Children's Film Final Clip

This is the final product from creating our opening sequence. 

Final ideas

Title-Ollie's magical time stopping adventure.

The main character, Ollie, has the ability to pause time and cause mischief. With the click of a pen ollie is able to pause time and resume time. futher on in the production ollie realise that his magical pen is missing whilst time has been paused, ollie then adventures on trying to retreave his pen and restore time.

Shot List
Reaction shot
Match on Action
Shot Reverse Shot
Establishing Shot

Costume, props and Location search
Costume - Casual Clothes

Main character dresses with a tie (makes him different to other characters)

Props - A pen... A pen of magical wonders.

Location - Around the College (Media Class and Refectory)

Soundtrack
Upbeat, magical style of music. Tense when the character makes a bad decision.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Film Classification

Advantage

• It prevents younger children from viewing films which could cause distress or en-doctrinate them to believe that things such as guns and other weapons are good to use.
• Gives an idea of what kind of audience will like the film.

Disadvantage

• Main disadvantage of film classification is that a lot of children stories/cartoons (e.g Spiderman, Batman) have become more adult-like and so have higher age restrictions... A lot of Batman films have 15 certificates were as Batman was meant to be a children's favourite superhero. Spiderman's movie release caused a lot of controversy as it was rated a 12 and because of protests saw the introduction of the 12A certificate.

Classifying a Clip

The clip we were given to classify was Home Alone.

Drugs

Near the end of the clip we noticed that during the black and white film the boy was watching, that there was quite a lot of references to drugs. The two characters looked like old-style gangsters. Although kids won't really catch the references because there was not really obvious assumptions of it. However, an older audience may catch the hints of drugs.

Horror

There was one obvious reference to horror, when the boy went into the basement and started hearing non-digetic noises which he believed came from the furnace. This is a stereotypical reaction to seeing something that looks scary and kids will obviously notice this.

Nudity/Sex?

There is a hint of nudity in the clip when the boy is in his brother's room and finds a Playboy magazine... Though you never see what he is looking at he makes an obvious reference to nudity by saying something about how the picture was disgusting because the person in it was naked. But younger audiences are unlikely to know what a Playboy magazine is so this shouldn't concern them.

Imitable behaviour

The boy running around the house in an adventurous way could influence younger children that it is fun to do the same as him and that it is acceptable when it really isn't. Also when he is watching the film he's eating a massive bowl of ice cream stuffed with marshmallows is also a bad. Other references of imitable behaviour are him using his brother's BB gun and him invading his brother's privacy as well as destroying his possessions.

Violence

The film that the boy was watching was the only real reference to violence. The massive tommy gun used by the man could encourage children to see guns as a fun thing to use as they don't understand the danger that a gun can cause. The BB gun is another reference to violence but it is only a small reference compared to the film the boy watched.

Language

The language used in the film wasn't so bad as it was not really swearing. The way the guys were speaking could encourage children to act in the same way.

Because of these aspects, we would classify Home Alone as a PG rather than a U mainly due to some factors being unsuitable for very young children. Certain factors that influenced this were the violence, the imitable behaviour and the horror.

Preliminary Task

180 degrees Rule
The 180 degree rule is a very important concept in video and film production. It refers to to an imaginary line which cuts through the middle of the scene, from side to side with respect to the camera. If the line is crossed it changes the viewer's perspective in such a way that it may cause a disorientating and confusing image. For this reason, crossing the line is usually something that is avoided. An example of the 180 degrees rule being in use is when characters are in conversation.


Continuity Editing

1. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots.

1. In most films, logical coherence is achieved by cutting to continuity, which emphasizes smooth transition of time and space. However, some films incorporate cutting to continuity into a more complex classical cutting technique, one which also tries to show psychological continuity of shots. The montage technique relies on symbolic association of ideas between shots rather than association of simple physical action for its continuity. Continuity Editing is used in most clips as it helps to make the clip more realistic by keeping a consistent style.
   
   
   Match On Action Shot 
   "Match on action" is when you cut during an action to another camera angle but showing the action from the same point in time that you left it from the previous shot. This is important to continue the flow of the scene. An example would be when a person is walking through a door to the door being opened from the other side.
   
   
   Establishing Shot
   Establishes a character in the location of the scene, for example a person walking down a hallway.
   
   
   Reaction Shot
   Reaction shots show how a character reacts to what another has said/done. It encourages the audience to believe they are in the same area as each other. An example of a reaction shot could be when someone discovers shocking news and shows how they 'react' to the news.
   
   
   Long Shot
   A long shot shows the characters position in a shot, far away range. This informs the audience of the characters positions relative both to one another and their surrounding. An example of a longshot is to emphasise the surrounding area or perhaps a large building in the distance.
   
   
   Shot Reverse Shot
   Shot reverse shot is normally used to show two or more characters in conversation which is commonly shown by the use of the over-the-shoulder shot.

Where we intend to film
In the the media corridor or the main reception in the B/C block hallway. 


Script
Key - 
A - Alistair 
O - Ollie 
B - Ben 
C - Christian


(First shot is a long shot on A and O in the hallway, they start to walk towards the camera)