Our opening title sequence pitch

The 180-degree rule workshop:

Also known as crossing the line. It is a technique that film makers use to make sure audience know where everybody is and know where all the action is. It is a line between two subjects in a scene, where from behind that line, in a sort of semi-circle, you can position cameras around to show where the two are, and where they are facing. If the 180-degree rule is broken it doesn’t look or feel right for the audience. The best way to figure out the 180-degree rule is to decide which way your actor is facing and keep them facing in the same direction throughout the duration of the scene.

 

 

I am going to try and demonstrate the 180-degree rule. First, I am going to do a wide shot. I am using two different coloured boxing gloves for my example. The second photo shows the line between the two subjects in the frame, and the semi-circle drawn around it where cameras could be positioned.

 

 

Now I am going to try and demonstrate it with an over the shoulder shot. We can see both the black boxing glove, and the red boxing glove in this demonstration, and although it is coming from a different angle, the 180-degree rule is still in place.

 

 

Finally, I am going to use a close-up shot. Since the subject is still facing the same way, the 180-degree rule is still working, and still in place, and the audience still know where the black boxing glove is.

Elaine Bass joined Saul Bass & Associates in 1955, and a few years later, by the 60s, she was working on much of Saul Bass’s title design in collaboration with him. Some of his, and their work was:

 

-   Not With My Wife, You Don’t!

-   Goodfellas

-   Higher Learning

-   Ocean’s Eleven

-   The Cardinal

-   Vertigo

-   Big

-   Casino

-   Seconds

-   The Seven Year Itch

-   …and many more

Here is a video showcasing some of their work in opening title sequences:

 

 

Saul Bass was born in May of 1920 in New York, and soon came onto to be a graphic designer and an Oscar-winning filmmaker, known primarily for contributing most of his efforts towards title sequences. 

His career spanned 40 years, in which he was able to work for a few of Hollywood’s most prestigious filmmakers of the time (Billy Wilder, Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock and more). Despite being most well-known for his work in opening title sequences, Bass also designed some iconic logos for corporate company’s in the States, including AT&T and continental airlines.

 

He died at 75 from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1996.

 

Elaine Bass was born in 1927 (also in New York) and married to Saul in 1961. She worked for 40 years beside Saul and was one of the main designers responsible for helping transform title sequences and short films into art forms.

 

 At the beginning of her career, Elaine worked in fashion, drawing up designs for several “fashion houses”. She decided to move from NYC, however, and ended up relocating in Los Angeles in 1947, moving there permanently in 1954.She found work there for Capitol Records, and she recalled: “After about a year I was looking for something more challenging when someone told me that Saul Bass was looking for an assistant. I had enjoyed the credits for ‘The Seven Year Itch’ very much but the name Saul Bass didn’t mean anything to me”. And so Elaine joined his office in 1955, and by 1959, Saul was distributing critical tasks to her. She was able to work on Spartacus (1960) as the co-designer of the title sequence. From here on, her career with Saul took off, taking a step back in the mid 60s-80s to focus on their children.

Independent research project:

 SWAT techniques for entering a building:

 

As my idea is based around the police, or a higher level of law enforcers entering a building, I thought that I should do an independent research project to find out a bit more on how police or SWAT teams’ storm into buildings. To start off my research, I watched this YouTube video on an FBI SWAT team clearing rooms in practice.

 

 

It seems that from what I’ve learnt from this video, when storming into different rooms, they cover all possible angles they could have on the door without compromising their position or the sight the target may have on them. There are 6 of them in the group of the SWAT team, and they seem to split up into 2 groups of three when they storm into different rooms, with three of them on the adjacent wall close to the door, and the other three on the opposite wall, further away but with a better angle on the room inside. The formation doesn’t change, so it is always the same three, and also always the same two front men leading the three. One thing that is also consistent through the exercise is that every room that they storm into, they through a flash bang grenade in before to stun the enemy. This is once concern I have as I’m not sure how it will be feasible to get or use a flash-bang whilst filming this scene.

 

 

The uniforms from this exercise have enlightened me as well. I always pictured this scene with the police officers, or the swat team in a navy blue, police-like colour, as oppose to the full camo that this team is in. However, besides from the colour, they are wearing exactly what I imagined, with the full suit, and the bullet proof vests and the helmets and glasses, holding guns. The only thing that I was curious about was if swat teams dressed in the navy blue that I had previously wanted for this opening title sequence.

 

 

This is what I thought the police officers would be dressed like in this opening scene.

