Project 1 Title sequence

                                                               WEEK ONE PROJECT 1

For my week 1 project, my task was to create a title sequence for a film or TV series. Title sequences are the opening scenes of films and shows. With the purpose of introducing the audience to the themes and expectations of what they are about to watch. They portray this through visuals and sound while also including opening credits towards the key production and cast members. A title sequence sounded like a fun project to start with, so i was looking forward to beginning my research. Most of my research throughout this project was documented on a Miro board. Which i have linked below.

https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVJwupZxo=/

OPENING CREDITS

A title sequence may also include the director and well-known actors, during the opening credits. Which helps attract audiences. It may also show the studio behind the production, as a well-known studios will also bring in even more audiences that have enjoyed the studios previous productions. Here are some examples of these aspects. 

For my project I must makes sure to include the production the actor and the director in the opening credits. As these are necessary towards most title sequences. It also gives a reason for my title sequence. 

THEMES AND TONES

Most title sequences will demonstrate the themes and tones of their show/film. This can be done in many ways for example an action film may have a fast paced opening scene with lots of whip pans and quick cuts as it fits the shows action fast pace intense theme. while on the other hand a depressing drama may have a slow sad rainy opening scene with less cuts, wide shots, and dramatic lighting. since its has a much more slow grounded and moody theme/aesthetic.

Demonstrating the themes and tones of a show in their opening scene really gives an audience a good first impression on what they are about to watch. This is very important and can sometimes make an opening scene iconic and memorable.

Here is a video I watched to help understand what makes a great opening. and to develop my research to befit my title sequence.

I had the choice between, Creating a title sequence for a made up film of own or to recreate an existing title sequence for a show that has already been made. I decided to choose the first option as I thought this would be more fun and interesting to make, whilst also giving me more freedom and control over the direction of my project. So i developed a show based around a witch hunter protagonist as I thought this would have adaptable themes and a great title sequence.

DEVELOPING IDEAS

I began by writing down the themes of my show on my Miro board and began brainstorming ideas to go along with them. The main aspects of the show were witches and witch hunters. So I decided to research objects and items related to these types of characters. In the end I came up with a few related objects, that I could incorporate into my work:

Torches, mystical books, knives, cross bows, crucifixes, gloves, jackets, guns.

After researching the items and objects associated with my show. I came up with the idea to create an opening sequence of a witch hunter assembling his gear. This is known as a gearing up montage. Here is a video depicting a range of gearing up montages:

Using classic gearing up montages as a foundation for my work I began investigating even more influences for my intro. However I wanted to make my gearing up montage different to the typical ones seen in films especially since the fast whips and cuts wouldn't really fit the slow dark and dramatic tone of my show. I did this by taking inspiration from some of my favorite title sequences seen in shows such as, Daredevil, Punisher, and Arcane. Here`s how each one influenced me:

DAREDEVIL INTROS

The Daredevil title sequences does a great job at visually describing the themes of the show whilst also being visually interesting. The music is slow yet impactful and seems to get more suspenseful towards the end. I especially liked the choir heard in the born again intro. As it fits the religious theme seen in the show. This influenced me to incorporate choir music into my title sequence as my show would also hold religious themes since witches were a religious belief. As well as this i also wanted to include some religious iconography similar to the ones seen in the Daredevil intro. Along with this the Daredevil theme also gave me the initial idea to include objects associated with my show during the title sequence and influenced me to create a more darker tone for my intro to go with the dark themes associated with my show, by adding dramatic lighting with the use of hard lights. 

ARCANE INTRO

To adapt the religious iconography (the use of visual images, symbols, and artistic representations to convey religious concepts) influenced by the daredevil title sequence. I came up with the idea to shine a cross onto the face of my witch hunter character. This idea was influenced from the bright lights that shine over the characters faces during the title sequence in the Arcane intro.

unfortunately, I ran into a problem while forming this idea. As in order to create the strips of light seen in the Arcane intro id need a gobo lens. This was not something I had on hand. So my solution to this problem was to instead use a simple mini projector to project the patterns I wanted onto my image. to create the patterns i simply used the shape tool on power point to create the shapes I wanted. Here are the images I created on power point (I used this technique for more then just one scene).

After creating these shapes i projected them onto my video. Here is how they look on the unedited footage. and here is the projector i used to create the effect

More information about this influence is on my Miro page. But this effect worked well except my actor kept disrupting the footage. Making it not as perfect as id hoped.

PUNISHER INTRO

Unfortunately this technique was not used as i did not have time to incorporate it into my intro. But i did have an idea influenced to me by the Punisher intro to add a crackled effect to my video to give it an old fashioned black and white movie look. As this would fit other ideas that were developing. My Miro board describes this more but the idea was dropped due too the deadline.

Here is the video of the Punisher intro where you can see the crackling feature during each cut.

