Film Opening Pitch

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FILM OPENING EG Pretty in Pink

1. One company ident at the beginning.
2. We have to look very carefully at titles and a range of examples.


Titles in order

PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESENTS
Sans serif font denotes a serious genre and perhaps social realist, a polysemic title.

A JOHN HUGHES PRODUCTION
Auteur theory. We would expect to see 'A JOHN HUGHES FILM' instead of 'A JOHN HUGHES PRODUCTION'. So this is unusual.

Narrative enigma in opening scene where main character isn't shown. Some degree of context is placed as overgrowth is shown, poor housing is shown as well as poorly maintained street and old, rusty cars.

Narrative theme on 'born from the wrong side of the tracks' meaning that you are from the wrong area.

WARP VS WORKING TITLE CROSSWORD

1. 2. An unexpected hit in the UK, making back its budget, this Warp ‘jihadi comedy’ was too controversial for the US and made just $300k there.
2. 5. Typical white, middle-class, southern English characters in this biopic/romantic drama, with a smart release strategy seeing it open on New Year’s Day, and picking up Oscar nominations.
3. 6. Proving digitization has made very low budget production possible, this £48k Warp X production is part-named after director Martin Scorsese
4. 8. Distributed by Rogue Pictures in the US, this is a triple hybrid: a zom-rom-com successfully appealing to male and female audiences
5. 10. Making use of its IP (intellectual property) or franchise and an A-list cast, this film made x11 its budget, and the OST (soundtrack) also sold well.
6. 12. Warp’s Welsh romcom had no stars and limited US appeal, making $0.5m there; the accent made it a hard sell
7. 13. A star vehicle for Matt Damon, this is Working Title’s 1st tentpole production, with a $100m budget
8. 14. A mid-budget $15m Working Title film that made just $2m in the US, reflecting its working class characters and real life gangsters not well known beyond the UK, reversing the Gant Rule!

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3. 1. Working Title’s 2nd huge romcom hit cast the biggest female star on the planet, an American, back when Polygram was still its distributor
4. 3. The Gant Rule argues that a US hit will take x10 the UK box office, but this 2nd romcom franchise sequel took just half the UK total despite the US lead
5. 4. Yann …, director of ’71, a Warp action thriller that might have had more box office success if it wasn’t set in Northern Ireland; UK and international audiences are more used to the southern English, middle class accent
6. 7. Proving that even Indies seek franchises where possible, this 2006 Warp film has now had 3 sequel TV series
7. 9. featuring the leads of the ‘Cornetto trilogy’ (Shaun… etc) but adding a US A-lister, this sci-fi/comedy hybrid had limited success
8. 11. A typically non-commercial (unlikely to make money!) Warp X film, this is about an illegal Asian immigrant in Britain!

Semiotics Rap

Semiotics are the words we use

To describe the techniques (pronounced use)

Binary Opposition is what we use to show the differences between characters

Protagonists are the main ones of those, who we focus on, they’re not anarchists

The further we go down the spectrum

there’s things that you wouldn’t expect hmm

We got Narrative Enigma to create mystery

You almost always see it on your t.v.

Convergence, a quite important thing

It’s where the lines of media blur

Subliminal messaging

Used in a lot of texts to get a point across

There’s the connotations, that we see

That make it easier to understand

The type of things that are on screen

The things we see that’s what they be

I can’t read, but that’s preferred,

It’s oppositional to me, cuz it’s for nerds

Binary opposites, they’re people on screen

They’re not at all the same which is quite interesting

To follow Stuart Halls preferred reading,

Common cultural knowledge is what we’re needing,

90 years old really don’t relate,

To all the kids who seem to congregate

A couple of kids might not like Notting Hill,

To other kids though, might appeal Kill Bill.

A 50-year-old might not like Paul,

But that’s because it’s not made for them at all.

