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.