 STORY BOARDS 

After coming up with a few ideas I began story boarding. Trying to visualize my ideas whilst also ordering them. It was here where I began running into a few problems.

More details about these problems are also on my Miro page

Problem 1

One of the most iconic features of a witch hunter is the crossbow. I needed to include one in my title sequence, but I didn't have a realistic looking prob that id be able to use or bring into college. This problem however. Actually ended up befitting my project greatly after Id found my solution.

Solution- To resolve this issue, I decided to use a toy Nerf gun. The problem with the toy however was that it was bright blue and was clearly a toy. So to try and hide the fact that my prop gun wasn't real I decided to edit my title sequence to black and white. This worked very well because now my title sequence had a unique and memorable look that fit the dark tone I was looking for. 

Here is an image of the cross bow used in the title sequence.

To better understand the black and white style I did some research into black and white noir films. It was here where I discovered the interesting technique of chiaroscuro. 

Chiaroscuro is a technique that uses shadows and light to create depth and contrast. By merging the two of them in 1 shot. The idea originated from paintings and has been used in many films to make a scene more cinematic or to create drama. The technique was commonly seen in noir style films which I have tried to replicate in my work. Here is a video about chiaroscuro that I really liked.

Noir style films are black and white films typically from the 1940s and 1950s. Influenced by German expressionism. That usually depict morally grey characters. Along with crime dramas that have deep themes. filmed with a dark tone and dark aesthetic. noir films have become iconic here are some examples of some well known noir films.

After my research I decided to create a mood board using Pinterest and Google to further visualize my ideas and help with my story board. 

Here's how I added the black and white filter to my title sequence.  

• First I selected all of my sequence on premier pro

• I then went onto effects then Lumetri presets, then monochrome, then Monochrome Punch.

• I then went onto effect controls, Lumetric color (monochrome punch), then basic correction.

• While in basic correction I messed around with light settings changing the contrast, exposure, shadows, whites, and blacks for each scene

I believe that the black and white filter works really well. And I was a fan of the changes I made in basic correction as some scenes looked a little off before I tinkered with them. the basic correction also allowed me to adjust the contrast which helped a lot with the chiarsuro technique. I also experimented with rotoscoping but I found this too time consuming for an effect that I didn't really like.

Problem 2

The character of a witch hunter wears very medieval clothes. Here is a photo of one for reference. 

I unfortunately do not own any costumes similar to this so I had to come up with a solution. At first I tried reaching out to family to see if they had anything I could use. But unsurprisingly I was unsuccessful. I then debated buying clothes from local charity shops but since this was only a prototype project I decided not to and instead came up with a different solution

Solution - My solution was to try slightly modernize the character. I got this idea from the Sherlock Holmes series where they modernized the 18th century iconic character. And since the intro was now being edited in black and white this slight change wouldn't really be noticed. This was another huge advantage to the black and white noir style editing.

However I still needed to keep the most iconic feature of a witch hunters character design that being the trench coat. Thankfully I had a friend who collects them so I contacted him and ask if I could borrow one. He agreed and the character design ended up being a success 🎉🎉

Here is the trench coat I acquired. I paired it with a white shirt and black trousers to help with the chiaroscuro technique by creating a powerful contrast between the black and white. (the light will reflect of the white shirt but be absorbed by the black. 

Problem 3 

One of the significant props of a witch hunter would be their torch. As this is an important feature of the main character it must be seen in the intro. However a torch is not a prop I had and would definitely cause safety hazards in the studio. 

Solution - At first I thought maybe I could light a torch outdoors. But this may still cause a safety hazard. so instead I decided to experiment with an editing technique I had never tried before known as composting, in adobe premier. If I had no luck with this though my plan was to just scrap the idea.

Thankfully my idea to composite a torch over my video worked and heres how I did it.

• Before starting with the torch I wanted to test out the compositing technique on an image. The image I chose was a medieval Gothic church as I thought it would fit my show nicely. I found this image on a royalty free website as this would avoid copy write. Here is the image I chose. 

• I then edited this image in adobe Photoshop and removed the background with the remove background button. I then used the polygonal lasso tool remove the remaining bits
  

• By the end of it my stock photo looked like this. I then imported the image into premier pro.

• While in premier pro I edited the opacity of the image making it appear more see through I then added the monochrome filter to give it the black and white look 

• After reviewing the footage I decided that the church looked a little awkward just standing there. so I decided to experiment with key framing to make the image move across the screen. I did this by first selecting the image then clicking on position in the effect controls tab. I then placed the image on the edge of my video (because placing it off screen would make the photo travel across the screen to fast) and started a key frame. I then re-positioned the image onto the other side of the screen and added another key frame. this then allowed the image to travel across the screen at the right pace.

