Billy Elliot was where i got the inspiration for the narrative of my film from. The ideologies of being a teenage boy and challenging the expectations of your identity. Does being a tap dancer mean your less of a boy than your mate who plays football?

The opening of my film is going to be very unexpected. There are going to be no hints at all at this boy being a dancer. The viewer don't know where my character is going or why they are walking.

The opening of Billy Elliot doesn't give it away that the main character is going to turn out to be a ballet dancer but because i am only making an opening and i want some narrative in it i am going to show the boy dancing in mine.

I've put the opening of Billy Elliot on here although it doesn't have ant music for some reason.


I also watched the opening of Juno when we first got given the brief for this coursework. That gave me the idea of someone just walking along in the opening, just simple.
I've put it up on here aswell.

Social Realism

The film opening i am making as you know is on the Social Realism genre. I have been looking at a few openings to some Social Realism films and getting more ideas of how i can construct my opening to have some of the characteristics that these have.
The first film i have looked at is A Room For Romeo Brass by Shane Meadows.

What i like about this opening is that at the begining there is no music just digetic sound. It makes it feel more than a film and brings you in. Theres no real dialog just a brief conversation between the two characters. The location in which it is set is very basic just a field, a chip shop.
I also like the titles, as they are just simple plain white fonts. I think this gives it more edge and more 'realism' to it.

At the beggining of my opening im only going to have digetic sound too, but about 10 seconds into it i will have non-digetic sound over the top.


The next opening i looked at was This Is England also by Shane Meadows.

This Is England is one of my favourite films so this had to go on here! My opening isn't going to be like this: clips from documentories etc. but what i do like is 27 seconds into this clip there are some garages with graffiti on them. I like the fact that it's not art graffiti just like someone has written it there.
I want my titles to be like that on a wall as my main character is walking past them. For example the directors name, editor ... you get my drift.
I think that will give it a modern feel as it is not set in another era but today.

Kes was another film i looked at.

I know the clip is 10 minutes long, but i am just looking at the first 3ish minutes.
This film again is very basic, no special effects just basic cuts as edits. this is what i'm going to do with my film, no fancy effects, i want to just keep it simple but effective.
Again the basic white font is being used, i don't think i could use both grafiti and plain white fonts, i don't think the flow would work.
Again, i like the music coming in at 2 minutes not straight away. Something i am going to consider with my opening.

Continuity Piece

This is our continuity sequence. It's a bit short but as this was the first piece of film production we done we was very pleased with it.
We edited it on i-movie and it was really interesting to see the post production stages of film making.

Filming

I have filmed my project and i think it went very well. I got all the shots and angles that i intended to shoot. We filmed all the footage in the same day to maintain continuity.
I was very lucky that it didn't rain half way through the day but it was freezing!
Bring on the editing!

Titleee.............................

Because i got my idea of my film from 'Billy Elliot' i decided to look at the soundtrack names... I ended up deciding between two songs as the title of my film.
So it was between 'Cosmic Dancer' and 'Boys Play Football'.
I decided my film will be called Boys Play Football.

Music la la la...

Thinking about the music has made me consider my character a bit more. I don't really fancy having hardcore R & Bizzle over it. So.... i think of changing my character to a skinhead-indie boy instead of a 'rudeboy'- Just so i can have better music over it!
I'm listening to some music now so when i decide what i'll be using i will blog it!

Fonts!

I have a few ideas for fonts to use as my credits for my opening. I really like the idea of graffiti on the walls as the character walks past them. Not big artistic graffiti but simple, like the picture, which has been taken from 'This Is England'.

E,g. i will have my character walking and he will walk out of the shot and the name of the director will appear on the wall.

Also, in the picture there is posters stuck on the wall, i like the idea of one of them unrolling on the screen and some of the titles will be on there.

This will set the mood of my opening as it shows rebellion and my character is rebelling against the expectations of his stereotype.

Locations And Stuff...

I got some ideas from a few videos for where i want my location to be.

I thought the Arctic Monkeys music video 'A View From The Afternoon'. It's not letting me upload a video so im putting a picture up here instead.


I like this video because it has an urban setting.
I want a flat roof for the end of my opening where my character will be dancing on it. I want it to have a view from it either of London which would be nice, but i think it will also look good it it's an industrial view.
I am in the process of finding my locations, i have a few in mind. I was thinking about a block of flats and an underpass as the main settings... i will blog it when i decide for definate!

Research - Saul Bass

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and award winning film-maker who made several opening titles sequences to many famous films which have became very much appreciated. He worked alongside many respected film directors such as Alfred Hitchcock (North By North West, Vertigo and Phsyco), Otto Preminger (The Man With The Golden Arm) Martin Scotsese (Casino).
I think Bass's work is really mesmerising with all the lines it feels very hypnotic. They draw you in and make you feel as if you are moving with them. I think a good example of this is North By North West, a comic thriller produced at MGM in 1959.


Bass had become known for using lines and the similar repetitive music in his work. He uses it has become a trademark of his and kind of a statement. Although most of his title sequences are very similar using moving lines, he creates them so well that it gives the film a certain quality preparing the audience for the film but at the same time not giving too much away.
This is the same as the Psycho opening which was produced in 1960.

I love the way the lines are so symmetrical and the movement is so fluent that it feels as if they're slicing up the screen giving you a very unsettling feeling preparing you for the plot of the film.
Although I am not using animation in my titles sequence I have found it really helpful exploring other techniques that could be used. Looking at Saul Bass’s work has shown me that you can use the most simplest of objects and create a huge impact on the viewer.

My Initial Ideas

I have been thinking about my opening titles sequence and what my storyline could be. I want it to be something thats quite thought provoking and unexpected. The genre i have chosen is Social Reaslism, i want my opening to feel quite urban and real.
After much thought i came up with an idea where i could possibly have a teenage boy about 16/17 years of age walking to somewhere which is not known to the audience. Your first impressions of the boy is that he is quite troubled and yob-like as he is wearing a tracksuit and has football boots around his neck.
The boy walks past a gang of youths and says hello giving more of an impression of his character.
He eventually gets to the place where he wants to go and puts on his shoes, football boots we think, but he stands up once his shoes are on and starts tap-dancing.
All the time the audience is on the journey with him as i want the camera to walk with him to the place he is going to.
This is my starting point of my storyline and after i do more research i hope my idea will develop some more.