Research Into Our Idea

Research: Spies

Seeing as our opening title sequence is going to be a spy-thriller, I thought a bit of research into spies, their lives and deaths, would be an interesting background to understanding the theme more.

The first spy I looked in to was Gareth Williams, who was found dead in a locked sports bag, a week after he had died. This was interesting because it showed me that spies do not normally die in normal circumstances, and their intricate lives don't come without consequences. It turns out Williams graduated with a phD in maths when he was just seventeen years old! Hereby conforming to the suspicion that spy agency chiefs look for, let's say, intelligent but slightly odd people. Therefore, we have decided to make our spy's bedroom slightly creepy, with an open window, and secret documents spread across a table.

The next thing I researched was where this man lived, and it turned out it was a very normal place, a flat in Pimlico, London. This helped my group and I establish what sort of location we want to use. However, this is going to be slightly difficult to find in Surrey, so we have a back up of an inconspicuous 'cottage' where you would unlikely find a spy.

Our first location choice would look something like this:



However, our second location choice would look like this:

 

So essentially, our ultimatum, after research on spies, concludes in location choice.

In the end it's...

An Update

Storyboard Number Two

Here is an updated storyboard containing a lot more shots, with different angles and added sounds and light ideas:

                                              
We are continuing to update this and think of new and invented ideas to make this  the best it can be.

Our Idea

Our Finalised Thriller Opening Sequence Idea

Today is the day our idea has been finalised. This is very exciting and I know you've all been waiting for it...

We established that we wanted to do a spy-thriller, as this is an interesting subject and therefore quite a challenge to achieve. A brief synopsis includes a spy, doing missions, getting into trouble, explosions, villains, deaths, violence, suspense. THE WHOLE PACKAGE OF A SPY MOVIE.

Here is the opening title sequence narrative:

It is dark. We are in a bedroom of a middle aged man with a digital alarm clock, and he is asleep in his bed. The window is open, wind is blowing papers across a table. These have a spy-significance. We cut to the outside of the house in a POV shot, hinting to the audience that someone is watching him. We see a hand opening a door, then a shot to a kitchen, tap dripping, heartbeat and heavy breathing ensure suspense. A black figure sweeps past the camera and then cut to a corridor, and we only see the mans shoulders and the back of his head. He walks down the corridor into the bedroom. We have another shot of the alarm clock and suddenly it goes off, with one hand of the asleep man fumbling for it and one man seamlessly turning it off with one finger.

Here is the original storyboard:

Production Meetings

In recent production meetings, we have been talking about storyboarding our opening title sequence ideas. We created a first draft of a storyboard which contained only 11 shots. We were then shown the final draft of something we should be aiming for from last year and were shocked to see it contained 48 shots!

So we decided to redraft. This time, our sequence having twenty shots, we hope to develop more shots as time progresses. We also made a list of props including an alarm clock which is a focal feature in our sequence. We have two characters in our scene, a victim and of course, a killer. We have casted our teacher, Adam, as our victim and are still struggling to find someone who is suitable to the looks of a killer. Inevitably, this type of person is very difficult to find in a sixth form college without causing offence.

There are more redrafts and new ideas for shots to come.

Kyle Cooper Continued

My Three Top Kyle Cooper Graphic Designs

Firstly, I have picked Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. This is because he uses one of his most famous techniques in which the audience 'follows' an object or a person, in this case the string on a stick of dynamite which is alight. This is effective because it takes the audience on a journey. Also, there is additional writing amongst the titles which looks like a computer screen in a secret spy intelligence base, hinting to the audience the genre of the film.

My second choice is The Mummy from 1999 which is around the time where Cooper was developing a name for himself but still using his unique styles and techniques. In this case, he uses block, vivid colours like red and black which is very typical and the red creates a sense of danger. We also travel through various locations giving the audience a clue that this is an adventure film.

My final clip is from the TV series Band of Brothers in which he again uses his block colours of red, white and black. In this clip, he uses photographs in order to make it look old fashioned, and displays them in quick succession to make it seem slow motion. He also uses a grainy effect to show that this film is set in the past.



Research into Opening Title Sequences

Graphics: Kyle Cooper

Kyle Cooper is a very popular graphic artist who is very current in the movie world. He achieves many different styles and new, dynamic opening sequences, adverts and lots more. recently, he started a creative agency called Imaginary Forces.

A few words to describe Kyle are: abstract, lots of movement, artistic, imaginative and slick.

He uses many techniques such as: layering, fragmenting and also sticking to certain strong, basic and vivid colours to create his work.

Here is a demo reel: