We are doing I stop motion and so we created our background. We had a desk for our main background with a green sheet of paper as the grass and blue sheet going up to show the sky. We then made our grass and trees and flowers with card and colouring pencils. We wanted it to look quite fake an cartoonish so when cutting out grass we out lined in black and then cut out leaving a little bit of white.
We changed out background to white to show jaydens dream. We thought that this would be easy for little children to understand.
The only other thing we had to plan for location was the sound effects we had to create. But we found the trees and leaves out side that we used.
We chose to certificate our film as a U so the type of audience seeing our film would be anyone who is over the age of 5.
This audience will be able to see our film because it has positive moral framework in it as it is about a horse who doesn't think he can be a unicorn but he soon finds out that his dream is possible and this will be encouraging for young children watching our film.
Children over 5 will be able to watch the movie without the presence of an adult because there isn't any bad language, discrimination, drugs, sex or sexual references contained in our movie. So a lot of children would be the potential target audience for our movie as their parents would feel content in letting their children watch it because the film offers reassuring messages to the young children rather than bad.
Other media products our audience would consume could possibly be video games, comic books, computer games, playing cards(trading cards), a t.v show about the characters, the soundtrack to the film, posters, and little teddys and figurines of characters etc.
Opening Credits are shown at the beginning of a film and list the most important members of the production. They usually mention the major actors, guest stars, producers and director, as opposed to the closing credits that list the whole of the production crew.
Most of the Disney films that were created between 1937 and 1981 had all of the film-related information, including director and actors in the opening credits. With the closing credits only saying 'The End'
In this Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs clip, the opening credits show the most important members in the production of the movie.
The order of the opening credits are:
- Name of the Studio
- Name of the production company
- Producer's name
- Starring...
- Film's title
- Featuring
- Casting
- Music
- Production design
In our film that we are making, we have the main title at the beginning of the film. We will also have our names go across the screen during the opening establishing shot of the forest.
During our introduction to media we made a small video using i-stop motion. After we had decided that we were going to use stop motion for our children's film we wanted to test it further to see what materials and techniques we would use. In this film we experimented with using solid materials and more flexible materials. We agreed that the flexible play doh worked better because we could adjust shapes quickly and easily. We also liked the use of letters...in particular the ones used when we were spelling 'Emma'. It was quite interesting experimenting with ways to make things enter and exit the screen. We tried to make them playful so we could use them with children. At this point we're not sure which entences and exits we're going to use becuase we think it'll be better if we decide on the day.
We also had to do our characters voices from a script.
The first line was before the day dream with Jayden
"i wish i was a unicorn"
Our script get more elaborate nearer the end of our introduction creating more of a story line.
Tommy: what's wrong?
Jayden: I wish i could be a unicorn!
Lenny: You can be a unicorn
Jayden: How!?
Pauline: I once knew of an old horse who went on a journey through magical worlds and fascinating places, she went on the quest to meet the Jedi of the sea Mr. Narwhale. he gave her her horn and transformed her into a magical unicorn.
Jayden: how do i get there?
Pauline: I know where the map is buried, wait a minuet.
Jayden: wow thanks guys
We had to pre-record some diagetic sounds for our i stop motion so me and molly split off to do the sound effects. I will write down the effects we had to record and how and where we recorded them.
Walking on leaves - Jayden walks around a lot and so do the other characters and so we found some dry leaves and recorded our self's walking over them. We recorded first just one of us walking over the leaves and then to of us to create the effect that there are more characters walking.
Walking over twigs - we were going to do walking over grass to create variety to the leaves but we thought the grass didn't make much of a sound. So we found the twigs and thought they sounded nice so we disided to use that instead of the grass to add variety to the walking.
eating- we thought we would make an unrealistic sound for eating. So instead of recording one of us eating we just said "nom nom nom" to create a more childish and unrealistic feel to it. Making it quirky and cool.
sigh - Jayden has a sigh so we recorded one of us sighing to make the character sound real.
Trees Blowing- we thought the wind was in our favor to create the sound of wind blowing but we were wrong. So instead we waved the branch and that created the same sound we were looking for.
