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)

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.

Our Production Schedule

Reconnaissance

Here are our images from our chosen location for our opening sequence. We are going to film most of our opening sequence in the bedroom, then when the main character goes down stairs we will mainly film the rest in the kitchen. Areas such as the the kitchen and bedroom were quite small which would mean that we would need to work out where we would put the cameras to try to get the best angles and shots.