Target audience

Who is the target audience?

The main target audience for our opening sequence will probably be teenagers up to people aged around 35 and it will be aimed at people of both genders. This is because thriller has a very large target audience and the main age range is around 16 - 35 so this is what we will plan to aim our opening sequence towards. It will be mainly aimed at men because they enjoy the high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and terror than women because it makes them feel more manly when they watch them. But some women enjoy these aspects as well, which is why it will be aimed at both genders.

Thrillers tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced, which is preferred by men more than women because they do not get the same excitement that most men get from watching a fast, adrenaline film.

Genre Choice

In my previous post I created multiple moodboards to try and help me and my group choose what would be the right genre of opening sequence to do and what would be the easiest genre to do.

Overall, from multiple pieces of research, I have learnt that horror is the most favourite genre and is probably the easiest to do. But speaking to my group members and other groups, horror is the most common genre being chosen because it is seen to be the easiest to create. 

After a discussion with my group members and we came to the conclusion that we should create a thriller opening sequence because it is easy to do with a good storyline and it can display multiple techniques. This is because it can contain conventions from horror movies but also action films so it consists of conventions of other genre's which will help display filming, storyline writing, acting abilities as it is hard to create a storyline for but if a good storyline is created the final sequence will look better than an ordinary horror or action film.

Genre Choice

What genre to choose?

Thriller

Horror

Comedy

Action

Sci-Fi

Adventure

Conventions of opening title sequences and why are they important

In general I think that opening sequences are important because they can display a lot about the movie without the audience knowing that they are learning about the movie. For instance; in all the James Bond movies like Skyfall, what happens during the movie is displayed in the title sequence whist the credits are being shown, which makes the audience think it is just something to entertain them whilst the credits are on, which it is but it is mainly to show the storyline of the movie. 

Also the title sequence will set the mood and tone of the audience for the rest of the movie. This is mainly seen in horror movies because the sound used causes the audience to become tense and then they will still be tense from the title sequence by the time the movie starts so they are in the right frame of mind; otherwise if the tension wasn't built up in the title sequence then when the film started they wouldn't be as scared as they are with the help of title sequence.

The title sequence can display the main location of the movie like in 'Forrest Gump' because it tracks a feather but it discreetly shows the setting of the film and this leads to the fact that title sequences display who the main actor of the film is by showing their face before you see anybody else's.

The main importance of title sequences is to display to the audience who the main actors are in the movie and who the director is and other people involved in the production of the film.

Survey Anaylsis

Survey Results Analysing

 From my first question I was able to see that the majority of people enjoy to watch Horror films, this suggests to me that maybe the best opening sequence to create would be a Horror because most people like to watch these types of films.

From the responses i took a screenshot of why people liked the genre Horror.

From these responses I understand that the people like the genre Horror because they know that they will be scared and they will go home satisfied, which doesn't always happen in action films because the action may be disappointing or a bit cheesy and over the top, which doesn't occur in Horror because the audience are constantly being scared even if it's too much they will still get scared because they can't help it.

From these responses I know what some peoples favourite opening sequences are, which means that I can watch these opening sequences and break them down and work out why they like these opening sequences and I can take ideas from them to put into my own opening sequence.

Survey Research

Target Audience Research

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Conventions of Opening Sequences

Narrative Opening Sequences

This is where the opening sequence tells a story, which sometimes actually tells you what happens during the film; the most common and well known example of this type of opening sequence is all of the 'James Bond' movies. In all of these movies opening sequences the story of the film has been told in the 2 minute intro but no one realises this because the producers use cartoons/anime characters so nobody catches on that it is showing them what is going to happen in the film.

                             
In this opening sequence of Quantum Of Solace it shows the main points of what is going to happen throughout the movie, which the audience doesn't realise until they have watched the film and they think to themselves "I just watched that earlier in the credit" which is a very clever way to display the credits; nobody realises until later that the opening sequence has told them what's going to happen in the film.

Another prime example of an opening sequence that tells a story is 'Catch Me If You Can' this opening sequence tells the whole story of the film like 'James Bond'   

Most opening sequences are not in this style because they give too much of the film away, but if it is done correctly the audience will not know that the opening sequence is explaining what happens during the film. Normally, the narrative sequences are more interesting because they have a story behind them whereas the non-narrative opening sequences aren't as interesting because sometimes they make no sense or they are one city skyline.

Conventions of Opening Sequences

Movie Company Logo Sequences

             

The logo consists of 24 stars because it was a tribute to the then current system of contracts for actors, since Paramount had 24 stars signed at the time. The logo began as a somewhat indistinct charcoal rendering of the mountain ringed with superimposed stars. The mountain used wasn't a real mountain, apparently it was a drawing by W. W. Hodkinson. This logo has a lot of relation to the company when it started up and involves only things that relate to the company.

This logo was designed by a special effects matte painting artist called Emil Kosa Jr. Originally the 'Fox' was actually 'Pictures' but in 1935 they decided to change it to 'Fox'. This logo is in the Art Deco design movement, which suggests that it was the design movement which was very big at the time that it was created and the artists just edited the CGI of the logo as the technology got better, the latest update to the logo was created by Studio Productions. The music used in this logo sequence is very well known and when it comes on everybody knows what company it relates to.

            
This logo sequence strongly implies the name of the company through the use of the editing and the soundtrack which is used. The soundtrack is very 'dreamy' and it makes the audience relax when they hear it because it makes them feel sleepy because of the light hearted tone and the very slow pace of the music. The editing implies the companies name because it is very clearly set at night, and it is a very unrealistic sequence, which implies that it is a 'dream' because you can only do unbelievable, unrealistic things in your dreams. The fact that there is someone fishing from the moon, implies the night time, dream theme and the fishing part strongly implies the dream because it is impossible to fish from the moon.

From completing this, I have learnt that most of the companies logo sequences either have a very strong relation to their companies background, like 'Paramount' where the stars around the mountain relate to the companies very first star actors and the mountain was drawn by an artist at the company.
Also, I have learnt that these companies use a very notable and recognisable soundtrack, which can be recognised as soon as they are heard, this is very apparent with the '20th century fox' logo sequence because as soon as it came on everyone knew what it was and most people started to sing along to it; they knew it so well; you hear it all the time and it gets stuck in your head every time you hear t.