 

The only other thing that I needed to research is their formation when running in open areas. My original idea for this opening title sequence was the have them coming out of police vans, but it wouldn’t be feasible to get police vans, and if they came out of regular vans, they may give off connotations of being bad guys as oppose to being the police. Now I think that I am going to skip that part of the opening title sequence, and just have them running towards the building they are going to storm, and so I need to research formations for running in open areas. I always imagined that they would be running in the ‘flying wedge’ formation, as it looks realistic, adds no unnecessary complexity to the scene and also adds depth to the shot. It can also be achieved with fewer cast members.

 

I think this is a good formation, as all the other formations that I have researched are for when police are having people run at them, like in a riot for example, and so the police stand in a flat line to stop any attackers breaking through gaps. I will continue to research the formations, as I want to get it right, but since the shot of them running towards the building won’t be very long, I think that the ‘flying wedge’ is a good formation, as not only does it increase the depth of the shot and can make the cast look bigger, but it also conveys that they are police officers running in a specific formation as oppose to criminals attacking haphazardly.

“Rule of thirds” workshop:

For our online lessons, we had a rule of thirds workshop from our Media teacher Matt

 

The rule of thirds is essentially breaking up the shot into a table consisting of three individual and even sections horizontally, and three individual and even sections vertically. Where the lines sit is very important to us, even more so than where the boxes are. Where the lines cross over each other are the points of interest. We should try and get rid of any headspace above the subject so that one side of the shot is filled, whilst also getting a good view of the background.

 

I had a go at home trying out the rule of thirds at my desk with my water bottle being the subject. 

 

As much as possible, we should try to put some depth into our shots. Try and have a distinguished foreground and background, and try to make the background interesting, and not dull.  A great area to film is a staircase or stairwell, as they give a long perspective.

 

 

I tried it again with depth, only this time I used two pens, one in focus in the foreground to be the subject and another out of focus in the background.

 

Lighting can be used to make the shot even better. By turning some lights off and other lights on, we can create again a more interesting shot, and also come closer to the shot we want. To achieve this in an area where you may not have access to all the lights you can use in the studio, you will need to get creative. For example, around the house, you may need to move lamps to get the right shot, or even turn on your TV for a very bright, soft white light to the side of your subject, out of shot, but still providing light to the shot. Windows, in the daytime, could also be used, and also computer monitors.

 

I also tried it out at home with the lighting. I googled a red background, and turned the brightness up to give the photo a red tint. I think this worked well as the water bottle is made from a fairly reflective plastic, and so the red background resinates throughout the shot because of the bottle. 

My Media Group

For my opening title sequence, I have been paired with Neave and Maddie. To make sure that
our idea is as good as it can be, we are communicating through WhatsApp messages.

Feedback from my idea

 Feedback for my idea that I pitched:

 

In my media group, I pitched my opening scene idea 3 to my group. The feedback that I received was very helpful towards developing that idea into a reality, unless one of the other ideas is chosen. Both the members of my group liked the idea but thought that there were a few impracticalities that could be altered to making the filming process more doable. For example, the poker scene would be very difficult to pull-off without it looking poor, and we would have to rely on good actors. The actors would also have to be teachers as 17–18-year-old students playing a game of poker wouldn’t give off the same criminal tones as older men playing poker. It would also be a nuisance setting up the cards and making sure the actors could play poker. Also, it would be difficult and impractical to get a piano in a dark room, and for him to be playing a good enough piece for it to sound good, whilst also acting. As oppose to these ideas, we thought that two different scenarios would be better for the scene, for example having a tied-up girl with a bomb near her, and some other form of dangerous situation in the other room and having the police storm into a building where we aren’t sure who is going to be saved. This would allow for more time to prepare an easier and more practical opening scene. It would also cut down the cast size. I am very happy with the feedback that I received, but after listening to my other two members of my media project ideas, I would be very happy to do any of their ideas as I really enjoyed their pitches.

Idea for an opening scene 3 (Contrary Motion):

Genre: Action

 

Description of the opening title sequence: This opening title sequence would contain three parts to it. It would open with a shot of a man playing the piano in an empty room, lit only by a singular desk lamp. He is very focussed on the music he is reading and what he is playing. After this shot of the pianist, it would cut to an exclusive poker game of about 4 members, again in a dark room lit only by the small lights around the poker table. The pianist is very focussed, and the poker game is serious with a touch of comradery between the players. After switching between the pianist and the poker game for about a minute, the scene cuts to a shot outside, where a couple of vans pull up, and a group of fully armed policemen pop out of the vans and start swarming a building. As the policemen start readying themselves for breaking into the building, the camera cuts between them, the pianist and the poker game. Just before the policemen break in, the camera cuts to the face of the pianist, and he shows that he knows what will happen next. The camera then cuts to the policemen as they count down from three and enter the building, and the screen goes black, with the audience left unsure of who’s building the police stormed.