SEMIOTICS applied to Warp Film posters

DEAD MAN'S SHOES

• The silhouette of the man is a signifier and it signifies a theme of mystery and darkness. This is anchored by the written reviews on the poster.

• The axe being held by the silhouette of the man is a denotation, this connotes the perhaps evil intentions of the man. This is anchored by the use of the colours red and black which can connote a horror-like atmosphere.

• The low angle signifies a dangerous character. Names are smaller than the reviews.

TYRANNOSAUR

• Rule of thirds, centrally framed connoting this man as the protagonist.

• Wrinkles, older man older audience. And serif font signifies drama genre.

• High key lighting on only one side- reflects his two different personalities.
• 'A film by Paddy Considine' denotes auteur theory.

• High angle - surprising for antagonist. He is contemplating and seems filled with regret according to facial expression.

THIS IS ENGLAND

• This is England immediately signifies that its is a social realist production based on and in England. This is anchored by the title being comprised of colours of the union jack.

• Two buildings are in frame on either side, signifying working class characters. This is then anchored by costume and urban decay such as that on the fence.

• 'A film by Shane Meadows denotes the auteur film theory.

• The film is based in the 1980's but there is nothing to obviously signify it, so it is polysemic.

• Wide long shot denotes ensemble cast, not a star vehicle and it also signifies a community.

SEMIOTICS applied to Working Title posters

LEGEND

• In the poster for LEGEND a signifier is the black and white behind each character. The black signifies a villainous character whereas the white signifies a more heroic character. 

• There is use of Binary Opposition in the poster, however the 'heroic' character is slightly passing the line between the two which signifies an anti-hero element to his character. 

• The weapon is being held in the black side which is a denotation and would connote that the heroic character does something villainous with the gun.

Legend on IMDb

Rotten tomatoes

BRIDGET JONES'S BABY

• In the poster for BRIDGET JONES'S BABY, the signifier is that there are two male characters looking a single female character which signifies a love triangle. 

• We can denote the female being in the middle which connotes that she is the main character, according to the rule of thirds.

• We can also denote the appearance of the males on each side, one having a stubble which can connote a more villainous person whereas the male on the left is clean shaven, which connotes a nicer character, more innocent character.

BRIDGET JONES'S BABY on IMDb

SHAUN OF THE DEAD

• In the poster for SHAUN OF THE DEAD, a signifier is the flowers and cricket bat which are being held by the centre character (rule of thirds), this signifies the genre of the movie which is a zombie romcom.

• We can denote the male holding the flowers and there being a female by his side which connotes and anchors a theme of romance in the zombie film.

• The 'com' is anchored by the use of bizarre weapons that do not seem to be an effective way of battling hordes of zombies. These consist of a cricket bat, a shovel, a chain and flowers.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD on IMDb

Prelim PRACTICE1

FINAL CUT

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INSTALLING AND USING FONTS
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To download fonts you need to do the following:

• Find a website where there are fonts available for download.
• Select a font.
• Click download and make sure that the file it a True Type Font (ttf).
• Double click on the file and click 'install font'.
• Make sure Final Cut Pro is closed when doing this otherwise you will have to restart FCP.
• Open Final Cut Pro.
• Select a title and drag it in.
• Finally, select the font that you have downloaded.

ADDING SOUND EFFECTS
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To add sound effects you need to:

• Find a sound on YouTube.
• Copy the URL of the video.
• Use a website to convert the video to MP3.
• Now, import the sound to Final Cut Pro and use it.

USING GREEN SCREEN
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To put a green screen video into your project:

• First, find a green screen video that you wish to use on Youtube (or you can film something of your own using a green screen available to you.)
• Copy the URL of the video.
• Download the video.
• Import the downloaded video to Final Cut Pro.
• Drag 'Effect Keyer' onto green screen clip.

VOICE RECORDING
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To input your own voice recording within Final Cut Pro:

• Navigate to the top of your screen and click window.
• Click record voice over.
• And place the voice recording where you want it.