Opening sequence to 'Ace Kurtis' - Final Draft

Evaluation.

The brief we was working to was to create an opening sequence to our own action-comedy genre film called ‘Ace Kurtis’. We named the movie this as Ace Kurtis is the full name of our main protagonist and he also has a significant link with playing cards, hence the name ‘Ace’. During the opening sequence we see the main characters daily routine as we see him get out of bed and shower etc. However, as the opening continues we start to notice the presence of a child and a women as children’s toys are scattered around and the main character puts on a wedding ring. This then sets an enigma for the audience as it asks the question ‘’where are they’’ as we only see one character throughout the sequence. Also, throughout the sequence the audience will notice lots of playing cards are being used as these are significant to the story and set another enigma because the audience don’t know why. The comedy element of the film is vaguely seen during the sequence, for example our main protagonist wears feminine slippers, his tie is scruffy and he struggles to put the kettle back. The truncheon he reveals could also add a comedy element later in the film.

The primary demographic for our target audience is that they are mainly British/American and male. The certificate age for our film is a 12A so this ranges from 15-30 years of age but we are mainly aiming for people in secondary school. Our secondary demographic are people from foreign countries, women who are interested in the action genre and people aged 30+. Our audience will be people that normally watch action movies as they contain things that are stereotypically masculine, this includes car chases, explosions, gun fights etc. The film will be for explorers as our film will be for younger students. To find our target audience we researched the target audience to other action comedies such as Rush Hour and 21 Jump Street.

The company new line cinema would be most suitable to distribute our film as they have distributed other action comedies in the past such as Wedding Crashers (2005), Austin Powers (1997-2002) and Rush Hour (1998). Majority of the action-comedy that New Line Cinema distribute have the same target audience as ours so this makes them a perfect candidate to distribute our film.

I personally think we have reached our target audience as our research and feedback tell us this. Our audience profile is perfect for our film as many action-comedy movies have similar ones such as Rush hour. This makes our audience profile suitable for our movie. To receive feedback we put our opening sequence on Facebook. One comment says ‘’Pretty awesome work, better than most of the films coming out lately and hope you create more.’’ This comment came from a college student aged 17 and it is clear that he enjoys the opening sequence and this proves that we have reached our target audience. Also our feedback states that there is a clear presence of a child in the sequence, this proves that our use of enigmas have worked as we have our audience asking questions. However in our feedback we were told the editing could be improved as the cuts were to quick and this is something we look to improve.

We learnt a lot about technology whilst constructing our product. We decided to film our sequence on a mobile phone (Samsung galaxy s7) as we believed it was best for the picture quality of our sequence. The editing software we used was adobe premiere. We used this software as our editor shyam finds it easy to use and this helped us get the sequence edited within the time limit. I piece of technology that wasn’t so successful was Adobe Dreamweaver which is what we used to create our titles for our sequence. This was not so successful as we found it quite difficult to create the titles at first, this slowed down our production causing us to slightly rush when creating our titles. As you can see in our sequence some of the titles either faded to quickly or didn’t look like it flowed with the music.

Overall, our most successful element of our preliminary task was our research and planning. I think this as we managed to reach our target audience successfully and we would not have been able to do this if we did not research correctly.  Our most least successful element was our post-production as i don’t think we did enough promoting to get enough feedback. In future we should promote the sequence more on different social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube, this would ensure that we’d get enough feedback for our opening sequence. During production we made sure that we had taken the shots multiple times so it was perfect.  

Opening sequence- First draft

Our New song.

After deciding that the original song we chose did not suit our opening sequence, we decided to change it. We have still kept the concept of choosing a rock song as it suits the genre, however i feel this song suits the sequence more.

Creating The Opening Titles.

Whilst Shyam was finishing editing the Opening sequence, me and Razi started to work on the titles that were gonna come up on the screen. We gave each other different titles to do, I was given the first few titles that would come up on screen and Razi had the other half.
First of all, I had to learn how to create the titles, when i did i started to experiment. I created all different animations as i wanted to see which ones would look best. I experimented how they would look when they came on screen and off. When i finished i gave the titles to shyam and we started to put them onto the opening sequence and we started to figure out where they would go.

Our Main Antagonist

For our movie we are going to need an actor to play the antagonist, we will then put the actors name in the opening sequence. We will also need to put the names of the actresses playing the mother and daughter but we will make those up.
After some research I've have some good ideas for who should play our main antagonist:

• John Travolta: After seeing his role as 'Ryder' in 'The Taking Of Pelham 123' I think that John Travolta would be a perfect antagonist for our movie. In this movie we see Ryder take hostages on a train in new York and threatens to kill them if he does not get the amount of money he wants and Johns performence brings the character of Ryder to life. 