Birds singing - There were no birds for us to record unluckily but we can survive without them.
Today we decided to spilt ourselves into two groups because our film opening wasn't progressing as well as it could have been. Emma and Anissia stayed in class with the set and tried to film different camera angles, shots and movements, some of these being a high angle, over the shoulder and zoom. They tried to do a pan however they didn't think it worked with stop motion because a pan is meant to move smoothly but with stop-motion it looked rough and unprofessional.
Jade and Molly went outside with a camera and did some sound recordings. We filmed sound effect and then we read the script in the characters voices. We plan to inhance the sound of the characters voices by variaying them in pitch during the editing stage. We also started looking into music for the movie. During this time we had an idea that it might be fun and playful is each character has their own tune when they move. This is something we need to look into.
We have almost complete the two minutes of film, so we are now faithful that we will complete the movie introduction.
Today we continued with our filming. It was quicker for us to set up and we tryed to use some diffrent angles. We started with making Jeydon have a day dream by using bubbles and in the editing process we shall add special effects and magical music. We then made the day dream by using a white background so it is clear to the children that it is a daydream. In the editing process we will use a wavy effect and a magical sort of noise and also we'll put it in a sepia tone to highlight the fact it is a daydream. We then introduced our characters witht he scrabble peices. Finally, in the last few minutes of the lesson we decided to film in some different angles and shots. We used both the over the shoulder shot and a low and a low angle shot which was also POV. Overall it was a more productive day than yesterday and it looks like it is finaly coming together :)
As we are using stop-motion some of the editing is already done for us, this means we're going to take less time in the editing process. However because stop-motion takes a while to film we were thinking of using one of our editing lessons for filming.
Today we have learnt how to set up the camera's and our handmade setting (background), even though it took us longer than expected. We will know for the next lesson how to set up so we can jump straight into filming.
Though we had all of the peices of the set prepared we didnt realise how long the set would take to prepare. Today we shot the whole introduction from one angle. In the next lesson we plan to film the same thing but from different angles. We managed to get roughly 25seconds of the two minute film done. That leaves us with 95 seconds to film over the next two or three lessons. We're all quite impressed with how the film is progressing.
Play dough – we will be using play dough to make each of the characters (horse/unicorn, turtle, penguin and squirrel) so that it is easier to move each of the characters when filming. The horse/unicorn is going to be the biggest to show that he is shown as the main character.
Paper – We will have a green A3 piece of paper for the grass and a piece of A3 blue paper for the sky. There will also be trees, grass and bushes made out of paper that will give a 3D effect on screen.
Bubbles – We will have bubbles when the horse has a dream/idea of becoming a unicorn.
Pin – a pin will feature when the horse comes out of his dream of becoming a unicorn and wants to go on the adventure. This will give a cartoon effect of how ideas/dreams can burst!
Costume
We are not doing live recording so we will not be using any costumes, but each of the play dough models will have their own type of costume made out of play dough. For example, the squirrel will have red play dough to show its fur.
Lighting
The lighting will be all natural, but if we find that we need to add some artificial lighting we will use a lamp. But our setting is a forest so the lighting will be natural and slightly darker then a field in the morning sun.
Make up
No makeup is going to be used.
Setting/Set
We will have a very basic setting with a blue sky and green grass. We will have a 3D effect of grass that stands out with different heights, and a couple of trees to give a forest/wood effect.
Colour
The whole of the film is going to be colourful. All the characters will be bright and vibrant so they can be seen from the background. Also as it’s a children filming opening with bright colours the younger children will know all their colours and be able to remember the characters by the colours.
Sound
All the dialogue that the characters are going to be saying is going to be diegetic, and while they are talking we are going to have an ambient sound of a forest with footsteps and other noises, by creating a sound scape.
All the music that we are going to use is going to be created on garage band to create a small sound track or many small sound tracks for the film. These will have a constant empathetic sound throughout. The music will be non-diegetic, so that none of the characters can hear it.
Some sound effects will be added to particular things (for example, when the pin comes onto the screen and it pops the bubble, we will use a popping sound to make the pop sound more dramatic. Also a small use of Foley may be used if the sound effects do not give the right effect that we want.