 

Brief narrative of the rest of the film: After this scene, it is shown that the policemen stormed the building with the poker game inside. The rest of this film is essentially about a criminal (the pianist from the opening title sequence) who makes policemen believe they are about to catch him, but as oppose to catching him, he leads them to another criminal instead. The rest of the film would contain examples of him doing this, and then at the end being caught by the policemen in a clever way.

 

Inspiration or similar films: The opening title sequence didn’t have a lot of inspiration, but the idea for the film was inspired by the Steven Spielberg film Catch Me If You Can, as it shows the work of a con artist, but as oppose to someone who consistently seems to lead the FBI down a wrong trail, the protagonist for my idea will lead them to another criminal, making him hated by both criminals and police officers.

 

 

Where would it be shot: For the pianist and the poker game, since the room is going to be dark, and lit by just one light, the room just has to be big enough to fit a piano and a poker table in. For the policemen who are outside for the entire scene however, the building that they are storming I always envisioned to be very similar to the theatre building at school. Red brick and space outside of it so that the camera could get shots of the policemen running towards the building from the bus.

 

How big would the cast be: The cast would contain 1 pianist, 3-4 poker players, and 4-5 policemen. Since the policemen I envisioned would be in full police gear, and would likely have helmets, and other forms of face coverings, the person playing the pianist could also take the role of a policeman provided his face couldn’t be seen. I think that the cast size for this opening title sequence would be around 7-10 people.

 

Sound: Again, there would be no non-diegetic sound in this opening scene. There will be use of a sound bridge as I want the sound of the piano playing to continue through to the poker game and to the policemen shots as well, but the volume of the piano would be turned down to hear the diegetic dialogue between the poker players and the policemen. There would also be the diegetic sound of the vans pulling up, and the sound of the policemen getting ready and running in their gear.

 

How would I show the titles on screen: I would show titles in a very posh white font for this opening title sequence as I want to emphasise that the main protagonist (who isn’t made clear from this title sequence) is sophisticated and experienced in his crimes and in the way he manipulated the police.

 

Idea for an opening title sequence 2: (One Down Three to Go)

Genre: Horror

Description of the opening title sequence: The title sequence starts with an opening shot of a bruised, bleeding girl tied up to a chair in a big open room at the end of a hall. She gets the gag out of her mouth so that she can shout for help, and after about 10 seconds of her shouting for help desperately, the shot moves to another room, adjacent to the hall, but out of sight from the girl. In this room, there is a man, and he goes over to a vinyl record player attached to a gramophone speaker. A 50s, spooky folk song starts playing, and the camera moves back to the girl to see her reaction to the music, and she shouts even louder and more desperately. The man who started the music then moves from the room he was in, into the hallway. The camera follows him from behind, and the only part of his body that it captures is his upper legs and lower body, so that the audience can see that he is carrying a long machete. The camera follows the man, who is walking towards the woman tied up, and switches shots between, the man walking, and the machete dragging across the floor (in both shots however, the girl is in the background getting more desperate, and screaming more and more as the man gets closer.) When the man gets close enough the woman gets quieter as she anticipates her fate, and the camera moves to watch the machete wing in the air, and the screen goes black before the machete is seen hitting the girl, however even whilst the screen is black, the sound off the machete hitting her and her scream are still heard. During this entire opening sequence, the audience do not see the face of the man with the machete.

 

Brief narrative of the rest of the film: The rest of the film would be three others who are already in that house but locked in different rooms. They all manage to escape their rooms but can’t seem to find their way out of the house and end up finding each other and having to learn to trust one another to get out of the house without the man knowing or seeing. The man finds that they have all escaped the rooms they were locked in, and hunts for them around the house killing two of them, and as the last one is just about to be free, kills him too.

 

Inspiration or similar films: I got inspiration for the narrative for this opening scene by thinking of the scariest situation I could imagine myself in, but other horror films that are similar to this that I have watched are Jigsaw, Terrifier and Hush. However, the most similar film that gave me a little inspiration for this opening title sequence was the thriller film The Purge, as it shows people locked in a house with people trying to kill them.

