Final Evaluation For The

Opening Sequence

Noli Cavolli

Task

My group was set a task to create an

opening sequence in a particular film genre.

The sequence was to be a maximum of two

minutes.

What it is about

My group chose the genre of sports

drama, which is about a boy with a

talent for football, which has not been

discovered yet, and he works as a

mechanic in a garage. We chose the

title ‘Kick’ as this reflects what the

opening sequence is about.

RolesDuring a group discussion we allocated different roles to those. There were only three of us so we each took responsibility for several roles. My main role was as director, cameraman and co-editor.

Conventions

To find out more about how we could make an engaging opening sequence in this genre we watched a number of opening sequence that related to this. For example ‘Goal’ and ‘Soccer Le Kids’. In ‘Goal’ the opening shots involved a boy doing lots of football tricks in his bedroom, which we thought we would apply to our sequence. As our actor is a talented footballer we chose a number of skills for him to perform which we would film to create an effective opening sequence of shots.

Research & Ideas

When we had done some research we made a mind map of ideas with everything we needed to cover such as: location, music, mise-en-scene, shots and roles for each member of the group. We then made a storyboard, which gave us a clear idea of the sequence of shots we needed rather than just randomly experimenting with ideas. Very little Dialogue was in the opening sequence. This is because we wanted to tell the story visually with a soundtrack.

Ideas

Storyboard One

Storyboard Two

Storyboard Three

Storyboard Four

Locations

When we had all agreed on the structure for the opening sequence we then started to look for a perfect location and start filming. As our character is a garage mechanic we wanted to choose an appropriate location, which would reflect his working-class background. One idea was to have him walking to work through a park but we didn’t think this would give the urban feel that we needed. We therefore chose to film him at a bus stop, which we all felt worked really well.

Trying Out Different Shots/One As we started filming at the bus stop all the shots are very close-up and rough and focused on the ball and footwork. When the bus arrives we do a whole shot of his face and therefore delay revealing who this character is. We want the audience to be impressed by his talented football skills and assume that he is a professional footballer. When the camera reveals his face and clothes they see that this is in fact an ordinary young man waiting at a bus stop.

Trying Out Different Shots/Two

As he waits for the bus we have the actor performing kick-ups and as soon as he sees the bus he catches the ball underneath his jumper in a very slick move. While we were filming two elderly ladies were also at the bus stop so this was a perfect chance to include them in the shot. Our actor moves away from the door and invites them to go first with a gesture and a welcoming smile. This was entirely improvised and we feel it gives the sequence more character and introduces some humour to the piece.

Trying Out Different

Shots/Three When I was satisfied with the result of the bus scene, before leaving the bus I wanted a scenes of the actor leaving the bus. I went where the exit of the bus was and we got prepared for the final scenes. When we watch over the footage we came to conclusion that everything was flawless however for the final shot of the actor leaving the bus was to fast. We started to fix the problem in Premier Pro by slowing down the footage. It took a wile to fix it but at the end it works out really well.

Trying Out Different Shots/Four

Once the actor left the bus, we carried on with the next scene. This involved him doing kick-ups towards a bench. Once he sat down, we thought it would be effective to set the camera behind the actor. In a different frame, we displayed the actor approaching the bench and sitting down. I was concerned that our different angle shots were becoming repetitive, so I came up with a different idea. In order for the audience to really see the film from the protagonist’s perspective, we filmed the shot from a first person viewpoint.

Trying Out Different Shots/Five

We wanted to get a shot where the actor is grabbing his overalls,

however when shooting this we went back to the footage and we notes

that the footage was to short and fast. As we have fixed this kind of

problem once we knew what we had to do, which it to slow down the

time. By accident we slowed the time a lot and we actually liked it. We

decided to keep the timing as how we left it and I think that this has to

be my favrot scene.

Trying Out Different Shots/Six

We wanted the audience to be intrigued by what the actor was cleaning, and what he does for a living. Therefore, we recording a short close-up shot of the actor’s hand. After a few seconds we continued with a medium shot. This scene was important for the audience to understand the piece and the character. Showing the actor working suggests that he is wasting his talent.

Trying out Different

Shots/Seven As this was the ending scene we wanted to end it in a way that will make the audience feel that the actors dreams has been smashed. So we came up with the idea that the camera would be stetted up towards the bins and the actors boss walking away from the camera and towards the bins. Then there is a clos up shot of the bin and the actors boss throwing the ball in the bin. Which by then the music ends with the ball going in the bin. I think that this set up work really well and how this lets the audience to think of what will happen next to the actor if he will stay working as a garage cleaner or a football star.

Equipment

As the cameraman it was clear that I had to use a DLSR camera (ESO600D Canon) to produce a better quality of film and also it would mount onto a tripod. All the filming took place using the tripod apart from filming in the bus, which was difficult to use because of the cramped space. I therefore decided to make it hand-held and I am pleased with the quality of the result.

Feedback After looking at more opening title sequences of sport films such as Goal, and talking to our audience, we thought our original idea would not engage the audience enough and it would give too much away for an opening title sequence. We have rethought our idea where there will be lots of shorts close ups of the boy doing lots of different football skills, not giving his identity away. This creates enigma and will make the audience want to carry on watching the film.

Conclusion

All in all, I personally believe our opening sequence has

stuck to the conventions of the sports genre and the

drama genre. Also we have followed the opening

sequence convention and that I fell that I can speak for

my grope that we are really impressive with our

opening sequence and it has been a grate making it

The Final Opening Sequence