- The first shot is going to be a establishing shot of the setting so that the audience underatnd the story line and setting of the story. We will then have a wide shot of the setting with maybe the unicorn in the scene while the opening credits are running.
- The second shot is going to be a pan shot of all the animals along the screen, so you are observing the characters and getting to meet them.
- The third shot is going to be a wide long shot of the horse, so that you can see the unicorn go past.
- The fourth shot will be a close up of the horse's neck and head that slowly goes into a mid shot to link into the dream section.
- The fifth shot is going to be from a mid shot (fourth shot) to an exterme close up of the bubble (the dream) with the unicorn inside/in front of the bubble.
- The sixith shot will be a mid shot of the bubble and then a hand come into the screen with a pin to pop the dream.
- The seventh shot is a long shot/mid shot of the horse with a panning shot while he/she is looking around for someone to help him with the quest.
- The eighth shot will be another long shot with the horse and another animal in the scene.
- The nineth shot will be a mid shot of the horse holding a map.
- The tenth shot will be of a extreme close up of the map, so all the audience can see the map
- The eleventh shot will be a panning shot of the horse with the map and other animal going on the quest.
*some of the shots may vary when we start recording to make it easier or to make it work with the story better.
This is our story board for our children's film. The story line is going to be a horse that sees a unicorn go past him/her and then wants to be a unicorn. And so goes on a quest to find a horn so it can become one. Through the story the horse will meet lots of characters that will help him. In the opening you get to meet the charatcers and also the main character the horse.
We decided that the film would be a U as it will have a positive moral framework, suitable for children to watch on their own and have no bad language, discrimination, drugs or sexual references.
We chose to do iStop motion for our children's film because we thought we worked well as a group using it and thought would produce better work instead of using real life. We also enjoy making our own characters so we thought iStop motion would be suitable.
Our initial ideas for our story line are having a horse on a quest to become a unicorn with other characters to keep the children intrigued and interested. The other characters will include a turtle and a squirrel. We chose these types of characters because they are fun and lovable.
We have chosen to record our own music to make it unique. The music will be upbeat and empathetic so it fits in with the happy story line.
- We will classify our children's film as certificate U.
- The play-dough will be bright and colourful.
- The music and sound effects will be recorded.
- It will be a fantasy, adventure quest - horse on a quest to become a unicorn.
- In the first minute, we will introduce all the characters.
- A forest background, preferably using green screen will be used
- The horses quest to become a unicorn is really a daydream when a real unicorn walks by.
- For the daydream, we will be hoping to use a bubble to emphasize the day dream and then use a pin to pop it. Once this has happened, the horses quest will start.
My ideas are also similar to Jade's and Molly's. But I like the idea of stop frame animation as I find it more like a child's film. But also around college it will be hard to find a location to film in for a children's film. Also play dough models created for the animation so that we can move them in each scene. With one of the main character being a unicorn and going to an adventure with the themes of friendship. The music will be very happy and upbeat and the music being recorded and other effects added once on garage band.
My ideas are similar to those of Jades, seeing as we discussed them before writting up this blog. I think using Stop-motion will enable us to be more creative. I also think this is where our strength lies as a group, so hopefully this will result in our final piece having a more proffessional look.
It seems, as a group, we all like unicorns so this would be a good base for a character. Also these are mythical creatures that will help children explore there imagination.
Both Annisia and Jade are talented in music, so we were thinking that perhaps they could make a soundtrack for the movie with the aid of garage-band.
My first idea is to use I-stop motion. This way we can create more of a fantacy world more sutible for children. The story line will have a hourse of a quest to become a unicorn. The opening shall be bright placticine colours, fun characters and title pages. We shall have some fun up beat music maybe enchanting to go with our fantacy theme.
Scooby Doo is classed as a PG because it has elements of short intense fear and because there also sexual references used. An example is the clothing used because it can be seen as provocative.
Adult humour is also used and scenes of violence and parents would need to consider whether this would be suitable for their child.
The storyline is more grown up than one used for a U certificate.