• Kevin Spacey: It was Kevin's role in seven that really made me want him for this role. In Seven, Kevin plays the Psychopathic killer John Doe. The character of John Doe is not what we are looking for in our main antagonist but Kevin Spacey Performance shows that he can play an amazing bad guy.

• Vincent D'Onfrio: Vincent plays the character of Wilson Frisk in the TV series 'Daredevil'. His character would be perfect for our main antagonist.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Offical Movie Logo.

We decided to remove the AK-47 part of our movie name and keep it as Ace Kurtis as we want to focus on the playing cards more other than the military background.

The Playing Cards- What Do They Mean?

I've already stated that the playing cards on the clue board represent the family and the suspects, however we decided to add more to the story so the cards make more seance and so that they have a purpose. We have decided to add the fact that the main antagonist and protagonist were former best friends and used to play a card game called 'killer'. After the kidnapping occurs, Ace is left with a pack of cards and a note. The cards helps Ace know who he is looking for and Ace has to play the game again...in real life.

Journal- Footage Review 2 (23/2/1017)

After another look at the footage we noticed that we could get more marks for our opening sequence which means we are going to need to re-shoot once again. We noticed that we could possibly lose marks for mise-en-scene as some things in shot should not be there. Also to get more marks we are going to:

• Have a wide shot of the bedroom.
• Add 3 more shots of our main character changing clothes.
• Have a variation of shots.
• The phone alarm will be heard from a black screen before being revealed.
• The phones screensaver will be a picture of the main protagonists family (Wife and Daughter) 

Journal- Editing- (22/2/2017)

After putting all the clips into Adobe Premiere, we found out we had about 4 minutes and 30 seconds of footage to edit down to just 2 minutes which meant we had a lot to cut out. The idea of the opening is to show short clips that show the morning routine of our main protagonist. Cutting it down into shorter clips allowed us to to create a sequence less than 2 minutes however we may need to cut more than we intended to. We also thought it was a good idea to put the Warner Bros and New Line Cinema animation at the beginning to make it seem professional.

Journal- Reshooting (21/2/2017)

during our free periods we decided to re-shoot the scenes that we thought were not perfect for our opening sequence. we re-shot the opening were our main character is in bed and his alarm goes off as the times on the phone and the radio were different and could be obviously seen. This was the only scene we decided to re-shoot in the first half of our opening sequence, the rest of the scenes occurred in the second half were our main protagonist is downstairs. we re-shot the scene were we see his feet walk down the stairs as we wanted to put a toy on the stairs to show the enigma that he has a child.  we decided to shoot the scene were he puts the wedding ring on and reveals the police badge from two different angles at once (birds eye view and a close up). We then re-shot the scenes were he makes his coffee as we wanted to shoot it from a different angle. The final scene we re-shot was when he finally looks at the clue board containing the playing cards as the clue board itself did not look good enough for the final product so we decided to add more playing cards to it which represent the character we will see throughout the film. We then looked at the footage and decided that we was ready to start editing our final sequence.

Journal- Footage Review

After reviewing our footage we noticed that we are going to need to re-shoot some scenes as in some scenes the camera is not steady and some other mistakes have been spotted. we are going to need to re-shoot approximately 7 of the scenes we shot the make sure our opening is perfect. We are going to re-shoot these during school times on 21/2/2017.

Journal- Filming- Day 2 (16/2/2017)

For the second day of filming, we had our props ready and we was able to film the second half of the opening sequence. One change we had to make was the fact that we did not have a gun for our main character, so we used a reasonable substitute and used a bat which would add a slight element of comedy as it is not a normal weapon that someone who is an ex-marine and former detective would use to fight crime. Also the clue board is made from 4 playing cards which are two queens, a joker and a king. these cards represent the mother, daughter, antagonist and the main character, the TV series Daredevil inspired us for this idea. The second half of the opening sequence shows our character downstairs when it becomes more obvious that our character has a family as we see children's toys and him put on a wedding ring.

Journal- Filming- Day 1 (14/2/2017)

We filmed the first half of the opening sequence as we did not have the props for some scenes, such as the kids toys, the weapon and the clue board. Therefore we only filmed the upstairs shots first were we see our main character getting out of bed to him getting changed into his suit and bomber jacket for his mission. We took many shots and decided which one was the best however we may need to re-shoot in the future.

Typography

For when our text comes up in our opening sequence, the typography will need to relate to the genre of the film. Our main character is a ex-military solider and currently works for the police force as a detective so we could use a military or police type font. Some Examples we have are:

A potential logo we could use:

OR

Our song for our opening sequence.

