RESEARCH: TITLES 1

Spider man: Into the Spider-Verse

·                     Production Company – Columbia, Marvel, Sony

·                     Director(s)- Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Bob Persichetti

·                     Starring – Jake Johnson , Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfield

·                     Title -  Spiderman: Into the Spider Verse 

·                     Starring – Mahershalala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Nicholas Cage

·                     Casting - Muneeb Rehman 

·                     Costume designer - Justin K Thompson

·                     Special make up effects supervisor - Danny Dimian

·                     Sound designer- Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

·                     Music - Daniell Pemberton

·                     Film editor - Robert Fisher JR

·                     Production designer- Justin Thompson

·                     Director of photography- Ronnie Del Carmen

·                     Executive producer - Phil Lord, Chris Miller

·                     Based on novel - N/A

·                     Screenplay - Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord

·                     Producer - Christopher Miller 

·                     Director - Peter Ramsey

PRACTICE FILM OPENING

the brief (tabletop shoot; live action shoot; soundtrack of Emily Barker Nostalgia; titles)

Brief: Our task was to choose our props from a selection of items including: old alcohol bottles, blueprints, clothes, brief cases, jewellery storage etc. We chose Nostalgia by Emily Baker as we believed the song tells multiple stories, displaying multiple images all at once allowing for us to replicate a lifestyle sung about to create suspicion and curiosity from the viewer. 

Inspiration: We were initially inspired to create an original title sequence in groups (with props) due to the opening title sequence of the 1991 movie - Delicassen. 

We chose some fake bloody aprons and surgeon masks to demonstrate death and violence within the short film opening. We also found some fake money and placed it all over the black cloth to display the person as wealthy. Passports are also displayed to represent travel is this particular persons lifetime, this is then followed by photos and postcards along with a picture of a female with a necklace on the picture to represent what she left behind. 

VIDEO

What went right: My partner and I decided to create several themes which go together well when filming. For example, we decided on three main themes. Travel, illness, and jewellery/wealth. Travel was presented with photocopied passports and cash lying on the table along with a postcard. These images were laying on top of a bloody apron which brought in the link of illness. This was a direct link to blood/gore/hospitals. Throughout the tabletop shoot, we had notes lying around to represent the wealth on the focused person. There was also a nasal tube which further represented illness. All our themes fit together well as they were diverse but also closely linked when considering an older persons lifestyle and what could be occuring. 

What went wrong; solutions: Initially, it was difficult selecting the props. We had a clear idea about what we wanted to be shown on the table when filming, however, other groups had props we were looking to use, so we decided to improvise. We found originality with what we were left with. There were several aprons which looked undesriable when filming this opening. However, i decided to use the apron as an undercoat for the whole set. This meant all the props were sitting on top of a bloodstained apron. This had a positive effect on our opening as there was a subtle hint of gore which would allow for any viewer to question upcoming scenes. We also had trouble placing our objects as we wanted them spaced out but enough to make our opening last a respectable amount of time. We countered this problem by zooming into our props in more detail. This overall meant that every detail was shown and our opening was a reasonable amount of time and we had staged everything as we chose. 

RESEARCH: Art of the title: Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse

I chose to research Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse as the opening sequence inticed me. It starts off with the very typical Marvel comic sequence with all the heroes forming into the Marvel logo. 

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse is an american action/ comedy which is mostly based for 'teens'. The movie has such a fast paced opening with all of the cast and directors credits being displayed before the movie begins. Spider man is actually presented very early on in the movie. The first clip of anything that isn't a comic is Spiderman himself staring into a mirror. It is then followed by bingo balls and extremely short clips of him walking toward the edge of a roof. More credits are displayed, then he jumps. It is evidently known by all audiences that he is Spiderman and there is no harm of him jumping because he is able to swing from webs, however, it is luring the viewer in as it has more action scenes to come.

The use of mis-en-scene is extremely powerful within the opening sequence as it is extremely detailed, yet so rapid. This overall shows the sheer amount of detail displayed, despite there only being flickers of it. The opening switches from comic and real spiderman. This gives two sides to the film not allowing for the viewer to actually know how the movie is about to follow, causing questioning, allowing for the viewer to gain interest in the movie very early on. 

The music comes to a sudden halt straight after Spiderman jumps. It then switches to a man pulling the mask over his face and he begins speaking to the audience. This then ends the exciting build up and the viewers are able to get some information on what is to follow so they are able to assess the current situation within the movie and start guessing about what is to follow. 

RESEARCH: DISTRIBUTION COLLAGE

Kezia Williams is a Managing Director, UK, Film at Entertainment One at Entertainment One. She has over 17 years in the film industry and she provided me with knowledge about making a movie stand out from others giving it a unique edge. Kezia Williams explained that, in a congested marketplace, a distributors aim was to position a film in a way that it stood out for its target audiences.Similarly, Chris Besseling offered me a series of insights into how distributors market a film's USP (Unique Selling Point) such as its star cast, its provenance (such as literary adaptation or biopic credentials), its awards and good reviews. I watched a presentation by Kezia Williams, where she explains how distributors work to create a successful marketing campaign for each film. We investigated the aspects of a marketing campaign for a specific recent film such as:

-film website

-film posters

-film trailers

-facebook

-instagram

-twitter

-cross promotion

-news articles

Matt Smith of the FDA tells us that spend m digital has increased enormously. For instance, trailers are now cut to portrait viewing on smart phones. Digital includes all social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc) that work as a synergistic whole in promoting a product. Matt Smith also refers to paid-for marketing as distinct from the free publicity. Social media can generate viral marketing-free publicity.



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• its genre, such as biopic, literary adaptation, sequel
• its special effects
• its cast, director
• awards or reviews

Genre: Action, Crime, Psychological thriller: it is a prequel of further events/ joker movies to come.

The Joker is classed as an Action, Crime and psychological thriller. It is also a prequel to further Batman and Joker rivalry to come. It has many special effects within the movie, containing blood and car crash scenes along with a triple murder on the train which is extremely realistic. Joaquin Phoenix is an extremely talented actor and plays the role extremely well when displaying his mental illness in the movie. He is able to display emotions which are extremely realistic. The director Todd Phillips is also an extremely talented director who manipulates the audience to sympathise with the joker, even when he is killing people and breaking the law.

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RESEARCH: TOPLINE & BIG QUESTION

I learned from Frank Ash, creative consultant with the BBC Academy, about what he called 'Digital Storytelling': how to connect to an audience by creating a relevant story and how to leave them with a sense of anticipation and suspense.

When I start to plan my own foundation production, I will be devising a top line (one elegant sentence  that sums up the film opening treatment) and deciding on the big question (what happens next?)

Frank Ash has given me guidelines to plan my film opening, I tuned what I learned into a comic using comic life (above).