Wall-E is a U because it has a positive moral framework, there is no bad language used, no discrimination and no sexual references used.
The storyline is easy to follow and offers reassuring counter balances to any threat because any threats are quickly resolved.
Wall-E contains mild humour suitable for children over 5.
Children's film
No special effort is made to cater for an adult audience.
Children under the age of 12. Teens above 12 begin to develop different taste -12a.
BBFC
British Board of Film Classification
U - Universal
Suitable for anyone over 5.
Positive moral framework.
Offer reassuring counter balances to any threat.
Suitable for children to view alone.
No bad language.
Discrimination is prohibited.
Drugs are a no go.
No sex/ sexual references.
For example, of this Wall-E.
PG- Parental Guidance
Suitable for 8 over
Parents responsibility to decide whether or not their child is mature enough to watch.
Discrimination is allowed only for educational purposes.
Drugs can be mentioned however not seen
It must carry an anti-drugs message if drugs are mentioned.
Horror, short but not intense.
More grown up themes.
Sound:
There was non-diegetic sound, this being the narrative voiceover and the upbeat empathetic soundtrack which was created in the studio with hired musicians. There was also diegetic sound to accompany this for example background noise and characters speaking to each other. Sound effects were added duing the editing process when scooby and shaggy burp and when daffny jumps and flips.
Cinematography:
Near the beginning there was a high angle on a nasty looking object to make it appear bad, however making us feel as if we can over come it because it is weaker than us as the audience. Also throughout the whole of the trailer it is a montage of short clips which help introduce the characters and the story line. Panning is used frequently through the clips so the audience can see the surroundings of where the characters are making them feel more involved and as if they are there too.
Editing:
At the beginning there are titles to introduce the film which have been edited to match the mood with an ominous green glow. They also use titles to introduce the characters names so the children watching can familiarise them self's with eh charters even more and it also helps develop the children's reading if they are really little. They also use shot- reverse - shot to show the characters having conversations using teh 180 degree rule. This makes the conversation easier to follow because we can see what the characters are saying and is linear so children can understand easily.
Mise-en-scene:
- props
They use many props so they can enhance images of the characters and the monsters. Also the monsters can look more scary to children if they have an ominous prop for example the flame torch the ghost had in the clip.
-costume
The costumes are very bright and specific to each character as they are trying to match the bright animated cartoon.
- lighting
Out side is natural lighting also when its dark they use fire for lighting to make it look spooky. When they are in doors the lighting is quite artificial because the room and the characters are well lit.
- make up
The make up is really over the top again to give the similarity between the real people and the cartoon people they are mimicking.
- setting
The set is in a creepy holiday camp which you can see in a studio so we know the set has been made specially for the film
-colour
The colours are bright for all the heros and dark for the villains so kids can determine between the good and bad characters. Also the set is dark and spooky when something bad is lurking and is bright and colourful when everybody is happy.
special effects:
Prostetics are used on the monsters to create a more unrealistic and scary look so children again can determine between the good and bad characters. They used Pyrotechnics when the ghost blows fire at shaggy. Wire work was used when Daffny filped to make her look professional and awesome.
Sound:
- The soundtrack is a mix of different soundscapes that would be stereotypical of robots that helps children to know that it is about robots before you even see the main characters
- The soundtrack is non diegetic so only the audience can hear it, but also empathetic as it matches the mood of the characters
- The sound effects are diegetic and add impact and create humour
- Some of the sound effects have been given more impact by recreating sound in a studio (Foley Sound)
- There is basic narration to give inside to the story
Editing:
- There are many fade to black cuts that create montage, that speeds up the establishing shot so you get to know the setting quickly and the story can begin
- The basic cuts have been used
- Match on Action is used in the camera scene to show you the reaction to everyone in that scene but also showcases the basic view of a photographer
- It is Non linear because it gives the ending first and then flashbacks of where the robot has been
- But the editing has continuity as it makes sense and the script is a contributing factor
Mise en Scene:
Props:
- All the props relate to the story even through it is animation, the props used are still realistic
- They are all the types of things you would find in a 'human' city but its a robot one
Costume:
- The costume is metal because they are robots and robots don't wear clothes!
