Film Opening #5 - Music research

The music for our production was such a key aspect into making it successful. It has to build tension for the viewers and make the film flow so it is pleasing to the eye and doesn't look jumpy. It is also key because a typical convention for our genre was having a speech or some type of audio playing over the film opening to portray this image of the protagonist of being shown as isolated or being motivated by this speech/voiceover.

My partner being the producer and director had a clear image of what he wanted the audio to be like during the film opening. So as a team we agreed on having an instrumental at the beginning which will build the tension and tone of the film and then when the character is being introduced and being highlighted we will have a motivational speech to show struggle and motivation.
Below is a screenshot of an E-mail that we sent to the producer of the instrumental music that we want to use in our film opening. We had to gain confirmation that we were allowed to use their audio material so we were not in threat of copyright issues or plagiarism by claiming it as our own material.

Also included below is a youtube link to the audio that we will be using as the instrumental. We chose the instrumental due to its build up and and ryhtm which builds up tension and sets the mood for the shot.

We also found a speech to transition in from our instrumental. This is a big part of our film opening as it really engages the audience and the speech really highlights Chris's struggles and problems as it means a lot to him. We were allowed to used this as it has a Creative Commons license which allows us to use it for a non profit organisation.

Film Opening #4 - Roles and Responsibilities

Me and my partner have allocated each others roles which suit our strengths so that it is more clear on who is doing what and there is no confusion between us which may affect the over all production.

I have been assigned to take care of the camera and editing duties because I have the equipment and I have previous experience from photography and personally making videos at home.
My partner Harry has been allocated to be the director and producer of this production as he he his organised and is good at taking a leading role. He has a clear mindset of what he wants the final piece to look like so can easily feedback to me so we can work off each others ideas and see what we can agree on.

Film Opening #3 - List of Codes & Conventions

This post is simply a list of codes and conventions that we will feature in our film opening along with the effect they give:

Sport orientated- Instantly by making our opening sports orientated the audience will know that it will be based around sport. This will also give our film opening a more niche audience due to the context and genre.

Focuses on the main character specifically
The film is mainly based on the protagonist specifically and does not really divert off the main characters story. This is to try and create an implied relationship for the protagonist and the audience so the audience feel connected to the main character and follow him on his journey and may feel sympathy for him.

Use of flashbacks
The use of flashbacks is a key convention in our opening as it highlights previous events that link in with the current events going on. They give a good affect because they emphasise a point from the past either to show struggle, pain or motivation etc.

Use of speech or music (non-diegetic) during the opening
The use of non diegetic sound was a typical feature when we were analysing other films from the same genre. It can highlight the tension or isolation of the protagonist and help portray there mood that they are in.




This list of codes and conventions of our genre has helped and influenced us to gain an understanding of the direction were going in with our script, ideas and early planning stages.

Film Opening #2 - Style model analysis

On this post we will be analysing film openings which follow the same genre of our film opening that we will be producing. The purpose of this research is to gain inspiration and find typical conventions of the sport biography/drama which we can portray in our opening. The films we analysed we're Remember the titans, The Blindside, Express and Rudy. In our next post we will be listing key conventions of the genre we are focusing on. These are the conventions that we will use in our opening to portray the genre.

                                                              Click on them to view!

We analysed films were labelled Sport Biography Drama so we could analyse them to depict the conventions that make the genre. This was beneficial as we are going to portray those conventions on our film opening so it is clear what our genre is.