We decided to go for a rock song as it suits the action genre of the film. We got the idea from Zombieland to use a rock song as they did the same for their opening sequence. The Zombieland opening shows over the top zombie attacks whilst rock music plays over it which is a similar element we would like to use. I also like the beginning as it feels like the build up to action (someone getting ready for a mission)

Institutions

The production company may be directly responsible for fundraising for the production or may accomplish this through a parent company, partner, or private investor. It handles budgeting, scheduling, scripting, the supply with talent and resources, the organization of staff, the production itself, post-production, distribution, and marketing.Production companies are often either owned or under contract with a film studio, entertainment company, or Motion Picture Company, who act as the production company's partner or parent company. This has become known as the "studio system". They can also be mainstream, independent, or completely independent. In the case of television, a production company would serve under a television network. Production companies can work together in co-productions.

Film distribution is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marketing strategy for the film, the media by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing, and who may set the release date and other matters. The film may be exhibited directly to the public either through a movie theater or television, or personal home viewing. For commercial projects, film distribution is usually accompanied by film promotion.For our film we needed a distributor and production company so our group researched different companies to suit our film. In the end, we decided to go with New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. We decided to go with these as they have produced many films that work with the genre we are using. They have helped make action comedies such as Rush Hour and Central Intelligence. Both companies are own by the same people so it makes sense that we would pick these two companies.

Opening Sequence Inspiration: Dexter

Our main character is not a psychopathic killer like Dexter, however our group was inspired by the opening sequence and want to use the same elements for ours. Just like Dexter, we want to use lots of close up shots and zoom ins. We also plan not to reveal the identity of our main character until the end of the opening sequence. Our close ups and zoom ins will set enigmas to what has happened to our character as our opening will be set after the kidnapping of our main protagonists family has happened.  

Planning: Props

For our opening sequence will need many different props as our opening sequence has a lot of close ups on objects which will be used as enigmas for the audience
Props we will need are:

• Lifelike Gun

• Military Medals/Badges

• Family Photo
• Clue Board

• Police Badge

Planning: Character Costume

In our opening sequence the only present character will be our main protagonist. As mentioned he is a  detective for the police force and he is very cocky and humorous. To be able to portray this character we will need to get a appropriate costume for our actor to wear as our character will have his own style. I've envisioned him to still look professional but have his own twist on his attire, for example, id like him to wear a shirt and tie with smart trousers and shoes which would look appropriate for his job. However, instead of wearing a smart blazer to complete the suit, he could wear a leather or bomber jacket which will show his less formal side.

 
Brad Pitts Character of 'David Mills' from the movie 'Se7en' inspired me as his look shows what we would like to portray in our main character. His character in the movie is also very similar to the character we want to portray in our opening sequence. The compassion Mills exhibits translates into a overconfident or cocky behavior to the rest of the cops. Mills is a character controlled by emotion and throughout the film will show short-tempered responses. His costume helps portray the kind of person he is.David Mills wants to make a difference in the world. He fought to be assigned to a busier area, so that he could work big cases. He is dedicated and highly motivated, though a little over his head in the case depicted in Se7en. Admittedly, the film shows a once in a lifetime case, that would try any investigator. He is by nature hotheaded and impatient. He is prone to losing his temper and acting out violently when frustrated. As Sommerset puts it, he feeds off his emotions. Though this does not always serve him well, it also makes him physically courageous and a very dogged adversary. David Mills is younger and more athletic than his counterpart, and as a result he is more prone to physical action. He states that he has been involved in at least one shootout while on the job, and mentions other accomplishments. His physical stats are impressive for an essentially average guy. He engages in a long foot chase and running gun battle with John Doe in the second act of the film, and shows considerable speed and ability.

Discussion for our opening sequence

Our Main Character.

As stated in my film idea, we would like our main character to have a cocky and humorous personality and is very good at his job working for the police as a detective. To be able to bring this character to life we will need a actor to play him, so therefore i have researched multiple actors who id think would suit the role.

1. Ryan Reynolds- Ryan Reynolds found huge success when he played the lead role in the Tim Miller film, Deadpool. In Deadpool, Ryan plays a cocky and humorous anti-hero, which is similar to the character we would like to portray. Ryan has also been in other comedies such as 'The Proposal' and 'R.I.P.D'.
2. Channing Tatum- Channing has played in many action movies such as 'White House Down' and 'G.I Joe'. He is also well known for his roles in '21' and '22 jump street'. I personally feel he will suit the role as he is successful in the action-comedy genre.
3. Mark Wahlberg- Mark has experience working in action movies. He also plays roles in comedy movies such as 'Daddy's Home' and 'The Other Guys.' His role in 'The Other Guys' stood out for me as he plays detective alongside Will Farrell with a comical character. This is what we are looking for our lead role,
4. Will Farrell- As mentioned, Will Farrell plays a comedic detective in 'The Other Guys' alongside Mark Wahlberg which is what we are looking for. But unlike Mark Wahlberg, Will Farrell has been in a vast amount of comedy films, which I think will help get the comedy element of our film to its best if Will was to play the part.
5. Paul Rudd- Paul has played in many comedy films such as 'I Love You, Man', 'Role Models' and 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin' which will be good for the comedy element of our film, but his role that stood out the most for me was his role as 'Scott Lang' in 'Ant-Man' where he plays a superhero who can fight and has a comical personality. This is why Paul Rudd would be good for our film.
6. Kevin Hart- Kevin Harts roles in 'Ride along 1 &2' and 'Central Intelligence' are main reasons why he is a candidate for our lead role. In both these films he plays a extremely funny character alongside a 'tough' partner (Dwayne Johnson and Ice Cube) whilst trying to fight enemies. His comical personality is a main reason why i would like him to take the lead role.