Lighting:
- The lighting is artificial and is used to emphasise the nature of the robots
Make up:
- No make up is used
Setting:
- The setting of the home town is simple but shows the home, but when you see the robot city the setting is more busy, noisy and colourful
Colour:
- The main characters are shiny and bright so they stand out from the crowd in comparison to the extras in the background who are very naturally dull and not as noticeable
- The city is very colourful and bright, where as the home scenes are duller
Cinematography:
- There is a mixture of establishing shots to set the scene and to understand what the film is about and give insight
- Basic use of close ups, medium shots but they do adventure on the point of view shots e.g with the camera man. This is unusual for a children's film because they normally have basic camera angles/shots so the children can understand and follow the story-line easily
- Shot reverse shots are used to capture the conversation and the reactions of the characters
- There is basic use of over the shoulder so you feel as though you are in the film
Special Effects:
- CGI is used for the background settings and for the characters
- Green screen would have been used so the CGI could be transferred on to the correct background to complete the scene
- There are sound effects used to emphasise the sound of certain things to create impact
Science Fiction movies for children are futuristic for example they may include robots like in the 2005 film of Robots where children are invited in to the imaginary world of robots. The main goal of a science fiction film is not to be realistic and to develop the minds and imagination of kids, for example they use bright colours to excite there imagination and to keep them engaged.
Adventure movies for children can be both serious or imaginary as long as they include a quest or an adventure. They include a hero and a villain/henchman therefore making a moral to the story and making the adventure more interesting for kids. Adventure films for kids have to include a quest or mission for example in the Scooby -Doo film, the mystery crew have to fight a series of monsters to save a holiday camp.
The difference between science fiction and adventure films is that adventure films are required to have a quest and science fiction films are just required to have a good story line and be unrealistic but they can both include each other for example spy kids has both science fiction and adventure.
Sleeping Beauty.
Sound:
-Ambient sound being birds in the background.
-It's diegetic because the character can hear all the noises
-A soundtrack has been used that has been specially made for the film.
Editing:
-As it's an old animation where they have drawn everything by hand there isn't much editing other than title pages and cuts
-The brightness and contrast has been touched up to differ in scenes.
M-E-S:
Props - Props arent really used because it's an animation however in the background there are animals and stuff
Setting:
- The setting was all hand drawn with all the shots having different backgrounds being drawn
Costume:
- Sleeping Beautys clothing is very dull and very girly in a dress. This gives her the look like Cinderella being poor but still happy
- All the costumes are stereo typical, for example, the prince is wearing a cape to make him look like the saviour
Lighting:
- the lighting is artifical but is made to look natural
Make Up:
- the make up is very bland but highlights her emotions
Colour:
- The setting is very colourful and pleasing to the eye, with the town scene and the animals in the forest scene stand out
Cinematography:
-long shot of sleeping beauty to set the scene
-Establishing shot of environment and location
SFX
-There are no Special Effects because it is very old and all hand drawn
Jamanji - Special Effects
CGI was used in the opening title of Jamanji which made the title suit the theme and genre of the movie. The special effects at the beginning included SPFX with the smoke. This created the idea that something creepy was going to happen later in the film. They also used pyrotecnics to create lightning, which adds a scary touch which tells the audience the genre of the film. When the young boy was beaten up they used makeup and squibs on his lip, with the use of prosthetics, which shows that he had beaten up without showing the violence of the actual beating.
There was a moral in the film, which was 'face your fears'. The camera angles are simple and linear making them easy to follow. We are also introduced to the main character who is the young boy. We also know that the film is going to be about whatever is in the box. An eary sound track was used to match the mood of the film and we were also introduced to some of the setting.
We realise that this is not a video clip of the opening credits however we could not find them so the trailer will do. One of the first noticeable elements is the fact that everything is bright and colourful. The story line is introduced along with the characters, and we see the movie through the babies point of view. The moral is introduced straight away, which is to do with friendship and overcoming sibling rivelry. The plot seems simple, effective and happy, and it also includes some humor which is appreciated by people of a younger age.