• This is what it looks like in action. I think it looks decent for a first time. I'm glad that I experimented with this technique as I believe it will help me in the future

• I Then decided to add the torch. By first finding a video of one behind a green screen background. Here is the video I chose. 

• I then screen recorded a section of this video and imported it into premier pro. I then adjusted the scale of the video to fit my scene. 

• After that I went onto my effects and added ultra key too my footage. 

• I then used the eye dropper from the key color and selected the green.

• Once id selected the green with the eye dropper the background vanished.

• I then added the Monochrome filter onto the torch to make it back and white, and lowered the opacity to make the torch appear see through.

• This effect works fairly well, it may not be realistic but for my first time trying this method out I was pretty pleased 

After resolving my issues and developing the look and style of my title sequence I began drawing a rough story board for my project in a note book and made notes and sketches on how I wanted each scene to play out. By scraping any ideas I thought weren't good enough or were to hard to achieve (such as an idea for magical particles to hover out off the book) I began to have a basic vision of what I wanted my shot plan to be. I then listened to the choir music I had picked out and imagined how each scene would line up with the music's impact and pace. I then documented all of this in my notes app and Miro page so that I could tweak each scene and arrange them in order. 

This story board is better viewed in Miro but it essentially provides a detailed look into each shot of the title sequence. Miro proved itself to be very useful in the developmental stage of my project, and I will definitely be using it in the future.

Production and my biggest problem

After all my planning and brain storming I was left with 2 days to shoot and edit my title sequence. This was no time at all but I decided to shoot my footage on the Friday then edit it on the Monday. unfortunately when it came to Friday the studio where I wanted to film was already booked and I had to wait almost all day to have access to it. In the end I ended up with about an hour and a half to shoot the entire title sequence and set up each scene with the projector and lighting. I then ran into more problems with the controller to my projector being lost and my original actor bailing on me because he didn't want to wear a costume. This tightened my time schedule even more and by the time id found the controller and a new actor my project had barely any time to be finished. This ended up giving me a rushed production where I wasn't able to direct well as I needed too since each scene had to be so rushed. What also didn't help was the fact that my main actor was difficult to direct as he was constantly distracted and would not follow the simple directions I was giving him. Along with this I had constant interruptions making the project even harder to shoot. none the less I managed to get some things filmed but it was no where near as perfect as I wanted it to be. 

I made sure to still incorporate safety into my production by tucking in as many wires as I could to avoid trip hazards as seen here. along with this I produced a risk assessment to make note of any hazards and how to avoid them.

To get my lighting I used the projector I mentioned earlier along with a Aputure Light Storm 60X to produce a hard light. Here is an image of a shot I had to film on the Monday. Since it was missed on the Friday due to the rushed production. You can see the slider I used in the scene to try and achieve a smooth look. Along with this I have placed a flag behind my prob to try and absorb the light for my chiaroscuro technique.

Once production was finished I ended up with enough rough shots to create my title sequence. However due to my actor messing up a lot of my shots (especially the opening face shot because he wouldn't stop smiling). I had to rearrange my entire story board. Cutting bits out and slowing parts down to hide the bad acting. All these problems were tied to one big issue. That being organisation my organisation for this project was most definitely my biggest set back. If i had scheduled my research and production i would've had enough time to create a more polished project. This would have also given me enough time for editing allowing me to add the crackle effect i wanted to add from the Punisher intro. In future projects i will attempt to improve my organisation skills by

• Booking the studio 
• Contacting the performing arts tutor asking for actors
• Scheduling my production and research
• Checking that all equipment is okay to use before filming
• Be more specific with giving instructions to actors 
• Leaving enough time to re-shoot any messed up scenes 
• ask for an audition video before selecting an actor
• dont leave any scenes unfinished 

With better organisation i should have better quality, production, and overall film. Despite this issue my editing went well. all scenes eventually went together nicely although rearranging my story board was irritating. However adding credits was easy as id done it before and slowing down certain shots to hide my actors bad performance was also fine. In the end id added all the effects i wanted too so i was overall pretty pleased. People i showed it too liked the finished result. Yet unsurprisingly most were able to deduce that my crossbow was a toy prop. If i could improve my title sequence id want to add a few things such as.

• Improved hard lighting
• More time editing to improve chiaroscuro technique
• Magic particles rising from book
• Crackle effect from Punisher intro
• Being able to film at different locations for example Acton Burnell Castle
• More realistic props (i had a wooden sword i was originally going to use but couldn't find it) 
• Better costumes i really needed a cool hat
• Final shots being outside in the rain
• Smoke as this was common in black and white films and would off looked good
• Older actor
• More scenes such as a shot of the Witch Hunter putting on his hat
• Each scene could do with being a little longer

Overall, while it could of most definitely been improved i was pleased with the final result.

 Here is the fully edited film. Thank you for reading my blog and i hope you enjoy this title sequence.