Title Sequence Research: Zombieland.

Comedy doesn't get much blacker and darker than in Zombieland and these opening credits gloriously capture that fact. Metallica's 'For whom the bell tolls' sets the heavy metal mood while image after image of over the top zombie attacks set the tone for the wild ride that is to come for the audience. The red text represents connotations of blood which the audience will be hoping to see during the movie.During the sequence a sign that reads "the end is near" in the wide shot seen on the left gives the film an apocalyptic feel and, paired with the shot of zombie like people, suggests that a zombie apocalypse is vital to the film's plot. We also see the first name of an actor starring in it and the font used disappears off screen by burning away, conveying destruction.Another wide shot of three men and a burning car again continues the theme of anarchy and chaos as we see several notes of money launched into the air carelessly and a bloody person clashing with a riot shield, showing that this disaster is widespread and affecting all classes of people. These shots continue the idea that the narrative involves a zombie outbreak that destroys normality in this populated community.The title of the film confirms the zombie apocalypse narrative and continues the characterization of victims and zombies along with the theme of violence as we see a man smashing glass to get away from a zombie woman.

Title Sequence Research: Lord Of War

The opening Credits of the film Lord of war show the life of a single bullet, from its creation to its use which is to kill a child in a war torn country. Set entirely from the bullets eye view and set to the Buffalo Springfield song 'For what its worth' (which is used contrapuntally) , the credits set the viewer for a movie about the illegal arms trade. The white font of the text contrasts with the images of the bullets being made as the white has connotations of innocence.The font can also gives connotations of war and which relates to the title of the film and this also gives the audience an idea about what they are going to see in the movie as its suggests conflict and Russia which hints at a important part of the film.The sequence then moves to a shot of the production line, showing the metal casing of a soon to be bullet. Low key lighting, enhanced by a blue filter creates a dark atmosphere, giving off vibes which makes the audience uncomfortable. The tone of the clip represents the tone of the film, and the audience know this right from the start. The gold casing of the bullet shows the glamorous side to war, connoting the money and the power behind the act of crime; and the only light being reflected off it makes the audiences attention solely on this. This is what the film is about. The filth of the factory contrasts to the delicate copper plating running through it, reflecting the light of the factory. I can tell that the bullet is valued more than the workers or factory that makes it, they are just mules to be used and thrown away. The machine that creates the bullet has overcome the use for people, and that in the industrial struggle they are in, the bullet rules over men. The production stage of a bullet reflects the life it has, how it can start and end, just like the sequence when shot, how it can leave the barrel of the gun, and then end at its final destination; or relate to the life it has taken. The soldier who started by being trained to kill, and the end when a bullet reaches its target destination, and ends the life of its self and the soldier.

This shot introduces the camera work that has taken place, unknown to us before, we actually view the bullet in first person, giving it an identity, and forcing the viewer to forge a relationship with the bullet. this gives us a much more in depth understanding of the power it holds, as you see the delicate process that takes place. The metallic gold color shows the struggle between good and evil, as the contrast of the factory, just like before, represents the cold war that is taking place, and the effect it has on the world. The title 'LORD of WAR' comes on the screen, instantly confirming to the audience that this is actually about war, and not just a common relation with the term 'war', just like many films are. The size of the text is over shadowed by the presence of the bullet, towering over the letters, stating authority. The font isn't fancy. It doesn't need to be, the words that it says is just enough. It has no point to prove, and no means to over complicate the mise-en-scene of the shot. 

The angle the bullet is pointing in the next shot proves the point of destruction. We see workers working the production line, making sure every bullet is perfect enough to kill. Its this deadly accuracy, and precision that makes these weapons the most destructive in the world, killing more people than any other.  Numerous bullets flood the line, showing the mass scale of the operation. Sparks fly from machinery connoting the death and mayhem they create. The light passing through the window high lights the open world, and how these weapons are going to be released upon it. It also shows how poverty can affect the way people need jobs. The workers in this scene wont earn much, and I doubt their doing it for the passion of making bullet's. During war people are forced to do things they wouldn't normally do, making them at the mercy of their bosses and ranking officers, and especially in the production of weapons, they do not hesitate to eliminate you if you do not do a good job.