 

 

Where would it be shot: I always envisioned that this opening title sequence would be shot in one of the boarding houses at school, preferably the oldest building, since I want it to be fairly dark, and I want an old house to accompany the old use of technology used for the music to play, and the older 50s music.

 

How big would the cast be: The cast for this opening scene would be 2, the girl who is tied up, and the man who is killing her.

 

Sound: This opening scene would contain purely diegetic sound. It would have dialogue from the girl, and music played by the man on a vinyl record player. The song that I had in mind for this opening scene is Sleepwalk by Santo and Johnny, as it combines the poor sound quality of a song written in the 1950s with dissonant slow guitar making it sound quite creepy. Also since the song was actually written in 1959, the poor sound quality of it isn’t artificial.

 

How would I show the titles on screen? The titles in this scene I always thought would be in a very jagged and sharp font, to make it look like someone had used a machete to write them. I also thought that for the actor who plays the girl, when her name came on screen, her name would be written in white to emphasise the purity and innocence of her character and how she is the victim, whereas when the actors name who plays the bad guy, I would want his name written in a darker colour, or perhaps red to link back to the blood of the people he has killed.

 

Inspiration for the use of the titles: I got my inspiration for the font of the titles from an American Horror Story series that I watched in class, as the font was also very jagged and knife like.

 

Idea for an opening title sequence 1: (Painting Battle)

Genre: War

 

Description of the opening title sequence: This opening title sequence would be for a war film and it would exhibit shots of war in it. My plan is for the opening shot to be of a female artist, painting alone in a very tranquil and calm environment. This would then be juxtaposed with fast and brutal shots of battle in warm with the camera focussing particularly on one of the soldiers of whom is the husband of the female artist. As the war scenes get more intense, the paint strokes also do and the artist gets more vicious with her work, which will signify that she is imagining what her husband is doing in war and is getting increasingly concerned and scared for him. The title sequence would then end with a shot of a letter box with a man putting a letter inside from the base of the artists husband, but the audience cannot tell whether the letter brings good or bad news, and this is where the scene ends with this question unanswered.

 

Brief narrative of the rest of the film: After this scene is over, the artist finds out that her husband is missing from his base and missing from battle. The woman learns with her friends how to cope with this news, and struggles throughout the film, and towards the end the husband appears at her door from battle after having been injured in war and no one going back to save and having to flee the warzone. At the end of the film, the husband is charged with the crime of desertion and is forced to go to prison for 5 years, but through this him and his wife are still happy.

 

Inspiration or similar films: I didn’t have any direct inspiration for my opening scene as a story, but I got the idea of juxtaposing the artists tranquillity with the destruction of war from films that use classical music, or peaceful music to accompany violent scenes, for example in Die Hard when it uses Beethoven, and in Platoon when it uses a beautiful string section whilst showing soldiers racing into battle and getting shot.

 

Where would it be shot: The war scenes would ideally be shot in a wooded area where its slightly darker and it looks more like a war scene. The fast shots combined with close trees in a compact forest also will make the war seem more intense and realistic. I envisioned the war shots to also be quite dark as well so that the fear of the unknown also comes into play. The artist would be inside, in a messy room full of what looks like her own art. I picture it to look like a warm, cosy room to juxtapose against the war scenes even more. The only other area where we would need a shot for this opening title sequence a house with a letterbox.

 

How big would the cast be: Besides the artist and the main soldier (her husband), the cast would only be slightly bigger. For the war scenes I would rather that the enemies weren’t visible as it again creates the fear of the unknown and makes the war zone seem more dangerous. 4-5 more soldiers are needed to make it look like there is a full battle taking place, and other than that, we would just need someone to post a letter into a letterbox. This cast size would be about 7-9 people, with flexibility, as someone who played the role of a soldier can also play the role of a postman provided that we don’t show the postman’s or soldiers face.

 

Sound: There would be no non-diegetic sound and little dialogue in this opening sequence. I picture the artist listening to classical music whilst doing art, and this being disrupted with the ambient diegetic sounds of war. The only bits of dialogue present in this opening scene would be soldiers shouting to each other whilst in battle, but no conversations would take place in this opening scene other than brief ones between soldiers.

 

How would I show the titles on screen: Since this opening title sequence is quite action packed, I thought that the best way for the titles to appear on screen would be just written out and in order, so that the titles don’t add to the complexity of the scene and hinder it.