was a bit of a challenge as the scene involved blinds opening and light coming through the window, this was a bit tough to reproduce however we managed to resolve the problem by using the lights to be off during the murder to produce a dark tense atmosphere and then turn them on to really gain the detail of the scene. This managed to work out very well as the tense atmosphere really engaged attention

Valid information was learnt about the production process, we learnt that in order to produce good quality filming the camera must me set properly and the lighting and positioning must be perfect in order to capture perfect images. Also editing was challenging however we learnt vital information on how to edit our scene so the length of the scene was cut down to 1-2 minutes and so that only the most significant images were used.